The POS Software Blog

News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.

CategoryRetail Theft

The mental health challenge of theft in local small business retail

January 27, 2023

3 Min read

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Beyond the money, theft in local small business retail is a mental health challenge.

There is the situation of the person stealing, the customer, the supplier, the co-owner or the employee. Often there can be mental health challenges associated with or leading up to their actions.

Then, there is the mental health challenge for the business owner(s) following the theft.

In our work with local small business retailers dealing with theft from their business, we have seen mental health affected.

we have seen retailers so affected that they quickly sell their business, opting for a lifestyle change as a result.

Theft is personal. We get that there are plenty of ‘experts’ who say theft is not personal. But in our experience, it is. Your business is like your home. Theft is a violation of your home. This why it hits hard, why it hurst so much.

When we discover theft in a retail business we are helping we suggest the owners reach out to professional services for mental health support. Advice we have found useful includes:

Be sure of the facts. How much was stolen and how it was stolen. These specific details can help you draw a line under the situation.

Do something. Take an action, or actions, to protect against a recurrence. Acting on the situation can provide confidence and strength.

Be open with others. Sharing what happened and what it has meant to you can, of itself, nurture support.

Cleanse. The theft situation may have left you with an employee or two you no longer want in the business, a supplier to drop, a customer ti disallow. Take action to shut the door.

Exercise. Plenty off mental health professionals advocate active walking outdoors as a good step for calming and clearing your mind. Find the exercise that works best for you, walking, running, swimming, and engage in that exercise. From what we read and have been told, doing this away from you’re business regularly is key.

Try to not obsess. We have seen retailers become obsessed about theft following an incident. That can be debilitating and take joy from the running of the business. Find a balance that works for you where you can be vigilant, but not obsessed.

While dealing with the practicalities of theft is important in any local small business retail setting, dealing with your own mental health is important too. Work on it. be aware. Take care of yourself. And, be in control, rather than the crime controlling you.

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5 benefits POS software companies neglect in their sales pitch

April 19, 2022

1 Min read

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Good POS software offer these 5 benefits. Tower Systems does.

What’s not selling = cut dead stock waste.
What you’re missing out on = stop selling out.
What’s sells with what = selling more.
Theft under your nose = save thousands.
Know when you’re busy and quiet = reduce labour costs.

Of course, thanks to the Tower Systems POS software, there are many more benefits than these. Now, here’s a new video from us about these 5 benefits from the Tower Systems POS software.

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Tower Systems helps small business retailers detect and mitigate employee theft

February 25, 2022

6 Min read

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Theft is a problem in retail. Too often, it is not discovered until after the event, primarily because of a lack of belief that theft is a problem, particularly theft by employees.

One of the best ways to detect employee theft is to look at your business transactional data. Good POS software not only tracks what is sold, it also tracks what is deleted from sales and entire sales that are cancelled, and it keeps this data in a hidden file, not accessible in the usual reporting way of the software.

In our experience at Tower Systems , one out of ten times we have received this secret data for a retailer using my POS software we have found evidence of questionable behaviour. Laying this evidence out with video footage, ideally, and employee rosters, a person of interest emerges, or more depending on the video evidence with a money (in the pocket) shot.

We are not going to share here the incriminating keystrokes but we will note they have been court-tested in cases while providing expert witness for the prosecution.

Our professional and based on experience advice to local small business retailers is to use the theft detection and mitigation tools in your POS software. learn about them. Use them. But don’t tell others what you are doing.

Some retailers think the best approach to reduce the theft opportunity is to lock everything down, making it very hard for people to steal. The thing is, people who want / need to steal will find a way and the harder you make it for them m in a retail setting the harder it will be for you to detect it.

We am not saying tempt them. rather, don’t lock your POS software down, give people reasonable access, and watch what they do – follow the advice of your POS software company on using the data their software collects for you to see if theft could be a problem min your shop.

Cases of employee theft in a newsagency in which we have been involved have ranged in theft cost from $5,000 to $245,000. In every single instance, using the secret tools we have mentioned here could have detected the theft sooner and reduced the financial an emotional impact on the business and others.

