Chapter 11: The War on Retail Crime

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=feeb35bc-c991-4155-b09c-e6e0d11a7efd


Summary
Crime rates have always been steady. It doesn’t matter how well the economy is doing, there is always people who feel the need to steal. General manager of loss prevention at London Drugs, Tony Hunt conducts an interview with a shoplifter. With advancements in technology, retail stores are constantly upgrading their systems and adding new security features. London Drugs works hard to prevent shoplifting by following these phrases: ‘nowhere to hide’, ‘blast-proof glass’, ‘surprise, you’re on closed-circuit tv’, ‘you must be this tall’, ‘can’t crack the code’, ‘no clean sweeps’, ‘tested on thieves’, ‘shoplifters beware’, and lastly ‘so much to touch’. If retail stores were to use some of these strategies, shoplifting in their store wouldn’t’ be much of a problem.

Connection
When people think of theft in a retail store, everyone automatically thinks of someone stealing from the storefront. But internal thief is just as likely or even more so than external. Even though large stores like London Drugs use computers and scanners to keep records of the inventory at hand, it is very important that they do a physical count at least once a fiscal period. By doing so, the company can have accurate numbers on the quantity of their products that are still in stock. With accurate numbers, the store can determine when to restock as well as precisely provide consumers with correct information. Not only that, but once a precise number is determined, the accountant can accurately produce financial documents.

Reflection
Even though conducting a physical inventory count is very time consuming and tiresome, it is extremely beneficial to the company. Most companies take a lot of precaution to external shoplifting and often neglect internal thief. Having worked in retail before, I realize the importance of physically counting inventory to ensure the numbers the computers provide are close to the quantity that we have. Being an ultimate consumer, I would appreciate updated numbers when it comes to the quantities in stock in this or another location of the store. If I were given false information which led me to believe the store that’s at the other end of the city still had 5 more of the products that I want and, gullible as I am, I drive all the way there to find out that they in fact did not have a single one. Experiencing situations like this would annoy customers and eventually lead to decrease in customer loyalty which lowers sales and revenues.