security devices

What To Do To Reduce Shrinkage In Your Store

July 10, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

There are many articles out there with tips about how to spot a shoplifter, and while their advice is well intended, it obviously does not translate well. The retail industry loses billions of dollars every year, and it seems to be getting worse not better. Knowing your store, educating your management team, employees, and investing in systems to prevent shoplifting can help you minimize your loses, but will definitely not end it. Profiling a shoplifter is not only bad for business, but can definitely get you in trouble. Educate your employees and make sure they know what to do if an incident occurs in your store.

Read more for more information about this topic.

New Study Finds Loss Prevention Priorities Fall Short For Large Retailers

Disconnect between IT and LP revealed in budgets of retailers.

New research from the IHL Group examines industry perspectives on loss prevention technologies in retail and the very different ways business groups including IT, LP and the C-Suite, valuate and allocate investment, staffing, and more in those technologies, based on their individual roles and priorities. The study, “The Great Disconnect Between LP and IT,” finds that there is a huge disconnect between IT and loss prevention.

A separate 2015 Retail Theft Survey found that dishonest employees steal more than six times the amount stolen by shoplifters ($825.36 vs $133.80), and yet the findings in the IHL research suggest that the gravity of those numbers don’t line up with the importance executives are placing on the problem.

The study found that retailers with greater than $1B in revenue spend only 8.3 percent of their IT budget on LP priorities (not including PCI and data breach protection efforts); and while 100 percent of LP professionals say cashier monitoring is a priority use of CCTV, IT and other business units de-prioritize it at 56 and 57 percent, respectively.

Retailers Lost $44.02 Billion In Shrink In 2014

The 24^th annual National Retail Secury Survey (NRSS) administered by the National Retail Federation (NRF) shows retail and security providers exactly how much shrink affected retailers in 2014. The national study looks at a variety of topics including employee integrity, inventory shrink and other concerns. The study is the result of a partnership between the University of Florida, with the report sponsored by The Retail Equation. NRF shared excerpts from the report in a press release. The study, with responses from 100 senior loss prevention executives, was conducted in March and April. The findings should illuminate topics of concern for retailers, and examine what issues they need to consider for preventing high levels of shrink.

“Retail loss prevention professionals have one of the hardest jobs in the industry – protecting their customers, employees and merchandise from the threat of harm and fraud, and the results of this survey prove the enormity of their task,” says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “Retailers will continue to review best practices and work to better educate decision makers in Washington about the burdens these crimes place on consumers, retail companies, their employees and the economy.”

Reducing Retail Shrinkage: How to Beef Up Security and Prevent Loss in Your Store

Shrinkage (aka: Public Enemy #1 for most retailers), can eat up a significant amount of your profits. According to the National Retail Federation, retail shrinkage amounted to $34.5 billion in 2011, and a big chunk of that was due to theft or fraud.

That’s why it’s critical to constantly stay on top of protecting your store. Keep your systems up-to-date, be vigilant about spotting fishy behavior, and see to it that your staff is adequately trained to deal with security issues.

To help you do all that, below are some of the most common causes of retail shrinkage along with security tips to help you prevent them.

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Information You Need to Know About Pre-employment Screening

July 6, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Many employers required drug testing for their employees before they are hired, but the pre-employment screening does not necessarily stop there. Background checks for possible hires are sometimes a necessity, specially if you are in the retail industry where the smallest profit margin can make a big difference. What do you need to know before hiring a new employee? Are there any issues that are unlawful for you to pry into?

Follow the links for more information about this topic

Are you an employer who’s hiring? The importance of pre-employment background checks

if you’re an employer who’s hiring, you can’t afford the risks associated with not doing Pre-Employment Background Checks, advises Bay Area Investigations & Protection Services in Burlington, Ontario.

The need for employers to conduct pre-employment background checks for job applicants is now more important than ever before. Background checks can be critical to the safety and welfare of your business, your employees, and even third-parties such as suppliers. Anyone who is unfit to join your firm can jeopardize any part of your company, including its reputation, financial status, or the safety of others.

Background checks provide a company with the means to discover any false information or discrepancies that might not have appeared in a job application or through the company’s employment screening process. Keep in mind: your company could be held liable for property damage, theft, or any harm that comes to another due to one of your hires!

How could pre-employment test be discriminatory?

Q. I am looking to hire new employees. Some applicants who did not qualify for the open positions are now threatening to sue, claiming that my pre-employment tests are discriminatory. What should I know about pre-employment tests?

A. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in all terms and conditions of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender or national origin. Title VII allows for the use of professionally developed screening procedures and tests, as long as they are not intended or used to discriminate.

However, an employer may use a test that has an adverse impact on protected groups if it can show that the test is job-related and consistent with the employer’s business needs. To prove that a test is job-related, it must require test-takers to demonstrate the knowledge, skill or ability to successfully perform the duties of the job, or it must be tied to the tasks required of the position.

‘It’s legal, but …’ Most municipal employees can use marijuana as long as it doesn’t affect work

“It’s legal, but…”

That was the subject line for an email from the city of Tigard about recreational marijuana use by employees.

“The rules that apply to the work place have not changed,” wrote Dana Bennett, human resources director with the city. “As you already know, it is against policy to be at work under the influence of any controlled substance, whether alcohol, prescription medication or marijuana.”

Employees at metro-area municipalities received similar reminders this past week. Most appear to be on the same footing with their drug use policies: Employees can smoke on their own time, but they can’t come to work stoned.

“It’s no different than coming to work intoxicated from alcohol,” said Cornelius City Manager Rob Drake.

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Warning Signals of Theft by Outsiders

July 2, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Last month I discussed the Warning Signals of Employee Theft. Employees account for an average of 45% of a Retailer’s losses. However, shoplifters and vendors account for another 35% on average.

As business owners we work hard to run our business. We deal with a number of liabilities every day and people who have never owned a business rarely understand that. We have to keep a number of balls rolling on the table at the same time: Sales, inventory, ordering, human resources, payroll, insurance and expenses just to name a few of the more common ones.

Contrary to current reports and opinion we see in the news more and more, we business owners are not the evil, money hording ogres that is sometimes portrayed. We work hard for our profits and many times we invest most of that back into the businesses.

So when someone steals from us regardless of the amount or type, it is a huge hit to our bottom line. What many Retailers do not understand is the impact. Theft of toilet paper or cleaning supplies from our restroom has the same impact as the theft of merchandise. It still costs us money and we have to replace it.

Many Retailers do not understand the true impact of shrink or loss. For example: If your store’s shrinkage this year is $100,000, that’s $273.97 in shrinkage every day. Is that the total impact on the bottom line?

Consider this: For your organization to simply recover or break even on a $100,000 shrink or loss, you would have to sell an additional $13,698.50 every day! ($273.97 divided by .02% profit margin) This is on top of your normal sales.

Think about this…how many more items would you have to order, receive, count, mark, prepare paperwork for, stock, and finally sell just to produce these extra sales?

Add to this the fact that shrinkage really cannot be recovered. You then begin to understand why one-third of US business failures are blamed on theft.

The obvious solution is to prevent the theft, errors and abuse that cause loss in the first place. To that end here is a list of early warning signals of theft by shoplifters and outsiders to our business:

1. Unusually large or frequent refunds to a particular customer for returned merchandise.

2. Anonymous phone calls or letters concerning theft.

3. Unusually friendly relationships among employees and outsiders such as truck drivers, repairmen and trash collectors.

4. Frequent contact among employees and visitors (that do not appear to be customers), especially those visitors who carry shopping bags or other containers.

5. Contact by employees with gamblers, drug dealers, gang members, loan sharks, etc.

6. Many customers that always deal with one employee and refuse to buy from anyone else.

7. Your stock being sold in outlets, e-bay…. That never buy from the company.

8. Gifts or favors to accounts payable employees from suppliers or to accounts receivable employees from customers.

9. Reduced purchases by customers who deal closely with warehouse or shipping personnel.

10. Presence of outside personnel (telephone repair, building service, salesmen, etc.) in areas where they have no legitimate business, or in un-business like communication with employees.

11. Newly received items being sold in flea markets, e-bay, on-line….

12. Complaints received from other businesses or retailers.

13. Shoplifters are always blamed for the theft.

14. Gifts or favors from other retailers accepted by your employees.

Remember – It is of greater benefit to us to anticipate losses, procedural defects or lax enforcement of controls, then to concentrate only on resolving losses that should have never occurred.

