Stop Theft with Houston Surveillance Camera Installation

While Houston retail store owners have to be concerned with shoplifting and other forms of customer theft, these are not the only types of theft occurring in their stores. In fact, it is more common for store employees to steal from their employers using various tactics and methods which will go unnoticed unless you obtain the right Houston surveillance camera installation.

One of the most common forms of employee theft is cash register theft. There are numerous types of cash register, including:

• Substitute Scanning – This form of theft occurs when the employee uses a different scan tag than is on the item. Normally they collect the larger value from the customer for their purchase, even though they rang up a lower amount. Typically, the employee waits until the customer leaves the store to complete the sale, in case the customer asks for a receipt, so they can cancel the fraudulent sale and ring up the items correctly.
• No Rings – The cashier does not ring up any items, but charges the customer for them, only to pocket the money later, normally towards the end of their shift.
• Short Rings – Stealing in this manner is similar to substitute scanning and is common in retail stores without a scanning system.
• Sweet-Hearting – This is where your employee has a second person come into the store to act like a customer. They can use substitute scanning and short rings on the items, where large ticket items are rung up at deeply discounted prices, or purposely skip ringing up specific items altogether.
• Short Changing – This form of theft is committed against your customers because the cashier gives them back the incorrect change and pockets the difference.
• Pilfering – The employee steals cash right out of the till and puts it in their pocket. Normally, pilfering occurs in retail stores where more than one employee has to share the same register.
• Cancels – The employee rings up the entire sales transaction, collects payment from the customer, waits for them to leave the store, and then cancels the sale to pocket the money.
• Voids – The employee voids previously completed cash transactions and steals the cash.
• Returns and Refunds – Similar to voids, but typically involves a second person, where they simply bring merchandise up to the counter and the employee does a return on the items and completes the transaction by giving their friend the cash refund.
• Vendor Payouts – This type of theft is common in stores which pay vendors in cash. The employee will use no sales or no rings to open the till and pay the vendor. After they leave, they increase the payout amount, ring up the payout and put the extra cash in their pocket.
• No Sales – No sales are commonly a gray area when it comes to retail operations. There are legitimate reasons for opening the till, like to make change for a customer, or in cases where the cashier accidently made incorrect change and shut the till. However, employees use no sales as an opportunity to remove cash from the till, which they have accumulated over their shift using other methods of stealing.

The best method for combating cash register theft by your employees is to obtain a POS interface as part of your Houston surveillance camera installation. This interface is where every cash register transaction is uploaded directly and overlaid onto video recordings. As you playback the recordings, you see every item rung up, and the dollar amount as it appears on the customer’s receipt. A typical camera installation setup with a cash register interface involves positioning cameras at the register and directed at the cashier, the customer, and the items they are purchasing.

For more information about POS interfacing and surveillance systems, give us a call today at 281-326-0790 and schedule your free security system consultation appointment.