Shoplifting Prevention: Providing Information Through Signs

McNees, M. Patrick; Egli, Daniel S.; Marshall, Rebecca Shisler; Schnelle, John F.; Risley, Todd R.

doi:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-399

Cited by 66 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Sales figures for individual target items within the three categories were not calculated. The results are in agreement with, but also extend, findings from previous studies (Black, 1978;Carter et al, 1979;McNees et al, 1976McNees et al, , 1979. Mean daily costs = Average costs of labor + material costs amortized over the intervention phases.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…With the development of reliable theft detection techniques not requiring the identification of an individual response (McNees, Egli, Marshall, Schnelle, & Risley, 1976;Switzer, Deal, & Bailey, 1977), several procedures intended to reduce either customer theft (Black, 1978;Carter, Hansson, Holmberg, & Melin, 1979;McNees et al, 1976; McNees, Kennon, Schnelle, Kirchner, & Thomas, This paper is based on a thesis submitted by the second and third authors to the Department of Applied Psychology of Uppsala University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the M.S. degree.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specific public identification ofhighrisk items (Carter et al, 1979;McNees et al, 1976McNees et al, , 1979 has been demonstrated to be an effective method for reducing theft for items such as clothing, cosmetics, records, and food items. The specific identification of cigarettes, however, was found to be associated with increases in theft (Thurber & Snow, 1980).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Theft Reduction in a Grocery Store Through Product Identification and Graphing of Losses for Employees

Carter

Holmström

Simpanen

et al. 1988

J of App Behav Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shoplifting and employee theft constitute a major problem for retailers. Previous research has described techniques for effectively reducing either type of theft but has not addressed the problem of thefts of unspecified origin. In a grocery store we evaluated the effect of identifying for employees frequently stolen products from three groups of items and graphing, twice weekly in the lunchroom, losses for the separate groups. After the products were identified and losses graphed, thefts from the three groups dropped from eight per day to two per day.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Theft Reduction in a Grocery Store Through Product Identification and Graphing of Losses for Employees

Carter

Holmström

Simpanen

et al. 1988

J of App Behav Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although behavior analysts have shown that undesirable consumer behavior (i.e., theft) can be reduced with no negative effects upon sales (Carter, Holmstrim, Simpanen, & Melin, 1988;McNees, Egli, Marshall, Schnelle, & Risley, 1976), there seem to be no similar analyses of promotional activities and their effects on sales and theft in retail settings. METHOD: The study was conducted at a grocery store described in previous research (Carter et al, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Total sales and thefts of candy products might be relatively constant over time but may increase temporarily for given products as a function of promotional activities. Signs publidy identifying high-risk products (McNees et al, 1976) and other theft prevention measures (Carter et al, 1988) have been demonstrated to reduce thefts for a variety of products without producing a negative effect upon sales. Taken together with the data from this study, the effects of specific product identification (i.e., promotional activities and specific signs to reduce thefts) on sales and thefts appear to be asymmetric.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased Sales and Thefts of Candy as a Function of Sales Promotion Activities: Preliminary Findings

Carter

Kindstedt

Melin

1995

J of App Behav Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We used an A-B-A design to evaluate the effects of two commonly used promotional activities-price reduction and increased exposure, in combination and separately-on sales and thefts of candy at a grocery store. The combination of activities and the increased exposure condition produced the greatest increases in sales. The combination of activities was also associated with the greatest increase in thefts.DESCRIPTORS: business problems, consumer behavior, theft, stimulus control, side effectsBehavior analysis has been proposed as a useful technology for understanding, predicting, and controlling consumer behavior (Rothschild & Gaidis, 1981). Although behavior analysts have shown that undesirable consumer behavior (i.e., theft) can be reduced with no negative effects upon sales (Carter, Holmstrim, Simpanen, & Melin, 1988;McNees, Egli, Marshall, Schnelle, & Risley, 1976), there seem to be no similar analyses of promotional activities and their effects on sales and theft in retail settings. METHOD: The study was conducted at a grocery store described in previous research (Carter et al., 1988). The store used an optical price scanning system with cash registers connected to a computer that maintained data on sales, prices, and so forth. All target products were endosed in factory packaging containing 13-digit bar codes. The store's antitheft activities were unchanged throughout the study. There were no reports of anyone being apprehended for stealing target products. Prior to the start of the study, the store owner selected 20 candy products as targets. The products, chocolate bars and packages of candy, were of similar price and size and would not be the objects of other promotional activities, although 40 other candy products were the object of some promotional activity during the study. All target products were normally located along one wall of the store, on four-tier wall shelves, and were visible to cashiers.Measurement system. Retail theft was measured with the aid of optical scanning equipment (Carter et al., 1988). The study began with an inventory of target products to determine actual stock and recording of cumulative sales figures. After subsequent biweekly inventories (on Tuesdays and Fridays) conducted prior to store opening, sales and thefts for each target product were calculated. All differences between calculated and actual stock were considered to be theft. During the study, none of the target products were reported to be damaged or returned. Counts of actual stock greater than the figure for calculated stock occasioned a recount. When the number of thefts exceeded three for an individual product, the observer recounted. Miscounts were open to discovery at subsequent inventories. Procedure. The study was conducted over 6.5 weeks. An A-B-A design was used to assess the effects of the intervention. The initial baseline period was 2.5 weeks (five inventories), followed by a 2-week intervention period (four inventories) and a second baseline (2 weeks, four inventories). The intervention period was limit...

show abstract

Toward applied behavior analysis of life aloft

Brady

1990

Syst. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article deals with systems at multiple levels, at least from cell to organization. It also deals with learning, decision making, and other behavior at multiple levels. Technological development of a human behavioral ecosystem appropriate to space environments requires an analytic and synthetic orientation, explicitly experimental in nature, dictated by scientific and pragmatic considerations, and closely approximating procedures of established effectiveness in other areas of natural science. The conceptual basis of such an approach has its roots in environmentalism which has two main features: (1) knowledge comes from experience rather than from innate ideas, divine revelation, or other obscure sources; and (2) action is governed by consequences rather than by instinct, reason, will, beliefs, attitudes or even the currently fashionable cognitions. Without an experimentally derived data base founded upon such a functional analysis of human behavior, the overgenerality of "ecological systems" approaches render them incapable of ensuring the successful establishment of enduring space habitats. Without an experimentally derived function account of individual behavioral variability, a natural science of behavior cannot exist. And without a natural science of behavior, the social sciences will necessarily remain in their current status as disciplines of less than optimal precision or utility. Such a functional analysis of human performance should provide an operational account of behavior change in a manner similar to the way in which Darwin's approach to natural selection accounted for the evolution of phylogenetic lines (i.e., in descriptive, nonteleological terms). Similarly, as Darwin's account has subsequently been shown to be consonant with information obtained at the cellular level, so too should behavior principles ultimately prove to be in accord with an account of ontogenetic adaptation at a biochemical level. It would thus seem obvious that the most productive conceptual and methodological approaches to long-term research investments focused upon human behavior in space environments will require multidisciplinary inputs from such wide-ranging fields as molecular biology, environmental physiology, behavioral biology, architecture, sociology, and political science, among others.

show abstract

Shoplifting Prevention: Providing Information Through Signs

Cited by 66 publications

References 11 publications

Theft Reduction in a Grocery Store Through Product Identification and Graphing of Losses for Employees

Theft Reduction in a Grocery Store Through Product Identification and Graphing of Losses for Employees

Increased Sales and Thefts of Candy as a Function of Sales Promotion Activities: Preliminary Findings

Toward applied behavior analysis of life aloft

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About