A RETAILER’S WORST FEAR-STORE ROBBERY

April 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

theft (1)It was 4:30am on a Tuesday morning. My company cell phone pierced through the quiet halls of my house. At first, I didn’t get out of bed; perhaps it was a wrong number. Silence. As I doze back off, I hear the familiar tone once again. Who could be calling me and for what reason at this hour? I let it ring. I hear the chirp of the voicemail. Before I can muster the energy to get out of bed, I hear my personal phone ringing. This one is next to me on the night stand. Something is wrong, I immediately think to myself. When I reach for my phone in the middle of the dark room, eyes still blurry, I see the caller ID. It’s a sheriff’s deputy that I’m good friends with. My heart is in my throat as I answer. “You’re morning crew was just robbed at gunpoint. Get to the store now.”

I don’t think I even gave my friend a response before leaping out of bed. I quickly get dressed and race down stairs. Those two missed phones calls were from a panicked and frantic store manager. The other from the general manager. I jump in the car and speed across town; waking the VP of Loss Prevention, the regional VP and the media relations department. All with the news that no LP manager wants to say. “Our team was just robbed. I have no info on the wellbeing of our employees. I’ll update you as soon as I gather info.”

I get to the store and see close to a dozen police units. There’s crime scene tape and the local new stations are already setting up shop. I rush to the front door and see that it’s been shattered. Later, I find that the robber fired two shots from a .45… one round came within inches of a stocker, into the door, gaining entry into the store. At this point, I don’t care about the damage, I don’t care about the money. I head straight to the staging area and am suddenly taken into an embrace by the morning manager; someone I’ve worked alongside for 10 years. She’s shaken up, but OK. So is the rest of the team. I finally have good news. I send a quick text to my boss that all employees are safe; no injuries. We lost $9k and have a broken door. All replaceable.

It was no accident that our team made it out of this ordeal safely.

Every single week, our company’s robbery policy and procedure is covered with our teams. While a robbery can happen at any time of the day or night, they are most likely going to occur early in the morning, or late at night. Training your team to react to this scenario greatly increases your chance of getting out unharmed. So we train, constantly on three very important points.

  1. Comply – there is no need to argue with a guy with a gun. Everything in the store can be replaced. The company brings in several billions of dollars each year; the amount of cash that can physically be taken is nothing compared to your safety.
  2. Give them whatever they want — if they want cash, give them cash. If they want the entire electronics department, let em’ have it. If they want you to open each cash register for the change, then that’s what we’re going to do in order to get them out. Do not argue, do not deny. Your job is to get them out of the store as quickly as possible and without incident. Let our cameras and law enforcement partners’ worry about trying to identify them.
  3. Never, under any circumstance, contact the police while there is an active robbery – We never want a robbery to turn into a hostage situation. If the police show up quickly, the robbers could panic and hold the team hostage. There is also the possibility of a shoot-out with police and the potential for injury to the team. This point cannot be stressed enough. Wait until you are positive that the robber has fled the scene before making that call; because once you do, you’re going to have every free unit across the city rushing to your doors.

While I hope to never have to see one of my teams go through an ordeal such as this again, I know that there will always exist the remote possibility of it happening again; whether it’s to one of my stores, or to one of yours. If you’ve never thought about implementing a robbery policy/procedure before, I would highly suggest doing so now. The better you plan for such an act, the better your chances of coming through without injury. Remember, money and merchandise can be replaced; a team member cannot.

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Get the Biggest Bang For Your Buck, Invest In Alpha Security Products

April 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment

 