If you have read this far, thank you and well done. Most will not, because theft is not an interesting topic – until they are personally impacted.

Recommended steps any retailer can take to reduce employee theft in retail:

Theft is something to be managed in any retail business. Retailers are stolen from by employees. Good management is about reducing the opportunity for and instances of theft.

Value employees. Experts say this is the top step to take.
Share information. Often, theft can be driven by a misconception about the profitability of the business. Sharing accurate business performance data can educate against theft.
Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
Check GP by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
Demand the cash drawer be closed after every sale. A drawer left open is an opportunity.
Keep the counter clean. A better organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft as it makes detection easier.
Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
Beware of calculators with memories at the counter. One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
Enter new stock as it comes in, scan all sales and only reorder based on what you software says. Every month do a stock take. Popular daily items such as tobacco stock discrepancies are an indicator of theft. Had one retailer we work with been doing this they would have caught their $250 a day employee theft months earlier.
Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
Do spot cash balancing using your PO)S software. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
Check your Audit Log in your POS software.
Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it.
Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check. From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.

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How small business retailers can cut shopper theft with POS software from Tower Systems

December 21, 2021

3 Min read

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Theft is local retail businesses is expensive for retailers. But, this theft by shoppers if often not considered or acted-on by retailers until they understand the real cost of this theft by shoppers.

From what we see, theft by shoppers can cost retailers between 3% and 7% of sales revenue in value. We have seen this across a range of retail business types and in a range of retail situations.

This year, in 2021, we have seen some evidence of co-ordinated theft, groups working together to shop for products they can flip online and air local markets.

The key to reducing theft by shoppers is through a managed process, adopted by the business leaders and implemented by everyone working in the business.

Here are seven steps we suggest to cut the cost of shopper theft in your retail business. While there are other steps you could take, these seven are most valuable from our years of working with retailers.

Use your POS software. Spot stock take. Understand the cost of theft. This is critical for once you understand the scope of theft by shoppers in your business you are more likely to act. In our experience the evidence is that items being stolen are not those you think are being stolen. Data is key here. hence our advice to use your POS software.
Look at people as they enter. Eye contact is key. Ideally, say hello to them. The more they think you have seen them the better.
Have a screen near the entrance / exit so people can see that you filming them with your security cameras. The more people think they will be caught they less likely they are to steal.
Work on the shop floor. That is unpack and price new stock on the shop floor, and not in the back room. This puts you or your employees among shoppers and heightens the chance of detection of theft.
Walk the floor. Every so often, do a circuit. Be present. Talk to people.
During peak shopping periods, station someone outside the business looking. Ensure they are trained on appropriate action should they see misbehavior.
Bring in a security guard on a casual basis during your most busy periods. A good starting point here is to hire someone to look at the business under-cover, to see what they see, that you are not seeing.

The more likely people are to be caught the less likely you are to experience shopper theft.

Tower Systems has many years of experience in helping independent small business retailers mitigate em ploy theft and shopper theft. We leverage this experience for our customers through excellent POS software, free training, group training workshops, data analysis and expert witness support for authorities in specific cases.

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Shoplifting advice for small business retailers

May 28, 2021

3 Min read

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Here at Tower Systems we have experience in shoplifting. Not the act of, but, rather, the tracking and prevention of.

Using our specialty retail POS software, retailers can expect to reduce the impact of shoplifting in their businesses. Shoplifting can be expensive – anything from 2% to 7% of retail sales revenue in terms of value. Knowing this helps you focus on investing in eliminating the cost of theft.

Embedded in our POS software are tools for tracking shoplifting. Knowing what is being stolen and broadly when is an excellent start to reducing, and even eliminating, shoplifting.

We back the tools in our POS software with advice on how to leverage them to reduce the impact of shoplifting. Knowledge is power. Okay, that is a tired old cliche. But it is true. Knowing what is being stolen and when we can help you to act appropriately to mitigate the situation.

