Alpha 2 Alarm — Page 21

WHEN YOU THINK THEY CAN’T GET ANY DUMBER

April 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Everyone I know loves a good “dumb criminal” story. In fact, I can’t go a day without someone (store managers, district managers, executives, family…) asking me to tell a crazy shoplifting story. I have a top 10 list that I usually gravitate towards, but after yesterday, I may have to change it to a top 11.

It was about 7pm and I was finally leaving my office (my office in a store). In order to get to the front door, I have to walk right down the middle of the highest theft area of the store; footwear. Most days, I put my blinders on and try to bee-line to the door, but on this day… well she just caught my eye. No, it wasn’t the girl of my dreams…

As I’m walking down the main walkway, out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of this woman placing a pair of shoes in her purse. Let me build you a mental picture for just a moment. This was a large woman; think Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple big. And tall. She had to be pushing 6ft3in. She was wearing a dark green pajama dress, with slippers and curlers in her hair. I did not want to confront her; I was, in fact, a little scared. ☺

I radio for one of the store’s agents, but as luck would have it, they’ve left early for the day. It’s just me and the jolly green giant. I had a decision to make; I could go through and make the apprehension, or try and recover the product that she had concealed. To heck with it, let’s have a little fun. So I continued observation and watched as she methodically placed about a dozen or so pairs of shoes in her purse. She then began her slow walk towards the front of the store. Not having an agent in the store, I grabbed one of the managers, who just happened to be former LP. I knew she wouldn’t mind getting in on the action.

As Ms. Banner made her exit, I (scared that she may break me in half) approached her and identified myself as LP. The reaction was just as I thought it would be. She proceeds to a verbal assault that would make reading me the riot act look like poetry. At the very least, I want to recover my merchandise (and hopefully keep my bones in one piece). I reach towards the basket and grab the purse with my product inside. She, quicker that I thought she could move, races around the shopping cart and tries to remove it from my hands. After all, it is her purse… who cares if it contains MY merchandise?

Before she could get it from me, I quarterback hiked it to the manager, who didn’t miss a beat and caught it mid-flight. The manager then tossed it into the storage closet that happened to be open and slammed the door shut. (It locks automatically.) Hulk didn’t think that was funny and flipped the shopping cart over on its side and commenced to beating the door. For a minute there, I thought she’d be able to make it in. She overheard me desperately pleading with dispatch to get me an officer ASAP and she took off through the parking lot. I have to say, it was quite amusing to watch a woman of her stature running through the parking lot in slippers.

She actually was able to flee the store before the police arrived and I first was pretty upset that after all that I went through, I didn’t have her identity. At least I had my product back, right? The officer finally shows up a little later and takes my report. I take him inside to photograph the purse and the stolen product. After I pulled 13 pairs of shoes out, I noticed there was a large wallet at the bottom. Inside was her state ID, driver’s license, library card and several credit cards all with her name on them. I promptly signed a warrant for her arrest.

Would you believe that the next day, she called the store manager and told her that she had “lost” her wallet while shopping in the store? The store manager, unaware of what happened, transferred the call to me. She had no idea she was talking to the guy she almost broke in half and I actually convinced her that the wallet had been turned in to the lost and found and that she could come on by and pick it up. She did. As soon as she stepped foot in the store, she was promptly arrested by two of the counties’ finest.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar, Periodic inventory, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

DO YOU NEED A BURGLAR ALARM?

April 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Often overlooked for small businesses is the dire need for a suitable burglar alarm system. I talk about EAS placement and CCTV all the time. Those are rendered absolutely useless is someone busts in through the back door. If your burglar system isn’t up to standards, you run the risk of losing everything.

I think (and hope) that all of you have at least a basic intruder alarm system set up with a reputable monitoring service. I want to go a little further than that and give you some insight on what I’ve seen that works and what really doesn’t. I’ve seen plenty systems over the course of my career and while I’m not an expert on alarm systems, I have common sense (something that seems to be lacking the higher you progress on the retail ladder).

