Spider Wrap vs. Shoplifter: The Man in the Pillows

Checkpoint security tags, Spider wraps and other checkpoint systems can be a pretty useful tool when it comes to retail theft prevention. Checkpoint systems will deter most people from shoplifting, but every once and a while you get a shoplifter determined to defeat any anti shoplifting methods you’ve used. Over the years I have acquired many stories about such endeavors. Today I’ll tell you a little story about the man in the pillows.

I was working late one night finishing up putting checkpoint security tags on a new shipment when I saw this guy walk in. The man was on a mission, and I was pretty sure that mission was to steal. I ran back to the office and started watching cameras on my checkpoint security system. The man was clearly looking for something specific. Once he found the electronics, I could tell that was it. Luckily I knew everything there had all their retail theft prevention measures in place, so I wasn’t too worried about a grab and run. The next thing I knew the man had a digital camera in hand despite the anti shoplifting methods we had in place. He headed for the bedding area. Once he got there the man took out a knife and started going at the wire of the spider wrap! I couldn’t believe it. I grabbed the phone and immediately called the police. While I was on the phone the knife snapped through the wire and set off the spider wrap. I knew the spider wrap went off because the man was obviously panicking. He grabbed the wrap by its speaker and squeezed. It muffled the sound I’m sure, but it wasn’t enough. The man then threw the wrap on the ground and began to stomp on it. This didn’t work either. He picked it up and buried it behind some pillows. Now this appeared to work, at least enough for him to get away. He grabbed all the pillows he could find and piled them on and around where he had stashed the wrap. Then he picked up the camera, stuffed it down his pants and made a beeline for the doors. By this time the police had arrived and were waiting for him to exit. Busted, my checkpoint security system and I had won.

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