Too Small A Store For A Loss Prevention Department? Loss Prevention Systems Inc. Is The Solution To Your Dilemma

June 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Shortage control and theft prevention for small retailers which have no Loss Prevention Associates in the store was the topic of a recent article in an online loss prevention magazine. The points were well made and much of it was directed at stores that may have district or regional Loss Prevention Managers. But the truth is there are many small, independent retailers with no affiliation to a larger company. How do these stores cope with reducing shrink and preventing theft? It could be a tough problem but Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI)has the solutions that can keep small stores keep shortage down and profits up.

     So what are the solutions for those smaller retailers and how can LPSI help?

  • LPSI offers business owners advice through the blog posts on its website. The blogs are written by professionals who have years of experience in retail management and retail Loss Prevention. They give helpful insights from their personal experiences and knowledge of how shortage occurs. These insights can often be applied to any retail environment from a local “Mom and Pop” shop to a big box retail store.
  • LPSI posts videos on YouTube. Bill Bregar, owner and President of LPSI regularly posts videos to the web site, sharing stories from his extensive Loss Prevention experiences and tying them in with tips and strategies business owners and managers can employ in their own buildings. The videos are short yet informative and interesting as Bill includes anecdotes from his time in the field.
  • LPSI’s Facebook account provides additional videos and information on merchandise protection tools like Checkpoint and Alpha security tags and electronic article surveillance towers.
  • Small business owners may not have all of the information they need on how to prevent theft from employees or from shoplifters. While they are knowledgeable on the aspects of ordering products, replenishing the stores, running point of sale terminals they may not be equipped or even aware of all the various methods that can impact shortage. LPSI offers training seminars for business owners and managers that will give them the knowledge and information they need to prevent shoplifting, dishonest employee activity, and fraud.  A store may not be able to afford its own Loss Prevention department but this does not prevent them from proactively deterring or stopping thieves. LPSI has provided training both nationally and internationally to give business owners the tools that will allow them to defeat thieves even without a Loss Prevention Department.
  • Were you aware that hiring the wrong people to work for you can lead to internal theft and fraud, poor employee morale or worse, they could be a legal liability? LPSI offers professional background check services. They can look at an applicant’s criminal history, driving record, verify academic records, check on prior addresses, and verify employment history. Will the employee be working around children or other employees? The background check services offered by LPSI can check on sex offender registries to make sure your other employees and customers are safe and secure. Our company can make sure your hiring practices are optimizing your investment in staffing your store(s).
  • Consider that retail anti-theft devices and EAS pedestals can significantly deter shoplifting crime and even internal theft. You might be thinking about investing in it but you’re not sure how much you should invest or what the impact of your investment will be? LPSI offers a Free ROI Calculator on its website. There is no obligation to use it but simply entering the amount of money you are thinking about investing in Checkpoint equipment and how much your annual sales are, you can get a quick estimate of what your savings from shortage reduction would be.

Shortage reduction and theft prevention does not necessarily require a Loss Prevention Department.

     By using all of the resources available through Loss Prevention Systems Inc. you can effectively reduce merchandise shortage. We can also assist you in making the right investments in merchandise protection that will best suit your store size and the type of merchandise you carry.  Spend some time reviewing the LPSI website and social media posts and see if WE can be meet your Loss Prevention needs.

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How To Prevent Shrinkage With Technology

May 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment

It is true the retail industry losses are staggering.  Losses due to shoplifting and employee theft are a problem that seems to have no solution.  Small mom and pop stores close their stores for good because of the losses they encounter and cannot recover from.  Big national retail stores have the capability to withstand losses from shoplifting and employee theft that other smaller stores cannot.

New technologies have been a help for many of these giants in the prevention of shoplifting and employee theft. The new technology has helped these retail stores prevent the crime before it happens or when they are happening.  Two of these technologies are: Video analytics along with video cameras and Face recognition software. They have played an important role in shoplifting prevention in the retail industry.