Using our software and our expert knowledge, we have worked with loss prevention experts as we as the police in several states to help with matters of shopper theft. We are skilled in this area.

In the many years working with small and independent retail businesses, the team at Tower Systems has learnt plenty including the indicators of in which retail businesses theft is more likely to occur.

We have leveraged our experience with small business retailers who use our smart POS software to help these and other b businesses reduce the impact of theft – shopper theft and employee theft.

Our experience is that theft is more likely to occur in businesses where stock is not managed properly. By not managed properly we mean in retail businesses where:

All items sold are not tracked at the point of sale.
Where new stock arriving in the business is not properly arrived through the software.
Where spot stock-takes are not undertaken regularly to maintain an accurate stock on hand account.
Where stock given away or thrown away is not written off.
Where stock returned to a supplier is not scanned out.

Our advice on reducing the cost of shoplifting is simple – follow our advice, manage your stock and without a doubt the cost of theft in your retail business will be lower than it would have been.

If you think the cost of managing stock is too great, think about the cost of $25,000, $50,000 or even $250,000 in theft. Yes, we see this all too often in retail businesses – where stock is not managed.

Managing your stock = less theft and less theft = increases product and increased profit = you get more when you sell your business.

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Small business retail advice: how to manage an employee theft situation

December 9, 2020

5 Min read

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This article is another in our series of advice for small business retailers. It comes from our experience running a POS software company that serves small business retailers and from running our own retail shops.

How to deal with an employee theft situation in small business retail

Discovering theft by an employee can be debilitating and destabilising. To help you through this, we provide here our advice on what to do once you discover employee theft. The goal is to offer straightforward steps to help you get through as it is on the other side of this where you can find the opportunity to move on from the feeling of violation that often accompanies employee theft in small business.

Be sure of the facts, gather the evidence. Evidence could include, video footage of cash being take from the business, business records being modified to cover tracks, stock being stolen and more. Evidence does not include gossip, feelings and opinions. Without evidence you have nothing to proceed with.
Once you have all available evidence and if this clearly implicates one or more employee, quickly work out what you want.
1. If you involve the police, they and, subsequently, the courts, will control the process including getting your money or goods back, an apology and more.
2. If you don’t involve them, think about if you want the money or goods back, an apology, the person to stop working for you without negative impact on you – or a mixture of these.
3. Check your insurance policy. Be sure you understand what you might be able to claim and in what circumstances. For example, your policy may require a police report. This could determine your next steps. If you are not sure what your insurance policy says, call the insurance company for advice. Knowing your insurance situation early is vital.
If the person committing the crime is a minor:
1. Advise their parents or guardian by phone. Invite them to the shop or an independent location to see what you have. Have someone else there with you, as an observer. This meeting needs to happen quickly.
2. Present the evidence.
3. Listen for their response.
4. If they (their parents) ask what you want, be clear.
5. If agreement is reached, put it in writing there and then and all involved sign it, so there is clear understanding.
6. If agreement is not reached you need to decide your next steps and engage them with haste.
7. A return of the money, likely by the parents, should be in a lump sum, immediately. I have seen a parent pay $22,000 where a uni student studying psychology stole and out their career at risk by being caught. I have seen another situation where a 75-year-old mum repaid the $12,000 stolen by her adult daughter so the daughter did not have to tell her husband about her gambling problem.
If the person committing the crime is not a minor:
1. Get an opportunity to speak with them face to face, ideally with another person there as a witness.
2. Tell them you have evidence of them stealing from the business.
3. Ask if they would like to see it. If they say no, ask what they propose.
4. If they do want to see the evidence, show it and ask what they propose.
5. If there is an offer of a full refund, an immediate resignation and never entering the business again it could be a good practical outcome. The challenge is you may not know the value of what has been stolen. Experience indicates that someone stealing cash will understate the amount considerably. I was involved in one case where they said they stole $10,000. The irrefutable evidence showed it was $75,000.
6. Get any agreement in writing. If there is an offer to repay, our advice is to only accept an immediate lump sum. If the proposal is payment of, say, more than $10,000 over time, involve the police.
7. If the person denies any wrongdoing, go to the police immediately.
If you have suspicions and do not have the evidence, put in place opportunities to gather the evidence without entrapping the target, without setting them up. I have seen situations where local police have provided advice and support for this. It could be worth asking them if you are in a regional or rural situation.

