Uncategorized — Page 111

Pre employment screenings for Holiday help.

December 11, 2011 by Staff Editor

If you have not already begun, you will shortly start adding hours and employees to handle the holiday rush. It is important that you consider using a pre employment screening and criminal background checks before making your seasonal hiring decisions final.

All employees are a risk. Even with a good interview you never really know what you are going to end up with until the employee starts working. That is why I always recommend using a quality background check company to perform criminal background checks to help ensure you are getting a trustworthy candidate. This is even more important when adding seasonal help. Seasonal employees don’t have long term goals with your organization and are there for one reason; get extra money. While your goal is that the “extra money” be in the form of a pay check, many aren’t that picky. As a seasoned Loss Prevention Professional I can say that this group accounts for a large majority of my internal theft cases on a yearly basis. To this end anything the store can do to weed out potential bad apples is a great benefit to the company.

Background check experts can also conduct non-criminal employee background checks. They can do background checks into finances, employment history, educational history, sex offender registry, etc. All of these background checks will help you as the employer get a better feel for your candidate and help you make the best hiring decision possible.

Background check experts should be trained investigators. When you use a reputable background check company to conduct your employee background checks you also can limit liability in cases where an employee causes harm or damage to others. You might have to pay for the damage, but the damages due to negligent hiring will be much less significant.

For more information on background checks background, check experts, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

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Employee Theft: Scanning and Scamming – Atlanta Georgia

December 11, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

While working as a loss prevention manger, I witness acts of employee theft almost on a monthly basis and in some months more often. I recall one case of employee theft that had me baffled. After observing a pattern of the same customers purchasing large amounts of merchandise at one specific associate’s register. When this associate would be working without fail a group of individuals would come in and go through the associate register to be checked out. My years of experience in retail said that something was not right and that this might be a case of employee theft. This instinct, lead me to begin an employee theft investigation.

During the employee theft investigation, I watched the subject process the transaction of the group that had been seen only using her her register to checkout. The transaction looked normal, the associate appeared to pass all the merchandise across the scanner and the customers appeared to tender their payment. In an effort to fully analyze the transaction and conduct a thorough employee theft investigation, I reviewed the electronic journal for that register transaction. What I saw was that none of the merchandise observed on camera being scanned by the associate matched the merchandise shown on the receipt.

When I concluded the employee theft investigation, I interviewed the associate about why the merchandise being scanned did not match the merchandise going out the door. I ask the associate were they aware of our internal theft policies and had they committed internal theft while working at the store. The associate admitted to committing internal theft while being employed and said that they used the price labels from less expensive products to scan the more expensive items. The associate admitted to taking about $3500.00 in merchandise from the store. After identifying the associate accomplices in the surveillance video, the police were able to recover some of the stolen items.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Holidays….less time, more people, more theft!

December 11, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The holidays are most retailers busiest time of the year where financial goals tend to be made or lost based on a narrow scope of time. This obviously causes a huge amount of stress for both the sales operations department and the Loss Prevention department.

I worked for a small box retailer who made 60 percent of their business in a two month holiday period. This retailer bought and implemented the Checkpoint security tag system as a means to attempt to stop shoplifting. This system was very helpful since the store personnel were overwhelmed with sales and customer service issues at this time of year.

The store locations that utilized the checkpoint system the best devised a daily system to ensure all floor product was tagged with rf security labels both in the morning and at night. By no means will any physical security system stop shoplifting 100% but a properly implemented EAS system using checkpoint security tags as well as rf labels will take a huge bite out of shrink.

I remember how store locations from the same company could differ greatly in every aspect of the business thus requiring district and regional level store visits to ensure overall compliance to company policies. The same differences could be found in store locations both using the rf label system.

Part of my store visits were to first watch the location for a while to get a feel for the store’s overall compliance to sales and loss prevention protocol. It became plainly obvious that for the Checkpoint security label system to work in a store the system had to be supported by both the District Manager and the Store Manager. Failure to support the system from top management was easily pinpointed when auditing the checkpoint security tag compliance in high shrink categories as well as how the store staffs reacted to the EAS alarm system when product with rf labels were removed from the store.