Alpha Security – 5                                                                                                                            WC blog 69
Prevent Shoplifting-5
Retail Anti-Theft Devices-4
Get the Biggest Bang For Your Buck, Invest In Alpha Security Products
     Retail shortage is a huge problem and seems to get worse every year.  According the 2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer total retail shrinkage in North America during 2014-2015 was $36.79 billion dollars.  Shrinkage increase reported by respondents, who participated in both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 surveys, went from 1.28% in 2013-2014 to 1.87% in 2014-2015.  So what can a store owner do to drive down shortage?  Let me preface this by letting you know I have roughly 20 years of loss prevention experience and over 25 total years of retail experience.   Regardless of the size of your store, there are steps that any retailer can take to improve shortage results and, in the process improve profits.  It may surprise some readers that I am not going to say customer service is at the top of my list.  While customer service is important and it is a deterrent to prevent shoplifting and it does a great deal to improve sales, it does not have the same impact that a security system has when it includes retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha Security products.
     Here is what I mean.  Customer service deters shoplifting.  That’s wonderful and I am the first to insist that a business MUST establish a culture of customer service excellence.  The payoff is going to be a returning customer base, word of mouth promotion, increased sales and this also leads to a happier staff.  I could go on about the benefits of customer service but that will be another time.  The problem I see is that it only truly impacts one facet of shrinkage.  A security system built around retail anti-theft devices and closed circuit television will not only prevent shoplifting, but it deters employee theft and vendor theft as well.  The only area of retail shrinkage it does not impact is administrative loss, such as vendor billing errors, keying errors on receipts, mis-scanning product, etc.  A well designed system makes all thieves aware that theft is not going to be tolerated from the moment they walk in the door of a retailer.  Alpha security products include hard tags to protect clothing and accessories, hardware and electronics.  Alpha Spider Wrap allows the display of electronics products and accessibility to the customer.  Alpha Keepers prevent the theft of a multitude of products from health and beauty items to DVDs and videogames.  These retail anti-theft devices have visual deterrence value because thieves, whether shoplifters or employees recognize the challenge they will have if they choose to try to steal merchandise that is protected.  This may be trying to remove a clothing security hard tag and damaging merchandise in the process or it could be trying to cut an Alpha Spider Wrap and activating a tamper alarm.  The harder it is for a criminal to get what they want, the more likely they are to leave something alone.  
     The other protection offered by Alpha Security devices is that they do work with an electronic article surveillance system and when passed through an EAS antenna, these products activate the alarm.  A well trained staff knows how to properly respond to an alarm activation and can recover merchandise that was secured by a device.  Yes, I have had vendors and employees exit a store with merchandise that was not paid for and an alarm was activated.  EAS systems are not installed simply to prevent shoplifting but employee and vendor theft as well.   Many of the Alpha Security products can be purchased in either a 2 alarm or 3 alarm version, the 3 alarm adding an additional layer of protection in that the third alarm is an audible alarm built in the device itself.  In case someone exits with a 3 alarm device they set off the EAS antenna alarm and if they get to a certain point the internal alarm actually built in the unit activates (the third alarm is the tamper alarm). 
     Customer Service is a great way to prevent shoplifting and all associates should be trained on it and expected to deliver.  It will prevent a significant amount of shoplifting theft, but not all of it. It also has negligible effect on internal theft and vendor theft.   Retail anti-theft devices can deter and prevent shoplifting, vendor theft and employee theft.  Invest in Alpha Security products and know that you will start to see immediate return on investment with the impact on all areas of retail theft.
For more information on Alpha Security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

Retail shortage is a huge problem and seems to get worse every year. According the 2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer total retail shrinkage in North America during 2014-2015 was $36.79 billion dollars. Shrinkage increase reported by respondents, who participated in both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 surveys, went from 1.28% in 2013-2014 to 1.87% in 2014-2015. So what can a store owner do to drive down shortage? Let me preface this by letting you know I have roughly 20 years of loss prevention experience and over 25 total years of retail experience. Regardless of the size of your store, there are steps that any retailer can take to improve shortage results and, in the process improve profits. It may surprise some readers that I am not going to say customer service is at the top of my list. While customer service is important and it is a deterrent to prevent shoplifting and it does a great deal to improve sales, it does not have the same impact that a security system has when it includes retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha Security products.

Here is what I mean. Customer service deters shoplifting. That’s wonderful and I am the first to insist that a business MUST establish a culture of customer service excellence. The payoff is going to be a returning customer base, word of mouth promotion, increased sales and this also leads to a happier staff. I could go on about the benefits of customer service but that will be another time. The problem I see is that it only truly impacts one facet of shrinkage. A security system built around retail anti-theft devices and closed circuit television will not only prevent shoplifting, but it deters employee theft and vendor theft as well. The only area of retail shrinkage it does not impact is administrative loss, such as vendor billing errors, keying errors on receipts, mis-scanning product, etc. A well designed system makes all thieves aware that theft is not going to be tolerated from the moment they walk in the door of a retailer. Alpha security products include hard tags to protect clothing and accessories, hardware and electronics. Alpha Spider Wrap allows the display of electronics products and accessibility to the customer. Alpha Keepers prevent the theft of a multitude of products from health and beauty items to DVDs and videogames. These retail anti-theft devices have visual deterrence value because thieves, whether shoplifters or employees recognize the challenge they will have if they choose to try to steal merchandise that is protected. This may be trying to remove a clothing security hard tag and damaging merchandise in the process or it could be trying to cut an Alpha Spider Wrap and activating a tamper alarm.  The harder it is for a criminal to get what they want, the more likely they are to leave something alone.       