For more about preventing shoplifting and employee theft

Here are a 20 ways to make more money and boost your profit margins by minimizing loss in your business: – Modest Money (press release) (blog)

There’s an old saying that “you have to spend money to make money,” but it’s also true that one of the best ways to make money is to avoid spending money in the wrong places. If your business is spending too much money on unnecessary business expenses – or worse, if your business is losing money due to theft by customers or employee fraud – you are letting good money go out the door. And this makes it harder for your business to be profitable because you have to work that much harder.

Here are a 20 ways to make more money and boost your profit margins by minimizing loss in your business:

  1. Reduce Administrative Errors: Many businesses make seemingly simple mistakes in their pricing, paperwork or bookkeeping that lead to big losses over time.
  2. Prevent Employee Theft: Employees stealing from their own companies is a major cause of “shrinkage” or business profit loss. According to RetailNext, employee theft makes up almost half of the $42 billion in retail shrinkage each year.

How to tackle employee theft with real-time inventory

Minna Nurmisalo, project & marketing manager at MariElla Labels, takes a look at how real-time inventory can help deter employee theft.

No retail business wants to believe that they might be subject to theft from their own employees. Unfortunately, it is a very real problem. It might be stealing items on their person, or exploiting employee discount privileges to significantly reduce the price – either way, employee theft can account for as much as 28% of unexplained inventory loss globally, according to the recent Global Theft Barometer Report.

In order to prevent it, it is first important for employers to be aware why employees might feel the temptation to steal – from financial pressures in their personal lives, to general disgruntlement with their employers.

But irrespective of the emotional reason that causes employees to consider stealing, it all boils down to something very simple: they think they can get away with it.

Beat The Shrink: How Inventory Management Can Help Reduce Shrinkage

Retailers ate losses of more than $45 billion thanks to shrinkage in 2015, a $1 billion jump from the 2014 total. If this trend continues, the 2016 figure could exceed $47 billion!

How can so much inventory just walk out the door? According to the National Retail Federation, there are five main ways for your supply to disappear.

Sometimes it doesn’t even make it to the store. Roughly seven percent of shrink comes from the vendors in the form of overcharges or undersupply. Small businesses can be especially vulnerable to this if they operate on more informal bases with their supply companies. Check your contracts and make sure expectations are clear.

Human errors count for another 16 percent. Maybe someone ordered too much product to move in a realistic timeframe. A stocker accidentally slapped the wrong price on an item and led to an impromptu sales event. It could be something as simple as poorly-inventoried stockrooms that harried employees tally by physical count and tally marks.

Other times, though, goods may get a helping hand out the door.

Shoplifting counts for 38 percent of loss. People may steal for personal use. They might need to make fast money from a resale. It could be nothing more than they steal because they can, but the end result remains the same: Lost revenue and unbalanced books.



 

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The Habit of Shoplifting

May 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention studies have shown that there is not a profile for a typical shoplifter.  Women and men shoplift as frequently, and the majority of the shoplifting is done by adults.  And although, shoplifting has been shown to start early in a person’s teenage years, as teenagers become adults, the tendency to shoplift stays with them.  Drugs, poverty, and mental illness have been factors for people who shoplift.  In other cases, the reasons are still unclear.  People from all walks of life shoplift.

Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that people who shoplift will do so again within the year.  That is the case in most developed countries.  Shoplifting can be a way of life for many of these people, and if retail stores across the globe do not find measures to mitigate the damage these shoplifters do, the profits these retail stores can count on at the end of their fiscal year diminish tremendously.

To learn more about this topic, follow the links below.

One in four criminals re-offend within a year

More than a quarter of offenders are re-convicted within a year, according to official statistics.

Figures from the Scottish Government show that in 2014-15, 28.2 per cent of the 43,634 people released from prison or given a non-custodial sentence such as a community payback order or fine had a further conviction within a year.

The overall re-conviction rate has fallen 0.3 per cent from 2013/14, continuing an 18-year downward trend.

But of those given a custodial sentence of six months or less, 57 per cent were re-convicted within a year and 39 per cent were back in prison 12 months later.

Offenders released from jail in 2014/15 had a higher re-conviction rate at 43.9 per cent than for any other type of sentence except drug treatment and testing orders.

