Jul 18, 2007

Preventing Retail TheftBy Ronald BondEntrepreneur.com

In retail, you want your products to fly off the shelves and out the door–but only after they’ve been paid for. Theft–both by customers and employees–costs American retailers more than $33 billion per year. Entire retail chains have gone out of business due to their inability to control losses from theft.

The biggest threat facing storeowners is employee theft, which accounts for nearly half of inventory shrinkage–more than shoplifters, more than administrative error and more than vendor fraud. Minimize the possibility of employee theft by hiring only people you know well or by checking references carefully. Unfortunately, neither of these steps will eliminate the possibility that an employee may steal. Standard controls should be implemented to detect losses from your cash drawer and inventory. These include:

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