If a customer walked out of the store with merchandise that had a rf label or rf security tag on it that either had not been properly deactivated or removed and the staff merely let the customer leave without batting an eye then it was usually a telltale sign that the checkpoint system was not being supported. The indifference to the system was something that had to be rectified immediately from the top down since ignoring the checkpoint label system cost the company money in both merchandise loss as well as the cost of the rf labels and rf security tags. It was imperative to have a meeting with the District Manager first and then the store manager. I would bring a breakdown of the store’s highest shrink categories and a detailed comparison to similar stores who were supporting the checkpoint system.

I would ensure the stores were evenly matched for sales volume, demographic and payroll allotment so that the comparison was fair. At this point District Managers usually understood the value of the rf security label system as well as the necessity to fully support and utilize the program. This is when as loss prevention profession I would step in to train the store manager and the staff as to proper tagging of merchandise using the rf security labels and rf security tags. I also had to train the staffs as to the importance of auditing the tagged product for consistency and compliance. Another piece to the training is to ensure every team member knows how to deactivate and remove checkpoint security tags and checkpoint security labels. The final step in training was to instruct all staff members the correct way to approach a customer when the EAS pedestal alarms sound when someone is removing product either knowingly or unknowingly still tagged with RF security labels or rf security tags.

Though the Checkpoint system can not promise to altogether stop shoplifting it was plainly evident when inventory results were reviewed that locations which embraced the checkpoint product wholly had much better overall shrink.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Checkpoint labels, Checkpoint security tags, and other RF labels that can help you stop shoplifting in your business.

For more information on Checkpoint labels, Checkpoint security tags, RF labels, RF security labels, RF security tags and how to stop shoplifting contact us at RF label or call 1.770.426.0547

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Prevent Shoplifting during the Holidays

December 11, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

While there is a multitude of ways to steal, one method is gaining an increase in popularity. Box stuffing is just like it sounds. Shoplifters take a large box, generally from a fairly low dollar item, and stuff it full of high dollar items. Because the box is rang trough the POS, it often does not call attention to the theft.

The use of retail anti theft devices like hard and soft tags can be an effective tool to prevent shoplifting incidents, like box stuffing. By not only having RF tags on the high dollar products like electronics or jewelry, using a soft tag on the inside of large boxes assists in the detection of box stuffers. The additional retail anti theft devices provide a two fold attack to prevent shoplifting.

The first, is that the more tags there are to deactivate, the harder it is for the shoplifter to attempt to remove. They are counting on being able to quickly stuff the box and go. Too many tags, make for too many obstacles, thus slowing them down.

The second part is at the POS. With more tags on your product, there is more opportunity for one to set off an alarm going out the door.

The associates will have the extra advantage to prevent shoplifting because of the obstacle RF tags place. Box stuffers beware, retail anti shoplifting devices will make stealing not worth your time. Move on!

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for retail anti theft devices that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use retail anti theft devices to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

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Employee Theft: An inside look for what is missing – Atlanta Georgia

December 8, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

If your business is experiencing unexplained shortages, you may want to take an inside look for what is missing. Simply put the problem may be an employee theft issue. Businesses are always looking outside their doors to explain inventory shortages. As a loss prevention professional, I know how hard it can be for a manager to look at their staff. Internal theft is real and occurs more often than managers may think. Managers should look at their staff with objectivity and look at the behavior and key performance indicators in an effort to get an informed assessment of their staff.

Taking a look at your employees does not mean that there is an issue of employee theft being committed by the employees. An employee theft investigation can allow for an internal theft analysis of the inventory shortages to be done. An employee theft investigation can help pinpoint t where losses are occurring. The results may or may not be determined to be the result of employee theft. However, when unexplained shortages occur, it has been my experience that they are almost always indicative of employee theft.

