In Retail Loss Prevention we are always trying to find new and innovative methods to stop shoplifting. I have a few personal ideas I have wanted to implement:
- Armed guards in watch towers at the front entry doors (similar to a prison tower) in order to intimidate potential thieves.
- Snarling Doberman Pinschers or German Shepherds, trained to smell stolen merchandise chained at the store exits.
- Tiger pits with a trap door that Loss Prevention Officers can open up when a shoplifter leaves the building, thereby avoiding the inevitable fleeing criminal. And think about it, no more shoplifter speeding out of the parking lot potentially injuring people in order to get away!
- Drones flying around the store with cameras monitoring all of the customers. When someone starts to conceal merchandise store loudspeakers come on and announce what the suspect is wearing and warning him/her to put the merchandise down.
- On the extreme end of the spectrum every customer entering the store receives a personal shopper for the duration of the time they are in the store.
- Require everyone entering the store to pay a $5.00 cover charge. If they purchase something the $5.00 is deducted from the purchase amount.
For some odd reason none of my ideas has been picked up by a retailer. I don’t understand it. Despite this there is a method to stop shoplifting that is a little less extreme than my ideas and that is the use of Checkpoint tags on merchandise.
Checkpoint tags are an electronic article surveillance retail anti-theft device that deters and prevents theft. It deters theft in several ways. First, shoplifters who enter the store will recognize the Checkpoint towers at the front doors and may decide against trying to steal from the store. Second, if a crook is still considering stealing after seeing the towers he/she will get a dose of reality if they see that the store tags all of their merchandise not just select items. Tagging everything eliminates the possibility a shoplifter will grab even a cheap item just to get the thrill or the stolen item. Checkpoint tags will stop shoplifting because they are nearly impossible to remove from merchandise without the proper detachment key. It also has radio frequency technology built into it which acts in unison with the tower at the front door. Tagged merchandise carried too close to a tower sets off alarms causing store employees to respond and conduct receipt checks, usually resulting in recovered merchandise. Shoplifters simply don’t want to take a chance on being arrested so they tend to go to those stores where there are few protected items OR no electronic article surveillance at all.
This brings me back to my original point of finding innovative ways to stop shoplifting and theft. They have made different styles of electronic article surveillance towers. Some have been made smaller to take up of less space for smaller retail businesses, some now have the ability to have advertising panels placed in them and others have the ability to detect radio frequency jammers. Tags have also changed from larger hard tags to sleek, disc-shaped tags designed to be less detracting to higher end merchandise such as suits, gowns, and expensive jackets. Alarms at the towers can send alerts to managers and there is software that can assist managers with evaluating alarm response times.
While I am still in favor of cages dropping from the ceiling on someone who has set off an alarm tower at the doors, I recognize that my idea of innovation is not suitable to everyone. In case you fall into that group of people who would call my ideas extreme, I am recommending another innovative solution to stop shoplifting, install an EAS system and use Checkpoint tags on ALL of your merchandise. You will see shortage decline and profits rise.
Need information on Checkpoint Tags? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
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