RF Labels plus teamwork equals theft prevention

Retail establishments used various techniques and tools to stop shoplifting. These tools vary in what they do and how they are used. RF labels are one of those tools and an RF label comes in different size to use in different types of situations. These RF labels are placed on everything from clothing items, perfumes and hi-value items. Once RF security tags they serve two purposes one is to deter theft of the items and second is that if the item is removed without payment the RF label will set off an alarm upon exit. RF labels go by different names such as Checkpoint labels or Checkpoint security tags, but their purpose is the same. 

     But for these Checkpoint security tags to work correctly the employees responsible for placing them on the items properly must be sure they are done correctly. The main goal of the Checkpoint labels is to stop shoplifting. I have seen many situations were an improperly placed RF security labels is just pulled off the item which defeat the purpose of them being on the item.  This type of improper placement can cause a retailer’s a tremendous amount of money. This is why for any program to stop shoplifting to work everyone must work together for the same common goal.    

 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

 

Tick- Tock

Sometimes you can’t figure it out fast enough. Any time you are working an employee theft investigation the clock is running. The longer it takes to build your case, the more shrink you will incur. The scope of your employee theft may go from just a few dollars to thousands seemingly overnight.

I had a case where I just knew in my gut that a few employees were stealing from us. It started after I saw a few suspicious returns on an employee. She purchased some clothes and later returned them. Company policy was to have a return slip and a check in with loss prevention prior to any employee returns being done.

I had never seen the clothes come back to the store. I asked her why she didn’t get a pass and she stated that she forgot. Well over the next few months I noticed that she was returning almost every item she purchased, never getting a return slip from my department.  It was time to start compiling some surveillance for the employee theft investigation to help my case along.

I discovered that she always had the same associate do her returns. I then started looking at his accounts. He was having a large number of returns to his account, starting shortly after hers did. My case of employee theft had just doubled!

Well, after I started to mirror their schedules, I noticed that items were being rung up and taken out of the store. They weren’t having someone check their purchases, and I noticed the bags were rather large for the purchase.

As it turns out, the employees were in it together. They were making purchases and adding items to their bags. They would then bring the receipts in and credit their accounts. It was a double loss, but we were able to stop it before they got any other employees in on the scam.

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

The smaller things in life: RF Security Labels can help

There are always times when your typical checkpoint labels or checkpoint security tags are too large or bulky to affix to certain types of merchandise. Jewelry, fragrances, and sunglasses are the first things that come to mind. This can make it difficult to secure these items and stop shoplifting with our typical resources. That is when RF security labels can come in handy. With RF labels you have the ability to print UPC’s and pricing labels directly onto the RF security tag. You are saving space and accomplishing two goals at once; securing your merchandise to stop shoplifting and providing your customers with the prices without covering up the packaging of the merchandise.

 I remember before we discovered RF labels, I was catching a lot of flack for covering so much of the merchandise packaging. The fragrances were supposed to look good and attract the customer to the item. With the old checkpoint labels the packaging looked much worse having to make room for both the UPC and the checkpoint security tag.  My team is much happier now that the RF security labels are integrated. We are also able to affix RF security labels to things that we previously couldn’t fit them on. Jewelry and sunglasses are now much more secure with the RF label containing the security tag as well. RF security tags are a big deterrent as well. With the security notice printed on the labels customers know that this item is protected and they will be far less likely to just stick it in their pocket and walk out the door.

 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

 

Nano Gate … A great new way to prevent shoplifting!!!

There are many retail anti theft devices on the market today that are aimed at helping retailers prevent shoplifting.  Many of these retail anti theft devices and systems have been around for years and some are much newer.  A relatively new system that I have found to be very useful is the Nano Gate (and 3 Alarm tags) by Alpha Security.

 By this time I think we are all pretty familiar with standard EAS systems.  You put sensor tags on merchandise and if it passes the door pedestals then an alarm sounds.  We all hope we can prevent shoplifting by bringing attention to those who are setting off the system.  Two problems have developed with this system.  One, in many stores no one pays attention to this alarm anymore and it sounds all day with no response from employees or customers.  When that happens the deterrent effect is lost.  A second issue is that even if you do respond as an employee, you are limited in what you can search and what you can do to recover your product.

 The Nano Gate and Alpha’s 3 Alarm tags address these problems.  The first piece of the solution is the 3 Alarm tags.  These retail anti theft devices are like standard hard sensor tags with the exception that they have an alarm built into the tag.  If a would-be shoplifter tampers with the tag then the alarm will sound on the tag itself.  This is great at deterring seasoned shoplifters who can quickly defeat standard EAS tags.  The second part of the system is the Nano Gate.  Unlike standard pedestals that just alarm, when the 3 Alarm tag passes by the Nano Gate the built in senor alarm sounds.  When an employee responds it will be hard for a shoplifter to explain the alarm coming from their bag (or other places) as anything but theft.

 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

Can You Pass an Audit?

