I was reading journalist and broadcaster Danny Baker’s autobiography recently, and I was amazed to learn that after his father ‘Spud’ was released from prison for handling stolen goods, he managed to get a job in the dockyard – a dream for anyone dedicated to the pursuit of goods liberation!
Spud had a variety of terms for what he felt every job needed to offer as a bonus over and above the agreed rate of pay – and to me the interesting thing is that so many people still feel that ‘back of a lorry’ perks are their working right!
For example, most people assume that the retail chains lose goods in their stores, but from the discussions I have, a lot of stock doesn’t even get to the stores. I work in security – an industry where vetting and screening is part of our culture and compliance. Crimes by people with fake IDs are rising by 25% year-on-year (Cifas report). So I’m amazed that so many other industries don’t bother to check IDs, previous convictions or criminal records.
My first thought is that one can easily have drivers who are associated with gangs arranging for batches of goods to go missing. If they don’t get greedy it can go on for years. I looked at the volume of stock that some very well-known companies were losing – a ridiculous value of stock on a regular basis. And then I discovered that literally from the store room to the lorries to the various depots, stock was going missing in that cycle. I’m not accusing drivers here – it’s a problem within the cycle. And it seemed to me that there were some really straightforward things that the businesses could do to reduce this substantially.
Did you see the Panorama TV programme last year? They were looking secret camera footage from a store room and depot. I’m not advocating secret cameras – there’s no need for spying here – but why not simply put a chest camera on staff clothing? A simple identification number would immediately reduce problems, since everybody would see what was happening. Technology now means that chest cams are inexpensive and quick and easy to implement. From stores and distribution to everybody in the chain, why not introduce cameras embedded in jackets or overalls? So from A to B to C to D, all the way along from the chain, you can see exactly who is handling what. Some solutions are simpler than people think.
So why isn’t this happening? Maybe it’s a lack of knowledge of what’s available. Perhaps a reluctance to upset the status quo?
Many years ago I worked in the pub trade. And just like Danny’s dad, every governor expects everyone to have ‘a little bit of a fiddle’ going on. Maybe logistics is secretly still like that? Sure there would be objections – people might object to not having their ‘little bit of flexibility’. A few might even be bullish enough to say that they resented security measures.
Let’s be realistic and face it, very few of us who would say “I’m really happy for everything that’s happening in my day at work to be recorded.” Resistance is predictable so how can we handle that? I’d target the people who have stocks to maintain; people who really suffer the losses when items go missing. The bitterness of the medicine needs to be sweetened! I’d associate the introduction of security with bonuses tied to inevitable improvements, paid for from savings.
I think it could work. What do you think?
Cusack Gordon, Managing Director of Leisure Sec plc and sister company Global Focus