Statisticians highlighted that offenders who receive short sentences typically commit “low level” crimes such as shoplifting, but often in higher volumes and are more likely to be re-convicted.

Sex offenders had the lowest re-conviction rate at 12.1 per cent, while people committing crimes of dishonesty such as theft or shoplifting had the highest out of the crime classifications at 42.5 per cent.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said the figures showed that community sentences, including community payback orders (CPOs) brought in to replace community service, were more effective at cutting re-offending than short jail terms.

Former State Rep. Hurley pleads guilty to three shoplifting incidents

ROGERSVILLE – Local businessman and former State Representative Bruce W. Hurley, 83, entered guilty pleas in Hawkins Co. Criminal Court on Friday, April 28, to three counts of theft of property valued at less than $500.

Court records indicate that Hurley, who pleaded guilty before Criminal Court Judge John F. Dugger, Jr., will serve no jail time as a result of his pleas of guilty to what amounts to three shoplifting charges.

Judge Dugger imposed a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, but ruled that all but 120 days of that sentence is to be served on probation. The remaining 120 days is to be served on community corrections (house arrest), court records indicate.

In addition to a $50 fine on each count, Hurley was ordered to pay $4.02 in restitution to Walmart, one of his two theft victims. The other theft victim was the Rogersville Food City supermarket. All three charges were brought against Hurley by the victims, according to a Rogersville Police Department spokesman.

Court records indicate that the thefts took place on Aug. 25, 2016; Sept. 29, 2016; and Nov. 16, 2016.

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Have Fun With Shoplifters, Yeah Really!

April 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Okay we know that shoplifters are one of the lowest forms of life. Stealing from people is not noble or right in any situation. I believe that shoplifters are a strong competitor for the oldest profession in the world. After all, I bet a cave man was able to steal a rock from another before prostitution even existed and politicians didn’t even exist yet. Even though some in Congress seem to have been around much too long.

So if we can’t get rid of them, we might as well have a little fun with them. In the process make them very frustrated and uncomfortable. All the while your staff is being entertained. This provides a great break to the normal retail grind for your folks, ultimately sends the shoplifter packing with an empty bag and the best part of all saves you money. And let’s not forget this sends a signal to the shoplifting community to go elsewhere and leave your store alone.

So what’s the secret????? Customer Service! Once you know how to spot a shoplifter customer service them to death, overtly and openly. If you don’t know how to spot shoplifters even before they steal, contact us, we can teach you how to do that.

You see the one thing that all shoplifters need is privacy or at least the perception of it. If you or your staff is customer servicing them, they can’t do the dirty deed and they get the message. Typically they simply go elsewhere and don’t bother you further.

Entertainment is great but try to avoid getting the popcorn and 64 ounce drink out and watching. That would just be rude.

CC Intro:

I bet you never thought that shoplifters could be a form of in-store entertainment did you? Why not! These bottom feeders are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed so let’s drive them crazy and have some fun at the same time. That is what our Feature Article is all about this month. ENJOY!!!!

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Cash Handling Tips That Can Prevent Cash Losses

April 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Have you ever noticed that when a convenience store robbery takes place the crook never demands all of the credit card slips? I have never heard of a bank robber pulling out a gun and yelling for the teller to give them all of the checks in the drawer. What is it the bad guys are always trying to get their hands on…CASH! While Loss Prevention departments do work on credit card and fraudulent check cases our bigger concern is cash theft and fraud. It has been my experience that in many incidents involving a stolen credit card or check, I have been able to work with bank investigators and police detectives to identify and in some cases resolve those crimes. In those situations there is usually a victim as well as a perpetrator of the crime. When it comes to cash loss cases it becomes another matter altogether, the victim is the store. While we may have video of the crime there may not be any other means of tying in additional information. Another issue with cash losses is that the stolen money cannot be tracked further. Stolen credit cards tend to leave a trail of locations where they are used which can lead to greater opportunities to pick up on additional evidence. The same can be true with fraudulent check writing cases. With a cash loss case, once it’s gone you don’t see it again, money is not traced.

