Employers Getting Ripped Off By Their Own
By George Anderson
Employee thefts were up 17 percent, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s
(FMI) 2003 Security and Loss Prevention Issues Survey in the Supermarket Industry.
MaryAnn House-Abate, senior director of loss prevention services, FMI said
in a released (under) statement, “Loss prevention continues to be a top priority
for all food retail and wholesale companies.”
Employee theft, shoplifting and check fraud were the three areas of primary
concern.
Employee theft was most pronounced at the checkout. Forty-two percent of all
thefts occurred there. One in four detected employee thefts took place in sales
and service areas followed by customer service, backroom, cash office and fuel
stations.
The report found shoplifting occurred most often in five primary categories:
health and beauty care (HBC), meat, analgesics, razor blades and baby formula.
Laws restricting access were credited with bringing cigarette thefts down for
the eleventh year in a row.
Moderator’s Comment: What is your take on the state
of security and loss prevention in the grocery industry?
As technology becomes more sophisticated, so do the thieves.
[George
Anderson – Moderator]