A very large portion of my job that doesn’t involve conducting investigations is performing audits. I am a whiz at audits. I can audit anything and everything, quantify the data and then present a very accurate look at the pulse of a store.

One of the biggest areas that I audit is security tags on clothes. When it comes to clothing security, having something like Checkpoint tags is really an industry standard. Having proper execution of those tags? Sometimes it seems like it is an optional program.

The first part of the audit is to know what the standards are for that type of clothing. Is it above $50? Only certain brands? The next step is to take a random sampling of that product group (say 25 or 50 items) and start counting how many Checkpoint tags are attached. Take note that the clothing security tags are in the right place on the garment.

You should now be able to convert your findings into a percentage. Is this an acceptable number? Some retailers expect at least 95% compliance. Others may only require 80 -85%.

I would compare these percentages against current losses, recovered tags, and apprehensions and see if there is a correlation to poor clothing security standards and current shrink trends. Generally there is a big solid line connecting the two.

I also look at associate engagement in those areas with high or increasing shrink, and poor clothing security. Again, there is usually a common denominator present.

The last thing is to take those findings to the management staff. Having concrete numbers to back up what I am trying to enforce goes a long way. It also helps my managers have something concrete if any sort of performance action is needed with the department’s associates.

 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

Criminal Background Checks Prevent Internal theft

Pre employment screening is important for many reasons. One of those reasons is to prevent internal theft. Background checks help to weed out the bad eggs that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks. There are plenty of people out there who are looking for a job in retail for no other reason than to steal from the retailer. We see a significant spike in this sort of scenario during the holidays. These types of people know that companies are desperate to hire seasonal help and may not be taking the time to carry out detailed interviews, conduct criminal background checks and check references on potential employees as much as they do the rest of the year. I have conducted many internal interviews after identifying employee theft and you wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve heard them admit that their sole reason of getting a job with us was to steal. It is always their first time getting caught stealing, so they usually tell us everything we want to know in hopes of getting off with a warning. We conduct employee background checks on all new hires, and nothing comes up on their background checks when we hired them, but next time they won’t be so lucky. Now that we have caught them in the act, criminal background checks conducted by retailers in the future will stop them in their tracks. We know for a fact that pre employment screening has helped prevent us from hiring convicted shoplifters. When we receive the results from the background check company we are able to see when a shoplifter attempts to get a job with us. We always listen to the background check experts and deny employment in order to protect our assets.

When in doubt, use a background check company and look to background check experts to give you solid advice on employee background checks.

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

Sometimes the employees aren’t too bright either

Internal theft is an all too common problem.  It happens within every business and takes on so many forms that it rarely occurs in the same manner twice in a row.  That’s because one expects that when an associate is caught committing some sort of internal theft the rest of the staff would take note of what NOT to do in order to avoid the same fate as their former coworker.

Sometimes they aren’t paying attention to what’s happening around them though.

At one of my store’s auto centers there was an auto center technician who was terminated at the end of an employee theft investigation that found he was stealing garage equipment and supplies for use in his own ‘side jobs’.  It was such a big deal that cashiers in the main store, people who generally don’t even know anyone working in the auto center, were talking about it for weeks.  Then, just last Tuesday, I was driving past the auto center garage while going into work and noticed something immensely suspicious and all too familiar.

There was an auto center technician standing behind his car loading several items into his trunk including a few large boxes.  By the time I reached the camera room the technician had already finished loading his vehicle so I went about my shift with one monitor focused on the car in the event he returned to it.  A few hours later, as the auto center closed for the night, the technician pulled his car into the garage and parked it in front of his work station, which was located right beneath a PTZ camera.  Over the next few minutes he loaded even more items into his vehicle, including a large quantity of garage supplies.  It was a blatant, slam-dunk case of employee theft.

His only reasoning was that he didn’t think we would keep watching after we caught the last guy.

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

Loss Prevention vs. Sales: It’s MINE!!!

While working for a large retailer as a loss prevention store detective one of the biggest challenges was to find ways to stop shoplifting. As a department we seemed to never trust any other employees and had an attitude of “hands off” when it came to any attempts to stop shoplifting. When the company purchased the Checkpoint system we were excited since the LP department had been awarded such an expensive tool to prevent theft. I look back and I can not believe how narrow minded we had become. The Checkpoint system was going to be a catalyst to change the way we conducted business.

When we started with the checkpoint training we were amazed to find sales employees sitting in the room. The trainer started with the general statement that the system was multifaceted and interactive, meaning ALL employees had to work together for the system to succeed. This became obvious once the trainer showed us the checkpoint security tags and checkpoint labels. A couple LP employees were not going to be able to go through the entire store placing rf security tags and rf security labels on the product.