If you are nervous about meeting the person or their family, write down what you plan to say. Keep it short. To the facts. No emotion. Having a script prepared can be useful even if you do not read it.

If there is any risk of violence, do not have a meeting. Go straight to the police.

Time is of the essence here. The longer you know about the situation and the longer you do not act the less useful the outcome is likely to be.

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5 steps guaranteed to cut theft in any retail business

September 20, 2020

3 Min read

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Theft in retail costs more than money or goods taken. There is an emotional cost, which can play into an impact on business management.

In our work with thousands of independent retail businesses we have tuned a list of actions that we see work well in cutting theft in retail.

Spot stock take. Allocate time daily to spot check stock on hand. We suggest 15 to 20 minutes a day to different areas of the shop could reveal customer theft challenges. Spot stock takes are fast, easy and guide data accuracy. Most important, they reveal theft.
Track everything you sell. The moment a retailer does not track stock that comes in and goes out of a business is the moment the retailer takes their eye off the ball and allow people who till steal to steal. While it sounds boring, managing stock is key early identification of theft, especially employee theft.
Eliminate manual handling of data. Every time data is handled manually you create a weakness that a thief can exploit. For example, if sales data do not flow automatically from your POS to your accounting software, there can be an opportunity for someone handling cash to skim prior to banking. From receiving inventory invoices electronically to scanning everything you sell to a direct connection between your POS and your accounting software, like Xero, every keystroke eliminated is potential theft avoided.
Look under the hood at keystroke patterns. Smart POS software will maintain, in a secret location and under appropriate security data that could reveal misbehaviour by staff as part of a systematic theft program. This type of analysis has uncovered the deletion of sales to enable the removal of cash from a til by an employee stealing from the business.
Surprise moves like roster changes, spot checks in-store, mid-day cash-outs and more can break a pattern and make it difficult for anyone who seeks to leverage a consistent pattern to engage in theft. We know of one case where the rubbing bins were emptied an hour earlier than usual and by someone who does not usually do this work and in doing so a roll of notes was found, which led to long-term theft discovery.

Theft hurts retail businesses in many ways. Independent retailers can cut the cost of theft by following steps like those outlined here.

Tower Systems works with small business retailers using its POS software to help them cut employee and customer theft. We have provided expert help to police and prosecutors. We have people in our business who have been used as expert witnesses in court cases.

We are committed to helping small business retailers cut employee and customer theft. Every Tower customer has access to a free theft check service.

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Small business retail advice: on cutting theft by employees

January 15, 2020

3 Min read

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Employee theft continues to contribute more to the total cost of theft in retail theft than customer theft based on data we see. yet, employee theft is easier to track and manage than customer theft.

In our POS software we have hidden tools that help track and cut employee theft. Outside the POS software, we have this practical and useful small business retail advice that we know works on cutting employee theft.

Issue this Theft Policy in your business, have all team members sign it and place it is a place where team members can see it every day. Doing this establishes your commitment on the issue as well as your policy and practices related to the issue. Following through on the policy is key for without discipline in this area the cost of theft in your business will be higher than it should be.

