Loss Prevention Hits Home For One Reader

Here's a note from one of my Daily Retail Experience newsletter reader that is a good reminder about loss prevention.

Hi Doug. It is with a broken heart that I'm writing to tell you I just terminated my assistant manager for stealing. I only discovered the theft when a friend of mine called and told me that she didn't think the cash purchase she made at my store was rung through the register. I audited that day's register journal and discovered that my friend's sale had not been rung up. I also saw that the register drawer had been opened numerous times by the assistant without making a sale.

Whenever you wrote about internal theft I never believed it could happen in my store. Now I can't believe how long it went on without me knowing about it. I'm embarrassed to tell you how much I lost and I wouldn't have discovered it if my friend hadn't alerted me. Please tell all of your readers to know that it really could happen to them.

I guess I don't have to, I think this owner did a good job herself.  Remember the old advice, the only people who can steal from you are the ones you trust so much you don't believe you need to have a loss prevention systems in place or execute the one you have.

This owner would have discovered her employee's dishonesty a long time ago if she had been auditing her daily sales, something everyone should be doing.