Every store, no matter the size should at the minimum have motion detection and depending on your assortment, shock sensors. If you’re not familiar with the latter, they are generally designed for placement on solid walls (think a firearms cage in a sporting goods store, or the cement wall surrounding the vault at the local bank). These alarms trigger if there is a significant shockwave, i.e explosion, or perhaps a vehicle ramming through. Very important to consider depending on your particular assortment and layout. Motion sensors on the other hand are far more common and should definitely be part of your security system. As the name implies, they detect motion.

One thing my company struggled with for years was false alarms. We were actually paying thousands of dollars in false alarm fines to our local police department one year at this one particular store. Almost every night, the motion sensor would trip, police would be dispatched and we’d find no evidence of a breach. We eventually discovered that we had a cat that was taking up residence and wandering the aisle at night. We eventually changed the trigger to dispatch police from one motion activation to no less than 4 before we would dispatch police. This helped out tremendously and we’ve since implemented that practice to all of our stores.

One other thing we found that didn’t quite work with the motion sensors was our outdoor storage yards. If the wind blew a little too hard, or if animals would slip in, they would trigger a police dispatch. What we did was configure the dispatch to only trigger if there was an outside motion trigger coupled with a breach of gate. By a little trial and error, we found the best solution to keep our store protected, all while eliminating any false alarms to our local police department.

Usually attached to any burglary alarm system is the fire alarm system. I bring this up as I want to talk about a technology that we’ve just begun implementing in our stores over the past 6 months that I think is definitely worth the investment. That being delayed egress fire exits. We had stores in this one market that were being just absolutely hammered with fire exit run outs. We had groups of people that would load up shopping carts full of buggies and push out of the fire exits where an idling pickup truck is waiting. We struggled to stop this trend and were hit with a brick wall; until we tested out the delayed egress.

If you’ve never seen these in action before, they’re pretty awesome. What happens is pretty simple. If someone attempts to open a fire exit, the door has a 10 second delay; meaning the alarm sounds, but the door cannot be physically opened for that time period. The only way this is circumvented is if the fire alarm is activated; then the door opens immediately. The first time our fire exit bandits hit a store with the new doors was priceless. The look of sheer terror and panic on their face as they tried to get out the store, but couldn’t was pure awesomeness. This install, while an investment, has already shown to have not only great potential, but has already given us results.

As with any system, there isn’t a “one size fits all” plan. I encourage everyone to do their own homework when it comes to protecting your store when you’re not there. I guarantee that you can find a balance between your store needs and your budget. While with any new system, there is always an investment to be made, think of this as an investment that you can’t afford not to take.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Retail Security

April 5, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Retail security is a big concern for retailers. Billions of dollars are lost yearly due to employe theft and shoplifting. But having the security in place is not necessarily enough, training personnel-Management and hourly employees-is as vital to the success of the effectiveness of the security system as the security system itself. It is true that many of the big retailers across the United States spend millions of dollars a year in security systems for their stores, but they also spend millions of dollars in cybersecurity as well. The threat is real and the cost of a security breach is all too present.

For more about this topic follow the links below.

Retail Security: How Can Biometrics, Video Analytics and Other Innovation Cut Record Theft Losses and Boost Commercial Performance?

Retail crime hit a 10-year high in the 2013-14 financial year, with the £603m losses recorded by UK retailers 18% higher than those racked up in the previous 12 months.

Despite this, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey also revealed that the volume of theft offences actually fell 4%. While conventional security technology – primarily CCTV and electronic product tags – has been effective at reducing petty shoplifting, a surge in gang-related bulk theft is soaring.

The average value of goods, money or services stolen now averages £241 per incident.

Clearly, the security industry must evolve its approach to tackle this growing threat.

As Retail week Live packs up for another year, we asked several security experts how the industry is harnessing – and could harness – the latest cutting-edge technology to improve not only retail security, but commercial performance too.

RBTE 2016: Data security must be retail’s priority in 2016

Essential Retail caught up with PCI Security Standards Council international director, Jeremy King, to talk all things related to data security in retail. King is speaking at RBTE in London, this afternoon.

Essential Retail (ER): What should be key data security priorities for organisations in 2016?

