Retailers Hate The Shoplifter - It Is A Fact
Last year I was told by the president of a chain of 140 stores that he had discovered that his firm had been wasting a great deal of money on a national "detective" agency it had under contract for the purpose of checking on new employees. The company had discovered that the agency's "checking" consisted of writing, from its headquarters, to the police chief of each city and inquiring, via mimeographed questionnaire. as to the police record of the applicant.
Of course such routine inquiry rarely produced any useful information. The company decided to send out its own questionnaires, saving considerable money each year. The president, however, was disappointed to think that no better system existed. He told me, further, that the main loss to the firm was through a channel over which they had virtually no control. Employees in mailing rooms were constantly mailing packages to themselves or their relatives, free of charge. When I asked if shoplifters were a factor in busy stores, he replied that shoplifters could operate only when stores were crowded and that they accounted for very little compared to known employee thefts.
"In fact," he laughed, "when times get slow, the retailers would welcome the shoplifters back into the empty stores. They give the appearance of business:" That, of course, was simply his humorous slant.
The fact is many of the retailers I have talked with hate the shoplifter out of all proportion to the percentage amount of loss caused by him (or her). Why is it that a retailer will almost froth at the mouth when a petty customer culprit is caught in the act of dropping some unpaid-for goods into a bag, but will retreat into silly sentimentality upon the discovery of the crookedness of a trusted cashier or bookkeeper? It is entirely unrealistic?
The trusted employee who steals from his boss not only steals much more than all the shoplifters that can ever come into the place but does so in the very face of the kindness and consideration of the benevolent employer. It is only a benevolent employer, you see, who will allow those easy conditions to exist in which employees can confiscate cash unnoticed over long periods of time. Do not fall prey to such misguided sentiment. The "friend" of yours who quietly but purposefully steals your money every day for years may destroy your whole business!
Of course such routine inquiry rarely produced any useful information. The company decided to send out its own questionnaires, saving considerable money each year. The president, however, was disappointed to think that no better system existed. He told me, further, that the main loss to the firm was through a channel over which they had virtually no control. Employees in mailing rooms were constantly mailing packages to themselves or their relatives, free of charge. When I asked if shoplifters were a factor in busy stores, he replied that shoplifters could operate only when stores were crowded and that they accounted for very little compared to known employee thefts.
"In fact," he laughed, "when times get slow, the retailers would welcome the shoplifters back into the empty stores. They give the appearance of business:" That, of course, was simply his humorous slant.
The fact is many of the retailers I have talked with hate the shoplifter out of all proportion to the percentage amount of loss caused by him (or her). Why is it that a retailer will almost froth at the mouth when a petty customer culprit is caught in the act of dropping some unpaid-for goods into a bag, but will retreat into silly sentimentality upon the discovery of the crookedness of a trusted cashier or bookkeeper? It is entirely unrealistic?
The trusted employee who steals from his boss not only steals much more than all the shoplifters that can ever come into the place but does so in the very face of the kindness and consideration of the benevolent employer. It is only a benevolent employer, you see, who will allow those easy conditions to exist in which employees can confiscate cash unnoticed over long periods of time. Do not fall prey to such misguided sentiment. The "friend" of yours who quietly but purposefully steals your money every day for years may destroy your whole business!
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