Hit One Out Of The Park; Prevent Shoplifting Of Baseball Bats By Protecting Them With An O Tag

As per my usual routine I was browsing the internet today to see what criminals are up to these days. My goal was to see if there was something new and hot for thieves. From my own experience as a Loss Prevention Manager I already know that sporting goods are always a popular item for criminals. They are hard to trace, can be easily traded for drugs or sold on the internet. I have had problems with shoplifters swapping out golf clubs in boxed sets, ticket switching baseball gloves, stealing bikes and I knew that baseball bats could be a potential problem but I dealt with one case of it. A shoplifter put one down the front of his pants and tried to walk out of the store (hobble out was more like it). At the time I did not have many options to prevent shoplifting of baseball bats other than lock them up which was not an option at all. Electronic article surveillance soft tags were the only retail anti-theft devices we had to use.  Well apparently there is a lot more bat theft that goes on than I knew after my search of the internet. Here are a few examples:

• From abc30  Feb. 7, 2015 – Clovis police were looking for two grand theft suspects who had stolen about $1400 worth of baseball bats from a sporting goods store.

• From NJ .com, Apr., 6, 2015 – A couple was charged with stealing nearly $3,000 worth of high-end baseball bats from a sporting goods store in Mount Laurel, N.J.

• My Coast Now reported on May 5, 2017 that thieves broke into a Nanaimo, British Columbia store and stole at least 6 rare bats and 3 Louisville Slugger bats in addition to 12 pair of football receiver gloves. http://www.mycoastnow.com/30809/unique-baseball-bats-stolen/ 

• AlbuquerqueJournal reported on April 24, 2015, that a man stole 2 baseball bats worth $300 each from a sporting goods and batting cage store.

While there is more theft than I thought there is also another device to prevent shoplifting and that is the O Tag from Alpha Security.

The O Tag is a superior choice for protecting baseball bats because they are designed specifically to fit around the handle end of the bat shaft. Since it is designed and built by Alpha High Theft Solutions it has built in electronic article surveillance technology that works in conjunction with EAS towers from Checkpoint. The O Tag sends out radio frequency waves that can be detected by the towers when the tagged merchandise is carried to close to the doors where the towers are located. When the detection takes place a 95 decibel alarm sounds and warning lights in the towers flash. This alerts store associates to go to the doors, conduct a receipt check and recover merchandise that has not been paid for yet.

While retail anti-theft devices on the baseball bats does prevent a theft, it is also effective in deterring one since the shoplifters often choose to avoid the risk of walking out with tagged products. Preventing a theft is great but deterring the would-be thief from even considering stealing from your store is better. The knowledge that a store tags ALL of their merchandise sends the shoplifters to other locations. No, we don’t want them to steal, ever, but if other store owners choose not to protect their goods with retail anti-theft devices that becomes their issue. If you are investing in it you will reap ALL of the benefits that result from your foresight.

Use an O Tag on all of your baseball bats and you will improve your instock percentages and that in turn will result in increased sales and profits. Shrinkage, empty fixtures from theft and decreased profits all fit together. The converse is true also, use the O Tag, prevent shoplifting and watch profits rise.

The O Tag is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.