Theft of cash from US retailers has increased by 8 per cent at the same time as the number of stores using secure storage at POS dropped, according to a study.
Published by Retail Knowledge, the organisers of the Retail Risk conference series; and sponsored by Volumatic, the US Retail Fraud Survey 2015, now in its third year, is an extensive study of the retail fraud and loss prevention systems, processes and strategies employed by of 100 of the US’s top retailers.
The latest survey showed that cash theft, one of the top areas of store loss for retailers, represents the second biggest area of store loss at 26 per cent of shrink. This is an 8 per cent increase since last year’s survey. The survey also found that, during the same period, the number of stores using secure cash storage systems at the POS dropped by 2 per cent.
James Harris of Volumatic, one of the survey sponsors, says: “On a per transaction basis, cash remains the cheapest, fastest and most popular way for retailers to accept payment, representing an important opportunity for retailers. Those retailers wishing to take advantage of this opportunity are increasingly employing intelligent cash handling systems to substantially reduce cash shrink, enhance security, streamline cash handling processes and deliver significant operational efficiencies. Whilst to suggest that the reduction in use of secure POS is directly responsible for the dramatic increase in cash shrink would be to oversimplify a complex issue, those retailers affected may well wish to review their cash handling systems, in the light of this information, and re-examine how they store, validate, count and move their cash; both around their stores and to their bank.”
Other areas of store loss highlighted by the survey include:
– Employee theft is identified as the biggest area of store loss at 38 per cent of shrink;
– Administrative and bookkeeping errors account for the third biggest area of loss at 23 per cent; a 10 per cent increase; and
– Shoplifting is the fourth biggest area of loss in stores at 11 per cent.
