Uncategorized — Page 70

Show, Secure, Sell

October 22, 2012 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

What a great way to define Alpha Security’s line of 3 Alarm products. Show off your merchandise. Secure them with retail anti theft devices designed to deter and prevent shoplifting. Sell your customers your products in a comprehensive and user-friendly format.

Of course, when you have so many options available, it can get overwhelming. You need to have a place to put your retail anti theft devices where they won’t be misplaced, broken, or a hindrance to your daily operations.

That is one of the reasons why the 3 Alarm products are space efficient. In other words, they are small and therefore don’t take up much space, either on the merchandise, or in a stock room somewhere.

Show, Secure, Sell also refers to the S3 Key, which is needed to unlock the 3 Alarm products. It was pretty smart thinking to have all of the 3 Alarms use just one detacher. This clears up space on your wrap stands. You don’t need to have several different detachers taking up space as well as creating visual clutter.

Having access to hard tags, bottle locks, box keepers and Spider Wraps, all with the 3 Alarm capabilities are pretty good in and of itself. Having to use only one S3 Key to detach them is not only space efficient, but cost effective as well.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for retail anti theft devices 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 retail anti theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 3 Alarm, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Spider Wrap

Strange tales in the clothing security industry

October 22, 2012 by Staff Editor

All of us within the loss prevention field have had those moments where we question how people can prove to be so lacking in common sense or logic.

It wasn’t until around five in the afternoon last Saturday that our shoplifter du jour walked through the first floor mall entry point. Right away the woman set off every alert signal in the profession: clothes that didn’t fit the weather, an almost immediate focus on the cameras, and she made a path for one of the most secluded corners of the first floor, which just so happened to be located next to the designer shirts.

With two LP detectives observing through the CCTV and one on the floor we bore witness to this young woman pulling two empty shopping bags from her pockets and then began moving from rack to rack deftly pulling clothes from their hangers and dropping them in her bags in front of dozens of other customers, some of whom spoke out or reported her actions to store employees. She paid no attention to the fact that there were Checkpoint tags on the items she selected. It took her all of three minutes to get her fill and try to escape through another entrance where immediately all of the clothing security tags triggered the alarm just as two LP detectives and three local police officers converged on her. In spite of the witnesses who pointed her out, in spite of the clothing alarm that alerted everyone to her theft, in spite of the blatant video evidence she protested her innocence and insisted we were all crazy and she would see us on the end of a lawsuit.

Right now she is facing five years in prison for the extent of her crimes.

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Checkpoint tags, clothing alarm, Clothing Security, clothing security tags, security tags on clothes

Internal Craziness

October 22, 2012 by Staff Editor

Crazy can be defined in two ways; 1. situation (i.e. you witness an event and instantly declare “wow, that was crazy”) & 2. people (i.e. that customer that becomes hopping mad over you not printing that gift receipt). When you work in retail you grow accustom to both kinds of crazy. The crazy that you don’t get accustomed to is employee theft.

We started to see this pattern of high dollar merchandise cards, the kind you would give to a customer if they had no receipt, all issued by the same employee. The matter was ultra sensitive because the employee issuing the cards was an assistant manager. The investigation started with a handful of cards totaling about $250.00 and by the end we had a total of 50 cards spanning back 2 years totaling well over $10,000. During the interview the manager admitted to the theft and then hit us with a needed dose of reality; she was fired from her last job for doing the same exact thing.

Our company at the time did no pre-employment screening, ran no background checks, and did no criminal background checks. This was the dose the company needed to get involved with a background check expert. It could have saved them thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars had all employees, pre-employment or not been subjected to a background check. Seems like a smart thing to do seeing these are the people who handle the whole of your profit and goods.

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: background check company, Background checks, criminal background check, employee background checks, pre employment screening

Employee theft involving external forces

October 15, 2012 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Not every employee theft investigation is going to be the same. Sure the excuses rarely change flavor: “I needed the money”, “I have a gambling problem”, “I just thought I could get away with it”, “I didn’t think anyone would notice”, but the methods involved tend to vary enough that such investigations hardly ever follow the same pattern.

Because more and more employees are becoming aware of the so-called ‘eyes-in-the-sky’ (that’s us in the Loss Prevention game for those who are having trouble following along) and our constant focus on internal theft many have begun to try more complex and determined tactics to fleece their companies of goods and currency. The trend that is truly taking off is using outside help to accomplish illicit goals.

