Tips to Prevent Shoplifting – Atlanta Georgia

March 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

There are many different ways to prevent shoplifting these are just a few that I have found useful over the years. I might be a little twisted but I’m a firm believer that fear is a useful tactic when trying to deter a thief. Therefore I strongly suggest posting signs throughout your establishment, especially in high-risk departments and in or around fitting room, bathrooms, etc. These signs should convey your policy against shoplifting and your complete willingness to prosecute anyone caught participating in the act. Now, don’t go crazy. You still want to make your store a comfortable environment for your honest clientele.

 Avoid tall displays or large hanging signs that can block the view of sales associates or the line of sight of CCTV cameras. Avoid clutter. Clutter is a shoplifter’s best friend. Anything they can do to confuse you or disguise their activity works to their benefit. Therefore, they hate clean, open spaces. They make it easier for you to spot something that is missing or out of place and make it harder for them to make a clean getaway.

 The best way to prevent shoplifting is still the use of great customer service. Make sure your employees are constantly walking the sales floor and offering help to all customers. The legitimate customers will find their attentiveness helpful. The shoplifters will find them to be a nuisance – exactly what you want. Train your employees on a discreet way to communicate the presence of a shoplifter. I find that a coded page over the loud speakers for a “Mr. Randolph” or “Mrs. Coakley” works well. All associates instantly know that a shoplifter is present yet the thief has no idea that they now have several sets of eyes on them. Used properly these tips will undoubtedly help prevent shoplifting in your store.

For more information to prevent shoplifting contact us at Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Is Your Company Suffering From Internal Theft? – Atlanta Georgia

March 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do you think your company is suffering from internal theft? Do you need an employee theft investigation? If you think just because you have had the same employees for years or because they might be your friends or family, here are a few things you might need to know.

According to the National Retail Theft Survey, 43% or over 14 billion dollars of retail loss is due to employee theft. Employee theft is as prevalent as it is because of many reasons. One of the main reasons is that employees over time begin to feel a sense of entitlement. More times than not an employee will justify stealing something before they do. Whether it is something small and they think no one will notice or that it is “owed” to them because of things they have done “for the company” in the past.

Employees can rapidly become used to the idea of stealing and something that they had to justify becomes a part of their routine. This is where an employee theft investigation is needed. Internal theft, if not handled swiftly, can destroy a company’s bottom line. What could begin as a single person can quickly become multiple people in different divisions of your company. Once someone realizes that what they are doing is not being discovered they will usually pass that information on to coworkers.

Hopefully you can prevent this from happening to you with a loss prevention program, but for most this is a daily occurrence costing companies billions of dollars a year. If you think that employee theft might be a problem in your company, let us help you stop the bleeding.

For more information on how we can help prevent employee theft, employee theft investigation or internal theft contact Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. at 1-770-941-0547 or contact us at employee theft investigation – Atlanta Georgia

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Let clothing security be a watchful eye over your merchandise

March 22, 2011 by

My employees that apprehend shoplifters recently caught a lady that was stealing clothing.  They clued into her because she was just grabbing clothing off of racks, without taking the time to look at prices or sizes.  Most people take a little time to choose the clothing that they want to purchase, so her actions raised some red flags.

While being observed, she tore the tag off of a purse and placed clothing items inside of it.  She then walked out of the store.

This lady was caught, but what if the loss prevention agents had not noticed her?  $100 worth of clothing would have been lost.  That may not seem like a lot, but if you consider the number of customers coming in and out of our business…if they all were behaving as this customer we would be experiencing an incredible loss. Such scenarios are not uncommon at businesses that sell clothing.

Clothing security is something that all business owners or managers should consider.  Your employees, while trained to help customers and watch for shoplifters, will not be able to watch everyone in your business all at one time.  Clothing security tags will assist your employees at protecting the very merchandise that they are hoping to sell.

Security tags on clothes are the eyes that you wish you had all over your store.  A clothing alarm is the same as having an employee right there, watching the merchandise and safeguarding it from those who wish to steal.  Clothing security tags alert employees by announcing that a theft is occurring, and are also a deterrent by simply being present.  Just as your employees are when they are helping customers.

Hiring additional help by employing clothing security will produce a great return on your investment.  Clothing security tags do not need breaks, pay raises, or vacations – just clothing to protect.

Security tags on clothes that activate a clothing alarm will shut down your shoplifting problem!

Visit the Retail Loss Prevention Store

For more information about clothing security tags or security tags on clothes or clothing alarm contact us at clothing security or call 1.770.426.0547.

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Preventing Employee Theft – Atlanta Georgia

March 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“One cannot be betrayed if one has no people.” This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies. However, in the real world a business needs people to survive, and for this reason employee theft will always be an issue. The trick is to identify it as quickly as possible and eliminate the culprits. Studies show that companies with fewer than 100 employees tend to suffer the worst losses due to employee theft. The reason for this is 2-fold. A smaller company usually has far less money to spend on anti-theft controls, and a smaller company is also far less able to absorb the loss than a larger, more profitable one. Therefore, if you run a smaller business this is especially important to you.