Jeremy King (JK): Simply put, reducing risk and making data security business-as-usual. Organisations cannot afford to do anything less -not with 90% of large organisations and 74% of small organisations suffering data breaches, and the average cost of a breach reaching well over £3 million.

The European government is introducing new regulations to protect customer data this year, which puts added pressure on organisations to demonstrate their data security efforts. Even though these regulations will not come into effect until late 2017 or early 2018, good data security takes time and effort, so organisations need to make this a priority now.

ER: What about top threats or areas of concern for retailers?

JK: Phishing continues to be an easy way for attackers to get into merchant systems – but it’s something that can be prevented. Retailers need to be aware of these attacks and others and train their employees on how to spot them and protect against them. This is where incidence response comes in. If we take the example of phishing, on average it still takes an organisation 23.7 days to resolve a cyberattack caused by phishing or social engineering! Improving security controls and processes to identify and detect attacks quickly, using the PCI Data Security Standards, and establishing an incidence response should also be a key concern for organisations in 2016.

The DIY Approach To Retail Data Security

As retailers tend to have more pressing day-to-day concerns than security — namely, selling their products to customers — it can be tempting for them to regularly presume, in acknowledging the endlessly escalating battle between cybercriminals and protective measure technologists, that the experts in the latter group will develop something to counteract whatever the bad guys come up with in short time.

Sometimes, that assumption is accurate.

In the recent instance of the XSS security vulnerabilities that befell the online shopping cart Zen Cart, for example, the company acted quickly to solve its own problem.

When researchers from Trustwave’s SpiderLabs Research team sussed out weaknesses in the Zen Cart application that could allow malicious actors to gain access to cookies, sensitive information and site defacement of online merchants that used the shopping cart, they informed Zen Cart of the situation and immediately began working with the company to develop a fix.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Investing In A Security System For Your Store

March 31, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Many big retailers do not think twice about investing in CCTV systems for their stores. Among other theft preventive measures, CCTV systems’s cost is minuscule when compared to the theft these retailers face. Many small retail shops forego the use of CCTV systems or other preventive measures due to the cost involved initially, although the losses they suffer are more substantial than those associated with the cost of a loss prevention system. If you are thinking the investment you are doing to prevent theft is not worth the cost, think again. The retail industry loses billions of dollars yearly due to employee theft and shoplifting. Acquiring a security system for your store regardless of the size is worth the investment.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Loss Prevention Essentials: Electronic Article Surveillance Technology Helps Enhance Sales and Protect Profits

Systems must be properly managed in order to be effective.

Electronic article surveillance, or EAS, systems have long been a staple in the battle to curb shoplifting. Retailers over the years have collectively spent millions of dollars to protect their merchandise from shoplifters and, in some cases, their own employees. Like many major expenses, when the technology is first purchased and installed a concentrated effort is made by the loss prevention teams to train store associates on the proper processes and procedures that need to be performed in order to realize the most benefits that the technologies deliver. But like other big purchases one makes, time and in-attention to details takes their toll. Liken to the shining new toy that you got as a child for Christmas long ago, as time goes on and the allure of the toy begins to diminish, it all too often starts to be ignored. Technology investments like EAS often suffer the same situation, exit alarms start are dismissed without action, proper tag placement on merchandise begins to stray and even the simple process of testing the systems to ensure they are working are overlooked.

HBC settles race complaint from shopper, agrees to educate staff on profiling

HALIFAX – The Hudson’s Bay Company has agreed to educate its staff on racial profiling as part of a settlement in the case of a now-deceased Nova Scotia grandmother allegedly accused of shoplifting a rug.

African Canadian Kathleen Viner filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission alleging that two employees discriminated against her at a now-closed Zellers store in Greenwood, N.S., in 2008.

Viner, then a 77-year-old grandmother of 13, was stopped by a security guard “and made to feel she had stolen a rug,” according to an affidavit from her daughters, Shelley and Donna.

Viner provided proof she had bought the rug, but the incident left her shaken, her daughters said.

