Liquor Bottle Security; Ideas For All Budget Sizes: Part 1

Liquor bottle security-3                                                                                                         WC blog 180
Bottle Locks – 5

Liquor Bottle Security; Ideas For All Budget Sizes: Part 1

     Recently I was thinking about merchandise protection and how does a store owner go about choosing the method that will best suit his or her needs.  I had this revelation while watching car commercials which were intruding upon one of my favorite television shows.  The first advertisement was to sell me a pick-up truck followed by a commercial for another company selling me a sports car.  A little later a commercial came on trying to entice me to purchase an affordable car.  There is a similar concern for small grocery store and alcohol beverage store owners trying to get a feel for what they can afford in terms of liquor bottle security.  Can they get by with the bare essentials, the affordable compact car or do they need a workhorse, 8 cylinder 440 horsepower pick-up truck?  How about the shop owner looking for the equivalent of the sleek, powerful and fully equipped sports car?  Okay, I am only talking about theft prevention which can vary from using just bottle locks to a full blown security system.  But the point is the same, what will fit the needs and budget of the small or medium size retail business owner?  In this series I will address each “vehicle” in terms of how it relates to varying budgets.

     What are bottle locks you may be asking, and how do they work?  Bottle locks are devices that fit on top of a bottle of wine or liquor and lock in place.  Locks may be in the form of a collar the covers only part of the neck of a bottle, or it may cover the entire bottle cap and part of the bottle neck.  Some bottle locks are clear and allow customers to see the manufacturer’s designs or logos on the foil or paper on the neck of the bottle.  Other locks are totally black and no information on the neck can be viewed.  To some store owners this may or may not be an important consideration in which lock style to purchase. 

     Many bottle locks also have the ability to activate an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) antenna if brought into the radio frequency range of the antenna.  Locks are manufactured with radio frequency technology built into the lock that can be sensed by the antenna and trip an alarm if it is too close to the antenna and doors.  Locks may also have tamper alarms that will sound if someone tries to force a protective cap off and some have a third alarm that will activate in the lock if the device is carried out the door.

  SO, the question becomes what kind of liquor bottle security are you looking for in order to protect your store?  Let’s assume you are on a somewhat tight budget and you need to keep your merchandise safe from theft, in other words, you’re in the market for the compact economy car.  It’s advertised for great gas mileage, gets you where you want to go and the small print always reminds you that additional features cost more.  For this kind of protection I am going to suggest you may not be able to protect all of your products.  You may be limited in the amount of items you can protect due to cost crunching.  In this case, establish a price point and protect every bottle that hits that mark or higher, you might decide any bottle $30 or greater will be locked. Even for the “economy” car budget you invest in an EAS antenna system for all of your entrances ensuring product being stolen will be detected.

       Staffing will probably be minimal in order to increase profit margin.  In this case, place the register near the front door to be able to immediately respond to any EAS alarm.  Set up drink coolers or candy fixtures and turnstiles to prevent a person from grabbing and running in a straight line to the door.  Assuming you can’t afford cameras keep your shelves and fixtures no higher than chest level so you can observe customers.  Also, while cameras may not be affordable, you can purchase mirrors to place in corners that aid in seeing those sections that are not in the line of sight.

     Following these easy steps you can have an affordable ride that will keep expenses low and still have an impact on your drive to minimize shoplifting and theft.  Did I say we are still talking about liquor bottle security?

Liquor bottle security is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.