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Shoplifting Statistics And Apprehensions 2014

June 18, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The losses big retailers like Wal-Mart faces every year are astronomical. The losses though are not absorbed by these big retailers, the losses are then passed to the consumer like you and me by paying higher prices in their store. Shoplifting is a crime that affects everyone. Some big businesses like Wal-Mart can deal with their losses. Shoplifting for small businesses can mean closing their doors for good. Is your store dealing with shoplifting or employee theft? Is it working? Read more about this topic by following the links below.

27th Annual Retail Theft Survey Reports over 1.2 Million Shoplifters and Dishonest Employees Are Apprehended by Just 25 Large U.S. Retailers in 2014

Wesley Chapel, Fla. — More than1.2 million shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2014 by just 25 large retailers who recovered over $225 million from these thieves, according to the 27th Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International. The participants were made up 25 large retail companies with 23,250 stores and over $700 billion in retail sales (2014).

“In 2014, the number of apprehensions and recovery dollars were up again for both shoplifters and dishonest employees. Shoplifting apprehensions rose 7.4%, while dishonest employee apprehensions rose 1.7%. The dollars recovered from apprehended shoplifters and dishonest employees also rose, 7.5% and 18.1% respectively,” said Mark R. Doyle, president of Jack L. Hayes International.

The increases, follow similar increases reported the previous three years.

Highlights from annual theft survey include:

• Apprehensions: 1,272,560 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2014, up 7.1% from 2013.

• Recovery dollars: Over $225 million was recovered from apprehended shoplifters and dishonest employees in 2014, up 10.4% from 2013.

• 1,192,194 shoplifters were apprehended in 2014, up 7.4% from 2013.

Here’s How Much Walmart Loses Every Year to Theft

Walmart is fighting back against “unknown shrinkage”

When you’re a company as big as Walmart, everything about you is huge, even your losses from shoplifting.

The retailing giant says that it loses about $3 billion every year from theft, or 1% of its $300 billion in revenue, Reuters reports.

Leading the effort to fight back against this so-called “shrinkage” is Greg Foran, head U.S. operations, who told reporters Thursday that cutting down on these loses was a key priority for the firm in coming months.

“One percent of $300 billion is quite a lot of money. If you can save 10 basis points of it – boy I’ll take it every day of the week and put it into lower prices for customers,” Foran said to Reuters.

6 Ways Small Businesses Can Effectively (and Cheaply) Prevent Shoplifting

Shoplifting remains a constant issue for American small businesses, leading to losses of over $10 billion each year. According to the Loss Prevention Research Council, 1 out of 11 customers is a habitual shoplifter (repeat offender!). Small businesses have slim profit margins, which means that “shrinkage” (reduced inventory to shoplifting and thefts) can really put immense pressure on their ability to stay afloat. Some of the fastest growing and most successful brands out there have recently employed innovative tactics to discourage shoplifting, largely harnessing the power of consumer psychology. Check out 6 of their most successful tactics, that any small business can easily, and cheaply, start using to discourage and prevent shoplifting!

1. Strategic Checkouts
Place your checkout registers near the front door to dramatically reduce the likelihood of a shoplifter. Most shoplifters prefer to enter the store and then make a quick exit, without passing by an employees. Having customers come in near your employees will also provide your staff with the opportunity to greet new customers, a big plus for customer service and yet another major deterrent of shoplifting. One of the most successful new techniques was introduced by Apple stores — make your registers mobile, on tablets or “phablets.” Have your employees roaming the store, and check-out people right where they encounter them. This tactic has already been adopted by many nationwide retailers as a quick and easy way to dramatically reduce their shrinkage.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics

Shoplifting Prevention and other News

May 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Preventing or taking measures to prevent a crime is much easier for a company than dealing with the results and the cost associated with dealing with it. Preventing shoplifting deals with a lot of situations that are unique to a particular store or situation, and the measures to dealing with them is different every time. If you are dealing with shoplifting or employee theft, follow the links below for more information about this topic and some measures you can take to prevent theft in your store.

Shoplifting arrests at Eagan Outlet Mall raise question of bias

A majority of those cited or charged with shoplifting at Eagan’s new outlet mall have been people of color.

As soon as developers broke ground at the Twin Cities Premium Outlets in Eagan, police began preparing for an uptick in traffic and activity in the area.

Nearly 85 percent of those arrested or cited in connection with shoplifting calls at Eagan’s new outlet mall were people of color, according to a Star Tribune analysis of nearly 1,000 calls to police in the first eight months the center was open.

