Retailers are being senselessly murdered for no more than the price of a day’s takings on an almost weekly basis. Business has seen a dramatic growth in daylight robberies since the last measured year of an already inconceivable 51 attacks a day! There has also been a dramatic upswing in brazen, highly professional burglaries using sophisticated techniques including plastic explosive compounds.
Cash in Transit guards are being shot at point blank range on the retail shop floor and across the pavement while carrying cash containers that are unprotected. Organised crime is targeting businesses that take cash because they find them easy to attack and the reward, readily available.
Whether you are a fast food outlet taking R2, 000 daily or a main stream wholesaler generating R1 million a day, you can no longer assume that you are trading in a normal climate of law and order, in which you can rely on the State to protect your rights to live and work, free of intimidation, violence and lawlessness. Responsible retailers have to take responsibility for the safety of their staff and customers and take the extra measures necessary to create the level of deterrence that will send the criminals to softer, easier targets. And naïve reliance on insurance is irresponsible at best.
As cash remains the principle target, it is the manner with which this commodity is managed that requires attention. There are many techniques, but the key ones can be summarised as follows:
In a shopping mall space, the need to consider the safety of the broader community within the precinct requires a move towards the forced removal of guns and a collective approach to the management of cash. The introduction of high speed, air tube reticulation that transports the cash from each store to a standalone and properly protected cash hub can go a very long way to mitigate risk from the outset.
Stores on the high street have to largely manage their own affairs and again the options are variable and largely dependent on the design of the premises.
Phillips says that one of the most successful solutions remains the retail cash management device service. However the cash deposit device has to be robust enough to represent a formidable deterrent to attack. The cash receipts need to be deposited into the device continuously throughout the trading day to ensure that cash is always inaccessible. The container that is removed from the device must be of a design that it can be protected by the Cash in Transit company’s cross pavement protection equipment to mitigate the risk of a guard being gunned down crossing the shop floor.
Couple this with the practice of effectively ‘closing down’ the back of store during the CIT collection thereby creating a ‘sterile’ area in which the hand over can be conducted with minimum risk and the business has taken a meaningful step towards creating an environment conducive to improved trading. The benefits of a professionally constituted cash management service are significant:
- Removal of cash risk and the creation of a powerful deterrent to attack
- Protection against armed robbery and burglary
- Stable trading environment for staff & customer builds a valuable emotional bank account
- Cashier accountability – no third party required
- Major reduction in cash shrinkage
- Control of fraudulent banknotes
- Improved cash flow
- Detailed cloud based, management information
- Tangible cost savings