Interoffice Romance – Background Checks

I ran into an interesting situation the other day involving background checks, specifically an employee background check, not pre-employment screening.

We had an associate guilty of employee theft.  It was a pretty open and shut case. We followed our company procedures to the letter, and the end result was that we terminated this employee. She was not prosecuted, but we did require restitution to be paid to us to make up for the losses she incurred.

We didn’t think much else about it. In an unrelated matter, or so we thought, a few months later we were in the process of promoting one of our employees to a management position. This individual would have keys to the building, safe codes and alarm codes.

As per our policy, we ran an employee background check before the promotion was granted. One of the points on the background check is address verification. As it turns out, the employee’s current address was different than the one we had on file from his application.

That wasn’t such a big deal. People move all the time and in the world of direct deposit paychecks, we are not always notified when someone moves. The problem was that this employee had moved in with the previous employee we had terminated for theft.

We now needed to question the judgment of our employee. If they were in a relationship with the employee who had been stealing, what are the chances that our newly promoted manager might not exert some sort of revenge once they had carte blanche access to our store?

Had it not been for the employee background check, we never would have questioned this employee or his motives.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or 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 

 

Foil Their Plans – Alpha 3 Alarm

If you look at modern day methods of shoplifting, you will find one in particular has been a little difficult to combat – foil lined bags or jackets. When retail anti-theft devices are concealed in the foil lining of those bags or jackets, it potentially will not register an alarm like it is supposed to. The thief can remove the tag at their leisure in their own private surroundings, once they have safely exited the store without detection.

Alpha Security, knowing that this has been an ongoing problem, has made a new line of retail anti-theft devices known as Alpha 3 Alarm.

They have preformed a series of tests where they envelope Alpha 3 Alarm products in a layer of foil. They measure the results and work up to four layers of foil.

What they found was the second layer that was added creates a small bubble that the Alpha 3 Alarm tag doesn’t register in. However, increasing the number of layers of foil does not increase that bubble.

Alpha 3 Alarm products secure the merchandise better to prevent shoplifting of those items, compared to other manufacturers retail anti-theft devices.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for Alpha 2Alarm, Alpha 3Alarm, Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate,  Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap and other retail anti-theft devices from Alpha Security to use in conjunction with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

Where would I be? – Employee Background Checks

Where would I be in my life if it weren’t for employee background checks? It is hard to say. I know that I have been quickly approved for housing rentals because of my good background checks. I know that I can easily be approved for a loan or a credit card for those same reasons. So why would I think any differently about an employee background check?

For some companies it is a critical part of the decision making process to run and evaluate an employee background check. There is so much that can be scored or measured as far as credit worthiness (important if your employee will have access to cash or monetary funds). Even potential litigation or other liabilities can be foreseen through a criminal background check (is your employee going to work with children or somewhere with minimal supervision?)

Much of the criteria in pre-employment screening can point an employer in the right direction in a hiring decision. As a smart employee, I understand just how invaluable it has been for me to ensure my background checks show up not only clean (nothing on a criminal background check), but also in exemplary standings, like credit. I want to be the best potential candidate for a job in all aspects, which includes the ones on paper.

As an employer, I need to make sure I have more to go on than just a hunch, or gut feeling. I need something tangible and measurable to say that my potential new hires will do me justice for years to come.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or 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 

Put Your Best Foot Forward – Clothing Security

Why would anyone try to steal a pair of shoes? For the same reasons that they want to steal anything else. If you are questioning whether to put Checkpoint tags on your shoes, think about the reasons and ways people will try to steal them.

First think about why someone steals shoes. They might steal them out of necessity. Maybe it is out of peer pressure to have better shoes than they can afford. Maybe it is just peer pressure to steal something in general. It could even be as simple as they shoplifter wanted them and no one was watching so they took them.

One of the most common ways that shoes are stolen is called a shoe switch. The shoplifter comes into the store in a pair of shoes or sandals that are worthless to them. They try on the shoes they want and put their old shoes back in the box. If the shoes don’t have any clothing security tags, the shoplifter will simply walk out the door with their new pair of shoes.

Having security tags on clothes, like shoes, is the easiest way to protect them from being stolen. If you use clothing security, the shoplifters won’t be able to leave without setting off the clothing alarm. 

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Checkpoint Tags, a Clothing Alarm, Clothing Security or Clothing Security Tags to put Security Tags on Clothes and an Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

A Fatal Error – Internal Theft

It’s hard enough to think that one of your own employees has been stealing from you. It’s even harder to think that often, employee theft involves either multiple employees or an employee working with someone outside the company like a friend, a relative, or even a vendor.

I remember an employee theft investigation where a cashier was ringing up her boyfriend. Underneath his cart was about $300 dollars in product that she did not charge him for. Because she did not want to draw attention to the items, she left them under the cart. Unfortunately for her, but lucky for us, she did not realize that the items had RF tags on them. When the boyfriend tried to leave, he set off the alarms at the door alerting everyone around to the situation.

I did some research as part of that internal theft case. The girlfriend had been passing off merchandise for several months. It was probably longer than that, but they had left a trail of paperwork that we could follow.

Some of the stolen goods were returned without a receipt so a merchandise credit was issued. Because it is an in store credit, we could track all of the purchases that card made.

Each time they used the merchandise card to pay for a transaction, we saw more merchandise being passed off at the register. They would then return that product and get a new merchandise store credit that we could track. And so the cycle was established.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

 

Analyze Your Reports – Clothing Security Tags

It should be no secret that you need a clothing alarm for clothing security to protect your merchandise. What you might not realize is that it is also not a secret as to which specific items need clothing security tags.