In one particularly recent internal theft incident I caught someone free-bagging goods with the help of a friend. The employee and friend had met up towards the rear of the store and were chatting when I spotted them. It was hardly conspicuous until I noticed the two women discussing in some detail the items in the friend’s basket. After about ten minutes the employee went up to the front of the store to a register which was unnecessary as she was only a back-up cashier and there was no line. Then the friend went to said register to ‘check-out’. Here was where it got interesting. The total sale for all of the products came out to around $45.00 and the friend handed over a fifty dollar bill. The cashier then handed her back three ten dollar bills as change. When the drawer was clocked at the end of the night there was only the $30.00 discrepancy which they couldn’t rectify to any single transaction until I brought my employee theft investigation to light. When later confronted in interview the employee stated “I didn’t think anyone would notice that”.

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: employee theft, employee theft investigation, internal theft

The broad spectrum

October 15, 2012 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

How cool is it to have so many different, and specific retail anti theft devices to prevent shoplifting?

Retail anti theft devices have come a long way since the days of plain old hard tags. They evolved into dual ink tags, soft tags, and now they are in just about every size and shape imaginable to protect your varied inventory needs.

Alpha has a wide range of high theft solutions that they have worked hard to ensure meet your high customer service standards. There is a very good reason why Alpha has been doing this for over thirty years.

Let me point out their line of 3 Alarm products that they have developed. The 3 Alarm refers to the three phase audible alarm embedded into their retail anti theft devices. It alarms at the doors, it alarms if tampered with, and it alarms for ten minutes after it has been removed from the store.

The 3 Alarm products include bottle locks for liquor and wine bottle security. They also have keeper boxes for items like cosmetics, razors, or colognes. And they have clothing solutions that include a hard tag and a lanyard to protect both garments and accessories.

When you create such a wide spectrum of products, you know that the technology involved will be consistent regardless of which solution you need.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for retail anti theft devices 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 retail anti theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 3 Alarm, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices

ORC and clothing security tags

October 15, 2012 by Staff Editor

Today my store was the victim of the perfidious workings of an organized retail crime (ORC) group. They bypassed everything from the clothing alarm to the Checkpoint tags as though they weren’t even in place. In spite of their ability to surpass our clothing security measures, they failed in the end due a foolish oversight on their part (and perhaps a small amount of carelessness and arrogance).

Less than ten minutes after the first group of three women had escaped to their vehicle and fled the mall’s property (without anyone able to spot a license plate unfortunately) our office received a phone call about a man attempting to return nearly three hundred dollars of clothing product on the second floor, without a receipt. Some of the pieces still had clothing security tags on them.

Under our advisement, and a second from management, the return was denied and the man left in a hurry through the third floor where I was waiting to follow on foot. Sure enough, after tailing him along the outside of the mall for almost three minutes, I found him getting into a car that contained the three women who had stolen the clothing only moments prior. I managed a walk-by that allowed me to call in the license plate number and a full description of the car to the local police.

Clothing security isn’t always such a task, with the foot pursuits and police intervention, but it seems to be becoming more and more common an occurrence these days. Despite the fact that the Checkpoint tags and clothing alarms were defeated so effortlessly by them, the tools did provide us with the time and means to identify a rather experienced organized crime group.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Checkpoint tags, clothing alarm, Clothing Security, clothing security tags, security tags on clothes

Protecting your Most Valuable Asset.

October 15, 2012 by Staff Editor

To start a business you will need a location and merchandise. You will need to put a name on your building, you will need racks and shelves and electricity, but the most important thing you will need is people. They will do the work needed and they will drive your business. They will interact with the customer day in and day out. They will need to be hired, trained and monitored for quality. This will cost money and time. It will be your most expensive investment by far. They will be your most valuable asset. That having been said, it is important to get the right people from the start. One way to ensure that this happens is to do background checks. You can do some of this yourself by calling past employers, but this will only give you so much info. Having a background check company perform the check may be more thorough. They are the background check experts and can perform criminal background checks and other types of Pre-employment screening that can prevent you from hiring a bad seed. Employee Background checks should also be done on present employees. I have done this in the past and have been surprised at what has come back on a background check.

Background check experts or a background check company can also verify things like address, credit history and bankruptcy records, which can help if trying to hire someone that will be handling a lot of cash such as at a bank or someone who works in your cash office. At minimum you should perform pre-employment screening on key positions like security officers or management. Running at least these people through employee background checks will prevent you from putting a criminal or scam artist in a position where they may have unlimited access to your funds and merchandise.

