Using customer discounts

[ShadowBall]

This is something going on with a relative as of late. My cousin - whom I will call "Matthew" - was arrested at his retail job not too long ago because he was using coupons meant for customers. These are the coupons that tend to print out several seconds after the receipts that people tend to walk away from before the thing is even done printing. Basically, Matthew used some of the trashed/abandoned coupons for himself and he was found out when someone in management noticed the customer credit card numbers were not matching Matthew's number. To which I ask, "How did they know these people didn't give Matthew their coupons?" They didn't give them to him in the sense of handing them to him and saying, "Here, use these" but they haven't proof that these customers did not do this either.

The store fired him and had him arrested, and the story in the local paper made it sound like he was intentionally hoarding these things from customers when he was just basically making use of stuff customers threw away.

Don't want this to go into fratching, but let me ask this: is it truly a horrible thing for an employee to use a customer discount (that does not affect customer credit, etc.) that was thrown away? I'm not just saying this because Matthew is relation, but I think his employer was overreacting a bit. I almost kind of see this like going through a public trash can for Coke bottles (bought by others) and using the My Coke Rewards things for yourself. Or is it a matter of those discount coupons becoming store property and it then being a case of company theft? Do stores usually make such a big deal over someone using their garbage? I honestly do not know.

In any case, Matthew's got to appear before a judge and present his case. It's pretty much going to be his word against theirs while each side uses the same evidence and he is not hopeful for the case turning out in his favor.

He's working on getting a lawyer and compiling evidence in his favor. And I'm wondering if there is anything I can do for him that will be of help. I may go to where he used to work and buy something to see if I personally receive a discount coupon or not, just to show that he was possibly not the only one tossing out coupons.

[notlovinit]

I don't work at a store that does anything like that so I don't know anything from that standpoint, but I really don't think that's all that terrible. If he was intentionally not giving them to the customers that would be messed up, but since they just left them there I don't see any harm.
Of course, it is probably against company policy, but I think the store went way too far by arresting him. I can't really fault them for firing him since I'm sure there was some policy on it and he probably knew that, but I don't see the point in having him arrested.
That's lame. I'm sorry that is happening to your family.

[Dreamstalker]

If the coupons were going to be tossed anyway and no customer info was compromised (important part)...I say where's the harm? At least someone used the coupons and it may have resulted in an extra sale for the store.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

They probably view it as fraud of some sort and a slippery slope to other kinds of fraud (pocketing and using for yourself activated gift cards left behind by customers, for instance).

It's an honesty thing--are you willing to profit from somebody else's misfortune or absent-mindedness?

Rule of thumb: don't use for yourself anything that's meant for customers, even if it's left behind and the customer doesn't care. It may seem harmless, but LP and management types get graded on how much "internal theft" they catch, and these kinds of things get them salivating.

[bainsidhe]

I'm confused about two things:
1) ...he was arrested? For coupons?
2) What do you mean by "management noticed the customer credit card numbers were not matching Matthew's number"

This suggests the coupons weren't your basic garden-variety type deal. These sound like rewards tied to a customer member number or credit card. I mean, my own brother was fired from Mc-Ds because he removed monopoly pieces from cup/fry containers customers threw away, so I sympathize. But getting arrested seems...odd.

[Hanzoku]

What are they accusing him of? Petty theft? Identity Theft? Fraud? The 'cash' value of coupons (at least what's always printed on them) is less then $0.01, and even taking the 'face' value of $10 off or whatever, I sort of doubt he's anywhere near felony theft levels.

Seems like a massive waste of the city's tax money at work, honestly. Between police resources arresting him and court resources pressing prosecution, the city is spending far more then the case is worth.

Good luck to your cousin however.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm confused about two things:
1) ...he was arrested? For coupons?
2) What do you mean by "management noticed the customer credit card numbers were not matching Matthew's number"

This suggests the coupons weren't your basic garden-variety type deal. These sound like rewards tied to a customer member number or credit card.

If these coupons can be tracked like that, then I suspect this is the case. Everything that has to do with those cards is tracked.

In which case he may not be stealing from the store, but he definitely is stealing from the customer. It's like turning in their lost wallet or purse after pocketing all the cash inside. I am sure there's an employee handbook or policy booklet somewhere that spells out the circumstances under which these coupons can or can't be used.

I don't know exactly what Matthew would be prosecuted for, but I'm thinking LP and/or management let this go on a while so they could establish a pattern and bring the hammer down when they finally did decide to bust him.

