Secure your shop

At the end of August, employees at Hyannis Country Garden noticed that a plastic resin gator the length of a professional basketball player and a tortoise with a 5-foot-diameter shell, each weighing 100 pounds, were missing from the koi pond.

Nan Ingraham has worked at the garden center for about 18 years, and before 2013, could count the number of major crimes in the store on one hand.

Ingraham remembers when someone stole several plants from the Cape Cod, Massachusetts garden center. And another time she watched as a man tried to roll a 4-foot-tall grill down the store’s driveway during business hours without paying.

But this past year was different.

The garden statues were mascots for the business. Kids loved to pose on the giant merchandise for photos, Ingraham says, and the combined value of both was more than $2,000. Employees figured the theft must have happened at night, because, “They are just so big, you wouldn’t miss somebody trying to carry that away,” she says. And the 8-acre property is surrounded by a 6-foot-tall fence.

But they did miss it, because there weren’t security cameras surveying that part of the garden center, and the incident wasn’t caught on film. Ingraham posted a message on Facebook, asking people to share information. The story quickly caught the attention of the media, and videographer Eric Williams, who works for local news outlet the Cape Cod Times, decided to tell the story on YouTube. The video, which can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGkQYHO4ATA, is more Sherlock Holmes than six-o-clock newscast, playing up the mystery with a “Who done it?” theme. David Griffith, co-owner of Hyannis Country Garden, describes the incident in the video, and says the person who returns the property won't get in trouble and will receive a reward at an undisclosed amount.

“Around Sept. 7, toward the end of the day near closing, a man with a pickup truck came by and said he had both of them in the back of the truck,” Ingraham says. “He said his kids found them in the woods, that he was just returning them and didn’t want a reward or his name in the paper. They had a few scratches and dings on them, but they were in pretty good condition. We took them with no questions asked.”

Ingraham says the media attention and the lighthearted tone the nearly 50-year-old business took probably helped them get the garden décor back. After the incident, the business didn’t change much in terms of security, figuring it was an odd theft and likely a prank by local teenagers. But a few months later the business was struck again, and the circumstances were more serious.
 

Target for thieves

On Dec. 20, 2013, a group of people broke a window to get into Hyannis Country Garden, and they were inside the store for 15 to 20 minutes before they set off the door alarm, Ingraham says.

“They were stealing indoor growing equipment. They had grabbed a bunch of carts and filled them up, rolled them over to the broken window where they had got in, and that’s when the alarm must have gone off,” she says. “Panic must have set in because they didn’t get much on that break in.”

But less than a week later, on Christmas Eve, they came back.

“They had obviously done their homework. They found out where the cameras were, knew which doors not to touch, and stole expensive, high-dollar equipment like lights, ballasts, testers and other hydroponic equipment,” she says. “We didn’t have time to react from the first break in.”

Security expert and CEO of Armor Concepts Alan Young says this is a common pattern of thieves — they will often target a business more than once after they discover its vulnerabilities.

“If it happens once, it’s probably going to happen again and again, and often times it’s going to be the same people doing it,” he says. “With residential properties I’m not a huge proponent of video systems, but for retail I think it’s huge. People who are going to steal once from a retail site are going to steal again. They think, 'I got away with it once, I’ll get away with it again.'”
 

A foggy picture

Getting statistics on how often crimes happen at independent garden centers, or small businesses in general, is difficult. The FBI tracks property crimes at businesses, and the National Retail Federation and University of Florida have 100 or so major chains participate in a survey to determine their average shrink, which includes theft from shoppers and employees, supplier fraud and paperwork errors, but those numbers don’t necessarily reflect what’s going on in small businesses.

The average shrink in the 2011 NRF survey was 1.4 percent, a slight decrease from 2010 and much lower than the 4 to 6 percent seen throughout the ’90s. But Richard Hollinger, professor and chair for the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida, who has worked on the NRF survey for 20 years, says the “single largest crime category from a financial standpoint is crime against retailers.” Even though shrink was 1.4 percent on average for the 100 retailers surveyed, that added up to $34.5 billion in losses.

According to the Small Business Administration, the last time someone studied crime at small businesses specifically for the SBA was in the late 1990s. Bonnie Fisher, the author of the report, says in the abstract that “very few studies have examined either the nature and incidence of crime among small businesses or crime’s impact on small firms’ day-to-day operations, quality of work, worker and customer environments, sales and receipts.”

When Fisher surveyed 400 small businesses, 104 of which were retail establishments, in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota,13 percent of the businesses experienced at least one crime in the survey year, with burglary being the primary incident at 8 percent. On average, each incident cost the business $3,370. "While 91 percent of burglaries and 77 percent of vandalism crimes were reported to the police, none of the employee thefts were reported," according to the study.

Hollinger says although small businesses are not immune to employee theft, they have an advantage over the big box stores.

“They don’t have high levels of turnover, so often times they can foster and cultivate a more dedicated workforce who has a personal relationship with the owners as opposed to working with a large conglomerate,” he says, citing a study from the 1960s that found people are more likely to steal from owners they don’t know. “That said, you can also have situations where employees work for a mom-and-pop store or smaller regional store, and if they keep their heads below the radar, they can steal from the till for years and years and never be detected. If they’re really good, they can convince the owner of the store that they are indeed dedicated, trustworthy employees, and when these cases break, the owner is often most surprised.”
 

Keep honest people honest

Employee theft is happening, and many owners are unaware, says Sid Raisch, president of Advantage Development System. He says the percentage of overall shrink he sees with his clients is anywhere from 2 to 5 percent, but most aren’t keeping close track of the numbers.

