Crime increases across the board during the holiday season, and that is especially true in retail environments. Stores are busier, registers have more cash, and unsavory people just seem more brazen.
Criminal Risks to Your Convenience Store
The biggest risks for crime at your store include:
- Robbery and theft. Being open long hours with a small number of employees have long made convenience stores targets for robbery and theft. During the holiday season, these crimes increase across all industries.
- Skimming operations. Skimming occurs when thieves attach skimming devices to fuel pumps, ATMs, self-checkout kiosks, and other point-of-sale units. With more people on the go and in a rush, criminals are counting on people paying less attention when they use their cards.
- Phone scams. Like skimming thieves, phone scammers target convenience stores because they’re looking for easy targets with employees who are too busy to catch onto the trick. Phone scammers will claim to be from a prepaid card company, a utility, a vendor, or even someone from higher up in your own company, then scam employees into giving information or money.
- Inside jobs. Many thieves, especially those associated with skimming or scamming rings, are master manipulators. Even your best employees may fall victim to the stories these criminals create to get help from the inside. Unfortunately, employees aren’t always innocent in these activities. Financial pressure of the holidays may make them more likely to give into the temptation of what they think will be easy money. Employee theft is also an increased risk for convenience stores during the holiday season.
How to Reduce Your Risk
Here’s the good news about crime: you’re not powerless against it. Just because it’s more prevalent during the holiday season, doesn’t mean it has to happen to you. Get prepared now by communicating your policies, making sure your staff is fully trained on how to prevent different types of crime, and update your security and technology systems if necessary.
Convenience Store Training on Crime Prevention
Convenience store training programs from Ready Training Online teach the skills your employees need to help prevent crime at your store.