Time is always of the essence as businesses, especially retailer have a tremendous amount of exposure to acts of theft. Retailers open their doors everyday to the public and leave them unlocked and open until they close. If there is internal theft occurring it could have the potential to destroy any chance for a retailer to make a profit from the sale of their merchandise. It is a positive when a retailer assesses their internal operations.

As a loss prevention profession with over ten years of experience, I implore every retailer to take a look inside their business. An employee theft investigation can yield reliable and pertinent information about your staff work performance or lack of. It is imperative to act and act quickly to remedy internal problems.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Stop Shoplifters in Their Tracks

December 8, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Utilizing Checkpoint labels will increase your ability to stop shoplifting at your retail location. Checkpoint labels when placed on products offer an added layer of merchandise security. Checkpoint labels have been used across the retail industry to help stop shoplifting. Checkpoint labels and Checkpoint security tags are two of high tech products in the loss prevention industry aimed at preventing shoplifting.

Checkpoint security tags use RF technology in an effort to stop shoplifting. Checkpoint security tags, unlike an RF label, are usually attached to merchandise. A RF label may be affixed to merchandise packaging or integrated into the packaging. A RF label operates in a similar manner as RF security tags they emit a radio frequency that is designed to alarm if it breaks the field of a security pedestal, which reacts when RF labels enters into the radio frequency field.

RF labels and RF security tags have become more and more popular in the retail industry. Many stores have installed the RF frequency pedestal detectors at the entrances to their stores and they utilize both the RF security labels and RF security tags on their merchandise. I have worked in stores that have utilized either the RF security labels or the RF security tags. In some stores I have seen both the RF security labels and the RF security tags being used in shoplifter prevention.

It is important that stores are consistent in their use of RF labels. This consistency occurs when the store commits to ensuring every product in the store has an RF device either attached to it or integrated into the product or product packaging. Shoplifters will be persistent and look for merchandise that is less protected and if they find merchandise that is not protected, they will target that merchandise. I have seen shoplifters steal merchandise simply because it did not have a security tag.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Checkpoint labels, Checkpoint security tags, and other RF labels that can help you stop shoplifting in your business.

For more information on Checkpoint labels, Checkpoint security tags, RF labels, RF security labels, RF security tags and how to stop shoplifting contact us at RF label or call 1.770.426.0547

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Stop Shoplifting and Manage Your Inventory Better

December 8, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The best way to manage your inventory is to make sure you track your sales and your inventory receipts. Retailers have to not only manage their inventory, but they also have to prevent inventory shortages. Unfortunately this process is not as easy as it sounds because of that well known criminal element called, the shoplifter. Retailers diligently try to prevent shoplifting in their stores.

One way retailers are trying to prevent shoplifting is by using retail anti theft devices in their stores. Retail anti theft devices like clothing security tags and clothing alarms are very easy and simple to use and apply to merchandise. In an effort to track and better manage inventory, some retailers have begun using RF security tags and labels.

The RF security tags operate using an RF frequency and interacting with a frequency detection device. The RF devices have become the standard theft deterrent devices being used in stores. The ability of the device to help manage inventory and prevent shoplifting has really appealed to the retail industry.

The need to be successful at eliminating inventory losses due to shoplifting is essential to the long term viability of any business. When retail anti theft devices first became popular, retailers only used them on the high dollar merchandise. What they found out was that they were keeping the high dollar merchandise, but losing the lower priced high profit margin products. This made a lot of retailers began to use more retail anti theft devices in their stores. This increase in merchandise protection, lead to a decrease in the number of shoplifting incidents being reported by the stores.

In business it is important to keep waste and inefficiency to a minimum. This is why effective inventory management and control is so important. Every retailer must put a program in place to address the potential inventory losses due to shoplifting.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for retail anti theft devices that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use retail anti theft devices to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

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Alpha High Theft Solutions1 Alarm, 2 Alarm & 3 Alarm Devices

December 8, 2011 by Staff Editor

We are frequently asked what the difference between Alpha High Theft Solution devices that have 1 Alarm, 2 Alarm and 3 Alarm features. In the clothing security world we can use those devices in conjunction with a clothing alarm and regular security tags. These devices are used for merchandise that we have a more serious problem with or that shoplifters have targeted that may not be able to utilize traditional security tags on clothes.