OBPD attempts to help local businesses prevent shoplifting

Osage Beach
Retail loss is one of the most challenging aspects of doing business.
According to the National Retail Federation, shoplifting accounts for 38 percent of an estimated $44 billion in retail losses each year. Inventory shrinkage includes shoplifting, employee/internal theft, administrative errors and vendor fraud or error.
The Osage Beach Police Department wants to help area merchants slow that retail loss, a loss that ultimately is passed along to consumers.
The OBPD hosted a Meet and Greet Partnership Meeting recently with nine retailers to discuss retail theft issues, to give pointers and allow retailers to share tips and trends. Several area businesses, law enforcement, financial institutions and prosecuting attorneys were invited.
Sgt. Arlyne Page, communications officer with OBPD, said the department began a crime prevention program in 1981, and more recently has held meetings with Osage Beach Premium Outlet managers to coordinate prevention efforts among retailers. Target store management encouraged meetings last spring, and a month ago asked the OBPD to host a meeting on shoplifting and retail and digital fraud.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Retail Stores Fighting Shoplifters

March 24, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In the UK the number of women apprehended for shoplifting has increased, and has been linked to the fact that they do no longer get government benefits. In the United States shoplifting has increased with millions of dollars lost due to shoplifting every year, and the increase in prices has led many thieves to shoplift items that were unthinkable not too long ago. With the increase of beef prices for example, the number of thieves stealing package meat has reached an all time high. Stores across the country are even considering putting anti-theft packaging on their meat products to prevent thieves from shoplifting it.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Retailers Fight Theft at Every Turn

As workplace theft remains a constant issue for retail operations, c-stores continue to look for new means to complement tried-and-true theft prevention strategies, as 2016 progresses.

Theft by employees, of both stock and cash, is now among retailers’ top three areas of concern, according to the “US Retail Fraud Survey 2015” conducted by Retail Knowledge, a retail fraud and loss prevention firm. Cash theft, which grew 2% in 2015 is the second biggest concern followed by administrative loss (23%) and shoplifting (11%).

“We can see from consecutive surveys that the amount spent by companies on loss prevention offline has dropped over 30% in the last two years,” said Mark Emmott, director of Retail Knowledge. Meanwhile, money spent on online loss prevention has doubled. “It may be that cutting budgets on loss prevention in some areas have made it easier, in a tough economic environment, for good people to make bad choices,” he added.

NOVEL STRATEGY
This past January, Crime Stoppers and Canada-based Mac’s Convenience Stores joined popular Canadian comic book hero, Captain Canuck, as part of the comic’s 40th Anniversary edition. The issue is being distributed exclusively and free of charge at Mac’s, and through local Crime Stopper programs across Canada.

Retail Security: How Can Biometrics, Video Analytics and Other Innovation Cut Record Theft Losses and Boost Commercial Performance?

Retail crime hit a 10-year high in the 2013-14 financial year, with the £603m losses recorded by UK retailers 18% higher than those racked up in the previous 12 months.

The average value of goods, money or services stolen now averages £241 per incident.

Clearly, the security industry must evolve its approach to tackle this growing threat.

Operation Molten Iron targets retail theft

JEFFERSON COUNTY — The Jefferson County D.A.’s office says it’s spent several weeks working with Vestavia Hills and Birmingham police to investigate a retail crime ring. During the operation, about $55,000 worth of merchandise was stolen from stores. To stop thefts, the agencies worked with retail chains operating around the county. Those retailers donated merchandise, and offered help from their workers.

The efforts resulted in three arrests- and the D.A. says more are on the way. Law enforcement officers also recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in vehicles and store merchandise. They also found 15 pounds of marijuana in one location.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Why EAS Makes Sense For Your Business

March 22, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Video surveillance is big business. From law enforcement using closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to protect the citizens of this country to retail stores protecting their merchandise, video surveillance has become the main choice for many big and small businesses to use in their businesses. For retail stores to prevent shoplifting the use of EAS systems have become the norm, and among other anti theft devices, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are a must for every retail business around the world.

Police: Nun caught on camera shoplifting

BRIAR CREEK, Pa. — A 78-year-old nun in Pennsylvania was arrested for shoplifting $23 worth of toiletries and snacks from a store.