“When I hear, ‘so and so would never steal from us’ or ‘they’d be the last person who would steal from us,’ I think, that’s the first person who would steal from them,” Raisch says, citing specific garden centers that found out employees or "loyal" customers were stealing from them. “The closer someone is to you, including family members, the more you trust them and the more vulnerable you are.”

So how do owners know who they can trust?

Raisch says it’s all about “keeping honest people honest.”

“Shrink from theft can be reduced by 50 percent just by having a security system installed,” he says. “Another benefit of video surveillance is that you can watch traffic patterns and see employee productivity. That is one other area of shrink that’s typically not considered, but it can [contribute to a] loss of profits. Some people look at that as an invasion of privacy, but you’re paying them and they're on your property.”

Raisch also suggests not allowing employees to ring themselves or family members out, and having the owner or manager handle those transactions. Another way to monitor accounting errors is to periodically ask employees to ring you out and see how accurate they are. Training them to count back change, what Raisch referred to as a “lost art,” is another way to prevent shrink.

If you do catch an employee stealing, Raisch says the best thing to do is report it to the police and prosecute. Many owners are hesitant to move forward with charges, but it's an important deterrent.

Another way to discourage theft is show people you’re watching the numbers. Keep track of the selling price, discounts and revenue brought in and know the shrink percentage. Have cameras in loading/receiving areas, and count the merchandise when you receive it to make sure there aren’t inventory errors.

“Cases should be opened and compared to the packing slip and what’s actually delivered. It’s a pain to do that but important. Catching mistakes increases profits. It sends a loud message to vendors to be sure they are accurate on your orders,” Raisch says. But bigger loads of items can be difficult. “How do you know how much mulch is in the truck? Get on a ladder and look. Just looking in there gives [vendors] the feeling that [owners] are checking, and periodically they should measure out the whole load. They should do that on a regular basis because it keeps honest people honest.”
 

Invest in a safe future

After Hyannis was hit twice, they installed more video cameras and added motion detectors.

Security expert Alan Young says the best way to prevent the crimes from happening again is not only adding cameras, lights and security systems, but making it obvious you’ve installed them.

“Have a sign that says ‘video surveillance’ or 'premises under surveillance from video,’” Young says. “Telling people someone is always watching what you’re doing will go a long way to prevent petty crimes that happen in retail businesses.”

And establish policies if employees are caught stealing, he says, so the rules are clear.

"Make sure you have decent perimeter security measures up; make sure you have decent locks and that back doors are not an easy way for people to take stuff out,” he says.

Experts say security systems are becoming increasingly affordable, and DIY systems can be purchased and installed for less than $1,000. If you're looking into professional monitoring and installation, ADT’s basic security system that includes monitoring by the company starts at $99 to install “after typical promotions,” says Elise Askenazi, a spokeswoman for the company. And monthly monitoring fees start at about $40, but vary depending on service level. ADT also has a program that includes video surveillance and the ability to monitor businesses via mobile device. That starts at $399 for installation and monthly monitoring fees are $51 to $63.

One of the most challenging factors for garden centers is that much of their merchandise is kept outdoors. Richard Christakes, CEO of Alsip Home & Nursery, says his outside shrink rate peaked at 13 percent in 2012, and he was brainstorming ways to reduce it. He had already installed an extensive video surveillance system five years ago with 32 cameras at both of his retail stores that feed into his office.

“In my office I have a projector, and I can see everything that’s going on on our property,” he says. “It gets recorded to a server, and I can go back a couple of weeks if I need to and burn it on a DVD quite easily. We’ve used it for various circumstances: if someone slips and falls in the store or there’s a hit and run in the parking lot, we can find out exactly what happened.”

But product from that outside area, which includes trees, shrubs, perennials, mulch, soil, brick and rock, kept disappearing. So in March 2013, Christakes built what he calls a “guard shack,” a 10 foot by 10 foot structure with an electronic gate arm stationed by an employee who helps check out customers and monitors deliveries and traffic. And in less than one year, he reduced the amount of outside shrink by 7 percent, and by 2 percent storewide.

“I think we absolutely made the right decision here. The outside area improved our customer service, it reduced our shrink, it increased our security and improved our efficiencies,” Christakes says. “And our sales went up. It definitely helped our bottom line.”

It was an investment, but it was worth it, he says.

“Don’t be afraid to spend some money for an area that would be more secure, whether it’s for fencing or an outside checkout with an electronic gate if that’s what suits your situation, because in the long run, it’s going to save you a ton of money.”
 

Keep your eyes open

Greeting customers when they walk in is a simple, good business practice and a deterrent to people looking to steal merchandise, experts agree. Train employees on how to handle situations and what to do if they do catch someone trying to steal an item. Have a policy, but also try to deescalate the situation.

Ingraham says many people try to hide or forget about merchandise in the bottom or back of garden carts, so employees are trained to inspect carts at the register.

They also help customers carry merchandise to their cars. Raisch suggests having employees check receipts before customers walk out the door as well.

Sometimes, a little bit of creativity and kindness can go a long way, too. Instead of threatening to punish the culprits who stole the gator and tortoise, Ingraham thinks their social media posts and fun, lighthearted video helped get their products back, and it created a community watch system. The cameras they did have installed during the December break in paid off, too. The people who broke in were arrested.

“It’s just about keeping your eyes open. We’re really good about approaching our customers and saying hello to make sure they know that we know they’re there and we recognize them,” Ingraham says. “It’s a good business practice and a good deterrent to people looking to steal.”