In Loss Prevention, you watch hours upon hours of CCTV, waiting for that one shoplifter to boost your products. You truly never know what situations will arise: You never know exactly who is going to steal or under what circumstances. Even with theft being a serious crime, you run across shoplifters that do some downright humorous things. Some tactics will never make sense, but you just have to laugh it off and keep being a dedicated professional. But even the most dedicated loss prevention people can’t be in the store at all times. For the moments you can’t be there to watch people, you can use the best shoplifter proof protection devices to prevent shoplifting from these situations that may arise! We often use hard tags or ink tags for clothing items, but what can be done for other products we sell? A very common misconception is there is no protection devices to fit properly, so management throws their hands up to the problem. Retailers often neglect these products due to it being a boxed product versus clothing item. The Alpha Bug Tag is the best option for these difficult merchandise protection situations!
I was watching one of our high theft departments and noticed 2 subjects walk right into my camera range. I knew right away according to their behavior that they were going to steal. They started looking around suspiciously, while keeping their eye on the prize. They saw 15 boxes of high dollar electronics speaker that are priced at $79.99 a piece. The size of box is small, with a high price ready for them to resell! They feel like it’s a win, win… while not realizing I am watching every move they make on CCTV. They grab the electronic speaker’s and quickly go to a corner in the store. It seems they did not see that the merchandise is tagged with an Alpha Bug Tag to prevent shoplifting. Or for some reason they don’t feel it will alarm at the door. They looked around, and started stuffing all 15 boxes into their pants. Not in any pockets though, but straight into their pants! The speakers are pretty heavy so I figured most of them would fall out as they were walking… but it didn’t. They started wobbling around the store, oddly enough making sure no one saw them. The wobbling by itself should have made them worried about getting attention from the sales staff, but again it didn’t! After they finally felt comfortable (well as comfortable as you can be with 15 boxes in your pants), they went for the exit. The alarm went off right as the subjects exited thanks to the Alpha Bug Tag. All eyes now on them from everyone in the store. Since they did exit the store, I ran out there and apprehended both subjects and brought them back to my Loss Prevention office to process them. I asked for all of the speakers back, and they started pulling them out one by one. Come to find out, they had their underwear duct taped to their legs in order to hold the speakers!! First time ever seeing this! This was definitely a strange situation, but I managed to prevent a lot of money from going out the door. My store team was so excited for the big bust, but laughed when I had to explain where the speakers were and what happened!
Shoplifters never cease to amaze me. In the end, my store was thankful for utilizing the Alpha Bug Tag. What if I was not watching these subjects? These subjects could have got away with a lot of merchandise. The associates need an alarm to go off, incase no one noticed the subjects stealing. It is important to utilize them to prevent shoplifting at all times!
Alpha Bug Tag is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
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