     What kind of situations can lead to cash losses? The first thing that comes to mind is internal employee theft. A cashier may steal directly from a register till and pocket the money. You could also have a cashier stealing from customers by short-changing them. I recall at least one case I had in which the employee was keeping back a dollar every so often from a customer’s change they were due back. Until a customer complained to the supervisor rather than going back to the cashier, I had no idea it was taking place.

     External causes of cash loss can include:

  • Robbery
  • Short change artists
  • Till Tappers
  • Counterfeit and fraudulent cash (fraudulent bills may be a $1 bill with two $100 corners pasted over two of the $1 corners. The other two corners are pasted on another $1 bill giving the bad guy $200 of value for a $100 bill and yes, it does happen when a bad guy tries to hurry a new or young cashier).
  • Grab and Runs

In all the cases of external cash losses there are cash handling tips that any store can use to minimize the risk of loss or the amount of exposure to loss:

  • Be sure to do daily bank deposits. Preferably contract with an armored car service to pick up money or drop off change orders. If you choose to conduct your own deposits vary the time of day and the route to the bank. Storing excess money in your cash office only increases the amount you could lose in a robbery.
  • Train cashiers to call a manager or supervisor for any transaction that is $20 or less and the payment is a $100 bill.
  • Train cashiers to never allow someone to put their hand in the till. Slam the drawer closed if necessary. If a customer is taking too long to look for change, the drawer should be closed.
  • Have cashiers place all large bills under the till and call for a pick up when the transaction is complete or have a cash drop at the register that can only be opened by a supervisor. This keeps bills from being seen by customers when the drawer is opened and prevents a grab and run.
  • Use locking till covers for registers. When a register is not in use but has money in it, the till cover prevents someone from getting to the cash even if they have a register key to open the drawer.
  • Cashiers should each have their own till. When multiple employees work from one register it is more difficult to pinpoint who may be causing cash shortages and dishonest cashiers know it.
  • Conduct register skims when they are over a pre-determined dollar amount. There is a temptation for dishonest employees to feel that the more money in the register the less likely a $10 or $20 bill will be missed. Lesser amounts in a register drawer also take away incentive for a potential robber.

There is always going to be risk of loss when cash is an accepted form of tender for your business. Minimizing that risk can be done through training and a few commonsense security measures.

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Improving Loss Prevention Training For Your Employees

April 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Training your personnel well on how to handle shoplifting incidents, can be an asset for any company. Excellent training is an asset.  Prejudiced training is a liability for the business plus it’s bad for business.  The loss prevention team and management of the store that receive training and are constantly educating themselves through out their careers, become  indispensable in any company.  

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

How Organizations Can Impact Loss Prevention with Improved Associate Knowledge

Four takeaways gathered over the course of transforming the way Bloomingdale’s approaches LP and safety training:

Prior to 2012, Bloomingdale’s was doing what most retail organizations do when it comes to lossprevention and safety training–relying on a number of standard training approaches like posters, classroom training, huddles, and pre-shift morning rallies. But these approaches just weren’t working.

As I contemplated this situation, I realized we weren’t focused on the right thing. We were concentrating on simply delivering training, when we should have been focused on building knowledge. Simply plastering posters on the wall or using all those other one-off approaches weren’t making our associates smarter or getting them to do the right things on the job. This dearth of knowledge was impacting our loss prevention and safety numbers.

We sought out and eventually discovered an employee knowledge platform that aligned with the organizational vision. The platform’s methodology, which was rooted in brain science principles, and its use of gamification techniques to keep associates interested, succeeded in building employee expertise over time. Since implementing the platform, we’ve reduced safety claims by 41 percent and saved $2.2 million per year, which is a $10 million savings overall.

Here are a 20 ways to make more money and boost your profit margins by minimizing loss in your business: – Modest Money (press release) (blog)

There’s an old saying that “you have to spend money to make money,” but it’s also true that one of the best ways to make money is to avoid spending money in the wrong places. If your business is spending too much money on unnecessary business expenses – or worse, if your business is losing money due to theft by customers or employee fraud – you are letting good money go out the door. And this makes it harder for your business to be profitable because you have to work that much harder.

