Theft is on the rise in newsagencies and other retail businesses. I say this based on information shared with me by newsagents as well as recent reports in the media about increased retail theft.
My experience is that too many newsagents are lazy in some key areas of business management and this can leave theft undetected for too long. Here are the best ways you can combat theft in your newsagency:
- Use your Point of Sale software to order tobacco, ink and confectionery products. Being diligent about this will uncover inventory theft and this is a good indicator of wider employee theft.
- Balance cash at odd times in the day. Employees stealing cash know how much they have to take from the register before the end of the day. Try and catch them off guard. Set $5 as the maximum amount your register can be out.
- Use the theft tracking tools in your Point of Sale software. If you don’t know what they are, find out.
- Ask your software supplier to look at your data and advise whether they see activity which could indicate theft. This service should be free.
- Ask all potential employees for permission of a police check. You will find that some will become unavailable for the role.
- Undertake spot stock takes regularly to gauge possible shopper theft activity. These also show employees that you are serious about theft.
The single most important steps to reducing theft are to use your computer system to manage stock and to be diligent in tracking and managing cash. Do this and you will certainly avoid theft.
I know of several newsagency businesses experiencing theft costing more than $100,000 recently where the crime would have been detected much sooner had just some of the measures noted above have been followed. In two cases, just using stock control on cigarettes would have saved each business many thousands of dollars.
Newsagents: theft is manageable in your newsagency. What it costs you in terms of cash and inventory is a commentary on the professionalism and discipline of your management of the business.
This article makes out employees to be the thieves? While in some cases this may be true a lot of thieving is done by criminal customers. A lot of your suggestions are only aimed at combating employee theft which should only be minor if at all. Employers need to be smarter when it comes to employing people and using common sense. The suggestion of a police check for a casual retail sales clerk in such a small business is a ridiculous unnecessary overstep. I clicked this article hoping to find ways of combating theft such as location of products, security equipment and other similar common tips instead im left disappointment and somewhat appalled by the accusations that most theft comes from employees.
No it doesn’t Doug.
Scanning of ALL items proved it’s value to us again last week.
Customer comes to counter and places her magazines on the counter and we scan them in. Her husband/partner says “and this newspaper”. I asked for it to scan so he pulled out the magazine he was hiding in it and gave me that as well. We let it pass as a mistake but he knows that we know and looked embarrassed at being caught out. On checking security footage it was clear that it was intended to be a theft from us. This is not the first time we have caught out a thief in this manner.
Scan EVERYTHING is the lesson here.
Yes the old hide it in the paper trick , this has happened to us as well .
Here is another type of theft, you may have not seen. We recently had a lady come in an spent some time looking at cook books she seemed to be there for some time then my wife realised that she was using here iphone to photograph recipes. This may not technically be theft but as far a i am concerned it is and also a breach of copyright. I confronted her and asked her to delete all the images and leave. When she objected I told her I would call the police and they could deal with her, she deleted the images.
Doug, while all theft is costly, the amount (cash value of stock) a customer may steal does not come close to the amount an employee can take. If you don’t watch what is going on, thousands of dollars can walk out the door in a matter of weeks.
The mag in the paper trick is the favourite in my area. Also slipping a greeting card inside another, or inside of the envelope of the card they are paying for.
Every paper comes into our hands. Mags are easy to detect but not cards so I fold every paper with the intention of ruining any cards slipped into a paper. Employee theft can be greater if it occurs but all thieves need to be caught and dealt with.