 

The other protection offered by Alpha Security devices is that they do work with an electronic article surveillance system and when passed through an EAS antenna, these products activate the alarm. A well trained staff knows how to properly respond to an alarm activation and can recover merchandise that was secured by a device. Yes, I have had vendors and employees exit a store with merchandise that was not paid for and an alarm was activated. EAS systems are not installed simply to prevent shoplifting but employee and vendor theft as well.  Many of the Alpha Security products can be purchased in either a 2 alarm or 3 alarm version, the 3 alarm adding an additional layer of protection in that the third alarm is an audible alarm built in the device itself. In case someone exits with a 3 alarm device they set off the EAS antenna alarm and if they get to a certain point the internal alarm actually built in the unit activates (the third alarm is the tamper alarm). 

 

Customer Service is a great way to prevent shoplifting and all associates should be trained on it and expected to deliver.  It will prevent a significant amount of shoplifting theft, but not all of it. It also has negligible effect on internal theft and vendor theft.  Retail anti-theft devices can deter and prevent shoplifting, vendor theft and employee theft. Invest in Alpha Security products and know that you will start to see immediate return on investment with the impact on all areas of retail theft.

 

For more information on Alpha Security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

 

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Is Your Loss Prevention Team Ready?

April 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting1

Employee theft, shoplifting, and administrative mistakes are the three major sources of retail shrinkage in the United States.  Shoplifting according to the National Association for Shoplifting prevention, is done by millions of people and is costing the country billions of dollar’s worth of merchandise that is being stolen.  The millions of dollars spent by these retail stores to prevent shoplifting, is minor considering the billions of dollars lost by employee theft and shoplifting. Among other preventive measures your retail store is taking, is a well trained prevention team included?  For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Bar the Door

Anti-theft glass makes storefronts less vulnerable to break-ins

With all the talk about the very real need to protect the security of customer information and an enterprise’s data, it can be easy to forget the reality of in-person threats to a retail establishment. Theft and other forms of shrinkage are no small matter — in 2014, retailers reported average shrinkage of 1.4 percent, according to the most recent National Retail Federation/University of Florida National Retail Security Survey. That equates to $44 billion.

Shoplifting and organized retail crime represented 38 percent of inventory shrinkage for the 100 retailers that participated in the survey; in 2014 the average dollar loss was $318 per shoplifting incident. Criminals gain access in any number of ways; some brazenly walk in during operating hours while others break in while the store is closed.

A gas station/convenience store owner in Daytona Beach, Fla., experienced a number of storefront break-ins that involved criminals smashing the glass of the front door.

How to implement smarter employee theft detection

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 per cent 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.

Deterring employee theft

A deterrence, of course, breaks the urge to do so. Whilst establishing predetermined consequences of theft will of course work to an extent, implementing a sophisticated detection system is arguably the most effective deterrent. Prevention is the best form of protection when it comes to retail shrinkage.

Coaching Lessons for Managing Your Loss Prevention Team

Loss prevention managers should know that the strength and quality of their teams can be directly proportional to the results achieved by team efforts.

Some of the most rewarding experiences in my work life have involved building teams. It has always been my opinion that the strength and quality of your team is directly proportional to the results.

With responsibility for loss prevention, new store development, and service operations, my primary function at work is leading teams of individuals to success. After 20+ years of retail experience, I thought I understood loss prevention team leadership. But in raising and coaching my son, I learned some things that have changed the way I view my teams at work.

