The Friction Report 10.25.17

                        The Friction Report 10.25.17

                             Team work is not always good         

                                                           by Don Ford

            Team work is a great thing when everyone on the team is working toward the same goal. Having the same people in the same job may insure outstanding production and few errors. Being in the same job on a daily basis is usually good for most people. We would like to point out that being in some positions, all the time, may have its issues.

            Previously we have considered how an inside employee along with a so called, “Company driver”, working as a pair, had removed property without paying.

            When you have the same inside staff, working with the same outside drivers, (this would be parcel deliveries and local drivers) on a regular basis, you increase the potential of a team effort to reduce the inventory in the building (aka theft).

            Today we will consider the case where a parcel delivery driver (outsider) colluded with an inside employee who worked in preparing the parcels for shipment. This happened at a center that I was never manager of.

            If you have any imagination, you should already know what I will present in this lesson. This company employee had worked in parcel shipment preparation for several years. This allowed the staff member to become, shall we say, “Good friends”, with the parcel delivery driver.

            Let’s consider how this could occur. The inside employee who prepared the parcels for shipment could go out into the building to, “Check on an item”, they would get an item that was not ordered, package the item to look like the other packages. The parcel driver would load his vehicle with all the packages and he would separate the package with the stolen item, which he would later drop off at a house as if it were a shipment. 

            All the items that were ordered each day, were shipped, so nothing showed up in the shipping records. 

            How would this, “Team of thieves” get caught?

            Unannounced audits of the parcel shipping area would be a good way to limit the possibility of theft. This type audit was not being done in those days.

            The parcel delivery company would occasionally have an auditor or a trainee ride along. When there is an item that is not on the list, (they do count the cartons), they would question why.

            When caught, does either the inside person or the parcel delivery driver tell who they were working with?

            Even though most of the theft situations have been about hourly employees colluding with an outsider, it would be much easier for any salaried employee to work with others as a thief team.  

            I feel as if these articles about theft, may seem to be very negative to most readers. If one is able to reduce the number of thefts using any information from these articles, then the articles are a total positive! 

            There are many theft opportunities, if you occasionally think like a thief, you may reduce the opportunities.

Don Ford

Post Script

                If you have read these articles about theft, and if you believe they are, “A bunch of bull”, I suggest you may want to update your resume!