Archived Promo Gift Cards

[Tijfya844]

i hear cashiers get fired all the time for taking promo gift cards that a guest will leave behind. My sister did this once just without thinking about it. Then was given a final warning. What happens at your store when this happens?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

She should turned them. Spot is watching her.

 

[PinkZinnia]

I am surprised they didn't fire her.. She better stay on her toes..Cross her t's, dot her i's . I'm sure the next thing she does that isn't "targetlike" she will be out the door, even if she is a real sweetheart.
I suppose AP at her store is doing their job and watching what goes in and out of the cash drawers and into employees pockets..
We had quite a few cashiers and backups who did the same thing.. They were fired on the spot.

 

[RedorBlue]

If this really was a mistake, then it's a good lesson to learn - always pay attention to what you are doing and your surroundings.

 

[Sanzano]

AP best practice regarding gift card theft is to put someone on CA/Final now instead of term because otherwise our turnover was too damn high bc of all the "sneaky" cashiers. Only in the case of grand theft or close to it will be an automatic term. And every time a TM uses a gift card originally created by their accounts it does red flag.

Just make sure she doesn't make any more mistakes

 

[TeamMember1]

AP best practices? Shouldn't this be an HR issue?

 

[RedorBlue]

She feels like all of the team leads or higher are all going to look at her as a thief and look down on her.

Unfortunately, this is probably the reality of the outcome. A stigma might stick with her for awhile. That's why you always need to be careful of your actions at work.

 

[jadzia]

AP best practices? Shouldn't this be an HR issue?

When it involves stealing, it automatically becomes an Assets Protection issue too.

 

[COextraordinaire]

Wow, several years ago my very best friend made a mistake. She was working CO and some gift cards had been in the coupon bag. She was going to check them for value (which is usually zero) after CO while working guest service.

She got busy. Put them in her pocket, and forgot about them until she got home. Next day she showed HR and STL and they fired her. They felt bad because they knew it was a mistake but hands were tied.

Years later she won't even shop at our store. She was such a good honest employee. And still my best friend.

Your sister got off lucky.

 

[SFSFun]

Also, just because I'm curious, did they find out when she used it since the gift card was made through her tm number and then when she used her discount? Or what?

Not sure why that matters unless "your sister" is trying to figure out how to do it without being caught.

 

[BoxCutter]

We had a TM find a gift card in the parking lot. They used it (probably with their TM discount card) and were termed shortly thereafter. The owner of the gift card reported it missing to the store. Best piece of advice, if it's not your gift card, don't even touch it. If a guest leaves a gift card while I'm on register, I call over who ever is running the front end and have them take it.

 

[LUR99]

We had a TM find a gift card in the parking lot. They used it (probably with their TM discount card) and were termed shortly thereafter. The owner of the gift card reported it missing to the store. Best piece of advice, if it's not your gift card, don't even touch it. If a guest leaves a gift card while I'm on register, I call over who ever is running the front end and have them take it.

That's great advise. One of our cashiers was fired for stealing gift cards. I am a cashier/ GSTM, when I find a gift card, I check if there is any value on it and if yes, I treat it like cash and turn it in to my GSA or GSTL right away.

 

[redeye58]

Easily half of the cashiers termed at our store were a result of theft & of that nearly all involved giftcards, either deliberate or pocketing those left behind.
Lesson to your sister: As soon as that card is activated, its use can be tracked throughout the system & - since every register has a camera - the person using it.
At our store, theft was an automatic term because coaching TMs for it only made them go further underground in their next attempt. And there was ALWAYS another attempt.
It's just not worth it.

 

[thatguyattarget]

When I'm backing up, I always MAKE SURE to hand it to the guest's hand, I just don't leave it on the counter. And several times, I've seen money on the floor, I walk by it, pretending not to see it. All the stories here have made me paranoid.

 

[Rock Lobster]

We had a TM find a gift card in the parking lot. They used it (probably with their TM discount card) and were termed shortly thereafter. The owner of the gift card reported it missing to the store. Best piece of advice, if it's not your gift card, don't even touch it. If a guest leaves a gift card while I'm on register, I call over who ever is running the front end and have them take it.

Yes it can depend on the scenario. If its a "promo" gift card, then the guest technically got it for free. Those scenarios can be played out depending on if you are under your 90 days or not whether its a final warning or term, plus the intent of the TM when they took it. Most other gift card thefts are much more serious (such as taking a gift card that a guest actually paid for, or loading gift cards for yourself without taking payment), and those definitely get caught much more quickly and have more serious consequences.

(Also word of warning, even if you do not have AP or very little AP coverage in your building, the IC also watches for most of this and will report to the store their findings).

 

[dani346]

question, if a guest uses a gift card and has like $.75 left on it and tell me to keep it, throw it away or use it on the next guest because they will never use it what should i do? i just use it on the next guest because i don't just wanna throw it away. is that bad? should i turn it into guest service?

 

[On6]

question, if a guest uses a gift card and has like $.75 left on it and tell me to keep it, throw it away or use it on the next guest because they will never use it what should i do? i just use it on the next guest because i don't just wanna throw it away. is that bad? should i turn it into guest service?

Turn it in to guest services.