This is the theft policy we recommend to all retailers…

THEFT POLICY OF THIS BUSINESS

Theft, any theft, is a crime against this business, its owners, employees and others who rely on us for their income.
If you discover any evidence or have any suspicion of theft, please report it to the business owner or most senior manager possible immediately. Doing so could save a considerable cost to the business.
We have a zero tolerance policy on theft. All claims will be reported to law enforcement authorities for their investigation.
From time to time we have the business under surveillance in an effort to reduce theft. This may mean that you are photographed or recorded in some other way. By working here you accept this as a condition of employment.
New employees may be asked to provide permission for a police check prior to commencement of employment. Undertaking the police check will be at our discretion.
Cash is never to be left unattended outside the cash drawer or a safe within the business.
Credit and banking card payments are not to be accepted unless the physical card is presented and all required processes are followed for processing these.
Employees caught stealing with irrefutable evidence face immediate dismissal to the extent permitted by labour laws.
Employees are not permitted to remove inventory, including unsold, topped, magazines, unsold cards or damaged stock from the store without permission.
Employees are not permitted to provide a refund to a customer without appropriate management permission.
Employees are not permitted to complete sales to themselves, family members or friends.
Every dollar stolen from the business by customers and or employees can cost us up to four dollars to recover. This is why vigilance on theft is mission critical for our retail store.

PLEASE SIGN AND DATE YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

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Advice for small business retailers on dealing with employee theft by a minor

August 7, 2019

3 Min read

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This advice is from our vault of business management advice for indie small business retailers. This vault contains advice on many diverse aspects of small business management, often far removed from the POS software we are known for.

Today our advice is about how to deal with employee theft by a minor in a retail business.

If you suspect an employee aged under eighteen of theft from your business you need to be careful as to how you navigate this. It is important to take time to decide the appropriate plan of action before you approach the suspect to even investigate the matter. The wrong approach could have challenging consequences for you, your business and the person you suspect.

Our suggestion is that the moment you have a suspicion, invite the suspect and a parent in for a meeting. Have someone else there as well, as your witness.

Present your evidence and invite their response.
Ensure you are civil, factual and not emotional.
Listen to their response without interruption.
If they ask what you want to do about it, be sure you have a reasonable response ready. If there is agreement on this, move forward.
If there is not agreement on what you propose, or if they deny the theft, you need to be ready with your next course of action. This course of action should be reasonable and focussed on getting to verifiable truth.

If there is agreement that theft occurred and the employee is casual, my suggestion is immediate termination with you paying out what is owed by law. Put it behind you. Never speak of it outside the business. To constantly revisit it, especially outside a major city, can be debilitating.

If there is not agreement, ask they other side what they want to do. It could be that even though they deny it they are happy to walk away from the business. If this is not the case, you could suggest mediation. The Fair Work Obmudsman office could possible play a role here. You could equally suggest that both sides take the matter to the police.

The reality is that once you make a complaint to parents you have to be prepared to follow through, to see the matter to a reasonable end.

My core message today is that handling the suspected theft by someone under eighteen takes care and planning, to ensure that you, your business and the suspect are all dealt with fairly and safely.

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The employee theft challenge in small business retail is real and expensive

February 6, 2019

4 Min read

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Employee theft is a scourge in small business retail since it often, unfortunately, goes undetected for too long.

Tower Systems make employee theft detection easy in its POS software. However, like any tool, a retailer has to choose to use it. Too often, we see retailers ignore the easy access theft detection tools they have in our software, denying themselves the opportunity to catch theft earlier and thereby reduce the costs for the business.

Outside of the awesome theft m mitigation tools in our POS software, we help retailers with practical advice they can implement to further reduce opportunity for employee theft. We have developed these tools based on years of service in this area including working with police, prosecutors and others in catching and prosecuting cases of employee theft.

Here is some of the small business retail theft mitigation advice from our POS software retail experienced team:

