Posting items from work - not recommended MoneySaving...

StaffsSW

Outside of eBay, I have a full time career with a huge multi-national company. We take things pretty seriously, and one of my roles within that business is effectively internal audit and investigations.

As part of one of these audits, I found an anomoly in the franking machine spend at one of the locations that should only be sending out envelopes with a single invoice or similar. A lot of large packets were being processed through this machine, and a bit of "social persuasion" in the office brought up the subject of eBay, with one member of staff was quite chuffed at cracking the 1000 feedback mark.

Not the wisest thing to do really - if you are fiddling the postage, do not boast about your eBay activities to an auditor. Especially one with an extensive knowledge of eBay...

This morning I have just watched a 44 year old man break down in tears and plead for his job back after he has been dismissed for gross misconduct & misappropriation of company property. Based on the number of large letters and packets that the audit trail showed, I calculated at least £600 was used over the last 3 months.

The crushing part about it is that if he had asked the site manager, he would have been allowed to use the franking machine if he paid the money into petty cash each time, and he would have got the national company franking machine rate as well.

Having seen his listings, and made a number of test purchases, I can now see how he was so competitive on P&P.... but he still only had 4.7 on is P&P DSR's...!

winnie81

I think if he was putting that much through then he was asking for trouble surely! He would've maybe gotten away with the odd parcel here and there but £600 worth in 3 mths!!! Crikey I am surprised it took so long to be noticed!

I think hes paid the price for being greedy!

organ-grinder

Well done you

StaffsSW

The full audit log on the franking machine shows he was printing a couple of dozen labels at a time for each of the different postage brackets, then presumably taking the labels home.

You're not wrong though - £600 of parcels would have been noticed in the post tray!

He was last seen getting onto a bus in tears - I have his company car keys, laptop, and fuel card. Time to find out what other untoward adventures he was up to on company expenses....

As much as I hate having to pull a trigger on somebodies career and livelihood, but when the smoke settles and the bodies have been cleared away, it has always been for the best interests of the business. And as much as it may pain me and others, that is what I am paid to do.

winnie81

stevew8975 wrote: »

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As much as I hate having to pull a trigger on somebodies career and livelihood, but when the smoke settles and the bodies have been cleared away, it has always been for the best interests of the business. And as much as it may pain me and others, that is what I am paid to do.

and don't forget that if everyone started doing this then profits would drop and innocent people potentially face losing their careers at make the difference. To me that is no better than taking cash from a till. The odd packet here and there I am sure everyone does but that guy was taking the p*** :eek:

Poppy9

stevew8975 wrote: »

He was last seen getting onto a bus in tears - I have his company car keys, laptop, and fuel card. Time to find out what other untoward adventures he was up to on company expenses....

As much as I hate having to pull a trigger on somebodies career and livelihood, but when the smoke settles and the bodies have been cleared away, it has always been for the best interests of the business. And as much as it may pain me and others, that is what I am paid to do.

and I sense you are quite pleased with yourself.

I'm thinking of his poor wife and children. The upset this will cause in the household and how they will suffer. He will struggle to get any other employment with this black mark and will become a burden on the state as he has to rely on benefits.

There is obvioulsy poor management and lack of office procedures if this scale of abuse of postage can go unnoticed for at least 3 months. Has the business really gained from dismissing him? Will it deter others? In the short-term yes but unless you tighten up systems then it will happen again, even if it is on a smaller scale. If he had remained in the company's employment no doubt he would have turned into a model employee eager to prove he is keeping his nose clean and working hard.

Who can honestly say they have never abused work facilities. It could be that you are surfing the net in work time on a work PC, if you work in an office the stationery that finds it way out of the office, especially pens. Buying goods with staff discount for family and friends. Then if you are a serious ebay seller, how many declare this income to the taxman?

Shambler

It would probably be better for the company if the guy was made to pay back the £600 and reprimanded.

If they now have to replace him think of the extra costs in efficiency and training a new employee may need.

asea

Shambler wrote: »

It would probably be better for the company if the guy was made to pay back the £600 and reprimanded.

If they now have to replace him think of the extra costs in efficiency and training a new employee may need.

How could they trust him, though?

Poppy9

asea wrote: »

How could they trust him, though?

I'd say he would become more trustworthy than anyone else. I would imagine the shock of coming so close to losing a job would be a enough to turn most people around.

asea

Poppy9 wrote: »

and I sense you are quite pleased with yourself.

I'm thinking of his poor wife and children. The upset this will cause in the household and how they will suffer. He will struggle to get any other employment with this black mark and will become a burden on the state as he has to rely on benefits.

There is obvioulsy poor management and lack of office procedures if this scale of abuse of postage can go unnoticed for at least 3 months. Has the business really gained from dismissing him? Will it deter others? In the short-term yes but unless you tighten up systems then it will happen again, even if it is on a smaller scale. If he had remained in the company's employment no doubt he would have turned into a model employee eager to prove he is keeping his nose clean and working hard.

Who can honestly say they have never abused work facilities. It could be that you are surfing the net in work time on a work PC, if you work in an office the stationery that finds it way out of the office, especially pens. Buying goods with staff discount for family and friends. Then if you are a serious ebay seller, how many declare this income to the taxman?

I didn't get that impression at all from what he was saying & I think he (or she!) was doing everybody a favour by warning & reminding people that it is wrong & that you can get caught. You're making lots of assumptions in your post that are not necessarily correct.

The man who was misappropriating the post was the one who should have thought about his family & the consequences of what he was doing. It was arrogant & selfish of him to presume that he wouldn't get caught & he is quite rightly paying the consequences for his actions.

I wouldn't say that there is poor management/procedures in place either, that is just an uneducated guess on your part. The only person on these boards qualified to make assumptions like this is the OP as they are aware of them.

asea

Poppy9 wrote: »

I'd say he would become more trustworthy than anyone else. I would imagine the shock of coming so close to losing a job would be a enough to turn most people around.

But for how long? I have seen colleagues been pulled up on things & as soon as things have quietened down they have just started again.. What kind of a message does it send to other colleagues if they didn't sack him? The automatic assumption is that it is acceptable to do the same