I'll just repeat what I said before: it is a bad idea to use a discount meant for a customer that you yourself didn't earn.

[Estil]

I'm confused about two things:
1) ...he was arrested? For coupons?
2) What do you mean by "management noticed the customer credit card numbers were not matching Matthew's number"

This suggests the coupons weren't your basic garden-variety type deal. These sound like rewards tied to a customer member number or credit card. I mean, my own brother was fired from Mc-Ds because he removed monopoly pieces from cup/fry containers customers threw away, so I sympathize. But getting arrested seems...odd.

Apparently he didn't catch the part about employees of McD's are not eligible to play McDonalds Monopoly.

[bainsidhe]

Apparently he didn't catch the part about employees of McD's are not eligible to play McDonalds Monopoly.

More like he figured it was wasteful and he could give them to someone else. Nice thought on the surface, but....

[ShadowBall]

According to the newspaper, Matthew was charged with retail theft. And I'm not sure if these were just regular store coupons that everyone got, or if they were part of some kind of customer rewards system. I'm guessing it's the latter. He's the one who told me about the mismatching numbers, so maybe it was a store account number rather than a credit or debit card number. Some....kind of numbers didn't match up and that's how he was caught. Then again, if it was a coupon specifically for store "members," wouldn't they actually stick around to claim them or otherwise be aware of the fact they GET coupons? Wouldn't someone have told them they get coupons when they signed up for the rewards program? Even I'm still confused over all this.

No idea if there was anything in the employee handbook/rulebook about using customer coupons either, especially if said coupons were abandoned or discarded. Hell, I don't even know if he got an employee handbook (my last job did not have one). The way the police blotter was written, it was made to sound like Matt intentionally hid these coupons from customers during their transactions.

And I just don't see why this could not have been solved via a warning or firing and/or having Matt pay a fine maybe to cover the "cost" of the coupons in question. But to answer bainsidhe's first question: Yes, he was arrested over coupons. Not cash, not stealing identity information, not store products...coupons.

I'm looking for info on retail theft and, while I'm not totally keen on legal jargon, it seems to be more about stealing or altering actual store goods that must be purchased rather than just coupons with no cash value by themselves. The news article didn't say anything about charging him for using the coupons to make purchases - just the fact that he "stole" the coupons themselves, so I guess actually USING the damn things isn't the crime. Just that he took them out of the trash and made use of them.

Sounds to me like somebody at the police station or this store was a little too bored.

[Dreamstalker]

At least with the rewards coupons we get, they are tied to a specific loyalty card # and won't work if you try to use a different one.

I would think also that for the 'retail theft' charge to stick tangible product needs to be stolen. Most coupons themselves have no cash value.

[judecat]

The discounts on the coupons are for loyal customers, the stores feel that they make a prophet from these customers, so they can offer them rewards. If someone else uses them, what is being "stolen" is the amount of the discount, not the cash value of the coupon. In other words, the amount of money that he saved by using those coupons that he was not entitled to is the amount of money he "stole".

[ShadowBall]

That's what I figured too....the store was pissing and moaning over the fact that they "lost" money via the discount coupons. Then again, if the customer used them, they'd have lost that money anyway, so it's less about them not making as much on a sale as it was about someone who is not involved in their rewards program using loyalty discounts that were discarded by members of said program. What a bunch of whiners, IMHO.

Maybe if these were loyalty coupons, the store should have made their system work so only the customers who the coupons were specifically meant for could use them. Maybe make coupons void if they are not taken by the customer. Or hell, maybe they shouldn't have a loyalty program at all if they're going to get this pissy over the damn coupons that people don't use.

Like I said, I think someone at the store had a serious bug up their ass and is being a drama queen. But Matt has to go before a judge in the beginning of July to present his case, so I'll have my fingers crossed for him that he doesn't get charged with anything, or if he does, he doesn't get jail time.

I don't advocate theft, but I think what Matt did treads the line between theft and "one person's trash is another's treasure" and leaning closer to the latter than the former.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

If Matt's lucky, the store's LP won't even show up in court to present their case. They'll figure they made their point.

If he's not, I don't think jail time would be involved. Not unless we're talking about a big amount of money here.

[judecat]

Policy at CVS is to not hand over anything until everything is ready. You get your merchandise, change or cash back if any, receipt and coupons all at the same time. And you will get fired for not handing everything over at the same time. Technically, not giving the customer their coupons is stealing from the customer.