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3% Loss of Gross Revenue from Employee Theft

A slight switch from my normal retail theme: a great article from NCR related to employee theft in restaurants. Studies have shown that employee theft can account for a 3% revenue loss.  Having spent 7 years in restaurant management, I can vouch for this.

 According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales.  This short list below gives you some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

1. Transferring self service items
2. Giving away self service items
3. Short ring
4. Using lower priced liquor
5. Placing tip jars next to the register
6. Comping checks after they have been closed
7. Comping checks after printing
8. Claiming phony walkouts

Hopefully this gives you some "food for thought"!  You can find the entire article here: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

• Transferring self service items (those that don’t generate a kitchen chit, such as coffee or soda) off a check that has been paid for with cash and reusing the same item on another check.
• Giving away self service items, such as a drink or dessert, to a guest with the expectation of receiving a larger than normal tip.
• Short ring – ring up a lower priced item and pocket the cash difference
• Using lower priced liquor and charging for call brands
• Placing tip jars next to the cash register – easy to put cash into the jar and ring “no sale” on the register
• Comping checks after they have been closed. Manager finds a check closed to cash by an employee who has already checked out. The manager reopens the check, applies a comp, closes the check and pockets the cash.
• Comping checks after printing. Employee will print a check for the full amount and present it to the customer. After the customer pays with cash, the employee comps an item off the check and pockets the difference.
• Claiming phony walkouts – Employee presents the check and quickly collects the cash. Employee tells manager that it was a walkout, pockets the cash and asks the manager to void the check.

Employee theft is serious business. In addition to the above suggestions, it may also be wise to look to at a employee theft deterrence software such as Restaurant Guard to figure out the best way for your business to address the issue.
- See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/#sthash.dHFEtJsh.dpuf

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you: - See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/#sthash.dHFEtJsh.dpuf

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

• Transferring self service items (those that don’t generate a kitchen chit, such as coffee or soda) off a check that has been paid for with cash and reusing the same item on another check.
• Giving away self service items, such as a drink or dessert, to a guest with the expectation of receiving a larger than normal tip.
• Short ring – ring up a lower priced item and pocket the cash difference
• Using lower priced liquor and charging for call brands
• Placing tip jars next to the cash register – easy to put cash into the jar and ring “no sale” on the register
• Comping checks after they have been closed. Manager finds a check closed to cash by an employee who has already checked out. The manager reopens the check, applies a comp, closes the check and pockets the cash.
• Comping checks after printing. Employee will print a check for the full amount and present it to the customer. After the customer pays with cash, the employee comps an item off the check and pockets the difference.
• Claiming phony walkouts – Employee presents the check and quickly collects the cash. Employee tells manager that it was a walkout, pockets the cash and asks the manager to void the check.

Employee theft is serious business. In addition to the above suggestions, it may also be wise to look to at a employee theft deterrence software such as Restaurant Guard to figure out the best way for your business to address the issue.
- See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/#sthash.dHFEtJsh.dpuf

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

• Transferring self service items (those that don’t generate a kitchen chit, such as coffee or soda) off a check that has been paid for with cash and reusing the same item on another check.
• Giving away self service items, such as a drink or dessert, to a guest with the expectation of receiving a larger than normal tip.
• Short ring – ring up a lower priced item and pocket the cash difference
• Using lower priced liquor and charging for call brands
• Placing tip jars next to the cash register – easy to put cash into the jar and ring “no sale” on the register
• Comping checks after they have been closed. Manager finds a check closed to cash by an employee who has already checked out. The manager reopens the check, applies a comp, closes the check and pockets the cash.
• Comping checks after printing. Employee will print a check for the full amount and present it to the customer. After the customer pays with cash, the employee comps an item off the check and pockets the difference.
• Claiming phony walkouts – Employee presents the check and quickly collects the cash. Employee tells manager that it was a walkout, pockets the cash and asks the manager to void the check.

Employee theft is serious business. In addition to the above suggestions, it may also be wise to look to at a employee theft deterrence software such as Restaurant Guard to figure out the best way for your business to address the issue.
- See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/#sthash.dHFEtJsh.dpuf

According to the National Restaurant Association, employee theft accounts for a loss of approximately 3% of annual sales. You may be wondering how to spot employee theft. This short list below gives some of the ways employees may be stealing from you:

• Transferring self service items (those that don’t generate a kitchen chit, such as coffee or soda) off a check that has been paid for with cash and reusing the same item on another check.
• Giving away self service items, such as a drink or dessert, to a guest with the expectation of receiving a larger than normal tip.
• Short ring – ring up a lower priced item and pocket the cash difference
• Using lower priced liquor and charging for call brands
• Placing tip jars next to the cash register – easy to put cash into the jar and ring “no sale” on the register
• Comping checks after they have been closed. Manager finds a check closed to cash by an employee who has already checked out. The manager reopens the check, applies a comp, closes the check and pockets the cash.
• Comping checks after printing. Employee will print a check for the full amount and present it to the customer. After the customer pays with cash, the employee comps an item off the check and pockets the difference.
• Claiming phony walkouts – Employee presents the check and quickly collects the cash. Employee tells manager that it was a walkout, pockets the cash and asks the manager to void the check.

Employee theft is serious business. In addition to the above suggestions, it may also be wise to look to at a employee theft deterrence software such as Restaurant Guard to figure out the best way for your business to address the issue.
- See more at: http://blogs.ncr.com/hospitality/thoughtleadership/8-ways-your-employees-may-be-stealing-from-you/#sthash.dHFEtJsh.dpuf

Your Employee's are Stealing from You - But Here are Some Things Point of Sale Can do About it.

I'm currently working on a workshop for the Idaho Small Business Development Center leadership as well as a expanded workshop for the clientele who want to learn more about specialty retail point of sale systems.  In gathering some updated data for the workshop (which allows a retail business owner to properly budget for a point of sale system), I came across a surprising statistic on retail theft from the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The survey indicated that employee theft accounts for 43.9% of all retail theft (or "shrinkage" as we like to call it in the industry).  This would account for intentional and unintentional employee theft (which I will explain further a bit later).  Naturally, that is a large percentage - higher, percentage-wise, than even shoplifting!  An official overview of the NRF survey can be found here: http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1389

Almost every time I talk to retail store owners about employee theft, the response normally is "not at my shop - my employee's are trustworthy". Based on the survey, that may not be fully true. But, employee's may not be intentionally stealing. Here is a how most point of sale systems can help prevent intentional and unintentional employee theft:

Intentional employee theft: security settings in point of sale software will help prevent an employee from discounting the price of an item, voiding an item, taking a return, or voiding a sale without permission from a manager.  The customer display (little screen that faces the customer which shows items as they are rung up and then an overall total) that comes with a typical point of sale system can help keep an employee honest as well.  If the customer display says "$0.00" but the employee gives a total amount due of $124.95 then something is amiss.

Unintentional employee theft: use of barcode labels with prices will eliminate the need for an employee to guess what the price may be.  Inventory control puts checks and balances in place when it comes to trying to sell a product that is out of stock. Finally, the system does tell the correct amount of change to provide since I rarely find anyone who knows how to correctly count change anymore.

Studies by National Cash Register and feedback that I have received from retail store owners indicates that using a point of sale system will increase net profit by up to 3% by simply reducing employee theft.  That equals about $7,500 in additional net profit for a typical specialty retail store.  Not bad since this is only one aspect of a point of sale system.

Next up - specialty retail point of sale systems for 2013 and beyond as well as more data on how point of sale increases a stores net profit.

Your comments and personal experiences with employee theft and retail point of sale systems are welcomed!

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.