Track your stock.Receive all stock into your business through your computer system so you know exactly what sock you have.
Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand. Using department keys is an invitation to steal.
Track every sale by employees.Give your employees a card with a unique barcode or have them enter a code – to track every sale they make back to them. Change the code every six months or so.
Do your end of shift through your softwareand have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift. One business where this was not done was being skimmed regularly for $200 a day.
Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises. One retailer needing to do a banking during the day uncovered a $350 discrepancy that lead to discovery of systematic theft.
Change your roster.Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
Check your Audit Log.Look at cancelled sales, deleted sales and items deleted from a sale. Leaving a cash drawer open from the previous sale, scanning items, taking the cash and cancelling the sale is the most common process used by employees to accrue cash they then take from you. Good software tracks cancelled sales and what was in them. This can be matched with video footage.
Check Gross Profit by department.If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
Setup a theft policy.Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
Keep the counter clean.An organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft. It makes detection easier.
Have a no employee bags at the counter policy.This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads.These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
Beware of calculators with memories at the counter.One retail business employee used the memory function to track how much cash had to be stolen prior to balancing for the day – cash from sales not rung up.
Do not let employees sell to themselves.If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
Be professional in your management of the business.The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check.From the outset this indicates that you take your business seriously. In many situations applicants who have been asked for permission to do a police check advise they have found a job elsewhere.
Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees.If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

These steps work – based on decades of helping small business retailers to reduce and manage employee theft.

Theft, employee and customer, costs a typical small / independent retail between 3% and 5% of product sales revenue. Management attention can cut this dramatically. It does not take much time. No, it is more about having professional processes in place that everyone in the business follows.

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Tower Systems helps small business retailers reduce the impact of shopper and employee theft

August 10, 2018

2 Min read

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In years working with small and independent retail businesses, the team at Tower Systems has learnt plenty including the indicators of in which retail businesses theft is more likely to occur.

we take a best practice approach to theft mitigation in our smart POS software. There are extensive tools that benefit retailer, provide peace of mind and help act against the scourge off theft be it employee or customer initiated and executed.

Our experience is that theft is more likely to occur in businesses where stock is not managed properly.

By not managed properly we mean where:

All items sold are not tracked at the point of sale.
Where new stock arriving in the business is not properly arrived through the software.
Where spot stock-takes are not undertaken regularly to maintain an accurate stock on hand account.
Where stock given away or thrown away is not written off.
Where stock returned to a supplier is not scanned out.

Our advice on reducing the cost of employee theft and customer theft is simple – follow our advice, manage your stock and without a doubt the cost of theft in your retail business will be lower than it would have been.

If you think the cost of managing stock is too great, think about the cost of $25,000, $50,000 or even $250,000 in theft. Yes, we see this all too often in retail businesses – where stock is not managed.

Managing your stock = less theft and less theft = increases product and increased profit = you get more when you sell your business.

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Small business POS software customers appreciate THEFT POLICY

May 12, 2018

3 Min read

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A week ago we shared with our customers an updated THEFT POLICY, and suggested they print this and seek employee engagement.

The reaction has been terrific with plenty downloading and pricing the policy. We have had calls, too, from retailers seeking our suggestions on other actions they can take. Some have called with their stories of theft in their businesses.

Our work in the area of retail employee theft is comprehensive and on-going.

We welcome opportunities to work with our thousands of small business retailer customers to help them mitigate the theft situation in their businesses.

Here is the latest version of our THEFT POLICY that we shared a week ago:

THEFT POLICY

Theft, any theft, is a crime against this business, its owners, employees and others who rely on us for their income.
If you discover any evidence or have any suspicion of theft, please report it to the business owner or most senior manager possible immediately. Doing so could save a considerable cost to the business.
We have a zero tolerance policy on theft. All claims will be reported to law enforcement authorities for their investigation.
From time to time we have the business under surveillance in an effort to reduce theft. This may mean that you are photographed or recorded in some other way. By working here you accept this as a condition of employment.
New employees may be asked to provide permission for a police check prior to commencement of employment. Undertaking the police check will be at our discretion.
Cash is never to be left unattended outside the cash drawer or a safe within the business.
Credit and banking card payments are not to be accepted unless the physical card is presented and all required processes are followed for processing these.
Employees caught stealing with irrefutable evidence face immediate dismissal to the extent permitted by local labour laws.
Employees are not permitted to remove inventory, including unsold, topped, magazines, unsold cards or damaged stock from the store without permission.
Employees are not permitted to provide a refund to a customer without appropriate management permission.
Employees are not permitted to complete sales to themselves, family members or friends.
Every dollar stolen from the business by customers and or employees can cost us up to four dollars to recover. This is why vigilance on theft is mission critical for our retail store.