Surveillance video taken Monday at 3:45 p.m. reportedly shows the woman, named Agnes Pennino, taking snacks from a Surplus Outlet supermarket in Briar Creek, Pennsylvania.

Store manager Zane Kishbach said a customer alerted him to the woman.

“Another customer came to me in aisle 5 and said, ‘I’m not sure what I’m seeing, but I think a woman is stealing,’ and she had already left the store by that time, and I went out to pursue her,” Kishbach said.

Salem finance director charged 2nd time for shoplifting

SALEM — The town’s finance director allegedly shoplifted an assortment of clothing at Macy’s a week before she was arrested at the store in a similar case, according to a newly filed court complaint.

Prosecutors have filed charges against Jane Savastano, 48, for allegedly taking numerous pieces of clothing on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19.
She waived arraignment in 10th Circuit Court, Salem Division, and entered a not guilty plea to all charges, according to court papers filed by her lawyer, Patrick Donovan.
Prosecutors recently notified a judge they are seeking a potential jail sentence for Savastano, who has served as the town of Salem’s finance director since March 2005.
Each of the three charges are punishable by up to a year in county jail.
Savastano is on administrative leave from her job and is expected to face a personnel review by the town.
The new charge against Savastano provided few details about the Feb. 12 incident that happened a week before her arrest. She allegedly entered the store on Friday, Feb. 12, around 3:30 p.m., took a number of clothing items “valued more than $1 and less than $1,000” and left without paying.

Police: Dollar General employee theft ring stole $56k worth of merchandise

ELLOREE, SC (WIS) –

An investigation by the Elloree Police Department uncovered an employee theft ring at the Dollar General store on Old Number 6 Highway.

Police say the store’s management reported a loss of merchandise costing more than $56,000 over eight months.

Seven employees have been arrested on charges of felony criminal conspiracy and breach of trust involving more than $10,000. They were booked into the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center where they have posted bail.

According to the arrest warrants, the employees, “while utilizing a scheme, did knowingly, with intent to permanently deprive the owner, remove, carry away or allowed to be carried away, retail merchandise without payment.”

“They would wait until the close of business at the end of the day and they would already pre-load buggies or shopping carts and right when it time to close the business, they would pull those buggies up, pretend to scan the items, and the buggies would be completely full,” Elloree Police Chief Joseph Avinger said. “Then we went back with the video and checked it along with the register tape to see how much money was spent at the register and it would be only a few dollars — $10 to $15 from buggies filled with merchandise.”

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Retail Anti Theft Devices, security devices, surveillance

HELP ME! Tips To Maintaining Your Checkpoint System

March 17, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

After 8+ years in the Navy as an Electronics Technician, I considered my options for the next phase of my career. My research lead me to a growing company named Checkpoint Systems, Inc. A position as a Field Service Representative was quite a change from military service. Both were good experiences, but very different. Each Involved travel, I traveled much of the world with the Navy, while exploring mainly the Eastern U.S. with Checkpoint Systems. More recently I joined the team at LPSI, doing my part to provide technical support.

Over the years I have found some items that many times Retailers do not take into account. Many times the simplest of solutions will fix an issue with your Checkpoint system.

Environment of EAS: Electronic article surveillance systems of all varieties are subject to their surroundings. The wrong environmental conditions can cause phantom alarms, false alarms, or poor detection. How close are merchandise, metal racks, and wiring? Is your store front in need of maintenance? I will discuss some of the common items that may be affecting your EAS system performance.

Many EAS systems some level of 360° detection.

Not only do they detect in the doorway, they also have backfield detection, the area on the opposite side of the pedestal from customer walk way.

Tagged merchandise, metal racks, and electrical wiring in this incidental detection zone can have an adverse effect on system performance. As a general rule, tagged merchandise should be equivalent of at least ¾ of you doorway aisle width away from each EAS pedestal. Example; tags should be no closer than 4.5 feet, in a 6 foot doorway. Where possible: metal racks and electrical wiring should be 5 feet or more away from the system.