The percentage of blacks and other minorities arrested or charged with shoplifting offenses at Eagan’s Twin Cities Premium Outlet was higher than at nearby Burnsville Center, in all of Minneapolis or at a similar outlet mall in Albertville.

6 Low-Tech Ways to Reduce Shoplifting

It’s our instinct to turn to technology first when solving a problem. However, when it comes to preventing theft in your store, low-tech solutions can also be very effective. Using low-cost and free solutions can sometimes even require less employee training and troubleshooting than some high-tech tools.

Here are 6 low-tech ways to prevent theft in your store:

1. Put out the welcome mat. Shoplifters want to be anonymous and make as little contact with store employees as possible. One of the most effective ways to deter shoplifters is to greet every customer that walks into the store. “Don’t just shout “Good morning” over your shoulder, but make eye contact and greet the customer like you are happy to see them,” says Chris McGoey, security expert and founder ofCrime Doctor, a security firm. “Not only is it good customer service, a simple greeting can make potential shoplifters change their mind about stealing from your store because they know you can identify them.”

SHOPLIFTING PREVENTION TIPS

ANDERSON, SC – The City of Anderson Police Department offers the following shoplifting prevention tips. Shoplifting can cost your business thousands of dollars each year. Shoplifters may be any age, sex, economic, or ethnic background. There is no “typical” shoplifter. Often they work in pairs or groups to divert the clerk’s attention while they steal. Certain times of the day when employees are apt to be less alert are critical: Store opening and closing, during the lunch hour, dinner, or shift changes. Shoplifters learn to take advantage of crowded stores during peak hours.Effective prevention begins with an aware and alert staff.

Protective Measures

• Make the shoplifters feel watched. Elevate the cashier’s platform. Install mirrors that enable cashiers and sales people to see over and around displays. Install one-way glass in offices to enable employees to see into the store without being seen from the floor. Install video surveillance cameras.

• Post signs warning against shoplifting. Emphasize that you will prosecute. The best way to discourage shoplifters and keep your business from being tagged as an easy mark is to take a get- tough attitude and prosecute on the first offense.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Prevent Shoplifting, retail security and monitoring, security devices

Organized Employee Theft

May 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I seriously try not to be surprised anymore. During any given day, there is no telling what will come across my desk. As an investigator for my company’s Asset Protection department, there are no two days the same. I have two main focuses. One being organized retail theft and the other is employee theft. Ten years in and I haven’t figured out which one I love more. The external cases keep me on my toes, but the employees really do come up with some very clever ways to steal from me. Sometimes the two worlds collide for a case that is truly amazing.

Take one of my stores for example. It was time for their inventory and two days later we get the final numbers. The appliance department shows that it’s in the negative almost $200K. This is impossible. Every piece of equipment delivered to the store gets checked in, so there’s no chance of shipping errors. It’s pretty hard for a customer to stuff a dryer down their pants, so external theft is out. The only other option out there is employee theft. Again though, you would think it would be obvious if an employee was stealing a large bulk item. Unless of course, half the store is in on the theft.

It didn’t take much research after that inventory to find out what was happening. The basic fraud scheme was this. A customer. A legitimate customer would come into the store looking to purchase a new home appliance. After speaking with one of the sales consultants (dishonest employee), the customer would be duped into thinking there is a special clearance item that meets their needs that just happens to be heavily reduced in price. The sales person would then tell the customer that the system was down and that his register was only accepting cash, and that the store was also short on change, so it had to be the exact dollar amount. In all, several steps, but all believable to an honest customer who just thinks they are getting a deal.

Once the sales person would collect the cash (normally about ½ the retail value of the item), they would call an accomplice in the warehouse. A phony pick label would be generated in order for it to be pulled from the warehouse. An AP associate is required to sign off whenever bulk merchandise is loaded, however the majority of this store’s AP staff was unfortunately, in on the scheme. At the end of the night, the cash would be split. For a busy store such as this one, the associates were splitting thousands of dollars a week. This organized employee theft scheme went on, unchecked, for nearly a year.

