You, Your Hiring Trends and Huge Retail Heists

It used to be that the really huge shoplifting heists for retailers were internal. We once lost $30,000 in Swarovski jewelry (at wholesale value) that way.

Now the LA Times reports that new bigtime gangs are targeting big chains and small with all kinds of tactics. They use all kinds of tactics including using booster bags that deactivate anti-theft devices and a technique they call "Box stuffers" where they remove cheap items from boxes and replace them with pricier goods and then check out. 

In the Phoenix area alone 36 people were indicted this year. They are allegedly are members of  vast retail crime syndicates. 

Some "CSI Units" are using forensics to catch them.

Still, retailers need to continue their vigilance, let their people know what to watch for--and certainly have enough people on the floor to combat this scourge.  It may very well be false thriftiness to cut back on employees when crooks like this know very well how to divert the attention of members of your staff.

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson's FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques launched at the National Stationery Show at Javits Center. Because she is the author of the multi award-winning how-to books for writers,The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, retailers will also find essentials of writing for blogs, Web sites, and newsletters on this blog. She is the author of an award-winning novel, This Is the Place; and other fiction and poetry. She blogs on better writing at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog. Find her tweeting for retailers at @frugalretailing . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use this little green widget to let them know about it: