Cut Your Losses! A Smart Retailer’s Guide to Loss is about prevention. According to author Keith O’Brien, the four main causes of retail loss are employees, customers, vendors, and errors. His book examines everything from handling cash to managing inventory and emergency response plans.

Regular procedure figures heavily. For example, the chapter on vendor theft highlights short shipments, overcharging, loading dock theft, and exchanges. Step-by-step worksheets help the reader spot areas of “control weakness” in the receiving process. Prevention strategies include preprinted purchase orders, a receiving log, backdoor deliveries, regular receiving hours, and separate merchandise exchange procedures. Sample purchase orders and receiving and adjustment forms are included.

But the flaw of any procedure is that exceptions creep in. Any store with a computerized inventory system already has receiving templates within its software (another set of problems entirely). In smaller stores, often the sole employee has to receive deliveries through the front door in order to service the sales floor.

O’Brien acknowledges this too, with repeated emphasis on proper staff training and follow-up by managers. In the final analysis, Cut Your Losses! will be most effective for retailers who believe it is possible to manage loss prevention without loss of staff initiative.