How often are employees caught stealing?

Workplace theft is more common than most small business owners think. According to statistics, about 75\% of employees have stolen from their employer once and about 38\% have stolen at least twice. () When you include theft of time, the percent of employees that have stolen from their employer goes up to a whopping 95\%!

Can store employees stop shoplifters?

Under California law, the “shopkeeper’s privilege law” says that shopkeepers, or store owners or merchants, may detain a customer if they have probable cause / reasonable grounds to believe that the shopper is guilty of shoplifting (per Penal Code 459.5).

Do employees shoplift?

Like shoplifters, employees may simply steal inventory items either to keep for themselves or to sell after the fact. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways from simply hiding small items in pockets or elaborate plans like hiding items in the trash and retrieving them from the dumpster after.

How do employees steal from employers?

The five most common ways employee theft occurs are petty theft, data theft, cash larceny, skimming fraud and fraudulent disbursements.

How much is shoplifted every year?

The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) found that shoplifting costs retailers about $50 billion every year, and the American taxpaying public a total of about $33.21 billion yearly, or about $75,000 every minute! 7. For the average retailer, losses due to shoplifting average 1.7\% of all gross sales.

What happens if you steal from a store you work at?

The company you stole from could charge you with gross misconduct and fire you immediately. Or you could face suspension, without pay, while the company conducts an investigation, in which case you could still be terminated or face a major demotion or transfer. And yeah — you may also face criminal charges as well.

Do employees or customers steal more?

According to a report from Statistic Brain[3], employees steal more than $50 billion from U.S. businesses annually. Many businesses focus on putting cameras and other controls in place to prevent theft by customers, but dishonest employees actually steal approximately 5.5 times more than shoplifters[4].

Is there such a thing as a typical shoplifter?

In fact, there is no such thing as a “typical” shoplifter. According to NASP, both men and women shoplift in approximately equal proportion. Moreover, about 25\% of shoplifters are underage. Among adult shoplifters, 55\% say they started shoplifting in their teens.

What should you do when you see someone shoplifting from your employer?

No matter how it happens, when you see someone shoplifting from your employer, you need to take action to prevent the shop from losing money. The question is, what should you do? It might be tempting to pull out the moves you learned in your weekend self-defense class and perform a citizen’s arrest, but that’s not always the best approach.

Is shoplifting an epidemic in America?

With numbers this high, it is obvious that shoplifting is nearly epidemic in America. Some people think of shoplifting as a victimless crime, given that many retail stores (especially “big box” stores like Wal-Mart or Costco) have such high volume of sales, but this is far from the case.

Should Staples have let the suspected shoplifter go?

According to reports filed by King County Sheriff’s Deputies, the collision happened as the juvenile suspect was “running from employees.” Pratt and her attorneys believe Staples workers should have let the suspected shoplifter go.