PLEASE SIGN AND DATE YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

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Why small business retailers no longer need to pay for a stock take

May 3, 2018

2 Min read

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The annual stock take in retail businesses has been a thing of the past for years. While plenty of shops run stock take sales, there is no need for the annual count that the sale is supposed to make easier.

The ATO agrees that a business does not have to do a stock take as long as it consistently follows structured business processes that track all incoming and outgoing stock and that there are scheduled checks to ensure the accuracy of stock on hand data.

There was a time when small business retailers would have to bring in external stock takes and pay hefty fees for counting, sometimes needing to be closed while this was done.

Today, however, with good POS software and good business practices the business can provide a stock listing that meets ATO reporting requirements and saves the business that end of financial year time soak.

Tower Systems can help small business retailers with the software and the business processes that support the software in its accurate and timely use.

Following the businesses processes we train small business retailers on also helps reduce dead stock and cut other costs businesses find when stock is not managed professionally.

Tracking goods as they come in and are returned or sold is an effective part of a stock take. As is an ad-hoc stock take of part of the business. These and other tools in ur software make it easy for a retail business to be able to produce an accurate stock on hand list in a format required by the ATO.

For our customers who li certainty of a stock take we have excellent facilities in the core of the software for achieving this. We make it easy and certain. We do it in a way that any retail employee can participate in undertaking a stock take. Plus we do it so that the business can trade while the stock take is under way.

No matter how you approach ensuring stock on hand data is accurate, Tower Systems is able to help any small business retailer … save time, save money and feed better business decisions.

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Small business retail advice: how to cut shopper theft

January 22, 2018

2 Min read

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Here are seven steps we suggest to cut the cost of shopper theft in your retail business. While there are other steps you could take, these seven are most valuable from our years of working with retailers.

Look at people as they enter. Make sure they see you see them. Eye contact is key. Ideally, say hello to them. The more they think you have seen them the better.
Have a screen near the entrance / exit so people can see that you filming them with your security cameras. The more people think they will be caught they less likely they are to steal.
Work on the shop floor. This puts you or your employees among shoppers and heightens the chance of detection of theft.
Walk the floor. Every so often, do a circuit. Be present. Talk to people.
During peak shopping periods, station someone outside the business looking. Ensure they are trained on appropriate action should they see misbehavior.
Bring in a security guard on a casual basis during your most busy periods.
Have a no receipt no exchange or refund policy.
Use your POS software. Spot stock take. Understand the cost off theft. In our experience the evidence is that items being stolen are bot those you think are being stolen. Data is key here. hence our advice to use your POS software.
Act on the evidence.
Ensure all who work in the business are in on this project.

The more likely people are to be caught the less likely you are to experience shopper theft.

Tower Systems has many years of experience in helping independent small business retailers mitigate em ploy theft and shopper theft. We leverage this experience for our customers through excellent POS software, free training, group training workshops, data analysis and expert witness support for authorities in specific cases.

Our advice to retailers is that you can cut the cost of theft if you manage your business to achieve this goal. Sadly, too many small business retailers do not do this because they do not see theft until it is too late. We say be on the front foot, manage to cut theft even when you cannot see it.

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FREE POS SOFTWARE TRAINING: HOW TO CUT THEFT IN YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS

May 6, 2016

1 Min read

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Next week, we run another of our popular Howe to cut theft in your retail business workshops. Run many times over many years, these free live workshops help engaged retailers to protect against theft, especially employee theft. Retailers using our POS software who encounter employee theft, especially expensive employee theft, have not undertaken this free and easily accessed training.

Our commitment to our small business retail customers is that we provide regular access to free live training workshops. This session is another of these free weekly opportunities.