Here are a 20 ways to make more money and boost your profit margins by minimizing loss in your business:

  1. Reduce Administrative Errors: Many businesses make seemingly simple mistakes in their pricing, paperwork or bookkeeping that lead to big losses over time.

VIDEO: What police told last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting about recent gunfire incidents, and more

Despite the overnight gunfire spree hours earlier, turnout was low at last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, so we recorded highlights on video. Above is what precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis told attendees; below, special guest Officer James Ritter, talking about the SPD Safe Place program, which has now been adopted by more than 50 cities across the country.

Toplines: Capt. Davis said a multi-city/multi-agency task force is working on the gunfire situation, which has seen recent incidents in South Park as well as West Seattle (SP also is part of the SW Precinct’s jurisdiction). None of the WS incidents have resulted in injuries – so far; the precinct is working with special teams including the Gang Unit and SWAT and trying to get more officers out on patrol to try to get ahead of the problem. They are working to identify potential suspects who might be from out of the area – he mentioned Kent, Renton, Federal Way – but spending time with family in this area.

 

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The Advantages of Hiring and Training Good Employees

April 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment

A study done by the University of California at Berkley found that hiring a new employee costs an approximate $4,000 dollars per employee and in hiring for higher positions-professionals and management level employees-the figure increases to $7,000. If you are a small business, then the figure increases per every new employee you are trying to hire.  If you are a small business that offers other benefits to their employees, the cost increases considerably.  The importance of hiring quality employees, or training the employees you already have, are an economic advantage many businesses cannot pass.  Hiring and training new employees is expensive, why not do it right the first time? Background checks, and recommendations from other employers are not something you can take lightly.  Checked them before you hire, and it would likely paid dividends.

For more about this and other stories, follow the links below.

Loss Prevention Management Must Focus on Quality Recruitment and Retention

Loss prevention management has the power to improve understanding, morale, and workplace inclusion.

Let’s face it—the bottom line to any corporate organization is the profit margin. However, those in executive loss prevention management should always be mindful that quality of service drives the margin. Factors that lead to high-quality service are often the result of well-retained employees. Specifically, all management levels need to be mindful of what policies work, what don’t work, and what looks promising.

Recruitment and Training

Think back to when you first joined your company. What was your initial impression of the first few people you met when you went in for the initial interview? Do you remember their general attitude about the company?

Chances are that your initial impression was positive. Perhaps this is why you stayed. Do you think the same attitudes are being conveyed to new recruits today? If not, you might consider those colleagues who left the company. What was it about their experiences that differed from yours, that made them leave?

The Square Alliance met this morning to discuss ways to combat the increase in shoplifting in the hub of Oxford’s shopping. Business owners had a Q&A with OPD investigator Chris Case about how to prevent shoplifting and deal with those who are caught in the act.

Case provided tips in shoplifting prevention such as a more visible security system, keeping an eye out for suspicious activity and more. Business owners voiced their opinions and discussed certain tricks and trends that they’ve noticed shoplifters using to attempt to steal merchandise. Case mentioned that shoplifters will usually work in pairs rather than alone to attempt to distract workers while they commit the crime.

A heavy importance was placed on figuring out how to deal with shoplifters when they are caught in the act to find the balance of ensuring security but not overstepping the boundaries. Businesses and workers have the ability to recover stolen merchandise and keep the violator in the store until the authorities arrive, as long as they have probable cause. It is also unlawful to lock them in a small space such as a closet or use force.

Wal-Mart has a unique way to cut down on shoplifting

Wal-Mart has taken the law into its own hands. 

No, the company has not started its own jail, and any employee who wears a cape and fights crime must still do so on his own time. Instead, the retail chain has taken a new approach to fighting shoplifting that requires less involvement from the police. The retailer has been using a “restorative justice” program in 1,500 of its stores, according to The Gainesville Sun. That’s a program in which people deemed low-risk, first-time offenders are given the choice of paying to take an anti-shoplifting course rather than facing arrest and prosecution.