The store front is often the first impression a customer has of your business. It is really much more than that. Door manufactures do not design doors with EAS system in mind. The condition of older doors and framing can be causing EAS system issues. Loose metal trim, or metal on metal scrapping as a door swings or slides, can cause a false echo, tricking the system into an alarm condition. Even new doors can unintentionally affect a systems performance.

If you are not quite happy with your EAS systems performance, you may be able to take a few simple steps towards improvement. Make sure no tagged merchandise is in the backfield detection zone. Move that metal rack a foot further away. See if any wires can be rerouted, away from the system. If a bolt, nut, or screw is loose, tighten it. Have a door maintenance professional adjust the door hinges so the door does not drag on the threshold. There is no one answer to resolve environmental interference with your Checkpoint system. I have given a few ideas, but if you continue to have system performance issues, contact Loss Prevention Systems for service.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, EAS Systems, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

COMMON SENSE TAGGING

March 17, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

You know, sometimes we seem to overthink EAS tagging. Very often, I find that my store managers will focus so heavily on tagging a small, inexpensive (but high shrink) item, that they completely overlook the big ticket item that is absent of any physical security measure. Why is that? A large cooler is just as susceptible to loss as a pair of socks. Maybe it has to do with the perception of what is driving shrink in our stores.

Just last month, I hosted a district LP conference for store managers in my area. I asked each store manager to write on a sheet of paper what they felt their highest shrink item was in there stores. The results were pretty shocking. Not a single one got it right. Heck, they weren’t even close. Most of them hovered around the small items that they knew were being stolen on a daily basis; like pocket knives, wrist watches, socks/underwear, etc. These are also the areas that they are focusing their EAS tagging at.

What most didn’t realize was how high their highest shrink categories actually were. So what I found was that they all had a perceived vision of shrink in their store, and instead of using the reporting given to them, they were mostly making business decisions based off of their own emotions. We all know how that can end up, right? So how can you avoid falling into this trap?

Most companies give their managers some level of reporting that showcases their sales as well as shrink. It’s best to use these reporting tools to help plan on what you’re going to tag with an EAS device. For example, if you’re looking at your shrink report and each week you have hundreds of dollars of losses in a certain style of headphones, well it’s probably time to wrap a Spider Wrap around them.

Additionally, sometimes, you have to use your years of experience in order to be pro-active to potential losses. Let’s say your in store reporting shows you have historically seen losses from high end footwear. It’s spring time, and you begin to receive this year’s new high end shoe line. It would probably be a wise idea to tag these before they have a chance to walk off, right? Of course! The same could be said for hundreds of products in your store.

Don’t overthink your EAS tagging methods. If you have a product that is suffering from theft, then tag it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you to do so, and don’t sit back idly while your profits walk out the front door. The reason EAS tags were invented was to save you money. Let them do their job, so you can continue to have yours.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Workshop, mobile POS loss prevention, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

CHECK IT EVERYDAY!

March 17, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

You’ve got a great EAS system. You’re stopping shrink and keeping profits in your store. You’re happy. Losses are down and you might actually make your sales targets. So it’s like Ronco Rotisserie where you just “set it and forget it,” right? Not quite. You have a few things to do if you want that system to provide you years and years of a return on investment.

While a good EAS tower won’t need much in the way of maintenance, you have to make sure it is in working order on a daily basis. Sometimes, I’ve found that with all the customer traffic in and out, kids running in and out of the store and even those with malicious intent, that often the towers get un-powered (unplugged). Part of your daily routine should be to test and verify the towers. This is incredibly easy to do; just pass a tag through the gate. If it alerts, well, your system works. If it doesn’t, then you have a problem! I have my managers do this each and every morning.

You would think that this would be simply, even a common sense practice, right? Well, you’d be surprised. I had a store a while back install a new EAS system. It was a system that had the sensors built in to the floor. You’d never know that it was there. Well, that store manager sent in maintenance request after maintenance request hollering and screaming that the system wasn’t working. We’d of course send a tech out, who would confirm it was functioning properly and a few days later, the store manager would be yelling again that it wasn’t alarming when tags were passing through.

