Efficiency compromised

Nov 29, 2013 Editorial

We are currently in the busiest shopping season of the year. Many merchants and shopkeepers ring up in the coming month of December, a quarter of what they make in the entire year. Consequently, the burgeoning crowds and sales test the systems put in place by merchants to rake in those sales. It is to their interest – and the interest of the long-suffering shopper who is forced to deal with milling crowds – that this be done most efficiently.
The secret of merchandising is to generate as much sales in a given timeframe as possible so that the fixed overhead expenses are spread over the greatest sales figure.
The Christmas season serves to generate the “bodies” who want to part with their money. It is up to the merchants to come up with systems to ensure that the “parting” is accomplished in the shortest possible time with the least “pain”. Sadly, the realities of Guyana have not delivered this happy state, and the result is that we have ever-larger milling crowds that develop frustration, and merchants whose stock will be stuck over the holidays to generate huge “after-Christmas specials”.
The quantum of “Christmas cheer” in the present is noticeably diminished. One of the major hurdles is the elaborate systems put into place to prevent “pilferage”. Guyana is not the only place in the world where there is pilferage from businesses. In fact, the practice is so universal that staid accountants have an expression for it – “shrinkage” – and make yearly provisions for this factor.
We all eventually pay for “shrinkage” but that is another story. However, it appears that in Guyana the magnitude of the “shrinkage” is so great that the systems instituted actually prevent the smooth transfer of money for goods. And our economy suffers – not to mention the national frustration level and the bruising of the “Christmas spirit”.
“Shrinkage” can occur at several points and be generated from different sets of actors. Firstly there is your everyday, garden-variety “shoplifter”. Our merchants employ an ever-increasing number of guards and have them strategically placed to nip these pilferers. While these guards do stop random shoppers and check their bags, this practice does not seem to cause major delays. The major disruptions are generated by the stratagems to stop employee theft or employees’ connivance with thefts – both from the points of sale and the points of receiving and shipping.
Elaborate multiple-employee cross-checks are employed to prevent collusion between shoppers and employees. In some stores a simple purchase may involve the hapless shopper being bounced off a serial stream of four or even five transactions. And these are very frustrating and prevent rapid “turnover”. In even the most up-to-date, upscale stores with computerised registers, the internal crosschecks put a brake on smooth traffic flow. At the other ends of the merchandising cycle – receiving and shipping – there are also huge blockages. And these blockages are colossal.
At some of the mega-stores it can be observed that shipping and receiving are held up sometimes for over one hour because of a traffic jam in the receiving area. And this is directly related to the compulsion to prevent pilferage by employees. All traffic is herded inside the yard of the facility to ensure that they all enter and exit through one gate. There is apparent disregard about the complete halt in business: no one is usually assigned the task of ensuring that the traffic moves. It is left to security guards to engage in a frenzied display of hollering and waving of hands, which is accompanied by a cacophony of horn-honking.
The point being made is that our merchants have to become more aware of the need to improve the efficiency in moving the customers and goods through their stores. They have to come up with new methodologies for securing their interests – which includes selling merchandise – in addition to avoiding pilferage.

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