Stock Control & Management
If you experience a stock problem have staff bottle up to your till(s) sales reports so if the till says you have sold five bottles they can only get five bottles from the stock room, if you then have a space on the shelf then chances are one has be given out without payment being made. It is essential you keep your tills up to date and have button entries for each product never, say, use the Bacardi Breezer button for a WKD just because they are the same price; make sure you have a button for each brand and for each flavour as well. This might help you narrow down which customer or member of staff is having free drinks.
Whilst we must accept that accidents happen, breakages of high value bottles of spirits can present a significant opportunity for thieves to steal from you. For instance a 1.5 litre bottle of Vodka is a great way to start a party at home, especially if you’ve taken it from work, claiming it was broken during stocking up. Make sure all breakages are recorded and the neck of the “broken” bottle is brought to you with the seal on the screw cap intact.
You may have heard of the many old “tricks of the trade” such as rubbing gin around a glass rim and just putting tonic in the glass to fool the customer etc. these fiddles are less common these days due to the way we serve drinks. The ones to watch out for are free drinks, up-sizing (giving a double when only a single is paid for) and till dipping.
See How To Analyse a Stock Take Report and Stock Management.
Subs and Deductions
I have often allowed my staff to take advances on wages (“subs”) until payday in an attempt to reduce the temptation of till dipping. If you do allow such advances and if a regular “sub” user suddenly stopped requesting “subs” and your stock take results start to suffer, then it may be an indication of dishonest activity.
You should note employment law means you cannot automatically deduct “subs” from wages without the staff members written consent; this can be done on an ad hoc basis or can be written into contracts of employment. whichever method you use, make sure you obtain their permission first. For more advice on deductions from wages click here.
Counterfeit Prevention
Counterfeit note detection should be a standard part of pubs crime prevention practices. A good starting point is to make sure your staff know how to check banknotes, and know what to do if they discover a counterfeit note.
Manual checks can quickly and easily be made using the security features on banknotes whenever notes are being passed in a transaction. Don’t rely on checking just one security feature, but check a few such as:
- The feel of the paper and the raised print
- The watermark
- The holograms
- The metallic thread
- The motion thread on the £50 note
Information on how to check banknotes is shown on the Bank of England website. They also provide a range of free staff training materials including a booklet, posters, online films, and deterrent stickers which can be ordered online here
They also have a free Banknote App available for Apple and Android devices, click here for more information.
There are other tools available to help check your banknotes such as counterfeit detector pens and ultra-violet (UV) lamps, more details on these can be found in the ‘Take a Closer Look’ booklet, which is available on their website.
Further help is also available by using counterfeit note checking machines. The Bank of England has a list of machines that have passed the Bank of England counterfeit checking test on their website.
Once a counterfeit note is suspected or discovered it is your responsibility to notify the police. This is because it is a criminal offence to knowingly hold or pass on a note that you know or suspect to be counterfeit (the Forgery & Counterfeit Act 1981 is the relevant legislation).
(Thanks to Ian Barnes, Bank Of England for this advice)
New Bank Notes Coming Soon!
The Bank of England will be introducing polymer bank notes from September 2016 and have produced a handy pdf “Getting Your Business Ready” which you can download by clicking here .
Advice from Pub & Bar Network members on LinkedIn:
Paul Hunt M.I.L.S.A. (Owner, Hunt Management Solutions)
“One good method to monitor stocks & staff is a regular stock take.
I have had several cases in the last year of staff getting caught. One case was that there was always a stock shortage but as there was no EPOS till it couldn’t be narrowed down, after an EPOS till was installed it helped in tracking down the problem after investigation by landlord it was found out that some products were not being rung in till & the cash was being taken out of the till.
From a stocktaking point of view EPOS tills certainly help in narrowing down the product lines that there are deficits on. It is amazing how many clients have a basic till then expect a stocktaker to find out what the problem is. As Nigel says the advice on EPOS is to get what can be afforded, it doesn’t have to be all bells & whistles even the basic EPOS tills are better than a basic cash register.”
Steve Southwell MBII
“The simplest way to discourage staff theft, is when you have a drink or meal do you pay for it? The best approach is to make sure you do because staff learn from your examples: you have a free drink well so can they.
I worked with a client in London earlier this year to devise a bonus scheme that was inclusive to all of the bar team. The bonus was constructed using elements for sales turnover, GP improvement and yield. It seems to have delivered for my client and when I spoke with his bar teams they seemed to be okay with the outcome. Bar wastage, pump waste and theft has been reduced on all fronts.”
Nigel Ball. Owner, R H Ball & Co. Accountants.
“It’s a subject I try and discuss very early in our relationship with new clients, what do they do about pilfering. I make it quite clear that its their money which is being pilfered and its their profits that are being reduced. I encourage daily cash reconciliations and regular professional stock takes to try and reduce the risk. However it does surprise me as to how many landlords don’t take this matter seriously.”
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