During our investigation, we found the ring leader of the bunch, who happened to be an AP supervisor for the location. He stated that it happened once for a friend and he saw just how easy it was to make some extra cash on the side. Before he knew it, things had snowballed into a very elaborate, sophisticated and organized scheme. Never before had I prosecuted an employee theft case so large and organized. So organized that the District Attorney charged all involved with Organized Retail Theft, a statute that I had never seen used with employee theft. In total, these 10 or so employees had cost the store nearly $200K in losses. Each one of the employees were found guilty of their charge and due to the dollar values, some of them actually did a few weeks in a state prison.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, security devices

Who is really running my store? A Strong Case for Employee Background Checks

May 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Coming from big box retail, I never realized just how uncommon employee background checks are in terms of smaller businesses, until I worked for one. While it’s standard practice for major retailers to run a pre-employment screening, there are plenty of stores and business out there that simply don’t. This could be a problem. It could be a problem for you, your business, your other employees and your customers. Knowing who you employ shouldn’t be a luxury. It is and should be, a necessity.

One of my first LP jobs was a district manager position for a very small chain of hardware stores. If I recall, they only have about 50 stores. When I first came on, they were building up their LP program and lacked several basic control measures in place. Think EAS, CCTV, exception based reporting and basic physical security measures. Heck, the stores weren’t even equipped with alarm panels. Part of my job was to help build their LP department to better assist the stores in becoming more profitable, assist in inventory reductions as well as limiting a very high turnover rate. After my first couple of weeks, it was clear that in order to help all of those categories, store managers needed to make better hiring decisions and that all starts with a thorough background check.

It didn’t take much convincing and the company eventually found a company to process the screenings for us for a very competitive rate. Part of our new policy was to run the background checks on all of our current store managers. What we found was very disturbing. Out of 50 store managers, nearly 20 of them had extensive criminal records. Records that including prison time, drug and weapons charges, assaults, counterfeiting, forgery, fraud and even murder. These were our store managers! Not surprising, these 20 or so managers all had some of the worst performing stores. Literally, every one of those stores had shrink, turnover and moral issues. Coincidence? I think not.

It took almost two years to fully implement and turnover some of those managers, but eventually the company was able to start with a clean slate. Now, every employee, prior to being offered a position with that company is required to submit to a background check. Anything other than simple misdemeanor traffic violations results in a disqualification of employment. I can tell you that those stores operate more efficiently, there is less shrink and turnover and employee morale high. If your company is not reviewing the backgrounds of your employees, ask yourself, “Who is really running my store?”

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Employee Theft and How to Prevent it

May 7, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Now, research has shown the retail loses more from employee theft every year without knowing how to stop it, than at any other time. Employee theft, shoplifting, credit card fraud, and many other fraudulent practices are plaguing the retail industry without a clear solution to the problem. Local police in many communities across the US are implementing programs to help reduce criminal activities around their communities. To read more about this topic follow the links below.

4 Ways to Protect Your Business Against Employee Fraud and Theft

Q: Which internal accounting controls can help prevent fraud?

A: This is a vast topic covered by countless books and consultants, so let’s narrow it down to employee fraud and theft. Aside from the obvious—conducting regular inventory checks and book audits, reconciling cash daily, and personally reviewing financial statements each month—there are several actions you can take to protect yourself and your business.

1. Establish a code of conduct.

Did you know that Walmart employees are not allowed to accept a bottle of water or cup of coffee from a vendor at a meeting without paying for it? That’s what I mean by a code of conduct. It’s a statement that you will not tolerate unethical or illegal behavior toward anyone—customers, suppliers, employees or the company itself.

While you may not be as strict as Walmart, you should write and post a code of conduct that clearly spells out the rules for employees and the repercussions for not following them. Give the code to everyone upon hire, and periodically thereafter, and require written acknowledgement that they have read, understand and agree to comply with it.

Police: Employee admits to stealing $14,500 from Kohl’s

A Sun Prairie woman admitted to stealing $14,500 from the Madison department store at which she worked, according to a release from Madison police.

Police said Rebecca A. Onstad, 27, said she stole merchandise and faked returns for store credit to support her family during some tough times in the past year.

Onstad worked at Kohl’s at 2602 East Springs Drive.

She was arrested Monday on suspicion of felony theft.

What Smaller Retailers can Learn About Loss Prevention

One of the biggest challenges the UK retail industry currently has to face is shrinkage. While sales are steadily growing – they increased by 3.9 per cent year-on-year in January, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – stores are still facing losses from the old enemy of theft.

A recent infographic commissioned by SECOM Plc shows shoplifting and more serious retail theft is becoming more and more of a problem. While the number of incidents is falling, their cost to businesses is rising as more valuable items are targeted. In 2014, the cost of crime to the UK retail sector was £603 million, a rise of 18 per cent compared to the year before.