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Too Many Shoplifters And Not Enough Staff? Bottle Locks Are The Solution

April 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment

 

Bottle Locks -5                                                                                                                                   WC blog 81
Bottle Security-3
Too Many Shoplifters And Not Enough Staff? Bottle Locks Are The Solution
     If your liquor store is a small to medium size business you may not have a lot of payroll to pour into a large staff.  You probably have no budget for a security person to monitor the activity in your building or even to stand watch at the front door.  With such limitations, how do you manage to prevent shoplifters from stealing your product?  Perhaps the question should be DO you stop people from shoplifting in your store?  How much shortage do you experience in a year?  Do you make shortage prevention a priority or do you hope it will get better next year?  Stores that are already operating on tight budgets need to find some method to support loss prevention efforts without adding people.  Smart strategies for reducing theft includes, using bottle locks and doing away with lockups or locking display cases. 
     Everyone is familiar with what a locking display case is, but not everyone is familiar with what a bottle lock is so allow me to digress for a moment.  Bottle locks are re-usable devices that can be placed over the cap and neck of a bottle that prevents it from being opened.  The store has a detachment key at the point(s) of sale that the cashier uses to remove the cap after the bottle is purchased.   The locks are tamper proof, so they cannot be forced off in the store without a serious risk of breaking the bottle.  They are also electronic article surveillance (EAS) compatible.  Stores protected with EAS antennas will have an alarm set off if a shoplifter attempts to leave the store with stolen product.
    Now before you think I have gone off the deep end by suggesting you can get rid of lock up display cases, let me explain myself.  One strategy that shoplifters use on the stores they will hit is to divide and conquer.  Many times shoplifters who work in pairs or small groups have already scouted the store and assessed how many employees are working or will work on a given shift.  With that information in hand, they enter the store and move to different areas.  An employee may not even realize the pair is together.  One member of the team acts as a decoy, looking for items that are locked up and seeking assistance from someone with a key.  This person may be loud or obnoxious, either, causing a scene, asking far too many questions or just being too friendly and talkative.  While the distracted employee is trying to give great customer service, the second member of the team is concealing bottles in another area of the store and then walking out with stolen merchandise.  It is possible, under the right circumstances that the shoplifter could re-enter and get another haul.  Bottle locks allow employees the flexibility of not having to go to the lock up case to remove merchandise or show a bottle to someone.  When the bottle security devices are being used patrons can pick up and select the merchandise they want and carry them around the store.  If staffed with a single employee, that employee can stay at the front of the store and ring up sales and monitor the front door alarm.
     You may be thinking you don’t need to worry about bottle security after all because you always have at least two employees working at all times.  Who does your merchandise stocking?  Who tickets your merchandise or straightens the shelves?  Who does the work in the stockroom?  How do you work out your meal breaks for your staff, do you bring in a third employee?  When employees are task oriented, customer service tends not to be the focus of attention.   Bottle Locks eliminate the concern over trying to keep up with all of the customers in the store at the same time.  
     Bottle security for your liquor store isn’t an easy task.  Adding additional employees for the sake of preventing theft is not the best answer.  Install an EAS system and protect product with bottle locks and benefit from reduced stock shortage.
For more information on bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

If your liquor store is a small to medium size business you may not have a lot of payroll to pour into a large staff. You probably have no budget for a security person to monitor the activity in your building or even to stand watch at the front door. With such limitations, how do you manage to prevent shoplifters from stealing your product? Perhaps the question should be DO you stop people from shoplifting in your store? How much shortage do you experience in a year? Do you make shortage prevention a priority or do you hope it will get better next year? Stores that are already operating on tight budgets need to find some method to support loss prevention efforts without adding people. Smart strategies for reducing theft includes, using bottle locks and doing away with lockups or locking display cases. 

     Everyone is familiar with what a locking display case is, but not everyone is familiar with what a bottle lock is so allow me to digress for a moment. Bottle locks are re-usable devices that can be placed over the cap and neck of a bottle that prevents it from being opened. The store has a detachment key at the point(s) of sale that the cashier uses to remove the cap after the bottle is purchased. The locks are tamper proof, so they cannot be forced off in the store without a serious risk of breaking the bottle. They are also electronic article surveillance (EAS) compatible. Stores protected with EAS antennas will have an alarm set off if a shoplifter attempts to leave the store with stolen product.