Background checks are a vital part of doing business today. Nobody want to accept the fact that someone you’ve selected to fill a trusted role in your organization may be stealing from the till or slipping merchandise out the back door, but it happens. So it is in your best interest to perform comprehensive background checks on all new hires to include criminal, credit and drug screenings. Don’t assume that you can throw money at the problem either. Well-paid employees are just as likely to commit employee theft as your minimum wage workers. A quick look at the news involving the Enron scandal and the Bernie Madoff debacle should show you that greed has no cap.

Work with your employees to develop a plan to discourage employee theft. When people feel they have a vested interest in the company they are far less likely to view you as “the man” and more likely to see you as a partner and a friend. Everyone wants to stick it to “the man”. Only a real heel robs from his friends. Create a clear, consistent and comprehensive policy regarding theft with no room for error or false interpretation and you will be one step closer to preventing employee theft.

For more information about corporate fraud investigation or corporate fraud investigator or employee theft investigation or internal theft or white collar crime contact us at Employee Theft or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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How to Prevent Shoplifting

March 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If you should happen to be the lucky guy/ gal charged to prevent shoplifting within your organization the first thing you need to understand is that there are 2 different kinds of shoplifters. The first kind of shoplifter is the amateur; the teenagers, housewives, etc. who browse through your store and seize the opportunity to steal where and when it arises. The second kind of shoplifter is the professional. Often referred to as “boosters”, these people come into your store with the sole intention of shoplifting. They may utilize special clothing or techniques to accomplish this task.

In order to prevent shoplifting in amateurs you simply need to make the task more difficult. For these people stealing is a crime of opportunity. Eliminate the opportunity and you’ll eliminate a large portion of the crime. You do this by utilizing EAS or ink tags, posting fitting room attendants, putting up signs that read: “This store is monitored by CCTV” or “Shoplifters will be prosecuted”. Anything that reminds them that someone is watching and that you are aware of the threat of shoplifting will usually serve as a decent deterrent.

When it comes to the professionals you will need to be a little more aggressive in order to prevent shoplifting. They too will seek out the easy targets, however, they’re aware of the measures used by most stores and they adjust their patterns accordingly. Establish a presence on the sales floor and teach your associates what to look for (i.e. long coats, booster pants, etc.). Be sure to aggressively prosecute all cases to the fullest extent of the law. Professionals have a network and they communicate. If they believe they can talk their way out of jail, or police contact, there is no risk and they will come back again and again. It is vital that you maintain awareness of the 2 kinds of shoplifters in order to prevent shoplifting in your stores.

Visit the Retail Loss Prevention Store

For more information contact us at Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

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Internal Theft- Atlanta Georgia

March 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Internal theft is a growing problem in all areas of the retail market. There are certain individuals who will accept employment at a company simply to place themselves in a position to steal money or merchandise. Several years ago I had applied for a job with a rather large retailer. After nearly 2 months they finally called me in, interviewed me and gave me the position. After I accepted, the district loss prevention manager and the store manager explained what had taken them so long to call me back.

It appears they had selected another individual for the position before me. This individual had gone through the process and had started working as the store’s loss prevention manager. Within 2 weeks he had managed to steal over $3,000 worth of merchandise. Once they had discovered that it was their new loss prevention manager committing the internal theft they went back through the CCTV footage to see how long he had been doing it. Turns out that he first began stealing from the company on his 2nd day at work. Amazing! Of course he was subsequently terminated and arrested.

This case goes to show that you can never be too careful and you should never underestimate the drive and determination of a crook. You should always keep a close eye on new hires for 2 reasons: First of all, you have no real frame of reference as to that person’s character. You can’t trust their references and background checks can only tell you that they’ve never been caught before. Second, they’re broke. It can take up to 3 weeks for a new hire to receive their first check. If they weren’t employed previous to taking the job this can be a financially trying time. Keep these factors in mind when looking to eliminate internal theft in your organization.

For more information about internal theft or employee theft or employee theft investigation or corporate fraud investigation contact us at Internal Theft or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Clothing security is your best bet against high shrink

March 20, 2011 by

Clothing security has been the topic of discussion by many softline retailers over the past years. How can we better protect our merchandise, how can we better provide clothing security?

Over the years theft trends have increased, demanding more of a dedicated need for clothing security. Merchandising high theft clothing items without any form of clothing security is a dangerous move.

Several years ago, I was working a large department store as loss prevention manager. I had a staff of loss prevention agents that helped me provide security tags on clothes. Yet even with loss prevention agents working for me, we still had a leak of merchandise. We had to identify what was being lost and what we could better do to prevent future occurrences. Our solution… increase security tags on clothes. Until then, we had only been putting security tags on clothes that were over a certain dollar limit. This was a good practice but ineffective are truly controlling a larger portion of the stores losses. We identified which types and brands of merchandise were being mostly taken. We lowered the price point for the security tags on clothes and we followed up with the execution of the clothing security program.

As we monitored the results over the next few months, we could really see the impact clothing security tags had on preventing and deterring potential theft and loss. Not to mention, we were able to explain to the store manager the benefits of clothing security tags and how effective beneficial clothing security tags were to his store and the business. Although he knew of clothing security tags, he saw no benefit earlier with clothing security tags only on high ticket items. Now, with security tags on clothes, our jobs became much easier.

