Early Signs of Theft that Retailers Should Be Watching For

When employees want to start stealing from a store they work at, they almost always test the waters. This means they check to see if anyone is watching. An employee may intentionally cause a shortage or manipulate the system to see if anyone catches it. For instance, they may sell scratch-off tickets to a customer without charging them. If the shortage goes unnoticed, they may repeat the test a few more times and then begin taking tickets themselves.

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Sometimes this test happens by accident. An employee will make a genuine mistake and stay silent in the hopes of not getting in trouble. If this error goes unnoticed, they get comfortable and take it as their opportunity to start stealing. They think, “No one is watching me, let me see if I can do something else and get away with it.”

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The Warning Shots in Lottery Theft

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Lottery-related losses often snowball into huge amounts because of late detection. When an employee sees a shortage go unnoticed, theft can become rampant and add up quickly, sometimes resulting in entire packs of lottery tickets being stolen.

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Theft should be detected in 24 hours or less, and technology such as LottoShield can make this happen automatically. If management is alerted within 24 hours of detection, theft can be contained, leading to significantly less losses.

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When managing employee theft, it is important to track metrics such as voids, no-sales, lottery shortages, or drawer inconsistencies.  In the case of lottery overages and shortages, even $1 needs to be thoroughly investigated and trained on. This helps establish clear expectations with the employee on duty and ensures accountability. Retailers must closely track lottery metrics and integrate them with POS data to get a full picture of what’s happening.

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When lottery theft snowballs out of control, it is a huge burden on small and large organizations alike. It leads to company goals and objectives being placed on hold and multiple people being sucked into an investigation. Then, the same flawed process with some increased vigilance is put back into place, just to break down again.

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‍Quick Tips For Preventing Lottery Theft

Preventing theft starts with proactive measures and clear policies. Here are some smart safeguards that you can put in place to keep your lottery inventory safe and secure.

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1. Implement a strict “no playing” policy during employees’ shifts and put up a sign on the machine and lottery case that employees are not allowed to play on their shift.
2. Lock the scratch-off case and take the keys so only one person (typically the store owner or manager) has access to it.
3. Make sure packs in the stock room are marked with a “confirmed” status.
4. Make sure packs are locked up.
5. Get dedicated software like LottoShield to help automate theft detection and tracking.

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Check out a quick demo of LottoShield to discover how this lottery management solution is helping large and small retailers selling lottery tickets across the nation.