I was visiting a friend of mine the other day. His name is Rufus Mudsucker. He's a patient in the "Midwest Home for the Rent to Own Insane". I arrived just as the group therapy was beginning...

 
Poor Rufus, his story is all too common in our industry. But, for those of you who haven't heard it...here goes.....(you might want to grab some tissues)

It was 5:45 on a Saturday evening. HisĀ best customer ran in just before closing time and wanted a DVD player. "No problem", Rufus said with a smile. "I've got one left. I'll have you out of here and watching movies in no time at all". Rufus took great pride in the accuracy of his inventory, and could write an agreement faster than anyone in 5 states (3 minutes flat!). 

Rufus confidently turned the DVD around to check the item number..... "what's this?", he murmured to himself, a blank, far-away look coming across his face..."no item number!"  "How can this be", he said to himself as he carried the DVD to the counter, careful to hide his fear from the customer.

Rufus quickly ran the serial number...horror of horrors...the serial number came back "On-Rent". Tiny beads of RTO sweat began collecting on his brow. "No problem" he mumbled again, "I'll use another itemĀ  number and figure it out Monday... no one will ever know.

That was 1 year ago. His one time experimentation with 'item swapping', grew into a 50 BOR a week habit in 12 short months...so sad.

The biggest problems start small
If you only swap an inventory item once, you'll probably be ok. But the problem grows exponentially. By using one bogus number, two items are misplaced. The actual item the customers takes home, and the borrowed item number you used to write the agreement. Once you start down this road...you can NEVER go back.

You start out swapping items of similar age and value. After all, "aren't all 6 month old VCR's alike?"  Before you know it, you're using a "Used"  refrigerator item number to write an agreement for a "New" recliner. 

There are ways to fix such a system, but a sudden and un-explained fire would be less costly. Of course, you wouldn't be able to collect on the insurance because you will have absolutely no idea what inventory was in the store.

Close your eyes...take a deep breath, and remember way back to your Grand Opening. All inventory was fresh and new. All items had bright, shiny price tags. All electronics were carefully engraved with store name, phone number, item number, date of stock, "do not pawn", and the blood type of the person doing the engraving. You could run an inventory report with confidence. Then came those pesky customers...