Slashdot Mirror
Retail Fraud on the Rise
prostoalex writes "They buy the merchandise, print their own receipts, and return it. They buy two watches - an expensive one and inexpensive one, and then swap them and return the one with the highest price. Business Week talks about retail scams, and how merchants are trying to avoid them without losing the customer service battle. They are fighting against surprisingly sophisticated techniques, too." From the article: "Q: What role do auction Web sites play in all this? A: Retailers have stopped giving cash back in many different cases. Instead, they do refunds in the form of gift cards or store credits or store value cards. If a crook can get enough of those, he might sell $2,500 worth of gift cards for $2,000 online. It's a benefit for the buyer, who gets a discount and will use those gift cards. And the person who has manipulated the return-scam system has a way to [make money]. But the retailers lose out. "
They need better item tracking through means that can't easily be forged. Such as, embedded serial numbers of various types or simply more competent employees to work the returns counter.
The CEO of Costco happens ot agree with you and employees are paid very well, given a good benefits package and so on. As a side effect Costco has a much lower turnover rate and employee theft rate than your average retail chain. They don't compensate with higher prices either.
And for all that, they still make a lot of money.
You'll never eliminate it, of course, some people are just greedy. Every person could live in luxury and there'd still be those who stole just to have more, but you are absolutly correct that when employees are paid for shit and treated like shit, they are much more prone to theft.
I know that it is stupidly difficult to commit retail fraud at Staples. Trust me. Why? Our all-encompassing POS system. Transaction histories, the ability to dig out a past receipt (no more "I lost it, but here's the item"), and linked transaction numbers. That, combined with checking the returned products (no computers filled with potatoes) and so on, make it that much more difficult for lowlife thieves.
In the 6 months I have worked here, the only crime I have heard about was all physical. Taking the box and running, taking a product out of the box and sneaking it out, etc. Pretty much all of the crimes committed in our stores are posted around the district. There are not too many of these, thankfully.
The article also talks about returning products being counted as fraud. I have not seen any evidence of it here. Of course, we don't sell fancy clothes you just want to wear once or whatever, but we flaunt our "bring it back in 30 days for any reason" policy and it doesn't even matter if they are just trying it out. If it's in saleable condition, sell it. Otherwise, return it to the manufacturer as defective. I don't see any problem. It might be a problem with the smaller retailers, but most of them also don't have return policies like we do.
Time to go, a customer is approaching the service desk.
Extended warranty, let me tell you a story.
1. Digital camera + ext. warranty is purchased for $375.00.
2. About 3 months from the expiry date (3 years later) of the warranty a battery tray and latch break.
3. The warranty provider just offers to "cash out" the warranty with a Staples gift card for full purchase price (3 years later).
4. Buy $20 part off ebay to restore digital camera to perfect condition, and use $375.00 towards a new camera that is infinitely better.
5. Thank you extended warranty.
Wrong Item? Your own damn fault.
Didn't do what the ads claimed it would do? Their fault. The UCC says they have to give you a refund. No 'restocking fee' allowed. Not only that, but if you have to buy the correct item somewhere else they owe you the difference in cost (see "Cover").
Your lucky. Most managers would just let you continue your call to the Attorney General's office.
Anytime you work in a corporate enviroment, you have little wiggle-room in what can and cannot be done. Basically, most managers are still tied to a bureaucratic process. In fact, a friend of mine was a manager at Best Buy. According to him (who just finished reading your post), he would have also given the number to the corporate legal dept had you asked. Basically, it's an SEP.
SEP = Someone Elses Problem.
Sad, I know. Would like fries with that?
Life is not for the lazy.
Instead of going through all that time with the Circuit City idiots, you could also have just returned the merchandise and then informed your credit card company. They would not have charged you for the bill and so informed Circuit City. I have had to do this myself a couple of times. The bank that issued my credit card was happy to do this for me after a brief explanation. They told me basically that the venders dont want to get in a pissing contest with the banks over something like this. My time spent and irritation was minimal. Amazing. Sometimes the system does work.