This article is brought to you by Cash Depot.
Shrink can be caused by internal theft or general human error of cash management, but the majority—two-thirds—of retail shrink is from external theft.
And with large amounts of cash in the store, convenience retailers find themselves easy targets.
“Experts know criminals decide to commit crimes based on potential risks versus rewards,” said Sean Burke, CEO of Cash Depot. “Risks are the perceived chances of getting caught and the possible consequences, while rewards are the possible benefits of a criminal activity. Large amounts of cash in registers are a known ‘reward’ trigger. The same can be said for cash levels in back-office safes and in cash recyclers.”
The solution is two-fold: retailers need to first create a higher risk perception to deter low-level crimes, and second, reduce the reward threshold to make criminal activity less attractive. This is especially effective for repeat criminals. According to data from the National Retail Federation, 70% of retailers have reported an increase in theft from repeat offenders. You don’t want to give people with bad intent a reason to come back.
Burke suggested making sure your cameras are visible, including displaying video screens that show cameras are working, and making your locations a go-to destination for law enforcement as steps retailers can take to up the risk factor for criminals considering your store.
As for reducing the reward, “Retailers can reduce the risk of robbery by up to 80% by lowering the amount of cash on-site. One way to do this is to deposit store cash more often,” said Burke. “But for manual cash management, that means making more trips to the bank and more exposure for cash outside the store environment. For stores with smart safes, cash recyclers or armored carriers, it means more armored truck visits … and greater service costs.”
He said Cash Depot’s BANK IN A BOX doesn’t rely solely on armored carriers or employees to reduce in-store cash. Instead, it recycles store deposits for use in the consumer-facing ATM and financial kiosk portion of the system.
“Rather than sitting in the machine waiting to be targeted by criminal activity, cash walks out of the store in the hands of your customers,” he explained.
“You can’t control crime,” he added, “but you can influence the likelihood of your store being a target. A simple step is to have less cash inside the walls of your c-store, and to keep the cash you do have more secure.”
Dive into more content about cash management sponsored by Cash Depot. Read about cash management and recycling, the hidden costs of cash management, and how to save on cash management, provisional credit, interest and fees.