The effort is in its early days, but the results have been good so far. The company has seen a 35% reduction in calls to law enforcement nationwide since restorative justice programs were first implemented, Wal-Mart spokesman Ragan Dickens told The Sun in an email.

“No retailer is immune to the challenge of crime. We recognize the importance of this issue at the highest levels of the company, and we are investing in people and technology to support our stores,” he wrote, noting that police are not being cut out of the loop.

 

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Fighting Shoplifting Locally

April 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Across the United States, local governments are passing legislature to combat and punish shoplifting and employee theft.  The harsher sentences are supposed to deter the shoplifter while sending the message of severe persecution if caught shoplifting.  Now, small business owners are taking a new initiative.  They are uniting to fight retail theft, and being able to provide information about shoplifters and shoplifting among retailers in the area.In some areas, the increase of shoplifting is hitting businesses hard and according to them “We are fed up.”

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

East Coast supermarket chain finds talent in former drug dealers

PHILADELPHIA

When Jeffrey Brown looks to promote employees within his 13-store supermarket chain, he looks for people with hustle, ability, commitment, all that.

There’s another unlikely attribute that has turned out to be a predictor of success at Brown’s ShopRite and Fresh Grocer stores.

Drug dealing.

“What we realized is that a lot of the people we hired were in the drug trade,” said Brown, founder and chief executive of Brown’s Super Stores Inc. “We were surprised that some of the people we hired have fairly good business skills. The drug trade is a business. It’s an illegal business. You are buying. You are selling. You have inventory. You have some of the common problems that any retailer has. A lot of them are accelerating into management.”

That’s the kind of human capital insight that Brown would never have imagined in 2008, when, at the urging of an outspoken customer, he decided to make it his company’s mission to hire people coming out of prison.

Research Findings from Employee Theft Articles

Peer-reviewed employee theft articles can stimulate discussion and reassessment of policies among LP professionals.

As many of you know, I have been researching employee theft, occupational crime, employee dishonesty, and workplace deviance for more than 30 years. I peruse scholarly journals and academic publications regularly for relevant research studies that can help us all better understand this phenomenon. This column features a couple of employee theft articles that may shed some light on this continuing problem. I have included the full citations so you can find these publications online or in your local library to read and share with your staff. If you do not have direct access to a major research library, try using Google Scholar.

“Workplace Theft: An Analysis of Student-Employee Offenders and Job Attributes”

The first of the two employee theft articles is authored by Elizabeth Ehrhardt Mustaine (University of Central Florida) and Richard Tewksbury (University of Louisville) and published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice 27:1 (pages 111 – 127, 2002). This employee theft study surveyed a large population of college students attending a number of major universities. Since existing research suggests that many dishonest employees are younger, part-time, untenured, and dissatisfied, these two researchers concluded that college students would make an ideal sample of employees to survey about their occupational criminal behavior.

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How to Tackle Employee Theft and Shoplifting

March 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The big retail stores and thousands of convenience stores across the country try to find solutions to tackle shoplifting and employee theft.  The retail industry losses account to $42 billion every year, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Security  measures implemented and adopted by many retailers have given these stores some small wins, but overall the losses are staggering.  Inventory adopted by these small stores that are done in real time, and are working in conjunction with software that displays results to the management of these stores instantly,  are invaluable to the operation and profitability of the stores.  As a deterrent to shoplifting and employee theft, these operative measures are of tremendous help to the management as well.

CCTV cameras that provided a grainy image of the customers or perpetrators are a thing of the past.  Now, CCTV cameras provide a clear image of the individual that is easier for police officers and management of these stores to get a clear view of these people. Facial recognition software now provides solutions to these stores that were not available to them before.  And although trained personnel has to work in conjunction with these technological advances, the results have greatly improved over the years.

For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

To stop a thief: Shoplifting is a daily battle for retailers

On any given day, more than $35 million worth of merchandise is stolen from retail stores across the country by shoplifters – amateurs and professionals alike – who steal clothing, jewelry, electronics and a host of other items, including food.

