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stolen tip jar

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I agree 100% about not hiding the fact that you are recording.

If you want to catch people stealing - secretly record.

If you want to prevent theft - announce your security measures as loudly as possible.
 
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Registered Guest:
If you want to catch people stealing - secretly record.
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In my experience staff theft will continue regardless of whether you conceal or not (as pokerdealer mentions) even with cameras on a till draw people still think they can (and often do) get away with it.

CCTV is only part of the solution of course and by itself (unless you sit glued to it) won’t find thieves.
 
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Although I agree that you should have cameras put in place out in the open, I dont agree that cameras PREVENT crime… All they do is witness and sort out the smart ones from the idiots… Cameras cant see through ski masks, or clothing (hoods, bandanas), or sometimes even every angle. If someone wants something that badly, they’ll find a way.
 
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The person that is determined to steal from you will still steal from you cameras or not - even with cameras.

The person that might steal from you won’t steal from you if they know you are watching.

Sort of like keeping the “honest people honest”.
 
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absolutely nothing prevents crime by itself but having crime prevention is all about having a series of things to make the criminals life a bit harder.

Which to rob?
  1. house with intruder alarm or no intruder alarm?
  2. car with imobilizer or without?
  3. shop with cctv or without?
  4. man taking cash to the bank or security guard taking cash to van?
  5. house with dog or house without dog?
  6. business with security guard or business without?
  7. locked till or unlocked till?
  8. till which is full or till which has has had cash removed regularly through the night and put in the safe?
  9. safe or cash tin
the list goes on and on…
 
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I think we are saying the same thing.

There are people who would never steal a $20 out of the till - but would probably pick that same $20 up off the floor and put it in their pocket.
 
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I saw an article (I’m sure it was on PMQ but I can’t find it) which gave %'ges from a study and basically said (although I am simplifying it):

x% of people will steal from you no matter what
y% will steal if there is an opportunity and they think they can get away with it
z% will not steal

funnily enough group y was the biggest group by a long way.

Like registeredguest say take steps to keep group y honest is the name of the game.
 
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A couple things…

One, I’m a pizza cook, in my 30’s, and pay almost half of my check in child support. I’m also honest, hard working, and would sure hate to lose my job, not to mention my child’s support, for no reason. Jobs are tough to find these days. If you really don’t trust someone on your staff then that’s another story, and no one can make that call but you. I appreciate that your in a tough spot, but you also owe that staffer a fair shake.

Two, before finding the opportunity to start over in a bigger, better pond (with a much higher ceiling) I managed a small but very popular and successful pizza pub. Here’s the deal; anytime management, in any form, takes possession of the staff’s tips, management needs to be responsible for them. They need that money. That’s what gets them to work and hopefully keeps a smile on their face when their dealing with your customers. If for whatever reason they are not in the jar (where you can bet the staff would keep an eye on them) then they need to be locked up in the safe. You need to correct this and I would strongly suggest offering some type of a comp to your staff.

This is a managerial short-sight, easily correctable, and no grounds to terminate an employees meager income.

You know that.
 
Why are tips not paid out every night? Why are you keeping them at all? Whose tips are in the box? Is it just those tips that are part of the tip pool?

Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
  1. Allow the tipped employee to retain all tips, whether or not the employer elects to take a tip credit for tips received, except to the extent the employee participates in a valid tip pooling arrangement.
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Retention of Tips: The law forbids any arrangement between the employer and the tipped employee whereby any part of the tip received becomes the property of the employer. A tip is the sole property of the tipped employee.
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I suggest you trust your instincts and let the guy go. Before we installed security cameras, I had a bad feeling about a couple of our employees. The security cameras finally confirmed my suspicions, and they are now gone. But I could have just as easily trusted my instincts and saved myself a lot of grief and loss. The cameras helped us to document cause for termination, which wasn’t required but it did help us to avoid unwarranted unemployment claims.

Costco sells a complete Lorex security camera system for about $1,000. It’s one of the best investments we’ve ever made. I believe it included six cameras (but you can add more), which was plenty to cover the key areas in our restaurant.

It’s hard to tell which employees will steal, but those with financial problems certainly have more incentive to do so. Just be careful to never mention his payroll garnishment in regards to his termination or your feelings about the guy. The government will never compensate businesses for all the time we spend collecting money on their behalf, but they will gladly penalize you if they think you terminated somebody because of the payroll hassle.

As for the lock box, I suggest you mount it in a conspicuous place. Potential witnesses are a good deterrent to crime. And be sure to point one of your security cameras at that box.
 
If you buy any kind of cameras make sure they have led lights. This enables the cameras to see in the dark.
 
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Yup. Mine have IR illumination. I was thinking about installing them strategically at home. Wife vetoed the idea.
 
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