The Douglass Café on the loss prevention plan.

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15945 CPO Way

Rutgers University

New Brunswick, NJ 08901

April 2, 2003        

Mr. Charles P. Sams Jr.

Administrative Director, Division of Dining Services

620 George Street

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1175

Dear Mr. Sams:

I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to attend my project presentation and I hope you enjoyed it.  Enclosed is a copy of my proposal, where the topic of financially improving the Douglass Café is further discussed.  The report deals with ways in which the organization can detect, prevent and improve employee theft and simultaneously earn profits higher than in past years.

Employee theft is a problem in every industry, accounting for the largest source of property crime committed annually in the United States ( Kolettis, Mesenbrink, Zalud 16).  Furthermore, a survey conducted in 2001 by the National Retail Security and spearheaded by criminologist Dr. Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D, reported that more than 46 percent or $14.9 billion of industry losses are due to dishonest employees (17).  Although these problems are difficult to detect and repair, there are certain tactics that have proven to work.

My proposal includes a well-defined security plan for the Douglass Café.  The plan is a step-by-step investigation of the inventory-turnover analysis, the implementation of the electronic article surveillance (EAS) and Store Vision; methods in which industries can track their sales information directly into their PCs.  This plan will allow for better management of cash and inventory and a tight work environment with high profits.

For any further information, please feel free to contact me by phone at (732) 373-7837 or by e-mail at .  Thank you again for your time, and I hope to discuss the project with you in further detail.

Sincerely,

Briza Junqueira

Abstract

This proposal presents the issue of employee theft and poor management of cash in different organizations.  Although the report focuses mainly on the management of the Douglass Café, it deal with methods in which other organizations treated losses, employee theft and inventory administration.  While these problems are inevitable, the report presents research that shows effective ways to address employee theft, cash management and surveillance situations. The proposal for the Douglass Café, Division of Rutgers University Dining Services, incorporates an inventory-turnover analysis, the implementation of the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), and a surveillance camera within different areas of the dining facility.  Each system is carefully defined and outlined to renovate the facility.  The inventory-turnover analysis allows sales to be accurately calculated every week by dividing the beginning and ending inventory valuations by two.  Along with the turnover, the EAS system tracks the amount of inventory from the computer to the register, allowing for the perfect count of what is sold in a day.  Finally, the security video surveillance provides information from the register or from a camera directly to a PC in the loss prevention office where information can be reviewed and analyzed.  A detailed budget is presented, highlighting all the costs that encompass the plan.

Submitted to:  Charles P. Sams Jr.,

Administrative Director, Division of Dining Services

620 George Street

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1175

Submitted by:   Briza Junqueira,

Douglass Café Student Manager

                April 2, 2003

Writing for Business and Professions

Executive Summary

Every industry in any given market suffers the problem of employee theft and dishonest managers.  Proper management of cash flow and inventory count should be the fundamental strategy of any company.  With technological advances, businesses have learned that in order to achieve high profits money must be spent restoring the ambiance of the company for better surveillance and supervision to keep honest employees honest.

        

        Industries such as Rite Aid, Discount stores and Food Markets suffer drastic losses each year due to internal theft, shoplifting, and cash discrepancies within managerial staff.  Although theft can occur within any department, managers compose the largest group of thieves due to their control of cash operations.  The Douglass Café suffered over $250,000 dollars in losses in the past year in comparison with Rite Aid who reported that 46 percent—$14.9 billion—of their losses were caused by theft, presents a clear case that improvement within companies must be made to prevent these issues.

        Research has shown that many surveillance systems have been implemented in stores to stop the infiltration of thieves.  Sales for these industries went up from 10 percent to 30 percent depending on the methods implemented.  StoreVision by CA Technologies is a surveillance system composed of digital cameras which allows supervision to be recorded and stored in a PC.  Furthermore, a digital safe has helped Crate & Barrel better administer their cash flow.  Finally, the Inventory-Turnover analysis is a complete method of counting inventory and managing what is sold in certain periods of time—day, month, week or yearly.

        The plan I have customized for the Douglass Café, a division of Rutgers University Dining Services, includes time and cost efficient methods of operation that will drastically increase profits for the industry.   With the help of StoreVision and six cameras implemented throughout the Café, management will be easy and indisputable.  The cameras will go over the register, in the entrance and exit, in the safe room and storages.  The digital safe allows for each manager to have their own code to avoid questions of transaction times and personnel, for the information will be fed into the computer in the office.  The Inventory-Turnover analysis will take place every week, where two managers will perform physical inventory count and match what was sold for the week in comparison to the inventory left in storage.

        The budget for my project is estimated at $13,083.99 for the first year, which includes all installations, network connections and training.  For the following years, a small cost of $7,535 will be for the additional labor fees of employees who perform the Inventory-Turnover analysis.  In comparison to the $250,000 in losses the Douglass Café encountered, my project is only a fraction of the cost that will lead to major profits.

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Introduction

Employee theft has become a problem in several industries and more common than one might imagine.  In a Midwestern credit union company, a vice president abstracted more than one million dollars from the institution (Swedlberg 42).  Although at a much higher scale than the Douglass Café or any food industry, the robbery at the credit union outlines a perfect example of how theft could easily occur within a company.  Thieves within a business are usually people in the high ranks; a manager, vice president or even CEO’s.  The vice president of the Midwestern ...

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