Now before you think I have gone off the deep end by suggesting you can get rid of lock up display cases, let me explain myself. One strategy that shoplifters use on the stores they will hit is to divide and conquer. Many times shoplifters who work in pairs or small groups have already scouted the store and assessed how many employees are working or will work on a given shift. With that information in hand, they enter the store and move to different areas. An employee may not even realize the pair is together. One member of the team acts as a decoy, looking for items that are locked up and seeking assistance from someone with a key. This person may be loud or obnoxious, either, causing a scene, asking far too many questions or just being too friendly and talkative. While the distracted employee is trying to give great customer service, the second member of the team is concealing bottles in another area of the store and then walking out with stolen merchandise. It is possible, under the right circumstances that the shoplifter could re-enter and get another haul. Bottle locks allow employees the flexibility of not having to go to the lock up case to remove merchandise or show a bottle to someone.  When the bottle security devices are being used patrons can pick up and select the merchandise they want and carry them around the store. If staffed with a single employee, that employee can stay at the front of the store and ring up sales and monitor the front door alarm.

You may be thinking you don’t need to worry about bottle security after all because you always have at least two employees working at all times. Who does your merchandise stocking? Who tickets your merchandise or straightens the shelves? Who does the work in the stockroom? How do you work out your meal breaks for your staff, do you bring in a third employee?  When employees are task oriented, customer service tends not to be the focus of attention. Bottle Locks eliminate the concern over trying to keep up with all of the customers in the store at the same time. 

 

Bottle security for your liquor store isn’t an easy task. Adding additional employees for the sake of preventing theft is not the best answer. Install an EAS system and protect product with bottle locks and benefit from reduced stock shortage.

 

For more information on bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

 

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Ideas to Decrease Employee Theft

April 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

meetingpic.Employee theft continues to rise.  In some retail settings it’s surpassed customer theft.  There are a variety of reasons for the increase.  One of them is that many managers have a hard time believing that “My people would do such a thing”.  And because they have a hard time believing it they don’t take steps to combat it.

Here are some of the things they say: “It’s not in my personality to believe the worst of people.”  “I try to promote a family atmosphere.”   “I don’t want to offend the honest employees by punishing everybody for the few bad apples”.  “I don’t want to be a security guard.”  “I want my store to be a place where people like to come to work.” 

But, whether you want to believe it or not, chances are your staff has, is and will steal from the store.  So, what do you do?  How do you balance stopping the thieves, while not alienating the honest people?  Conscientious managers struggle with these questions.  Here are a few answers.

Do surprise register checks – Random cash drawer reconciliations let everyone know you’re paying attention, while not singling anyone out.  It’s business, not personal.

Highlight inventory control – Have all staff members take turns helping you spot check inventory records with actual product.  Let them know you take missing items and incomplete records seriously.  Employee theft thrives on a manager’s inattention to detail.

Check the tapes – Tell and show your employees that you check the tapes.  Are the z-tape’s numbers sequential?  If not, why not and who’s responsible?  What are the average “no-sale” numbers (x-tapes)?  Do they go up on a certain shift or day?  If so, why and who was working?  Asking for explanations is not the same as making accusations.

Promote anonymous tips – We all have ideas about “narcing, snitching and tattling,” many of them negative.   But, it’s one of the most effective ways to stop workplace fraud.  It gives people the chance to step forward without fear of retaliation.

However, a tip is not a fact and shouldn’t be seen as one.  It’s a starting place for you to carefully look into the accusation.  A tip can’t be used to get back at someone or unfairly accuse them if you are thoughtful and cautious about pursuing it. 

There isn’t a way to completely stop employee theft.  But, if you make it difficult most won’t try it and others will get caught quickly, which increases staff morale.  Honest, hard working people don’t want to work in a store where management turns a blind or incompetent eye on dishonesty.  They want a store that’s fair, openhanded and safe for everyone.

Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 150 articles published.  She’s a business consultant and former psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, business and addiction.  She’s a coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator.  She has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, seminars and college classes. 

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Preventing Shoplifting In Your Business

April 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment

theft (10)

Many people steal because they need the rush of the theft.  Some steal because they have a mental illness, and many others steal out of necessity.  The reasons of why they steal are many and varied, but the fact is that retailers big and small and consumers like you and I have to pay for the theft.  Retailers make you pay a bigger price for the things you buy to counteract the money they are loosing with the shoplifting.  The fact is that as a society, everybody looses.  What kind of protection can you have as a store owner to prevent shoplifting in your store?  Are all systems equally effective?  If you have questions about loss prevention systems and what are the best ones for your business, contact us and we will be happy to talk to you.