One company I worked for used employee background checks in the top 5 highest shortage areas. They felt that they wanted their most trusted employees in those problem areas. The areas where we did not perform criminal background checks soon became the problem areas for employee theft as well as shoplifting. We soon realized that by performing background checks we were getting a better quality hire and had weeded out the people we didn’t need through the pre-employment screening.

In my career I have been used primarily to fix the stores that are broken as far as shortage goes. The first thing I do when looking at the stores is to take a good look at the employees. Making use of a background check company who are the background check experts often will identify where or better yet who the problem is and is the beginning of fixing the shortage problem of the store.

Make use of these criminal background checks or at least basic employee background checks to protect your biggest investment… your employees!

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: background check company, Background checks, criminal background check, employee background checks, pre employment screening

Just use a little Finesse

October 8, 2012 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

When you work with pieces of jewelry, regardless of high end, fashion, one of a kind estate pieces, or costume, you know that you need to be extremely careful with those pieces.

Most consumers who are looking to purchase a piece of jewelry will scrutinize every centimeter of that piece. They will hold it up to the light, turn it around in the air, and then look some more. Even the tiniest blemish will negate a potential sale.

The last thing you want is to be trying to satisfy a customer, they finally decide to buy the jewelry and then your employee scratches or mars the jewelry in the checkout process.

For some, this is a bigger issue for retail anti theft devices than whether or not it will prevent shoplifting. With Jewel Loks, your impeccable jewelry should remain blemish free.

When I first saw the Jewel Loks, I worried that because they were so fool proof, they would be difficult to remove. If you have to fight with a Jewel Lok, you would run the risk of damaging your pieces.

So I did a little research into the removal process. How simple it is! You don’t have to shake or wiggle or slide your jewelry. You delicately lay a piece on top of the detacher, and it does the work for you to easily slide the Jewel Loks off.

All it takes is a little finesse and your jewelry is safely going home with your happy customer.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for retail anti theft devices 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 retail anti theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Jewel Lok, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices

We can’t always be perfect…

October 8, 2012 by Staff Editor

Although we wish our LP careers were perfect we all have moments when we just get beat.

Today was one of those days for me.

I was alone in my office and dealing with half a dozen other problems when it happened. While listening to the droning monotone of a liability investigator on the other end of the office phone I kept myself busy by scanning through cameras on the CCTV monitor closest to me. At the fifteen minute mark of my conversation I noticed a man who looked completely out of place in the store’s children’s clothing department. Given his appearance and his unnaturally stuffed shopping bag through which I could see security tags on clothes, my attention shifted from dealing with the accident aftermath to observing the man much more closely.

Less than sixty seconds later I hung up on the liability investigator.

The man had selected three pairs of children’s jeans and a child’s printed sweatshirt and rapidly moved away from the department towards the nearby housewares area. As soon as I paged for a store manager to dial my office extension the man took off down to the first floor in a jog. I radioed mall security with his description and called local law enforcement as I ran out my office and could hear the Checkpoint tags set off the clothing alarm as the man crossed the threshold into the mall and went into a full sprint. Other LP units in the mall had eyes on him even as he started ripping clothing security tags off the stolen merchandise as he ran, but somehow he not only made it to his vehicle, he also managed to elude police and avoid being identified.

Even with obvious clothing security in place, it only took a two minute grab and dash job to undo it all. Though security tags on clothes are effective they can in some cases be defeated. The only way to truly be diligent in our duties as LP professionals is to use all of the tools in our arsenal including CCTV and Checkpoint tags but even then we are sometimes defeated.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Checkpoint tags, clothing alarm, Clothing Security, clothing security tags, security tags on clothes

It is like online dating

October 8, 2012 by Staff Editor

One of the parts of reviewing job applications that I dislike is trying to decide what a person is really like. A standard, fill in the blank application is often as useless as looking through a resume, or even worse, an online profile.

I feel like I am in a bad online dating program. Applicants are trying their best to come across as successful winners. The reality is often far from that truth.

Because the applicants have the ability to manipulate the data they enter, put their own spin on job descriptions and responsibilities, it can be impossible to tell the studs from the duds.

No one will ever put down that they were terminated for theft, or poor attendance. No one will ever admit that they slacked off at their jobs and their bosses were happy to see them quit.

This is where background check experts can drill down to get the real truth of the matter. They have the ability to run background checks that include both an employee background check, as well as a criminal background check.

Background check experts can even call up references to see if they, for one, even exists, much less would ever want to work with that applicant again. They will then review their findings from the criminal background check and the employee background check.

These background checks, along with the references will put together a more compete applicant profile than the one they might want you to believe in.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: background check company, Background checks, criminal background check, employee background checks, pre employment screening