Shop Talk
Employee Theft
How do you guys handle it?
One of my guys called me on sat and told me that he went to show a krzr to someone and it wasn't in the box, only a couple dummy phones. I know it wasn't him but could be 3 other people. I will probably end up paying for it because I'm the manager and have no way of proving it was stolen. How do you guys handle theft in your stores?
One of my guys called me on sat and told me that he went to show a krzr to someone and it wasn't in the box, only a couple dummy phones. I know it wasn't him but could be 3 other people. I will probably end up paying for it because I'm the manager and have no way of proving it was stolen. How do you guys handle theft in your stores?
...
Il vostro deposito ha videocamere di sicurezza installate per registrare l'intero deposito come pure la stanza di inventario in cui immagazzinate le vostre mercanzie? In caso affermativo, suggerirei di andare indietro e guardare i nastri. Tutto ha accesso alla zona di inventario o appena a determinata gente? Spero l'impiegato che ha rubato in ustioni nell'inferno.
...
Man, thats a tough one due to the fact you have no proof of your employees doing it but you know they did. What we did was we split it between all of us to comp the cost which isn't fair to everyone, but it mad everyone keep a tight eye on inventory from then on. But still, that sucks because you don't want to have to check your inventory everyday now. I'm sorry dude, that sucks.
...
I would do that.
Because if anybody knows who did it, they will roll over on whoever did it real quick.
Because if anybody knows who did it, they will roll over on whoever did it real quick.
...
we check phone inventory daily prior to opening. we don't have a TON of phones, but sometimes do catch discrepancies.
...
As you have no proof, you need to get a little creative. 😉
Heres what I would do;
Have each of the three culprits work an opening shift alone over the next week. Either the night before, or early in the morning, sneak in and drop a couple twenties somewhere. The idea is to create a situation where the employee would normally escape all blame, maybe even pinning it on another employee. Whoever takes the money, took your phone. Confront them and tell them that you know they took the phone Via video (who cares if you lie to a thief) and that if they give the phone back everything will be ok. If they give you the phone, you suddenly have proof and your merchandise back. If not, then you got your wires crossed somewhere or they're a s...
(continues)
Heres what I would do;
Have each of the three culprits work an opening shift alone over the next week. Either the night before, or early in the morning, sneak in and drop a couple twenties somewhere. The idea is to create a situation where the employee would normally escape all blame, maybe even pinning it on another employee. Whoever takes the money, took your phone. Confront them and tell them that you know they took the phone Via video (who cares if you lie to a thief) and that if they give the phone back everything will be ok. If they give you the phone, you suddenly have proof and your merchandise back. If not, then you got your wires crossed somewhere or they're a s...
(continues)
...
Yeh, and don't trustf Mr. Trustworthy. I'm sure he's a great guy, but don't do it.
...
maybe someone would rather take the money than a phone therefor you got the wrong person and most people are honest but you never know...
...
Its mor like 'people are mostly honest' rather than 'most people are honest.' If you know what I mean. 😉
...
1% of people will steal from you knowing that you are watching them.
98% of people will steal from you given they know they will never be caught.
1% of people would NEVER steal even if they know that no one else would know and they could never be caught.
Don't trust anyone. Start with the person that found the phone clear them.. then work backward. Ask questions like when was the last time you saw the phone? Where was it when you last saw it? Was it still there when you closed the night before?
NO ONE remembers where every piece of inventory is sitting at all seconds in the day, or when they are leaving. Someone who has an answer for everything might be the person who took it.
(assume the worst) don't act until you have pro...
(continues)
98% of people will steal from you given they know they will never be caught.
1% of people would NEVER steal even if they know that no one else would know and they could never be caught.
Don't trust anyone. Start with the person that found the phone clear them.. then work backward. Ask questions like when was the last time you saw the phone? Where was it when you last saw it? Was it still there when you closed the night before?
NO ONE remembers where every piece of inventory is sitting at all seconds in the day, or when they are leaving. Someone who has an answer for everything might be the person who took it.
(assume the worst) don't act until you have pro...
(continues)
...
That's a little hard to follow when you have three employees like chainsaw. Do you only give one employee access to the phones per day? If you're going to charge one employee for the loss then you can't let everyone in there, including yourself.
My store is a tiny one with two employees. We count the till twice a day, but my inventory is once a month. Inventory takes several hours to complete, and there's no way I'm going to ask an employee to do that every day.