To read more about this topics, follow the links below.

Kids used as distraction for stealing

By Victoria White

Shoplifting continues to be problematic for retailers with some people even using their children to get away with stealing goods.

Retailers said a group of adults and children went into optometrist stores in the Napier CBD last week, with adults taking items while the children were used to distract staff.

The stores realised the connection when stolen goods from one store were left at the next one hit.

At Specsavers Optometrists the group got away with three pairs of glasses.

Co-owner Mark Blades said there had been “a bit of theft of late”.

“It happens all day everyday,” he said, “it’s nothing new to me, I’ve been in retail for a long time.

“It’s unfortunate but it happens in all societies.”

Another retailer, who did not want the name of her store reported, said the group had taken $500 worth of goods from her shop.

“It was a gang of four adults and four children,” she said. “They used distracting tactics … the four kids were running around the shop and the adults were taking things, one was trying to get behind the counter.

“It was four adults using their young kids as part of the crime which is really sad.”

Staff were able to get the group’s car registration number, and identify the people for police.

ECSO starts neighborhood watch for businesses

Having alarms, locks and security grates are a good way to protect a business, but there are other ways to increase security.

One of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office’s suggestions is involving friends and neighbors.

The ECSO has launched a free crime-prevention program for local entrepreneurs called the Business Watch. The concept is simple. It’s like a neighborhood watch, only for businesses.

Lynnea McCray of the Sheriff’s Office’s Community Services Unit said that the goal of the program is to facilitate better communication between businesses and the Sheriff’s Office, as well as share information that can help prevent and solve crimes.

“A lot of times in a neighborhood, you don’t know your neighbor but you should,” McCray should. “It’s the same with businesses. They should definitely look out for each other.”

Through the program, the Sheriff’s Office plans to create contact lists of businesses based on types and regions. So if a store owner notices someone passing counterfeit bills or shoplifting, they can quickly send out an email the Sheriff’s Office will use to notify investigators and the employers’ peers.

Police ID Walmart worker killed by shoplifting suspect; gunman on the loose

Authorities have identified the Walmart worker who they say was shot and killed by a suspected shoplifter outside of Atlanta.

Lilburn police Capt. Thomas Bardugon tells news outlets that 25-year-old Jaseramie Dion “JD” Ferguson was shot Sunday night when he and another guard approached a man who was attempting to steal three televisions from the Lilburn store.

Police released a photo of the suspect from surveillance video. They say the man fled in a red or dark red four-door sedan, leaving the TVs behind.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Ferguson was a married father of three and had worked at the store seven months when he was shot.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the probe.

 

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Are You Confused ?

April 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment

EASAre you confused about how to stop shoplifters? Many Retailers are. Often I hear something like “I have a CCTV camera system to stop shoplifters”. The reality is that shoplifters couldn’t care less. Cameras are a very tiny deterrent to a shoplifter. They know you do not have the time or payroll dollars to actively watch. And it is easy enough to create a diversion or simply take your merchandise and move to another location in your store that does not have camera coverage. 

Keep in mind that Loss Prevention Systems also sells and installs cameras. So I have quite a bit of experience with this subject.  Cameras are great tools but they have their limits. They are great for employee theft prevention and investigation, robbery prevention, burglary prevention and so on.  But cameras are NOT proactive (passive)in the case of shoplifting. The shoplifter will be long gone by the time you figure out what is going on if at all. 

However, a Checkpoint EAS system is PROACTIVE.  It is working 24/7 even when you or your staff are not paying attention. Checkpoint Systems labels and hard tags are applied to your merchandise and if the thief tries to steal you products the Checkpoint System at the doors goes into alarm. We can even send an instant message to your cell phone or other mobile device at that time. 

A Checkpoint System never takes a day off, is never sick, doesn’t want a pay raise, and doesn’t want a $15/hour minimum wage.  Don’t you wish your staffing was that simple? 

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NON-TRADITIONAL USES FOR EAS DEVICES

April 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting3EAS is great isn’t it? For the most part, if someone is stealing product “X,” you slap on a quick tag or label and you see a pretty substantial reduction in shrink (for the most part.… Live in the real world). As my LP career has progressed over the years, I’ve seen EAS change drastically. I’ve also seen what retailers apply EAS tags to change as well. Often times, I scratch my head in disbelief at the ideas that come out sometimes and others, I pull my hair out because we could have been more proactive with tag placement. I’ve also seen some fantastic ideas from my store teams on some not so standard tagging procedures.

