Better Photoshop Techniques sells for $24.95. Our buy price is $18.71. One copy stolen costs us the GP from three sales. This happened to us this week, a copy stolen. It’s frustrating because of the high cover price. It hits harder than losing a $3.95 magazine. No wonder newsagents automatically early return higher priced magazines. The cost of the theft risk is too high.
I’d like to see discussion opened on the cost of magazine shrinkage. At the moment newsagents wear 100% of the cost and with it costing between 3% and 5% of turnover we’re losing the battle. The problem is even worse since we do not control what we receive and therefore cannot manage our risk as effectively ads we otherwise might.
While publishers could say that we ought to better manage the risk in store, this is not easily done in higher rent situations where occupancy costs can be 15% or even higher, labour at 12%, expenses at 5% and, well, there is nothing left in the 25% GP for magazines for the kind of on the ground security necessary to stop magazine theft.
In my newsagencies the team is vigilant and, yes, people are caught. Â But we also miss people – we see a report weekly of the cost of magazine theft as we return product.
I’d like publishers and distributors to discuss the shrinkage problem with newsagents. It is unfair for newsagents to continue to carry the high cost while they, publishers and distribution, support moving top selling product outside the newsagency channel.
I just had some stock walk out the door.
I saw her do it.
I have it on video.
I cannot detain her (she refused to stay and started walking and without using physical force we could not keep her)
Where are our rights on this matter? We are so concious of their rights that we are nowhere. I have written to my state premier but I think its time we were more supportive of the rights of shopkeepers to defend their stock.
Brett,
I wold put their photo up in the window. While some will say their are privacy issues, the violation of your business by them is the bigger issue.
Mark
Did you get the item off her? If you did you can ban her from your store and if she comes back she can be charged with trespass.
I dare say this lady knows her way around the system – probably from experience.
She refused a bag search – she refused to return the item. She had a large male friend to accompany her.
She has a right to refuse a serach. She has the right to walk away from my request to stay pending arrival of the police. she has the right to privacy. She has the right of presumed innocence.
I have the right to watch it all happen. I think it may be time for some of these do-gooder laws to change.
I think you did the right thing, it’s not worth a black eye or a blood nose for a magazine. Just don’t let her back in next time or if she comes back ask her if she’s back to pay for it.
I’ve mainly had problems with kids. I’ve educated them by telling them that in the middle east they chop thieves hands of then and there (this seems to work!) and teens that steal textas for tagging I threaten to draws whiskers on their faces seeing they haven’t bought paper and “wouldn’t dare” write on walls.
There’s various ways to combat theft, probably the best if you can is to continually watch them the whole time – this unsettles them.
Talk to your local police and show them the video as if she has prior form they may know her.
The constabulary have the video-they said don’t hold your breath.
Sorry for going on its just a bad day today. You bust a gut to earn a quid and some mongeral comes in and walks out the door with it.
Yes, it is crap. I felt better when I stuck their photo in the window. The landlord made me take it down the next day and by then I felt better.
mark
The wheel of God is a slow one but a very efficient one – they’ll get their’s. Like the kid with the whisker’s, his mum wasn’t impressed!
I put their pictures up on our LCD screens in store, along with a description of what they stole. With a bit of animation and nice colours it draws a lot of attention!
Police and Centre Mgt have all had a look at it and as yet not one complaint (police asked me for a copy of the pictures as they are a “person of interest” in another investigation).
Best thing is that people coming into my store know I have security vision and if they get caught they have a guest appearance on my “Dis-Honour Roll”.
This generates a lot of discussion at the front counter both amongst customers and between customers and staff.
I have been doing this for around 4 months without one negative comment, and i am in a major regional shopping centre. Some kids from one of the high schools have identified one of the offenders and there is a steady stream of students coming to check out the pictures of what they did.