Years ago we helped a retailer investigate an employee theft problem. Using encrypted transaction data from their POS software, we isolated the days and times where discrepancies were appearing, matched them against the roster, and identified the most likely person. When confronted, the employee admitted to taking around $20 a day.
The reason they gave was not what the owner expected.
The boss took cash from the till for lunch. So they did the same.
The idea of stealing hadn’t occurred to them independently. They watched the owner take money from the register without ringing it through and drew a straightforward conclusion: this is normal here.
The owner hadn’t thought of it as theft. A few dollars for lunch — their business, their money. But watched by a staff member, it looked exactly like what it was: taking cash without processing it.
That’s one of the harder things to sit with in small business retail. The standards your team follows aren’t the ones written down anywhere. They’re the ones you demonstrate every day, on the floor, in front of people who are paying more attention than you think.
Handle cash loosely and some staff will handle it loosely. Take shortcuts on process and some staff will take the same shortcuts. Not everyone, and not immediately — but you’ve shown them it’s acceptable, and that’s enough.
The practical response isn’t complicated. Run every transaction through the system, your own lunch included. Pay yourself properly rather than dipping into the till. Use your POS the way you expect your staff to use it. And when something looks off in your data, investigate it — not assuming the worst, but not ignoring it either.
The encrypted transaction data in this case did its job. It gave the conversation a factual basis rather than an accusation, which matters both for resolving the situation and for treating the employee fairly.
But the real problem wasn’t the employee. It was what the owner had been quietly teaching them for months without knowing it.
In our POS software we have tools available for early detection of employee theft, tools many retailers have used to catch theft earlier than they otherwise might.
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The right POS system or website for any retail business depends on the specific needs of the business. Tower offers POS software and websites made specifically for local small business retailers in a selection of retail channels. To see if we might help you…, request a free, no-obligation demo today.
Call 1300 662 957 in Australia or 0800 444 367 in New Zealand. Or, email sales@towersystems.com.au.
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