Some sneak quickly and quietly with the merchandise, others make bold getaway attempts.

In Tupelo, the retail and financial hub of Northeast Mississippi, the Tupelo Police Department gets hundreds of reports each year.

In 2014, TPD took 483 reports related to shoplifting, according to TPD Public Information Officer Chuck McDougald. Last year, that number fell to 260. So far this year, the department has taken 162 calls.

“Higher shopping volume days correspond to more shoplifting calls,” he said. “Those include weekends and holidays.”

As for the timing of when shoplifters are busiest, apparently they’re not early risers.

“Afternoons see an increase over mornings,” McDougald said. “Generally, it looks like the busier a store is, the more opportunities there are for someone to steal.”

For retailers like Reed’s, which has four department stores in the region, the key to cutting down on shoplifters is to make sure customer service is prioritized.

Are You Doing Enough to Secure Your Stores?

Theft and robbery continue to rise, but new technology and planning can deter.

NATIONAL REPORT — Whether it’s violent crime, robberies, shoplifting or employee theft, convenience stores have been dealing with store security issues for years. New technology is allowing operators to amp up prevention and react faster to incidents, but in many cases — in c-stores and the entire retail industry — the situation continues to worsen.

“I’ve been involved in the convenience store industry for 40-plus years and the risk of loss has not changed. The most worrisome is robbery, and as c-stores evolved into 24 hours, the violence level increased,” Chris McGoey of McGoey Security Consulting told Convenience Store News.

Robberies are up all-around, specifically in convenience stores, as the latest released FBI statistics show robbery up 16.8 percent in c-stores/gas stations from 2014 to 2015. Rosemary Erickson, researcher, forensic sociologist and president of Athena Research Corp., based in Sioux Falls, S.D., says this is the largest increase she can remember in all the years she has been studying crime. Erickson has helped NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, develop many of its security resources.

 

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Preventing Shoplifting

March 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention agrees with the retail industry about the effect shoplifting has in all of us. Communities across the country lose the taxes they would otherwise collect from the items being stolen from stores to help social and outreach programs that could benefit those communities in the long run. Shoplifting is a crime that costs the retail industry $45 billion a year, and we as consumers have to pay higher prices to offset the cost shoplifting has in these businesses.

What we, as consumers and retail employees must not forget is that Profiling a customer upon entering a store is not legal, and we must not lose sight of that. Macy’s and CVS stores have had legal suits because of  profiling that have cost them millions of dollars. Assuming a poorly dressed person entering your store is a shoplifter, is assuming too much.  The NASP states that there is no profile of a typical shoplifter.  Men and women shoplift as equally.  Poorly or well dressed customers have the capability to shoplift from the store.

A recent article about ways to prevent shoplifting advises to monitor children and poorly dressed people, because they write“Teenagers are the most likely to steal from you. People that are poorly dressed are statistically more likely to be shoplifters as well”. According to The NASP 25% of shoplifters are kids and 75% are adults. Unfortunately they do not post statistics about how well or poorly those people are dressed.  If years of research from organizations like The NASP tells you that there is no profile of a typical shoplifter, it is distressing to find articles that tells you to target poorly dressed people with no data to back it up. If kids or teenagers are your main target, then you will be missing out the 75% of adults that actively shoplift.

Preventing shoplifting is not about targeting people of color, how well they dressed, or if they are teenagers or not.  People  from all walks of life steal, and some of them are repeated offenders with an addiction problem or other types of issues.  Preventive measures that allows you to monitor ALL people including employees, is the only smart solution to take for any retail store.  Prejudices or preconceived notions of what a typical shoplifter is can be detrimental to stopping shoplifting and employee theft.

Recent research suggest greeting customers as they enter the store is one of the best methods to prevent shoplifting.  Employees should also wander the aisles, but that does not mean targeting “poorly dressed” people. A well lit store, or a store that has shelves that are well organized can deter shoplifters from entering the store.  Shoplifting is an inevitable part of doing retail business, get to know your store, and offer preventive shoplifting measures without targeting specific people.

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