I had a store a few years ago that were consistently losing their register keys. We later learned that an employee was stealing them and was coming into the store during busy times and just helping themselves to cash in the unattended registers. It took a few months and over $7,500 to put the pieces together before we had an idea of what was happening. That’s a very expensive lesson to learn; especially when there is quite literally, a $0.5 solution.

All of our register keys have a small hole in the top, so they can be hooked to a lanyard for the cashier supervisor to carry around. After our theft incident, we used a pencil tag through that hole to make it less appealing to try and steal the key. Granted, the thief could take it to the service desk and remove the EAS device, but that requires a few more steps that most are not willing to take. As a matter of fact, since taking this one proactive measure, we’ve never had to replace a “lost” register key. For us, it seems to be a great way to maintain a solid key control procedure.

After using some EAS tags on these keys, it really got me thinking about what else is a potential risk in our stores that we don’t secure, but should. The list is virtually endless if you think about it. The next big item that we began securing with EAS hard tags was our handheld units (Symbols/Telxons). A few of our stores fell victim to an eBay thief a few years back, in part due to the ease of removing them from ours store. Since running an Alpha tag with a lanyard through them, we hadn’t lost a single one to theft.

We also have a lot of in-store use only type items (think step-ladders, folding carts, dollies…). As part of our risk mitigation efforts, we utilize EAS tags on all of these items. While they often have to be used outside of the store; the idea that when they do go out, our greeter becomes aware that they are going outside and can better keep track of our in store equipment. You wouldn’t believe how many times someone has stolen a hand truck, or pallet jack from me…

The bottom line is that EAS can be used to protect much more than just your inventory. There are dozens of items inside your four walls that cost you money that dishonest people would just love to take. Why go out and spend any more money that you have to in order to protect your supplies when the answer is already in your store? I’m all about leveraging available resources to accomplish your goals and this is just another item in a skilled LP manager’s tool belt.

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WHEN YOU THINK THEY CAN’T GET ANY DUMBER

April 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting4Everyone I know loves a good “dumb criminal” story. In fact, I can’t go a day without someone (store managers, district managers, executives, family…) asking me to tell a crazy shoplifting story. I have a top 10 list that I usually gravitate towards, but after yesterday, I may have to change it to a top 11.

It was about 7pm and I was finally leaving my office (my office in a store). In order to get to the front door, I have to walk right down the middle of the highest theft area of the store; footwear. Most days, I put my blinders on and try to bee-line to the door, but on this day… well she just caught my eye. No, it wasn’t the girl of my dreams…

As I’m walking down the main walkway, out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of this woman placing a pair of shoes in her purse. Let me build you a mental picture for just a moment. This was a large woman; think Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple big. And tall. She had to be pushing 6ft3in. She was wearing a dark green pajama dress, with slippers and curlers in her hair. I did not want to confront her; I was, in fact, a little scared. ☺

I radio for one of the store’s agents, but as luck would have it, they’ve left early for the day. It’s just me and the jolly green giant. I had a decision to make; I could go through and make the apprehension, or try and recover the product that she had concealed. To heck with it, let’s have a little fun. So I continued observation and watched as she methodically placed about a dozen or so pairs of shoes in her purse. She then began her slow walk towards the front of the store. Not having an agent in the store, I grabbed one of the managers, who just happened to be former LP. I knew she wouldn’t mind getting in on the action.

As Ms. Banner made her exit, I (scared that she may break me in half) approached her and identified myself as LP. The reaction was just as I thought it would be. She proceeds to a verbal assault that would make reading me the riot act look like poetry. At the very least, I want to recover my merchandise (and hopefully keep my bones in one piece). I reach towards the basket and grab the purse with my product inside. She, quicker that I thought she could move, races around the shopping cart and tries to remove it from my hands. After all, it is her purse… who cares if it contains MY merchandise?

Before she could get it from me, I quarterback hiked it to the manager, who didn’t miss a beat and caught it mid-flight. The manager then tossed it into the storage closet that happened to be open and slammed the door shut. (It locks automatically.) Hulk didn’t think that was funny and flipped the shopping cart over on its side and commenced to beating the door. For a minute there, I thought she’d be able to make it in. She overheard me desperately pleading with dispatch to get me an officer ASAP and she took off through the parking lot. I have to say, it was quite amusing to watch a woman of her stature running through the parking lot in slippers.

