When Spider Wraps Aren’t Enough

I began my retail loss prevention career in an area with rampant Organized Retail Crime and pawn shops on every corner. One pawn shop closed and another popped up out of nowhere. Any shoplifter knows that, when it comes to fencing (the sale of stolen merchandise), small appliances are where it’s at. They make great gifts and pawn shop owners are less likely to ask questions because they are so easily sellable. For that reason, every local shop that carried small appliances was lit up with the blinking red lights of Spider Wraps, except for mine, at the time. 

The first six months of my career I was plagued with the question “how do I stop my coffee makers from going out the door?” In my first holiday season I had lost 33. At $150-$200 each, it was a majority of my Houseware Department’s shortage for that year. The real goal in loss prevention is to implement programs that protect your merchandise without impeding sales. Generally shortage goals are a percentage of annual sales, meaning the more you sell, the more loss is acceptable. Because Keurigs were the hot item of the season, my store displayed them directly in front of the main store entrance.  Without the option of moving the units further from the door, I had to find a way to protect them. I placed a phone call to my director and requested Spider Wraps. At the time, they were not approved in my store. The shortage had never been high enough to offset the cost of the equipment. It took a lot of pleading and a very informative and convincing PowerPoint presentation but my director finally approved. I was like a kid on Christmas morning when that box was delivered to my office. I worked overtime that day making sure that all the coffee makers, blenders, and juicers were wrapped in their glorious alarms. I worked overtime the next day making sure the associates all knew how to operate them. This is it, I thought to myself. No more running after appliances. They were great! My Housewares activity stopped and I was finally able to focus on other areas of my store. 

Then, two weeks later, I got a call from the store. “I know you’re on vacation but I really feel like you need to be informed that we’ve lost three coffee makers this week.” It didn’t take long for the shoplifters to realize that, if they ran fast enough, it didn’t matter that the alarm went off. The merchandise was so close to the door that they could grab it and run and, with or without the alarm, no one could get there quick enough. I went back to the drawing board. What else was out there that would protect my merchandise? I went through my inventory of tags and cables to no avail. Then, one day, there was another box delivered to my door with a note that said “I ordered too many for another store. Can you use these?” In the box were 2-alarm Alpha Cable Locks. These little locks were obviously too short to wrap around a coffee maker, but they were just the right length to attach the existing spider wraps to the wire shelving unit the merchandise was displayed on. So, that’s what I did. Absolutely, it seemed a little excessive at first but desperate times call for desperate measures! I do have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in my office watching suspected shoplifters walk up to the shelves, tug on the alarms and then leave, faces full of disappointment. 

That year I only lost one coffee maker, and I’m pretty sure that was a shipping/receiving error, thanks to the combination of Spider Wraps and Alpha Cable Locks. Unfortunately, we live in a time where our all never seems to be enough when it comes to reducing shortage but, it’s not hopeless with a little creative thinking and the right resources. 

For more information contact us: Alpha Cable Locks or call 1.770.426.0547