Alpha Security 1 Alarm – These types of clothing security tags or devices will only trigger the antennas at the doors. A regular hard tag or label will do this. However, Alpha also has Spider Wraps, Cable Loks and other items that will cause an alarm.

Alpha Security 2 Alarm – A 2 alarm device will do what a 1 alarm device does plus it will “self-alarm”. Self-alarm means that if a shoplifter tries to remove the device, cut the cables, pry the device off or damage it the device itself will go into alarm. These 2 alarm devices have a built in sounder that produces about 90 dB of sound. That will immediately draw attention to the shoplifter. Normal repeated use by customers and store personnel will not cause an alarm. These devices are very robust.

Alpha Security 3 Alarm – These devices do everything that a 1 and 2 alarm device does plus when the shoplifter tries to leave the property the 3 alarm devices built in sounder, again about 90 dB goes off. The shoplifter then has a choice they can run down the street or mall with this sounder going off, attracting attention to themselves or they can drop the merchandise. The sounder will last up to 10 minutes once the shoplifter passes through the antennas.

These clothing security tags are as robust as any Checkpoint tags or Alpha clothing security device. They have excellent construction, solid plastic welds and high quality electronic components. Of course the added benefit is that they are reusable over and over saving you money and labor. Alpha High Theft Solutions are not intended to be for all merchandise. It is clearly more cost effective to use Checkpoint tags for the bulk of your merchandise. But remember your clothing alarm is only as good as the security tags on clothes.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

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Don’t Get Buried in a Mountain of Useless Applications -Atlanta, GA

December 8, 2011 by Staff Editor

Pre employment screening is a useful tool in today’s economy. There are so many applicants vying for each position. How do you determine just by looking on paper who you want to spend your time hiring? Background check experts can help.

A reliable Background Check Company can ease the stress associated with finding the right candidate for a position. Running a background check will give insight into information that is often not found on the generic application often used for an open position. It can include a criminal background check and a credit check.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know if that felony was for theft, or assault instead of a DUI or a traffic violation? How about the applicant who doesn’t have any bankruptcies or foreclosures, but still has a mountain of debt they can’t realistically repay on the salary you are providing? These are just two of the more common types of background checks that a Background Check company can run.

While employee background checks are not a replacement for an actual question and answer interview, they do provide a “heads up” to potential questions that should be asked. Pre employment screening will help weed out the applicants that you probably don’t even want to waste your valuable time with.

For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta, GA

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Employee theft linked to ORC – Atlanta Georgia

December 4, 2011 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Retailers assume loss from a variety of sources. Generally speaking, internal theft (AKA employee theft) accounts for the majority of loss incurred by major retailers. When we talk about shoplifters we find that ORC or Organized Retail Crime networks account for the bulk of our external losses. So what happens when the ORC rings and employees team up?

The answer is the store will be closing soon unless something is done. Employee theft and ORC on their own can kill a store, but the combination of the two is devastating. Something that I have been finding more often when conducting ORC investigations is that they are using an “inside man” (or woman) in order to help them get away with their crime. The employee can be useful in many ways. On the surface they can alert the shoplifters when LP or management is not around. I remember working at one store and it always seemed that within an hour of me leaving the store would call and say they had a grab and run. It became obvious that they were being tipped off by someone inside.

Other ways that employees can assist ORC groups is by stealing themselves and/or manipulating inventory systems to cover the losses that are going on. They can also alter prices so that their counterparts pay pennies on the dollar for product and then they can resell them at much higher rates. Whatever method they use, the employees in our stores can cause a lot of damage. They only way to prevent this is to use a routine employee theft investigation to rout out the bad apples. An employee theft investigation can be aimed at a specific employee or can be a wide net cast to see if red flags pop up in the store. Either way, internal theft and ORC can ruin a business if left unchecked.

For more information on internal theft, employee theft investigation or employee theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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