Text 6405, 65 rader
Skriven 2006-10-11 17:41:25 av Barbara McNay (1:382/48)
   Kommentar till text 6331 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
Ärende: miscellaneous
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 > BMc> 'At least three "ticket switchers"' suggests that you
 > BMc> might consider using bigger tickets with both the item
 > BMc> description and its price, plus a checklist of same, so
 > BMc> you'd know.

 > That's impractical for this type of sale; I could not
 > possibly
 > tag over a thousand items with price and description.
 > A checklist
 > would not work well either - it would slow up the
 > process at the
 > cashier station.

Mmm.  I way underestimated the size of your sale.  I begin to see the value of
UPC codes, except they likely wouldn't do you much good, either, for a one-time
deal unless everything were already coded. <g>

 > The best defense is simply to be alert.  I tagged
 > everything myself
 > and remembered what the stuff was worth, and when I
 > caught frauds
 > (who are not very clever and showed a notable lack of
 > intelligence
 > in their methods and attempts) I simply corrected
 > them, or showed
 > them the door as appropriate.

If it's that pervasive a problem, perhaps it's more accurate to say that you
caught the frauds who were not very intelligent in their methods and attempts.

 > Theft happens regardless of the venue.  I was set up
 > at a high-ticket
 > antiques market and someone shoplifted an antique
 > postcard album filled
 > with cards from me.  Compared to that (a several
 > hundred dollar loss),
 > the nickle-and-dime theives at the estate sale were
 > nothing at all.

That's true.  "Shoplifting" has interesting aspects.  When I shop for
groceries, I use one of the grocer's electric carts, as I could not otherwise
get around that large store and buy many and/or large items.  When I get to the
checkout, a customer before or behind me, or a clerk unloads the basket onto
the conveyor belt for me.  Twice, the person unloading my basket failed to put
an expensive item up on the belt.  The first time, some eyedrops had fallen
when I put another one of a smaller size back on the shelf, and I had failed to
find it when I looked for it on the floor.  It did not get put up on the
checkout conveyor. I had no idea it was in the basket.  When I got out to my
car, the clerk put my bags in; then, as I was getting ready to close the door,
she said, "Here--this fell out of the bag."  I took it and put it in a bag. 
When I got home, I found I had two of them, one of them being the one that had
fallen, so I returned that. Another time, somebody unloaded my basket, and this
was fairly soon afterward, and this person left a card of lithium batteries in
the cart. I did notice that, so put them up.  The customer has to keep watch,
too.

Some time ago, I was in a Radio Shack store, when a man came in, laid his
wallet on the counter, and asked the clerk for something.  She went off to the
back of the store to look for whatever, and the man meanwhile began to look
around the store a little bit.  I told him he should latch onto his wallet, and
he replied that the clerk was looking out for it.  Well, I left in a hurry.  I
didn't want to be around if somebody that irresponsible got taken.

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 * Origin: T E X A S ! (1:382/48)