The trainer showed us the benefits of using the rf labels on products such as fragrances, accessories and electronics. He demonstrated the best way to place the rf label on the product without damaging the product or the rf label. He next demonstrated the benefits of the checkpoint security tags. He showed us which products needed the rf security tags such as sneakers, shoes, clothing and several bedding items from the domestics department. The training with the checkpoint security tags took much more time since the rf security tags had to be pushed through the product and if done incorrectly could damage the product. One of the main points made regarding the checkpoint security tags was to ensure the pin portion of the tag was pushed through seams of clothing and eyelets of shoes and sneakers.

At this point we were very glad that our sales partners were going to be a part of the implementation process. This was not the end of the cooperation aspect regarding the checkpoint system. The next point was how to react to the checkpoint alarms. If someone were to remove merchandise with rf security labels how did we best approach the customer? Again, we could not imagine being able to react to every alarm while also watching the sales floor. This is where the proper deactivation of the rf labels and removal of the rf security tags come into play to reduce “false” alarms. Also reacting correctly by offering great customer service when an alarm was set off reduces the possibility of a potential liability incident by falsely accusing a person of theft. The training really forced the lp and sales department to work together to protect each other and achieve the system’s goals.

We had many “dry runs” of reacting to alarms. We found that the checkpoint labels being hidden in or on different areas of product made it tough to find and deactivate at the register. We immediately decided that we needed a system that ensures the checkpoint labels and tags would be placed in or on the same place for each separate product. This allowed the sales personnel to know exactly where to locate the rf labels thus speeding up sales at the register and reducing false alarms due to a missed rf label. RF security labels were not the only items to be missed, if a tag had been forgotten and an alarm was not reacted to then the customer would try to remove the tag at home thus causing damage to the product and then ultimately a return and an unhappy customer.

In the end the checkpoint system helped forge a partnership that led to lower shrink, improved sales and a strong teamwork mentality at the store level. The checkpoint system is an excellent tool to be used to stop shoplifting but as the trainer had said “the system is only as good as the team that works with it  everyday”.

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 

 

Spider Wraps help defend a web of deceit.

Have you ever noticed empty holes on your shelf, but your inventory system says you should have the product?  Have you ever found empty boxes in back corners of the store?  Theft and loss is a major part of the retail industry.  We all face theft and we all work hard to prevent shoplifting.  In most cases we use some type of retail anti theft devices to help prevent shoplifting.  Guess what … it still happens.  So what do you do when traditional methods to prevent shoplifting stop working???

 One suggestion is to check out products from Alpha Security.  One top product that has paid huge dividends in my company is the Spider Wrap.  Unlike traditional retail anti theft devices the Spider Wrap completely encompasses the product.  I can’t tell you how many times I have had shoplifters peel EAS labels off of my boxed products and then steal them anyway.  The Spider Wrap eliminates this by using a wire to cross all 4 sides of the box and hold a hard tag in place.  This cannot be simply removed.  

Another great function of the Spider Wrap is the built in alarm.  If a would-be shoplifter tries to cut the wire then the alarm sounds and draws immediate attention to that person and associates can react while he/she is still in the store versus waiting until they are running out the door and it’s too late.  Additionally, if you add the Nano Gate to your system then if a shoplifter tries to walk out with protected items then the Nano Gate will set off the sensor alarm on the product.  It is easy to explain why a door alarm is going off; it is much harder to explain why your pants or bag are alarming.  The Nano Gate and Spider Wrap are a great solution to prevent shoplifting when traditional methods fail.

 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

 

The bright side of clothing security flaws

It’s not an ideal situation, but you’ve got to be kidding yourself if you don’t admit that the occasional security tag on clothes is missed. While we try hard to ensure total accuracy, it can be difficult to be 100% all the time. Fear not, there is a bright side to this situation. Recently while watching cameras in my store I observed a subject with a large bag browsing the denim. What tipped me off that this subject was suspicious was that the subject wasn’t just browsing for the right size or color; they were looking for the pairs that didn’t have checkpoint tags attached. After further observation I observed the subject concealing the merchandise and I was able to apprehend and recover our merchandise.

Checkpoint tags are not easy to defeat by the average shoplifter. However everybody knows that as our technology in clothing security advances, so does the professional shoplifter advance. Yet again, there is a bright side! A few weeks ago two individuals came into my store with bags from another retailer. The subjects began grabbing a large amount of merchandise very quickly and we barely had a chance to clear the fitting rooms before they got in. There was no time to get a detailed list of what they grabbed and they paid no attention to if the merchandise had clothing security tags or not. They must have known a way to remove the tags so that they didn’t set off the clothing alarm at the exit. All we knew was that they went in with about 30 items. When they came out it was tough to know for certain, but their bags seemed a bit larger. We rushed to the fitting room to find it a mess with about half the stuff they went in with. The biggest sign we had to know that they had stolen was the pile of about 10 clothing security tags hidden under some of the merchandise. After apprehending the subjects we were able to recover our merchandise and identify some professional shoplifters that had been terrorizing the area for some time.

The ideal situation is for clothing security to protect our merchandise from theft every time. But the bottom line is that everything can be defeated, and the key is to use the flaws of security tags on clothes to your benefit.

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