I decided to stop by the store and see for myself. As soon as I walked in the doors, I saw the problem. This store manager was displaying pallets of aluminum boiling pots up against the front doors, which put them right over the sensors on the ground. When the techs came to inspect the system, they moved them out of the way. The store manager then challenged me on where else he could display those pots… but that’s for another article.

Bottom line here is that you need to inspect your system and test it daily. Whether it be a manger, or a member of your sales team, you’ve got to make sure that it’s working and there’s nothing impeding its ability to stop shrink. A car will only drive it has gas it, right? Same goes for your EAS system!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Dishonest Employees And The Traits They Share

March 9, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

At the height of the United States recession back in 2008, employee theft and crimes committed by dishonest employees were at the highest. Although the US and global economy seem to have been recuperating for a while, the theft committed by employees does not seem to abate. Billions of dollars are lost to employee theft and shoplifting every single year, and many small businesses cannot cope with the financial loss, and close their doors for good. Hiring the right kind of employee can be an asset to your company, or a detriment to your business. Look for more info. about this topic by following the links below.

The Employee Investigation: Does It Pass the Smell Test? Part 2

The Traits of the Dishonest Employee Will Often Help Us to Identify Them.

In our last column we looked at the red flags indicating a large scale fraud or embezzlement was likely being committed by employees. Further exploring the elements of the employee investigation, we will now look at the behavioral indicators of the simple thief at work within the organization. Birds of a feather stick together—their behaviors and pasts are indicators of how they will act, and serve as predictors of future behavior.

While today’s analytics and data mining can quickly focus on anomalies in the numbers indicating probable theft problems, there was a time when investigators did not have this advantage. Some companies do not yet have these systems so it might be useful to go “old school” with our employee investigation and look for thieves by their behaviors.

Let’s take a look at the red flags we have found to be most useful in ferreting out the dishonest associate during the employee investigation. As we noted in our last column, there are great differences between an employee who is a thief and one who is a fraudster or embezzler. While at the end of the day both types are stealing from the organization, their methods are different as are the red flags indicating dishonesty.

Is Amazon Shaming Warehouse Workers Into Not Stealing?

Amazon allegedly uses silhouettes to get its point across.

Amazon could be shaming workers into not stealing products from its vast warehouses, according to a new report.

Amazon AMZN 0.79% uses flat-panel televisions, or in some cases, bulletin boards, to highlight each morning the workers it needed to fire or have arrested for stealing products at its warehouses, Bloomberg isreporting, citing interviews with nearly a dozen current and former Amazon employees. Those employees toldBloomberg that Amazon posts silhouettes containing the word “terminated.” Amazon then details what those people stole and how they did it, according to the report. Amazon will even provide details on its value.

The e-commerce giant did not respond to a request for comment on the Amazon report.

Warehouse workers have long used anonymous services, such as Glassdoor.com, as well as protests, to fight Amazon’s treatment. Indeed, the company has been the subject of a slew of protests outside its warehousing facilities over the years, most notably in Germany, where workers tend to strike during peak holiday seasons in hopes of increasing wages. Each time, Amazon has said that its shipments would not be affected and that its workers are paid fairly for their jobs.

OBPD attempts to help local businesses prevent shoplifting

Osage Beach
Retail loss is one of the most challenging aspects of doing business.According to the National Retail Federation, shoplifting accounts for 38 percent of an estimated $44 billion in retail losses each year. Inventory shrinkage includes shoplifting, employee/internal theft, administrative errors and vendor fraud or error.The Osage Beach Police Department wants to help area merchants slow that retail loss, a loss that ultimately is passed along to consumers.
The OBPD hosted a Meet and Greet Partnership Meeting recently with nine retailers to discuss retail theft issues, to give pointers and allow retailers to share tips and trends. Several area businesses, law enforcement, financial institutions and prosecuting attorneys were invited.
Sgt. Arlyne Page, communications officer with OBPD, said the department began a crime prevention program in 1981, and more recently has held meetings with Osage Beach Premium Outlet managers to coordinate prevention efforts among retailers. Target store management encouraged meetings last spring, and a month ago asked the OBPD to host a meeting on shoplifting and retail and digital fraud.

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