However, this figure does not take into account a number of other factors that have a much greater impact on smaller retailers. Each theft is not equal; stealing an item from one store can cause significant issues, while another might be able to absorb the loss easily.

Many small retailers only employ a handful of people and operate relatively informally, meaning they don’t have many policies in place regarding things like pricing, inventory and employee conduct. It may seem like these things are fairly low priority, but in actual fact having policies like these in place can significantly reduce shrinkage.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, security devices

What Do You Really Know About Employment Background Checks?

April 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

You probably know what employment background checks are… you might have even had them run on you in the past. But do you really know what an employment background check includes? And if you are responsible for or are assisting with your company’s hiring… do you know what you should be asking for when you ask for “background checks”?

When Loss Prevention Systems runs employment background checks for Retailers, most are interested in a potential employee’s previous criminal record. In many States we can look at their record “State wide”. This means that we access the Crime Information Center for that State. That database is maintained by each State. For example, in Georgia, it is the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) and it is run by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. All State, City and County arrest and conviction records in the state of Georgia are fed into this system. It is the same database used when a Police Officer stops someone in a traffic stop and “checks their record”.

There is no such thing as a “Federal Records Check”. It does exist but civilians do not have any access to it under any circumstances. If a company tells you they do, they are outright lying. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is restricted only to Law Enforcement. It is a serious felony for someone to access it. Many years ago I asked a Congressman why we could not have legitimate access to NCIC. His response is that it will never happen as unemployment would rise sharply. Wow, they do not care if we hire criminals, have thefts and crimes caused by them, they just do not want unemployment to rise?!?!?

Not all States have State wide records checks available. In that case we run them by county. The trick is to figure out which counties. We can make an educated guess based on where the applicant indicates they have lived. However, we frequently find that applicants will lie or omit a location where they have lived that is associated with criminal records. So what is the solution?

How about “social trace”? Ever heard of that? No, it’s not a new thing on Facebook or Twitter. It’s a check that we run on an individual’s social security number that allows you to know what states and addresses the person has lived in and what other names they could have used. Sometimes, we get a red flag because a female’s maiden name wasn’t listed and pops up as an alias, which is pretty common and obviously nothing to worry about… but other times, we get a red flag on a social trace because the individual has used entirely different aliases—not misspellings, completely different names!

When we run an employment background check for a customer, we like to run a Social Trace first. This tells us then where to search the criminal records. That keeps you in control, not the applicant. By the way, Social Traces are really inexpensive.

We see it all around here. To date “the record” is held by an applicant that had over 50 pages of arrests and convictions. Many of those were VERY serious crimes that were recent. This is the kind of person that you would never want near your family, friends or employees. There’s no telling what a new day will bring. But for you, and your company, trust us when we say that it’s better for you to find out first.

If you’re not running a social security trace on your potential new hires, you could be missing out on crucial information that will keep your workplace environment safe and hold down on employee theft.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, surveillance

Background Checks Should be Standard Operating Procedure

April 29, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It’s not every day that I bring someone new to my team. I’m a regional Loss Prevention Manager and I manage a very small, but highly motivated and productive team. I need someone to work independently, make good business decisions and get results all with very minimal supervision. I also need someone that is of good moral character and has integrity above all else. Normally, when I have an open position, it will take me weeks to fill. I’m extremely selective and always go with the person that I know will fit into my team the best. So running a background check is one of the first things I do when I have a potential candidate, and it should be something you do as well.

It wasn’t all that long ago when I was looking for a market investigator. The position had been posted for a few weeks and I had already interviewed a group of candidates. I had narrowed it down to three and had to make a hiring decision. They all had tons of experience working investigations, retail operations or law enforcement. I knew who I wanted and made a job offer, which was contingent on the successful completion of a background check. We shook hands and he assured me that his record was clean.

A few days later, my background check company sent the results back to me. I was completely taken back. What seemed like a very qualified, motivated person was a complete fraud. His rap sheet was ¼ mile long and he was recently convicted of several counts of fraud. There was absolutely no way I could bring this person onto my team. Had it not been for a solid background check, this person could have potentially cost me and my company thousands of dollars and untold hours of frustration and heartache. This should be a lesson to any owner out there. It doesn’t matter how clean someone appears to be, how well the interview, or even how great their resume may look, there’s always the potential for skeletons to be hiding just below the surface. Do yourself, and your business a favor and always run a background check on new employees.

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