There are many different ways to defraud someone in a
POS-type job, all of which involve
sleight of hand,
social engineering, and playing
innocent if you get
caught. Payment
feigning, mathematical
overages, and sum-up
change errors are the most common ways, backed up by documentation and actual studies done. Sadly enough, conspiracy to defraud is hard to catch, because you have to prove intent, but it is possible.
The
sad and unfortunate reality in this
exchange is that in the vast majority of cases, you're digging into a
slush fund of sorts, not an individual employee's pay, and to an extent, not even to a company's profits. This margin is
calculated into an
individual business's
costs as a
retail,
grocery, and general POS term known as "
shrink"; a generic calculation of the bottom line of
human and
mechanical error in small amounts. This is not to
trivialize the crime of petty theft, but companies do business based around the fact that people will try to steal
candy bars, want triple paper bags for
reinforcement, and try to
nickle-and-dime petty amounts from register clerks. Every department store has a
cash-handling department (in some form or title) dedicated to tracking and reducing this "shrink".
In fact, one
twisted way that you see
shrink reduction and calculation in action is in new "check yourself out"
grocery store lines. They are faster, work largely by
credit card (less cash handling woes, though some do take cash
7), and you simply don't need the four to eight people to staff the lines (
cashier /
bagging). Your staffing needs are reduced to one or two people to supervise the operation. Even though you will technically see a greater increase in theft, the bottom line is that you can save yourself money by reallocating your
workforce. The benefits
outweigh the additional potential shrink, and the bottom line still wins.
Even one of the most
stringent cash handling
professions,
banking, has acceptable shrink
limits. While it is
possible to have a perfect drawer every time, it is easy to misroll pennies, have bills that stick together, and occasionally simply
miscount. For an eight-hour retail shift, most
direct to customer positions are given a few
dollars of
underage or
shortage in either direction. Most places have fair shrink stances in that being over in your drawer carries an equal penalty to being short, (even though technically the
house is making money). While small
miscounts in drawers do not
constitute a
discipline-worthy offense, continued
differences, or large individual differences typically get the notice of people in
management.
In many locations (see references to:
OR 1,
WI 2, and the
UK3), it is illegal to withhold from an employee paycheck for any reason relating to business or operating losses (shrink). Other states, such as
HI 4 and
WA 5 make a provision that an employer cannot recover losses from wages if more than one person has been at that particular till. Still more states need to file a
civil action against you to recover the money as an
operating loss.
Criminal theft from customers and
shoplifting employees requires the same burden of proof required in
prosecuting customers looking to defraud, except the opportunity is greater. If you need to find out specific information about your
locale, many
unions and local
Chamber(s) of Commerce will have access to employer/employee relationship laws that govern wage. This is a valuable recourse if you feel that you are being deducted from
unjustly. All things considered however, it is probably simply easier to fire you under accusations of theft; a rather dire
black mark on your employment history.
In every cash-handling
training program worth its salt, the methods of bill feigning and
change rounding are explicitly discussed. Whether or not you have an
inattentive customer causing the issue, or someone looking to score a free ten dollars, there are certain best practices for handling money exchanges that insure a fair
transaction, for both you and the house.
The number one strategy is keep all
inbound money
visible at all times. After you have taken a bill from a
customer, be sure to place it on top of the till or in another place where both you and the customer can see it. Typically, there is a bar above where the drawer sticks out that makes an ideal place. Once they can clearly see where you have placed the bill, the social engineering aspect of "hey, I gave you a fifty" loses its ability to defeat you. You'll see a lot of POS folks casually doing this as it is advised by many major chains as a "best practice".
Math-based
swindling is oftentimes defeated by an open counting process. Many times you'll see someone count
up to the amount of change desired. The ideal count-up transaction should work like this:
Cashier: That'll be 16.45
Customer: Okay, well, here's 25.50
Cashier: 5 cents makes 16. (counting singles) 17..18..19..20.. and 5 makes 25.50
If someone tries to change the end amount, always reset your count to the initial amount and count up until you get to the
transaction total, again leaving all inbound money available in
plain sight but out of reach of the customer. This maintains control over the transaction and keeps people from overaging or
off by one errors.
Do not for a
minute think that there are not ways that people are tracked at the grocery store. Every possible
permutation,
calculation, and
intersection of grocery store datasets are calculated and reported on for maximum prediction of fraud situations, especially in big name stores (and all of the convenience stores I run POS machines in). If you're looking to get away with a petty
hustle there are a lot of
factors that are tracked to match large overage
patterns, including
discount cards, times of
shopping, items included in the
purchase, etc. I have personally witnessed scams that have been busted inside of stores that have spanned across
chains and
locations, because of people using
fraudulent coupons, POS swindling techniques, and even
company insiders helping them. Especially in larger stores
equipped to handle this sort of fraud, these patterns are closely watched and
analyzed, as small
percentages mean big dollars to those sorts of
companies. Mom and pop marts are most vulnerable, but are oftentimes met with strict customer service people not very far away from the register.
In the end, as a
POS person, either professionally or as a
summer job, know what your rights are and know how to stop that kind of
shrink. It's better for your
employer (who ultimately can cut your
check or
cut you loose), and saves you the hassles of getting
written up and spoken to about being a better cash handler. While you may be able to steal small bits here and there for
low risk, you're likely to get defeated at the register or possibly by some
uncomfortable stares from security guards and managers as you are escorted out of the building, correct change in hand.
Okay sir, that's: 98...99...1000 dollars 6. Thanks for coming to Mom and Pops. Have a good evening.
- Oregon Wage Laws: http://www.boli.state.or.us/wage/employment.html#paychecks
- Wisconsin Wage Laws: http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwd/publications/236a/LS-45-P.pdf
- Hawaii Wage Laws: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol07_ch346-398/hrs388/HRS_388-6.htm
- Reference to UK Employment Law: http://www.gordonbancks.co.uk/Areas_of_expertise/Employment_Law/employ08.htm
- Reference to Washington State Employee Rights Law: http://www.consumerrights.net/employeerights2.html
- $1000 and/or six months in prison is the maximum punishment for petty theft under California State Law (section 490): http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=5562562354+1+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
- Thanks to mkb for the report on a cash-taking self-serve checkout.