WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – Just 23 major retailers apprehended more than 1.1 million shoplifters and dishonest employees, and recovered over $189 million from these thieves in 2012, according to the 25th Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International. Nearly 72,000 workers were caught stealing last year, a 5.5% uptick from 2011, BusinessNewsDaily reports. 

“The seriousness of retail theft is a much greater problem than many people realize,” said Mark Doyle, president of Jack L. Hayes International. “These theft losses are stealing profits from retailers and driving retail prices higher for the consumer.”

The firm found that generally, that new employees and part-time workers were more likely to be caught stealing more often, Doyle said.

Jack L. Hayes International found the upswing in employee theft could be attributed to ineffective pre-employment screening, less employee supervision, an overall decline in honesty, and the easy selling of stolen goods.

“Customer service is still the best deterrent to theft, so [businesses] need to hire honest, motivated and outgoing employees,” said Doyle in BusinessNewsDaily. “Then, adequately train these employees with loss-prevention training and awareness programs, as they are the first line of defense on the sales floor.” 

“There’s no reason to think that convenience retail is immune from this trend,” Rollie Trayte, with Rolland W. Trayte Consulting, told NACS Daily. “Given the narrow margins overall, it's increasingly important that companies utilize the loss prevention checks and balances built into most point-of-sale systems including voided transactions, returns, average transaction amounts and scan errors or exceptions.”

Trayte recommends making sure retailers don’t contribute to the problem because of tight staffing levels and weak security systems. “Don’t scrimp on your security systems,” he said. “Having a high quality CCTV system is important as an operational tool to monitor customer service as well as to conduct periodic checks for security purposes. Make sure a transaction window is interfaced to the CCTV system and conduct periodic checks to make sure transactions are accurately recorded, the drawer is closed between transactions (not working out of an open drawer) and that proper compliance measures like checking ID are in place for age restricted items like alcohol and tobacco.”

NACS has a comprehensive convenience store security and safety program available to help retailers reduce crime and improve safety.