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Post Info TOPIC: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


I was wondering how meat cutters today are dealing with "pilferage" in your store. Or possibly you can shed some light on supermarket pilferage in general. Thank you.

  The reason I asked is that this past Saturday while shopping with my wife at a National food store chain in our town we witnessed the meat manager running out of the meat room. At first I thought he had an emergency but halfway up the canned goods isle he shouted out loud to stop a certain person going past customer service and out the door. The check-out clerks were afraid to stop the guy but the assistant manager did. I know the assistant manager very well, well enough to come back on Sunday to ask him what happened.

He said the guy had a $30 pack of rib-eyes in his vest. He told me that rib-eyes is what the thieves go for all the time in his store. He said you know I will loose the value of the steaks anyway because the police took them as evidence. So no mater what the meat department takes the hit. Its a lose, lose situation. However, he said at least this guy won't be back for awhile.

 



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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


I have seen people shove several beef tenderloins down there pants, pull the price labels off something cheap and put it on something expensive. I saw a kid stuff all the pockets of his over sized coat with steaks. We were always forbidden from interfering other than to report it to management. If we had store security only they could handle it, if we didn't have store security the store manager would handle it. When i was working in Flint, Mi every store manager had a Concealed Pistol License. When I worked at Giant in Charlottesville, Va I witnessed our store security wrestle with a large woman who apparently was caught on camera stuffing meat packages into her cloths. She was scratching his face and punching him and she got loose and ran out the door. Everyone was watching and no one could step in to help him as store policy forbid anyone but him to handle it.

I started taking steps to put a dab of super glue on price labels so they wouldn't come off so easily or wrapping it a second time so there would be a layer of film over the price (that did occasionally cause some scanning problems) I also started wrapping whole tenderloins in long trays. That really did not help sell them, but this was Flint, Mi. People steal tenderloins there, they don't buy them. Its hard to shove a tenderloin down your pants when its on a 25SH tray. That only slowed them down a little though. The next thing I knew I was finding empty 25SH trays in the case with big holes in the package. These are some sneaky folks. We eventually stopped carrying tenderloins for that reason.

Then at another store in Virginia. We had this shelf full of 20lb Hobe's Country Hams. One morning I came in and every single ham was gone. This was very odd because that time of year we were lucky to sell one. I checked the previous days sales sheets and the numbers didn't add up, so I convinced the manager to let me watch the video. It turned out that one of the cashiers working the night shift turned off her register and pretended to ring up all those hams for her friends. She left the store in handcuffs.

the smartest security measure i saw to protect the meat department was when the store owner for the Flint store installed security cameras aimed just at the meat case and put up several signs around the meat department informing people about the cameras. That seemed to make a difference. Suddenly people weren't trying anymore.

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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?





 Wow, unbelievable Fdarn. tenderloins and country hams. Very expensive merchandise. You G.P. had to suffer! 



-- Edited by Coalcracker on Wednesday 18th of May 2016 08:09:44 AM

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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


I usually don't see customers steal anything. I don't look for it. I've almost never seen it. Recently I saw a kid steal some candy and I thought it was kind of funny. He saw that I saw, but I gave him a "I'm not gonna rat you out" look, and I think he appreciated it. You may argue that I should have turned him in for his own good. You may be right. Kind of a "it takes a village" (to raise a child) sort of thing. But that's what I decided at that moment. 

The only stealing (at my workplace) that bothers me is when someone steals an item that we cut special for them. A crown roast, etc., We took time out for them and they steal it. That's not right. Outside of work, I think stealing is a terrible thing. Pick pockets, bike thieves, etc. They should be severely punished!

Some people think it's fun to catch thieves at work. Like a sport! They live for it. They love it! Not me. I think we all know most stealing is an inside job. And I think the more experienced people here will agree that it's usually managers who steal the most. The most trusted people, who also have the best opportunity, steal more. The steal larger amounts than the rest of the store. Cases and pallets. Some have the ability to steal large amounts of cash. A Nob Hill Foods manager in the SF Bay area would void out sales after a cash paying customer left, and then pocket the money.  This was in the 1990's. I don't know if it's possible now. But in my present company 2003-2016, and my previous, 1982-2003, there were 5 or 6 managers caught stealing huge amounts of merchandise. I've seen coworkers weigh (label) their own stuff incorrectly. (BTW, they're not supposed to price their own stuff) Rib eyes labeled as meat loaf. So, it's not so much the visitors to the store. It's them too, but mostly the employees. 

