Employee discount

Ellie2008

Posted this on "After Hours" forum but was hoping for a few more replies so thought Id try here:

"Would really appreciate any response to this. Years ago I worked for a large retail chain part time. There was an employee discount though it was never strictly monitored. At one stage we were all given two cards one for us and another. These quickly expired and new joiners never received any so never v strict. Basically I used my discount to buy stuff for my friends which at the time although it may sound daft now I didn't think was wrong. I didn't make a profit on it or anything like that. We were given an employee manual at some stage but I never read it and dont have it, I can only assume it made clear that the discount was for personal use.

I had reason to think back to on this recently when someone offered me their discount. Now I think it's very wrong though first time I really thought it through. I feel very guilty and want to send them money but my question is if I do it anon is it too cowardly as there is always the chance they could press charges.

dub_3

I doubt there's anything they can do about it now. Nor would they even be bothered if they could.

If you were still working for them, I expect the worst that would happen would be them taking back the card and giving you a warning.

Cheap Thrills!

OP, so you used the card to buy discounted stuff for your friends instead of yourself?

Is that it?

If I've understood that properly OP you are worrying about nothing. You said it was a large retail chain. They got sales out of it. It makes no difference to the Business who the items were for.

Relax and stop worrying about it OP. It's not worth being anxious about.

franklyon

Press charges for what? You didn't steal the items, you paid for them. If you had bought them at a discount then sold them at full price to your friends I could maybe understand but you didn't do anything wrong. Staff discounts are usually applied to items but by selling those items to staff the company don't lose any money, it is usually just the cost price of the item from the distributor.


Example
Shop A buys jeans from a supplier for 75 euro each

Shop A sells jeans to the public at 100 euro
employee has a discount of 25 percent
employee buys the jeans at 75 euro.

Cost to the shop=0

See where I am going here?

Ellie2008

franklyon wrote: »

Press charges for what? You didn't steal the items, you paid for them. If you had bought them at a discount then sold them at full price to your friends I could maybe understand but you didn't do anything wrong. Staff discounts are usually applied to items but by selling those items to staff the company don't lose any money, it is usually just the cost price of the item from the distributor.


Example
Shop A buys jeans from a supplier for 75 euro each

Shop A sells jeans to the public at 100 euro
employee has a discount of 25 percent
employee buys the jeans at 75 euro.

Cost to the shop=0

See where I am going here?

Thanks for your post I do see where your going, Im thinking of it more like - that €25 is profit that the shop could have made, everytime I sold something at a discount they lost €25 profit, they agreed to lose it in my case to motive me as an employee and to extend this to one family member but that didnt extend to my friends. Im sure having read employment handbooks since it would said staff discount is not to be used except for goods for X and Y, having said that nearly everyone I know does it or takes it from a friend and they don't really see the issue. When I googled, I found people in the US have been charged with larceny for the same thing, although in one case she was giving 90% discounts...

Zen65

Ellie2008 wrote: »

I feel very guilty and want to send them money but my question is if I do it anon is it too cowardly as there is always the chance they could press charges.

What charges could they press, Op?

You paid an agreed price for the goods. That the store applied a staff discount for items you did not want personally for yourself is a matter for the store to have managed by proper process. There may well have been a clause in your employee manual stating the limitations of use of the staff discount, but since you never read the book you don't know (and I imagine you will not ever know).

The application of staff discount is a civil matter i.e. it was on the basis of an employment contract, not a statutory instrument under the terms of which you could be prosecuted. In short, you did nothing illegal. I would assert that what you did may have been morally wrong, but since neither of us has that handbook we'll never know. In terms of moral scale, it was on the low side. The shop still earned a profit when they sold you those goods, albeit a reduced profit.

If you wish to send them money, you could do so up front (give your name) or anonymously. To be practical for a moment, unless you are talking about a very large amount of money it may be more trouble than it's worth for them to process the receipt of this money.

If you feel guilty about the issue and want to relieve your conscience, there are other ways to do this. Let me suggest a few:

• Become a loyal customer at that shop. Don't buy foolishly, but choose to spend your money there when you need something they sell.
• Make a donation to a charity that needs your money. Barnardos, Barretstown, or the National Childrens' Hospital are worthy causes for example.
• Spend some time doing voluntary work in your community
• Make a donation of blood to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service
• Perform some random acts of kindness towards people in your neighbourhood

It is refreshing to read that somebody should still have a conscience about their actions in these days of hardened hearts, where concern for economy has so often replaced concern for community and so many people just don't care about their actions as long as they don't get caught. However to allow these actions of your past to trouble your mind greatly would be unhealthy, and the sooner you resolve this in your own head the better, both for you and for those who befriend you. Life is too short to waste it on regrets.


Be at peace,

Z

Miss Fluff

I'm not dimissing how you feel as I know some people take things more seriously or have a tendency to overthink things more than other people but in this instance you are really worrying over absolutely nothing.

You said you worked in this shop years ago and yet you're now seriously considering sending them money to reimburse them for something that is commonplace for all members of staff in retail outlets. The shop is still making as profit so I wouldn't worry about it.

Are you by any chance suffering from anxiety/depression? It seems very strange to me that this is worrying you so significantly years after the event....

Ickle Magoo

Please don't post a duplicate post across multiple forums.