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Book Review- 'What in the World is Going On?' by Dr. David Jeremiah
Expert Witnesses & Blogs
I was on Linkedin.com the other day and got involved in a discussion about expert witnesses who write blogs. The premise of the discussion was whether experts should write blogs and if they do, could they be used by attorneys to discredit them.
My opinion is that a blog is no different than an article, book or even a comment you leave on someone's blog, and that the content could always be used to weaken the expert's credibility. I also believe that the opinions I express on my blog are going to be consistent with my opinions under oath.
The link below is an article that recaps this discussion very nicely. Please take a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.ims-expertservices.com/newsletters/aug/expert-blogs-loose-lips-sink-trials-082008.asp
Fake Receipts
www.falseexpense.com
'Last Lecture' Professor Randy Pausch Dies
Please click on the link to see his video. You will remember it for the rest of your life.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D924VKDG4&show_article=1
Protecting The Information
My favorite is the briefcase. 300,000 volts, ouch!
http://www.csoonline.com/article/429363/Protecting_Joe_s_Office?contentId=429363&slug=&source=nlt_csoupdate
Survey
A recent article stated that a survey of retailers believe that a reduction in their Loss Prevention budget will bring an increase in their shrink. Ya Think??? Of course it will! Our economy is in the tank, thousands of people are losing their jobs, gasoline prices are at record levels, sales at most retailers are down and there needs to be a survey about losses and theft increasing in this country? Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Why Do We Trust So Much?
A recent article stated that a woman was caught embezzling $150,000 through the use of her company's credit cards. This company hired her as their bookkeeper even though she had stolen more than $243,000 from her previous employer. She had spent 3 years in prison for her first theft and the second company did not do a background check before hiring her.
It continues to amaze me how a company will not spend less than $200.00 for a complete background check to prevent a loss like this of over $200,000. Think of all of the time, money and aggravation it would have prevented.
Could this happen in your company?
Great Questions!
<img src="http://www.blawg.com/claimscript.aspx?userid=Kgsmith&LinksID=1907">I ask my clients these questions to help me (and them ) figure out how to resolve their issues/problems. See if they help you. They are in no particular order.
- What does GREAT security mean to you?
- How can I help get you there?
- If you had only 1 security issue to fix/improve, what would it be?
- What security problem keeps you up at night?
- Would your company be more profitible or your employees & customers more safe with improved security?
- Is security in the Top 3 on your to do list? If not, why?
- You have a lawyer for your legal needs, an accountant for your financial needs, why don't you have a professional for your security needs?
- What's the REAL price for not having adequate security?
THINK ABOUT IT!!!
Do You Think Security Is Only Sometimes A Priority?
On more than one occasion someone who held a manager's position has said to me that they don't want to have to think about security. They don't want it to be a priority on their list of things to do. How about you? Where do you place security on your list? If you put it there at all, and it makes it in the top 5 does it get accomplished every day? Or only when something bad happens like a theft, data breach, workplace violence or some other major event?
It would be nice if security didn't have to make the list at all, but that's not practical. It's necessary and frankly it needs to become part of your daily routine as much as any other priority you place value on. The only way to ensure that your company, your employees and customers remain safe is to put security on the list every day. Day in and day out.
Think about security and your business daily. Plan for it. Discuss it. Budget for it. Put it near the top of your to do list. Everyday.
2006 Retail Theft Study
A 2006 survey of 23 retailer representing over 14,000 stores showing how many shoplifters and employees were caught and apprehended including the dollar amount of theft they were responsible for was recently released.
See the full survey here- http://www.hayesinternational.com/thft_srvys.html
The following is a brief recap of just some of the statistics:
- Over 530,000 employees and shoplifters were apprehended
- 463,682 Shoplifters were caught- an increase of 11% over 2005
- 66, 507 Employees were caught- an increase of 6.6% over 2005
- Dishonest employees steal 6.6 times the amount stolen by shoplifters
- The average amount of merchandise recovered from a dishonest employee- $851.44
- The average amount of merchandise recovered from a shoplifter- $128.71
I want to take a look behind the scenes of how shoplifters are apprehended and why this is antiquated, costly and ineffective.
Over 463,000 shoplifters were apprehended last year. This means that for every shoplifter apprehended there was at least one employee (usually security) involved who spent time watching, stopping, apprehending and possibly prosecuting each shoplifter. This process could take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours (or more). Why? To recover an average of a little more than $128.00 in merchandise? This hardly seems cost effective.
Why not spend more time on preventive techniques? This would save payroll, possible violence, injuries to both shoplifters and employees and potential litigation. I don't understand the need to always apprehend. Yes, I know it's exciting making apprehensions. Yes, I understand the lost civil restitution income. But do these things offset the other factors listed? I don't think so.
When possible, why not force the shoplifter to 'dump' the merchandise, write up a recovery and track how much was prevented from being stolen? My guess is that over time, recoveries and payroll dollars spent focusing on issues such as employee theft (over $800 average recovery) safety and training will save companies allot more money than catching shoplifters.
Don't misunderstand my position. Shoplifters do need to be apprehended and prosecuted. Just not ALL of them. Use prevention whenever possible and if that doesn't work, send them to jail.