I have no proof that most stealing from stores is an inside job. But I've heard it all over from various sources. I could be wrong.

 

 

 



-- Edited by Burgermeister on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 10:26:56 PM

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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


The monday before last, someone stole 9 T-bones and 6 ribeye all one and a half inch thick. I filled the case, went in to get some other things. Five minutes later they were gone, never showed movement in my sales tracker. $200+ gone in minutes.. i left the bones as holes for the rest of the day since i didn't have anymore to cut.

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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


kbraker510 wrote:

The monday before last, someone stole 9 T-bones and 6 ribeye all one and a half inch thick. I filled the case, went in to get some other things. Five minutes later they were gone, never showed movement in my sales tracker. $200+ gone in minutes.. i left the bones as holes for the rest of the day since i didn't have anymore to cut.


 Does your store have a cameras? Can you go to the office and check the tapes? It should be easy since you know the exact five minute period when they were removed from the case.



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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


This is an awful thing and nobody in upper management will cut us a break on G.P when that happens. You wonder how they got that much product out of the store with someone seeing them. I had to go buy a good pair of work shoes last week. The store also sold socks, about $10 bucks for 3 socks in a package. The package had one of those sensors on them, my gosh we have steaks and chops costing twice that much maybe more! Boy I wish we could do that in meat departments, the money that could be saved would be huge!

At least you would think that upper management would at least install cameras over the meat cases with a sign that let the thieves know there up there. There is no doubt that would cut down the stealing.

 

 


 Wow, unbelievable Fdarn. tenderloins and country hams. Very expensive merchandise. You G.P. had to suffer! 



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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


My old company was very specific in dealing with theivery. If you saw someone steal you had to keep them in view and somehow alert the designated supervisor to go jam them up. I never bothered with it, but there were some folks that loved catching the shoplifters.

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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


Yes but, its a hassle getting someone to get them pointed in the right place.



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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


I was just thinking that if your gross profit average is lets say 28%  then you would  have to sell $714.00 worth of meat department products to cover the lost sales. $714 x 28% = $200. Show that to the boss!



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Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


I work in the ghetto so we have quite a bit of pilfridging. The biggest thing is tag switching. Our cashiers usually don't know the difference between steaks or pay attention to weights. I work the front end of the store usually once a week and always look at the meat being purchased. I've lost track of how many times I've come across things that are switched. The newest thing I've noticed is people pulling reduced meat tags and moving it to non reduced items. I've tried putting reduced stickers over both labels to slow it down, but if there is a will there is always a way for them. I also make my wrappers double wrap more expensive cuts or heavy items to have film over the tag.

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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


There is one way to slow pilferage way down is in stall camera's. If your boss looks at you like you have two heads then just refer him to the nearest jewelry store. Jewelry's stores have cut pilferage down by nearly 85%. If he is too cheap to install camera's then simply buy a cheap one and don't put any film in it and install it over your cases. Then make a sign that says meat-case-is-monitored-by-hidden cameras.



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RE: Pilferage Is It Happening In Your Store?


Coalcracker wrote:

I was wondering how meat cutters today are dealing with "pilferage" in your store. Or possibly you can shed some light on supermarket pilferage in general. Thank you.

  The reason I asked is that this past Saturday while shopping with my wife at a National food store chain in our town we witnessed the meat manager running out of the meat room. At first I thought he had an emergency but halfway up the canned goods isle he shouted out loud to stop a certain person going past customer service and out the door. The check-out clerks were afraid to stop the guy but the assistant manager did. I know the assistant manager very well, well enough to come back on Sunday to ask him what happened.

He said the guy had a $30 pack of rib-eyes in his vest. He told me that rib-eyes is what the thieves go for all the time in his store. He said you know I will loose the value of the steaks anyway because the police took them as evidence. So no mater what the meat department takes the hit. Its a lose, lose situation. However, he said at least this guy won't be back for awhile.

I once chased a shop lifter who didn't have meat but a carton of cigarettes.  I got hell the next day from the shop steward because "You are not security". 


 



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