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SMALL BUSINESS RETAIL MANAGEMENT ADVICE: HOW TO CUT EMPLOYEE THEFT

February 14, 2016

3 Min read

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Okay so we have shared advice on cutting employee theft before, many times in fact. The things is – employee theft continues in small business retail, too often. It can be reduced in any retail business if you follow this simple advice:

Use stock control. Enter new stock as it comes in, scan all sales and only reorder based on what you software says. Every month do a stock take. Popular item stock discrepancies are an indicator of theft.
Scan everything you sell. Do not use department keys as this makes it easier for employees to steal since they know there is no trackback to stock on hand.
Do your end of shift through your software and have a zero-tolerance policy on being over or under. Reconcile banking to your computer software end of shift.
Do spot cash balancing. Unexpected checks can uncover surprises.
Change your roster. Sometimes people work together to steal. One retailer found a family friend senior and their teenage daughter stealing consistently.
Check your Audit Log. Look at cancelled sales, deleted sales and items deleted from a sale.
Check GP by department. If GP is falling outside what you expect, research it further.
Setup a theft policy. Put this on a noticeboard in the back room. Get staff to read it and sign up to it. See the last page of this advice.
Keep the counter clean. A better organised counter reduces the opportunity for theft as it makes detection easier.
Have a no employee bags at the counter policy. This makes it harder for them to hide your cash.
Beware employees who carry folded paper or small notepads. These can be used for them to keep track of how much cash is in the register that is theirs – i.e. not rung up in the software.
Beware of calculators with memories at the counter.
Do not let employees sell to themselves. If they want to purchase something make them purchase it from the other side of the counter.
Be professional in your management of the business. The more professional your approach they less likely your employees will steal as they will see the risk of being caught as high.
Advise all job applicants that you will require their permission for a police check.
Do not take cash out for your own use in front of employees. If they see you take cash for a coffee or lunch some will see this as an invitation.

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A new employee theft training video for small business retailers from Tower Systems

November 24, 2015

1 Min read

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We are proud to have launched this new video on the weekend. It is having the desired effect of educating retail business owners.

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Helping small business retailers cut theft in their shops

September 8, 2015

1 Min read

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Small business POS software company Tower Systems is running training tomorrow for small business retailers on how to cut theft in a retail business. This specialist delivered training will cover strategies and tactics for cutting employee theft and shopper theft in any type of small retail business.

‘Drawing on considerable experience working with retailers and the police, this free training from Tower Systems will help retailers mitigate the cost of theft in their businesses.

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Aussie POS software helps small business retailers grow

April 18, 2015

1 Min read

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Small business retailers want to grow, who doesn’t? With rent and labour costs increasing each year, growth is mission critical. POS software company Tower Systems helps its customers grow by providing advice on how to use the software to grow.

As retailers ourselves we can provide practical advice on how to use the software to more than transact sales, we can help retailers use the software to grow their businesses. We do this every day on our help desk, through our consulting services, through our knowledge base and through our business mentoring assistance.

We encourage, guide, educate and support our small business retailer customers in their desire to grow their businesses. it’s something we take serviceably.

Even on the weekend. Take today, Saturday … we have been helping one business owner understand opportunities in their slow selling inventory pool to unlock cash and space for more productive use.

We are serious in our commitment to small business retailers from our software through to the practical advice and support we provide.

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POS software company provides more help to small business retailers reducing theft

April 4, 2015

1 Min read

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Tower Systems has been helping more retailers using its POS software POS software to deal with employee theft situations. We have a structured process for independently checking evidence without being influenced by stories. The process has been praised by police and prosecutors. It has been on show in court rooms where we have provided expert witness evidence.

Employees in retail businesses using our software are on notice. We have tools you will never find which can uncover behavior which indicates without a doubt that theft is occurring. This evidence has stood up scrutiny and resulted in successful action.

Our advice to retailers is to use the facilities in our software for theft reduction. If you have a concern, ask us for a free Theft Check service.

We’re here to help. That’s our motto. When it comes to employee theft, we’re in your corner and there to help you deal with it and get through the emotional and operational challenges of discovering a theft situation.

Our theft related work is undertaken at senior levels within the business. It is highly confidential. Our most cases are never discussed until completely closed and even then only ever without identifying details.

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