By Bill Scott, founder of StoreReport LLC & Scott Systems Inc.
According to the latest statistics, robberies involving convenience stores have remained fairly steady, at about 6% of all robberies reported over the past few years, with a slight decrease in the 90s, mostly attributed to the development of better crime prevention methods.
Repeat victimization however is a problem, especially where large amounts of cash are available, where security is low and where staff and customers are not likely to resist.
Stores are most vulnerable to another robbery within weeks after the first. The media reporting on successful convenience store robberies exacerbates the problem, with a would-be robber thinking, ‘if the store was robbed once, it can be easily robbed again,’ leaving a store owner to consider whether they should be talking to the media, or allowing the press to enter their property at all. At any rate, seeing a store robbery on the evening news may dissuade customers from trading at the store.
The greatest number of injuries occur in cases where an employee attempts to forcibly stop a customer from removing un-purchased inventory from a store, leading to the majority of my convenience store customers having a policy not to intervene, report the incident to the police and make no attempt to interfere with the robber.
Convenience store personnel suffer higher rates of workplace homicide, second only to taxicab drivers, and an employees’ active resistance can put fellow employees and customers at risk of injury, even death.
Other factors
Convenience store robberies often result in the loss of customers trading at a store, as much as a $250,000 lost in work time and legal expenses, as well as an increase in workers’ compensation and insurance rates. Single store owners are especially vulnerable, as they will likely not be able to pay for the insurance increases caused by a robbery.
A convenience store robbery may cause employees to suffer lasting psychological effects as well, and can limit the store’s ability to attract future employees for night shift work, result in lawsuits and encourage good employees to quit their jobs and seek employment elsewhere.
