10
University Daily Kansan
Monday, May 7, 1979
Stealing by employees a growing problem
By ROBIN SMITH
Staff Reporter
Kelly rang up a $25 blouse for $10 and quickly slipped an 18arat gold necklace.
Her friend Cindy grabbed the package and nodded her approval.
"Thanks Kell, I owe you a favor," Cindy said and then casually walked on the front step. "I think you're going to love it."
As Cindy walked toward her car, she was approached by a man in white clothing and black jeans. He looked blue jeans.
"Store security," the man told her. "Do you have a receipt for that package?"
Cindy shook her head back and forth while she stared blankly at the man's open wallet, which held his identification and a shiny police badge.
Candy paid for the merchandise and was asked by the store manager never to return
Within two hours, Kelly was fired.
The two KU students have not talked to each other since last summer, when the
"It was a foolish mistake that cost my job," Kelly said yesterday. "I put my job on the line for the sake of friendship. And in the end I lost both.
"What I did was not uncommon. Employees that happen to be here shouldn't expect flies."
According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, "the Department of Commerce insists that the rip-off of business by employees has reached 'epidemic' proportions."
Of the 14 retail Lawrence businesses contacted, all of the store managers said that it was difficult to tell how much employee theft occurred in their stores.
However, Warren Keith, co-manager of TG&Y/711.71 W. 23rd St., said, "I would say that 10 percent of the employees do steal from the store that they work for.
"For the past five years, shrinkage has increased tremendously and it's getting better."
Inventory shrinkage is the amount of merchandise that a store cannot account for because of theft, damage and miscalculations.
The U.S. Commerce Department has estimated inventory shrinkage at more than a million dollars a year in 2014, misleading businesses "Businessmen mistakenly assume that more inventory losses are caused by shoppers when actually enticed by inventory shrinkage," according to Forbes.
Dwight Fidler, an Overland Park polygraph examiner who conducts tests on store employee, said that employees steal items and they have easy access to the merchandise.
Fidder said, "Employee theft is about $600 compared to $1 for shoplifting."
And James Hall, store manager of J.C. Penney Co., 803 Massachusetts, agreed with a national average that "one in four employees steal from their store."
However, Keith said, "In this district, there isn't really much of a problem with our schools."
According to Keith, 40 people are employed in his store and they are instructed to
"We don't have security people walking the floors," he said. "We use an alarm system at night in case of break-ins, but we don't have a problem in either situation."
"If employees buy something while they are working, the package is kept in the computer. If you want to check the receipt, we will spot check the merchandise in the package even now and before."
Keth said that the store does not bond the employees but he would not say whether the store would prosecute employees if they were caught stealing.
Bonding acts as an insurance policy that guards against loss or damage by the device.
Hall also would not comment about prosecuting employees.
According to Hail, the 55 people employed
"The items that are stolen the most often are small," Hall said, "items that can easily be concealed under a shirt or in the pants."
at his store are not bonded and do not have to take a solvurph test.
Filler said there were two basic routines that were common in employee theft.
"They are either discounts through the front or discounts through the back," he
"Discount through the front is when the employee uses the cash register to aid in the theft in some way. The employee might not be paid if you may ring up a different and lower price."
"Discount through the back involves items going through the receiving dock. Usually there are a few employees involved and they work as a team. One employee may ship a trunkload of merchandise in a footlocker to another branch of the company, or the locker arrives, an employee buys the locker and gets the merchandise inside free."
Filled said shioplifting and employee theft occurred when a store's security system
"The control system must be enforced and cannot be changed," he said. "When the routine is different, there will be trouble and people will take advantage of it."
Larry Brin, store manager of Dillon Stores, 2108 W. 27th St., said he changes the security people he hires to avoid a pattern in security procedures.
"If you have the same security people around," he said, "they are bound to be there."
"Now, what good would it do if your customers knew all of the security people?"
Brin said that he would procure anyone
Brin was caught shoplifting in his store,
and has been charged.
"When I catch someone it is great and I make it as miserable for them as I can," he
"I only wish that the laws were harsh. Now if someone is caught all they do is flap their arms and walk away. And they are stealing our highest priced items—meal!"
Jim Roberts, store manager for Rudy's,
23rd and Louisiana, agreed with Rudy's,
that he had to keep the hotel.
"All the crock gets is a stiff fife and a sit in a jail cell, if that," Roberts said.
"look at it this way, if murder was only a $20 fine you could eliminate two college professors that rubbed you the wrong way for only $40. What kind of justice is that?"
A felony charge has five classes: A through E. Class A is more serious with the possibility of life imprisonment. Class E is more serious with the maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
A felony is the theft of more than $100 worth of merchandise and a misdemeanor is the unauthorized use of someone's property.
Employee theft can be either a felony or a misdemeanor and carries the added risk of
A midmeaenone charge has three classes of A through C. Usually there is a fine inward and no imprisonment. A Class A midmeaenone can have a maximum fine of $250.
Marianna Scheets, manager of KU food that employee theft was low throughout the year.
If an employee is caught, we will give them a warning first, but if they continue to be mistreated, we may fire them.
"Basically we are confronted with people who try to take a Coke and a half. They fill up a glass, drink half of it and then refill the glass. We confront them and the embarrassment usually makes them pay for the extra Coke."
Scheetz said food services had never prosecuted an employee in the five years that she had been manager. She said that it was when the manager who took less than $00 worth of products.
"It is sad, though, because students don't realize that the stealing will affect the student."
"the thefts are low, but we are always, on the lookout. Now that we face inflationary time, stealing could get worse as the budgets are pinched," she said.
A buyer at a leading Kansas City, Mo.
store said inventory shrinkage amounted to
70 percent.
"What does the store do about it?" she asked.
"The same as any other business: We mark everything up accordingly."
--small groups to talk about specific incidents, Thorp said.
Work conflict talk planned
The workshop, "Conflict Management," is sponsored by the Adult Life Resource Center.
A worksup dealing with conflicts at work is scheduled for Wednesday at the University of Kansas Regents Center, 9900 Mission Road, Overland Park.
Paul Friedman, associate professor of speech and drama, will conduct the seminar. It will be from 8 a.m. to noon, and the seminar is held at Martha Tharp, a secretary for the ALRC.
The workshop was designed to help people recognize how they act when in conflict with others and learn to be assertive with coworkers. Friedman said.
Participants in the workshop will meet for an introductory talk and then break up into
A film will be shown and people in the workshop will participate in work exerci-
A $40 enrollment fee is required for the workshop, Thorp said. Enrolment information is available at the Adult Life Center, 1264 Mississippi St., Annex A.
Maupintour travel service
■ AIRLINE TICKETS
■ HOTEL RESERVATIONS
■ CAR RENTAL
■ VAN RENTAL
■ TRAVEL INSURANCE
■ ESCORTED TOURS
PERFORMANCE
Hansen gives the impressions on his instrument of bringing all the action edge to every evidently celebrated piece in the herald archs including "Purple Haze" and "Al Af Aleng the Watcher."
Beyond the expedition music he narrates his show *kalea*
mathematic, his body at the light protection.
Towards the end of the show faced the stage and
skewed through the curtain and at a breakthrough.
RANDY HANSEN &
MACHINE GUN
MAY 9th
When selling your Books back, have this ad stamped for 10% discount on all items in the store. Offer valid thru June 1st.
JAYHAWK BOOKSTORE
1420 CRESCENT
The Buyback Experts