“What’s to be done about shoplifting?”
asks Canadian syndicated columnist, and economist, Bruce Whitestone.
In a column this week, Whitestone claims “that when it comes to thwarting culprits, stores seem unable to be innovative.”
“Clearly,” he says, “different methods need to be adopted.” He argues for better employee screening, and suggests that it might be effective to impose first offense jail terms and mandatory sentencing for second offenses.
An Economist’s Suggestion
Then, as economists often do, he looks at financial incentives.
Stores should offer customers a $100 reward or anyone seeing and reporting shoplifting.
Shoplifters would not know who’s watching them, writes Whitestone, and “customers would be keen on trying to win a $100 bonus.”
Real World Experience?
American Theft Prevention did find some retailers who have used this approach, but practical implementation seems very limited.
- Over the years, there have been stores that offer employees and/or customers a bonus for catching shoplifters.
- In the UK, there’s an online service that pays a reward to viewers who catch a shoplifter by monitoring video at home.
- And at least one chain of supermarkets in Singapore is trying this approach with customers. Customers who alert the store to a shoplifter receive a voucher to use in the store.
Concerns
In his book The Retailers Guide to Loss Prevention and Security, author Donald Horan looks that issue of offering rewards to employees. Although employee bonuses are somewhat different than rewards to the public to help combat shoplifting, he does raise some important considerations:
Pluses
Motivation – encourages people to “go beyond the call of duty.”
Positive Example – this will help promote positive action.
Concerns
Disincentive to do what’s expected - For an employee, Loss Prevention is part of the job. To reward a single aspect might be looked at as relieving the employee of LP duties. Is it the public’s duty to report shoplifters?
Bounty Hunting – are you distracting employees from doing their job? Are you encouraging a group of “customers” who are simply looking for shoplifters.
Unsafe Behavior – are you encouraging street chases and assault to catch a shoplifter, potentially creating an even more unsafe situation, and greater liability.
What’s Rewardable - What if someone is simply responding to an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) alarm?
What Do You Think?
Do you have experience deterring shoplifting through financial incentives? Do you think this approach will work?
Join our discussion. Lets us know what programs you’ve implemented. What worked and what didn’t.
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You can do something about shoplifting! American Theft Prevention Products has tools to help retailers combat shoplifting. Visit www.AmericanTheftPrevention.com or call 866-416-0999 or 847-972-6540.