The first place is to start looking at your last inventory report. You are conducting inventories at least on a yearly basis right? If you aren’t, you need to start. How will you ever know that you have a problem if you don’t have any way to manage or quantify your inventory losses?

Taking inventory is the best way to track your inventory. You should compare the quantity of each item you purchased versus the quantity of those same items you actually have on hand. Be sure to adjust for any sales or returns made.

Whatever discrepancies you have is called shrink. Now that you know what your shrink is look at those specific items. Decide if these items are ones that are continuing to cause shrink issues? Were the losses on items that you no longer carry in your store?

If you have inventory items that you still carry that you are noticing losses of these are the ones that need security tags on clothes. Checkpoint tags should be applied to these high shrink items first.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Checkpoint Tags, a Clothing Alarm, Clothing Security or Clothing Security Tags to put Security Tags on Clothes and an Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

Out of this world – Background Checks

In the early days of my working life, I knew very little about loss prevention, security, or even basic background checks, much less that there were background check companies and background check experts that could handle the employee background checks for the employer. I was fresh out of high school and working in a small restaurant with a bakery.

There was a family consisting of a husband, his wife, and her brother that worked the early morning shift. After I was hired on, we ended up working several early mornings together.  We started to form a friendship of sorts.

They asked me to teach them some English, and I learned some Spanish from them. After several months, they did something I never expected.

They asked me to marry their brother.

It was then that I knew these were illegal immigrants. This marriage would allow the brother to stay in the country legally. They would even pay me cash to compensate me for my risk. They obviously had not had an employee background check.

I turned them down, but I never turned them in. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized the full extent of these actions. They were here illegally, and had to be using someone else’s social security number to be employed. It also meant that there probably hadn’t been any sort of pre employment screening including criminal background checks done by my employer that would have potentially caught their secret.

While I don’t think that these three would have ever stolen or embezzled from the company and risked their stay in this country, the bottom line is that they were here illegally. Consulting with a background check expert to handle the pre-employment screening conducted by my employer through a background check company that would have potentially caught their secret through the criminal background check process Background checks would have quickly discovered this oversight.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or 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

Isn’t More Better? – Employee Theft

There is a saying that less is more. While that applies to many situations, especially when you are talking about how much money an employee stole from you; it is not always the most accurate for an employee theft cash case.

When you are conducting an employee theft investigation, we generally start with the obvious. If there is money missing from a till, then we have internal theft. So we research the discrepancies – the cash shortages.

Any cash overages that we come across, we first look to see if they offset a cash shortage. If it does, then we stop looking at that loss. It is the logical thing to do.

Why would someone logically look at a cash overage and assume there is theft. When you steal money there is a loss, not extra money- right?

Wrong. Here is one way that many employees get away with their own “perfect crime”.

If I am a trying to steal money from a register, and I want to be smart about it, I will know that I can not simply take money from a till. Someone will notice, and it will only be a matter of time before I am caught.

So what if I find a way to inflate the till and take the extra cash.  This is simple enough if I do a refund without an actual customer. So if I refund an item and the total comes to $12.84, I can easily pocket a ten and no one will be the wiser. In fact when the drawer balances, there will be an additional $2.84.

Track your overages and you may discover that you have an employee theft case, just not in the way you would imagine.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

An Invaluable Resource – Alpha Spider Wraps

I have a friend who is a district loss prevention investigator for a national hardware chain. She has seen the rise and fall of many trends from both shoplifters and employee theft cases. She also has had the opportunity to see the impact the addition of Alpha Security Alpha Spider Wrap retail anti-theft devices has made over the years.

If it wasn’t for the Alpha Spider Wrap, the losses from high dollar power tools and other boxed items would be thousands of dollars more than what it is in these stores. The addition of retail anti-theft devices has helped to mitigate or prevent shoplifting in these high loss areas.

Power tools are a huge loss item because they have enormous resale value and opportunity. They are easily pawned, used or sold to another person on the streets or job sites. If they were not so easy to unload for profit, they would not be stolen so frequently.

My friend has said numerous times that the Alpha Spider Wrap has been an invaluable resource and an effective retail anti theft device.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for Alpha 2Alarm, Alpha 3Alarm, Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate,  Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap and other retail anti-theft devices from Alpha Security to use in conjunction with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

 

Only For Some – Clothing Security

Clothing security tags are the front line of defense to reducing shrink from theft. A visual deterrent that only needs to be applied once, they are efficient and cost effective for both big box retailers and the small business owner.

One of the questions I am asked regarding security tags on clothes is “What should I Tag?”

While the obvious decision would be to tag everything, that would end up being inefficient, expensive and unnecessary. Having too many clothing security tags is a distraction for you, your employees and mostly for your customers.

Too many tags can lead to improper deactivations and longer waits at the register to try and deactivate all of them. If a Checkpoint tag is not deactivated, by design it will sound a clothing alarm. If a tag is accidentally not deactivated, that same clothing alarm will go off. Too many alarms and both your employees and customers start to become immune to it.

There is also the added expense of too many tags. It is more cost efficient (both straight line expenses and return on investment) if you stick with just the top inventory shrink items.

You also need to factor in the time it will take to effectively tag your merchandise. Spending countless payroll hours on clothing security for items that are not a high risk is a waste of your resources.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Checkpoint Tags, a Clothing Alarm, Clothing Security or Clothing Security Tags to put Security Tags on Clothes and an Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547