She actually was able to flee the store before the police arrived and I first was pretty upset that after all that I went through, I didn’t have her identity. At least I had my product back, right? The officer finally shows up a little later and takes my report. I take him inside to photograph the purse and the stolen product. After I pulled 13 pairs of shoes out, I noticed there was a large wallet at the bottom. Inside was her state ID, driver’s license, library card and several credit cards all with her name on them. I promptly signed a warrant for her arrest.

Would you believe that the next day, she called the store manager and told her that she had “lost” her wallet while shopping in the store? The store manager, unaware of what happened, transferred the call to me. She had no idea she was talking to the guy she almost broke in half and I actually convinced her that the wallet had been turned in to the lost and found and that she could come on by and pick it up. She did. As soon as she stepped foot in the store, she was promptly arrested by two of the counties’ finest.

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DO YOU NEED A BURGLAR ALARM?

April 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment

240x600Often overlooked for small businesses is the dire need for a suitable burglar alarm system. I talk about EAS placement and CCTV all the time. Those are rendered absolutely useless is someone busts in through the back door. If your burglar system isn’t up to standards, you run the risk of losing everything.

I think (and hope) that all of you have at least a basic intruder alarm system set up with a reputable monitoring service. I want to go a little further than that and give you some insight on what I’ve seen that works and what really doesn’t. I’ve seen plenty systems over the course of my career and while I’m not an expert on alarm systems, I have common sense (something that seems to be lacking the higher you progress on the retail ladder).

Every store, no matter the size should at the minimum have motion detection and depending on your assortment, shock sensors. If you’re not familiar with the latter, they are generally designed for placement on solid walls (think a firearms cage in a sporting goods store, or the cement wall surrounding the vault at the local bank). These alarms trigger if there is a significant shockwave, i.e explosion, or perhaps a vehicle ramming through. Very important to consider depending on your particular assortment and layout. Motion sensors on the other hand are far more common and should definitely be part of your security system. As the name implies, they detect motion.

One thing my company struggled with for years was false alarms. We were actually paying thousands of dollars in false alarm fines to our local police department one year at this one particular store. Almost every night, the motion sensor would trip, police would be dispatched and we’d find no evidence of a breach. We eventually discovered that we had a cat that was taking up residence and wandering the aisle at night. We eventually changed the trigger to dispatch police from one motion activation to no less than 4 before we would dispatch police. This helped out tremendously and we’ve since implemented that practice to all of our stores.

One other thing we found that didn’t quite work with the motion sensors was our outdoor storage yards. If the wind blew a little too hard, or if animals would slip in, they would trigger a police dispatch. What we did was configure the dispatch to only trigger if there was an outside motion trigger coupled with a breach of gate. By a little trial and error, we found the best solution to keep our store protected, all while eliminating any false alarms to our local police department.

Usually attached to any burglary alarm system is the fire alarm system. I bring this up as I want to talk about a technology that we’ve just begun implementing in our stores over the past 6 months that I think is definitely worth the investment. That being delayed egress fire exits. We had stores in this one market that were being just absolutely hammered with fire exit run outs. We had groups of people that would load up shopping carts full of buggies and push out of the fire exits where an idling pickup truck is waiting. We struggled to stop this trend and were hit with a brick wall; until we tested out the delayed egress.

If you’ve never seen these in action before, they’re pretty awesome. What happens is pretty simple. If someone attempts to open a fire exit, the door has a 10 second delay; meaning the alarm sounds, but the door cannot be physically opened for that time period. The only way this is circumvented is if the fire alarm is activated; then the door opens immediately. The first time our fire exit bandits hit a store with the new doors was priceless. The look of sheer terror and panic on their face as they tried to get out the store, but couldn’t was pure awesomeness. This install, while an investment, has already shown to have not only great potential, but has already given us results.

As with any system, there isn’t a “one size fits all” plan. I encourage everyone to do their own homework when it comes to protecting your store when you’re not there. I guarantee that you can find a balance between your store needs and your budget. While with any new system, there is always an investment to be made, think of this as an investment that you can’t afford not to take.

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