Me and JH went on a service call today at a women's clothing store to repair a point of sale cash register. After I finisher swapping out the whole chassis and hard drive in the NCR register, I was in the back of the store waiting on JH to call dispatch and close out the service ticket when I saw on the wall something that caused the "WTF". It was a shrinkage report for the store, a report about the cost of lost or stolen merchandise. For the year 2012 it was $38,675.00 and 3.08% of store revenues. I suppose that was considered a good year, WTF! O_o
That?s a good example of the disadvantages of a big company. The bigger they are the harder it is to control who is stealing what. The next time someone complains about those big box stores putting the small stores out of business remind them of this.
The once or twice I've been in womens clothing stores for repairs, they have made effort to count the number of items that go in to the fitting rooms. Still, they appear to lose a lot of items due to theft. That's a real shame, that peoples morality is going down hill like that.
. Christ> Me and JH went on a service call today at a women's clothing store to
Shoplifting has been going on as long as there have been shops.
In fact it's probably not as prevalent now as it has been in the past because of surveillance and electronic security devices.
The key is not spending more on security than you lose in theft. If you spend $50,000 a year to prevent the loss of $38,000 of product, you may as well let them take the stuff.
You can take the moral indignation high road but sometimes the moral indignation high road leads to bankruptcy.
Before I retired, the company was employing more and more contract workers at the lab site I was at. Real PITA. Even though they increased security, theft losses doubled. Night janitors were a real problem and even though they had to walk through the gate and open their lunch boxes, stuff disappeared. I'm told of spotting tracks in the snow on either side of the fence where stuff was tossed over. I was waiting for a lock to be put on a lab balance (also contractors) and forgot to lock it up and it was stolen. Cost me a half day with the paperwork and investigation. Contract electricians, millwrights and painters caused me lots of grief but I guess the company thought it was worth it.
I've had problems with guys who worked for me even after I told them "Don't take anything without permission from someone in charge. Don't even take a dirty snot rag unless someone gives you permission." I had a guy working for me who knocked out communications for a hamburger chain by taking a souvenir which was a wall wort power supply for a modem. I told the guy not to take any of the abandon phone equipment in a telephone room without permission. My admonition was in front of an employee of the company I was doing work for. The moron couldn't help it, he just had to take something and he was a former convict I was trying to help. I learned my lesson after I lost that account. No more convicts, no more alcoholics and no more pot heads. I won't even hire a smoker because they're addicted to a very powerful albeit legal drug. Besides I'm very allergic to the smoke as are many employees of my customers. ^_^
beit legal drug. Besides I'm very allergic to the smoke as are many employ ees of my
Got a call the other day out of the blue from a friend I had worked with i n the non-smokers' rights movement -- must be at least 2 decades ago. What we had to go through, between the all-powerful tobacco lobby and the freak ing politicians who were too scared or too venal to vote in the public inte rest!!!
People today who can breathe freely in restaurants, movies, stores, etc. do n't realize what it was like back then -- threats, insults, sometimes physi cal violence.
There are STILL problems we hear about all the time from apartment dwellers who are suffering like hell from smoke drifting into their space from anot her unit or from a balcony. The smokers are indignant that they can't do w hat they like in their own space. The victims -- perhaps with a medical co ndition that could be life-threatening if they inhale smoke -- are equally indignant that they have to live with windows closed in all weather, can't go out on their porches/balconies, and even so, smoke finds its way into t heir space.
Some newer construction is dedicated smoke-free, but that doesn't help peop le stuck in an unbearable situation in older housing.
I used to work with a HVAC maintenance guy who wore one of those blue denim shop jackets with big pockets, every day, rain or shine, hot or cold. His reason:
On the days he wanted to take small items from the "open parts bins" (nuts, bolts, etc.) it wouldn't look weird if he suddenly wore a jacket. If he wore the jacket everyday, no one would suspect him of stealing like they would if he showed up wearing it on a random 90 degree day.
Think about that. He wasn't planning on stealing stuff everyday, but he was dressing so that he could do so whenever he wanted to without raising suspicion. What a strange way to go through life.
At one place I worked, a rather small lady took a large empty box. I suppose she needed it for moving. I was leaving the plant right behind her. She tossed the box over the ten-foot fence, and CLICK, the turnstile locked and the speaker spewed, "What's in that box?"
I'm thinking, "If there were anything of any size in that box. she couldn't have thrown it like that, and if it were of any value, it isn't after falling ten feet onto the parking lot."
But before I could say that, the guard said something like, "Hold it where we can look inside."
Now I'm thinking, "Odd to ask her to do anything with the box after you locked the gate between her and it."
I've never smoked, and I HATE the smell. Nevertheless, I believe government meddles far too much and usually in the wrong places.