My store is a tiny one with two employees. We count the till twice a day, but my inventory is once a month. Inventory takes several hours to complete, and there's no way I'm going to ask an employee to do that every day.
...
we are set up with a scan gun system here. I made a spreadsheet with the barcodes in the order they are organized in the store by section. they count the accessory and scan the barcode that many times. after all the accessories are counted. For phones they are all serialized. Most of this is done for us.
But you may impliment a similar system just to keep everyone the inventory closer. If someone else is going to check their work. They usually make sure they do it right if it will cost money.
I usually don't have any more than 2 people a day working here.
But you may impliment a similar system just to keep everyone the inventory closer. If someone else is going to check their work. They usually make sure they do it right if it will cost money.
I usually don't have any more than 2 people a day working here.
...
Well With Verizon i have ran into that before and I had my account rep track the serial numbers for me and we figuered it out. If you are gsm don't think you have any hope of pulling that off, but sprint and alltel you should be able to do this as well. As far as paying for it, my company will take it out of the store commision which in turn takes it out of everyones pay check.
I would suggest you do a sit down with each employee and let them know if you find out they are covering for another employee that it is just as bad and they will loose their job as well unless they come clean now. Oh and when you find out who did it, i would make an example out of them and not just fire them but call the police and have charges brought up on him...
(continues)
I would suggest you do a sit down with each employee and let them know if you find out they are covering for another employee that it is just as bad and they will loose their job as well unless they come clean now. Oh and when you find out who did it, i would make an example out of them and not just fire them but call the police and have charges brought up on him...
(continues)
...
It may be very difficult, but not impossible.
there has to be some way to find that IMEI on the network somewhere. If it's not on AT&T's then check the forums that talk about unlocking the phones. maybe someone has asked for a free code to unlock it. If it is stil detectable on ATT's system, then have ATT send a message to that phone that asks the user to return it to the store for a system upgrade. you never know what will happen til you try.
If that phone gets to you, casually ask who sold it. At that time you'll be able to get the sim as well.
You may also be able to check ebay for the IMEI
there has to be some way to find that IMEI on the network somewhere. If it's not on AT&T's then check the forums that talk about unlocking the phones. maybe someone has asked for a free code to unlock it. If it is stil detectable on ATT's system, then have ATT send a message to that phone that asks the user to return it to the store for a system upgrade. you never know what will happen til you try.
If that phone gets to you, casually ask who sold it. At that time you'll be able to get the sim as well.
You may also be able to check ebay for the IMEI
...
HAHA, When I looked for mine it ended up being on a prepaid account and when the kid came in to buy minutes(jackass, brought it back to the store it was stolen from) I told him that phone was reported stolen and he wouldn't tell me where he got it, I told him the police were on the way so he could hold his lies for them and he took off and i got my phone back!
...
that is a dumb ass!!! but noone ever said theives were all smart to begin with. was it a cdma or GSM phone?
...
verizon, So i can easily figuere out where a phone is by tracking a esn. I had a list back when i was in the mall of a few phones that were stolen. We ended up getting 2 of the 4 back. The other ones were on prepaid and when we confronted them on the phone they refused to bring it back so I did an esn change and then had those esn's flagged in the system so they became paper weights. We didn't get those 2 back but atleaste those punks cannot use it either. Bad thing is prepaid is made up half the time, So the name and info on t he account can all be bogus.
...
Verizon??? perfect.. call your fraud dept and have CC send a message to the phone saying their account has been randomly selected for a special offer for their account, and to bring the phone into the storethey purchased it from.
when they come in, this is what you do:
"Wow! Thanks for coming in. Corporate told us we'd have your offer coming in, but they didn't tell us who. Who sold you the phone by the way? because they get a bonus for having sold this too."
now you have the stolen phone, the thief and the posessor of stolen property all in one shot hopefully.
You may want to let your employees know that corporate told you of the "special offer" but that you cannot divulge any details until the person comes in to claim the o...
(continues)
when they come in, this is what you do:
"Wow! Thanks for coming in. Corporate told us we'd have your offer coming in, but they didn't tell us who. Who sold you the phone by the way? because they get a bonus for having sold this too."
now you have the stolen phone, the thief and the posessor of stolen property all in one shot hopefully.
You may want to let your employees know that corporate told you of the "special offer" but that you cannot divulge any details until the person comes in to claim the o...
(continues)
...
Call your credit department with the ESNs. They should be able to find who is using your missing phones. Figure out who knows that person.
...
