It’s Inventory’s dirty little secret: The “five-fingered discount.” But there are ways — short of surveillance cameras and guard dogs — to keep those fingers out of your pockets.

The polite term for vanishing inventory? “Shrinkage.”

Isn’t that what happens with cottons in the hot-water cycle?

Seriously, “shrinkage” — theft — is a problem everywhere.

According to one expert:

• 20% of people will always steal
• 20% of people will never steal, and
• 60% of people will steal if it’s easy enough.

There are several no-cost strategies, though, that’ll discourage potential “shrinkage” artists.

1. Do you belong here? At most businesses, pretty much anyone has access to Inventory and warehouse areas. Limit that. It’s not even the other employees you have to worry most about. Think of the vendors, manufacturers’ reps and truckers who have access to your inventory. For some of them, “point me to your restroom” might be a carte blanche request to grab a few items. SOLUTION: Make sure any Inventory outsiders are escorted at all times.

2. Make your presence known. Make regular walk-throughs, at random times. Address employees by name (it subtly says, “I know who you are.”) It also makes it harder to steal when the company is no longer an impersonal, faceless target.

3. Hang around the exit. Bid workers farewell at the end of the shift, thank them for a job well done, wish them a safe trip home — and watch for anyone who suddenly backtracks. That person might be trying to swipe something and got cold feet when he or she saw you.

4. Check by the doors, and watch the trash bins. Make sure there aren’t any areas around the exits where workers could stash something they’d pick up on the way out. At the same time, it’s a common ploy to take goods “out with the trash” and fetch them later from the trash bin. Move trash bins away from the building, and this becomes more difficult.

5. Finally, when in Rome, do as … One Inventory manager reported that he was having “shrinkage” trouble with a specific item. Turns out that the item was something that was very useful, and some workers found it easier to pick one up at work rather than shop for it. SOLUTION: The manager offered workers the opportunity to buy the item at cost. Workers ponied up and put cash on the barrel head; shrinkage vanished.

Tags: inventory, shrinkage, warehouse