Visit the Retail Loss Prevention Store

For more information about a clothing alarm contact us at clothing security or call 1.770.426.0547

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An Employee Theft Investigation – Atlanta Georgia

March 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Several years ago, while working as a loss prevention detective for a big box retailer I was confronted with a rather complex employee theft investigation. Our team became suspicious of the store’s cleaning crew and my manager requested that I come in early to watch them to see if they were indeed stealing merchandise before the store opened. Using my considerable ninja-like skills (and my manager’s key) I managed to sneak into the building undetected and began observing the cleaning crew. I quickly noticed that the store’s assistant manager was also in early and working on the loading dock.

The assistant manager loaded several pieces of electronic equipment into a large box, disarmed the store’s rear exit alarm, and walked out. At this point I began a different employee theft investigation. I made my way around the side of the building where I observed the assistant manager placing the box into the back of his SUV and covering it with a large blanket. I immediately attempted to contact my manager but got no answer. I tried to reach the district manager but also came up empty. I knew my window of opportunity was closing so with my heart in my throat I confronted the assistant manager.

He created a story in which he was supposed to be taking the merchandise to another store in the district because they were short of some items. I cordially, yet forcefully, insisted that we wait in my office for confirmation of this. After about an hour, in which I still wasn’t able to contact my superiors, he finally came clean. Turns out that the cleaning crew was on the up and up, but the assistant manager had created his own business selling stolen goods online. The case was valued at over $34,000. Goes to show, you never know what you may find during an employee theft investigation.

For more information employee theft investigation or employee theft or internal theft contact us at Employee Theft Investigation or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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How to Prevent Shoplifting in Extreme Cases

March 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 In recent months I have been attempting to prevent shoplifting, or at least limit it, in a number of grocery store liquor departments. These stores are located in the rougher parts of town where your average shoplifter tends to be a bit more desperate and potentially more violent. The biggest issue has been the “grab and runs”. That’s where the thief decides not to bother with the pesky detail of concealing merchandise, they simply run in, grab what they want and run right back out. It’s kind of like shock and awe.

 As you can imagine, short of posting an armed guard at the door, it can be difficult to prevent shoplifting in this type of case. It had reached the point that we were losing anywhere from $80 – $200 a day from this type of criminal. Something had to be done. In the end we ended up staking out the store like it was a Hollywood movie: One agent in the store, one outside and one in the camera room. When the thief finally came in and grabbed the merchandise he was surrounded immediately. In an attempt to save himself he volunteered the information on the rest of his crew.

 Based on that information the police department searched the apartment they were using to stash their ill-gotten gains. In the end, this group of 3 men between the ages of 18 – 23 had in their possession over $8000 worth of alcohol that they had stolen from different places. They were essentially running a business, selling to friends and relatives who wanted to throw parties, small neighborhood bars, etc. They could afford to sell the liquor for cheaper than the going rate because they had no overhead. In some extreme cases it may be necessary to overwhelm the thief in order to prevent shoplifting.

isit the Retail Loss Prevention Store

For more information contact us at Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

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A Loss Prevention Agent is a Business Asset in Atlanta GA

March 18, 2011 by

The retail industry is probably the business category with the greatest need for a loss prevention agent.  The purpose of the agent, or loss prevention investigator, is to identify and resolve issues pertaining to the loss of assets – merchandise, property, cash, or any other kind of property – and to prevent such losses from occurring.

Many times the value of a loss prevention agent is intangible.  The true value of the agent’s value is reflected in the lack of shortage, the decrease in theft, the saving of the operational expense budget dollars through tighter controls.  Actually, the fewer apprehensions of shoplifters, the fewer terminations for employee theft, the fewer procedural violations uncovered, the more successful the loss prevention investigator may be considered.

There are retailers that take on the role of their own loss prevention department, or assign its responsibility to another area of the business.  The fact is that the role of the loss prevention agent is highly specialized with skills developed over a wide variety of situations.  It is not an area for someone without training or experience, or the results of the loss prevention program will not be optimal.

But for a retailer with one or only a few locations, the addition of a loss prevention agent may not be practical.  In that case, the solutions might be a partnership with a company of loss prevention consultants, who can react to immediate issues, set up a practical loss prevention program, conduct periodic audits, and track progress and measure successes.

The best answer for a retailer then may be to “dip his toe in the loss prevention pool” by consulting with an expert loss prevention agent who can analyze, identify and correct procedural vulnerabilities, as well as one who possesses the skills to interview staff members and develop information that leads to the elimination of unacceptable employee behavior.  And an added benefit is the training in shoplifter prevention and shortage awareness can present to all employees.

The loss prevention agent is not a police officer and has different priorities.  The priority of a loss prevention investigator or agent is to improve the profitability of the business through the reduction and recovery of loss.  The priority of a police officer is (as it should be) the reduction of crime in society.

Discuss your situation with a qualified loss prevention agent in Atlanta GA at 770-426-0547 or click here for more information.

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