Here, we mandated that all restaurants have the smoking section walled off with separate ventilation. I figure the owner should have the right to do what he wants with his property and I have the right to choose whether to enter.
A lot of restaurants chose to close rather than remodel. And after the rest had spent all that money in compliance, the same council outlawed smoking completely in restaurants.
I have far less "freedom of choice" on whether or not to enter a hospital. But the council didn't see any reason to address smoking there.
There is an old story most likely apocryphal about a factory worker who rolled a wheelbarrow filled with sand out the gate every day he worked at the factory. The guard always stopped him and dug through the sand slinging the sand every where but never found anything hidden in the sand. On the factory workers last day on the job, he exited the gate without his customary wheelbarrow. Upon seeing this, the guard stopped him and said, "I know you were stealing something all these years, so tell me before I go nuts." The factory worker answered, "wheelbarrows". ^_^
There are lots of very light, yet valuable items. In addition, value is in the eye of the beholder. A small, relatively unbreakable item, cushioned with lots of bubble wrap, could easily survive a ten-ten foot fall.
Now I'm thinking, "Odd that someone could throw a large empty box over a ten-foot fence." I would have liked to have seen her technique.
Thread reminds me of random checks we would go through being stopped at the gate and guard having us pop our car trunk so he could inspect it.
On guy put a Playboy fold out in his trunk so when it popped it would unfold in front of the guard. He got one too but guard acted like nothing happened.
If it was folded up, why would Wes have wondered what could have been in it? Why would the guards have asked her to open it so they could look inside? Why would she have had to throw it over the fence?
Even folded up, I would like to see the technique used. Frisbee style perhaps? 10' feet is fairly high when trying to throw an object that will catch wind, unless of course the wind was in her favor. Maybe it was windy enough that she just threw it straight up and the wind carried it over. ;-)
Random probably let's a lot get through. I worked at IH for years and every day carried out my coveralls for washing. Dirty job. My wife would wash them all in the wringer machine once a week. So I ended up with 5 sets when I quit. Those were damn good coveralls, and cost about 50 bucks today. I used them for many years after. Didn't think about that then, and they didn't either. Pretty much how I'd come home from office work with a company pen or marker in my pocket and they'd pile up until I made it a habit to leave them at work.
Anyway, I carried the coveralls in, and out in a shopping bag with my other dirty clothes, as I always showered and put on my clean clothes from my locker before walking out. The gate guard would always ask me to hold the bag up and open so he could see inside. Never hefted it, but it was just a cheap paper shopping bag, so it couldn't hold anything heavy, and he could see it wasn't lined with canvas. I noticed the guards would randomly open the metal lunchboxes some guys carried. I always brown-bagged. One day somebody says, "You hear about Joe? Guard caught him with a load of copper in his lunchbox. Fired."
This Joe guy was a pretty highly paid machinist. Had about 20 years in, and IH had a sweet retirement program. I remember thinking WTF? How can anybody be so stupid? I don't understand the thief mentality on several levels. Though copper was pretty cheap then, I guess it was easy to sell. Or maybe Joe's hobby was copper working. Don't know. Thing is, the risk/reward was all out of whack.
OTOH, I'm not saying I'm perfect either. Did some of my own thieving when I was a machine mechanic. Took about 10 each of maybe 3 small sizes of nuts/bolts. 1/4, 5/16, 3/8. A few different lengths, along with flat and lock washers for them. Put them in my parts arsenal and they came in handy over the years. Wasn't the money, as that wasn't a hill of beans. Just the convenience. Still stealing when you get down to it.
The biggest difference is there was absolutely no risk for me. It's pretty common for people to steal from the workplace if the workplace accepts it, or just doesn't police it. I also copped a staple remover, hole punch, and some manilla folders from my office jobs. Again, no risk. Some might call it a job "benefit." But I'll just admit to thievery in my past. Doesn't bother me much, but a spade is a spade.
I've told guys working for me to just ask. That way I'll know what I need to replace. If it's not an expensive item and the guy asks for some hardware, no problem as long as it's not a 50lb box. ^_^
Companies like it when stories like that get around. Discourages others from taking the risk.
Many of us have done things like that. I have some brass, SS, and aluminum nuts and bolts too. Damned handy.
Where I worked we had many fasteners as well as copper fittings. Some of the fittings were in bins and the little used ones became dull as they sat for a long time. We'd take two fitting, clean them up and lay them in the bin of oxidized parts. Next day the tow shiny ones were gone but the 200 old ones were untouched.
Maybe I'm getting even now. This past year I took a Dremel tool and shop vac to work for shop use. They were in the way at home.
Wish that I had carried out lots of stuff from where I retired from. The company had a good retirement when I started. Then after about 25 years they changed the retirement program and in effect stole about $ 15,000 per year from me and others. I also could have retired about 7 years sooner with the same or more money.
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