Alpha Nano Gate — Page 30

Does Your Business Culture Encourage Employee Theft?

January 9, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

There is a belief among many small business owners that, because the company belongs to them, they ought to be allowed to behave anyway they want. They want to be able to run things their way and believe the employees “should and will” respond accordingly. That’s why they went into business for themselves – they wanted to create and control the work environment or cultural.

This is the paradox, and downfall, of many small business owners. The characteristics of independence and self-determination, coupled with the need to be in charge, are the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur. Unfortunately, they’re also the attributes of unsuccessful, bankrupt entrepreneurs.

One of the differences between successful and unsuccessful owners is the ability to marginalize the negatives and maximize the positives of their desire to be in control. This ability is particularly important when establishing and maintaining the business’s security culture. Yet, ask any business consultant or security advisor and they’ll say this is one of the areas owners are least likely to address.

They usually don’t address it because they have the mistaken belief that the culture they’ve established and are maintaining, through the power of their personality, is an effective theft deterrent. They believe the way they behave (i.e. nice, nasty, supportive, demeaning, conciliatory, confrontational) will keep them safe from employee fraud.

However, it rarely works that way. The company’s culture is usually not enough to stop employee theft. “Good” guys who try to create an atmosphere of ease for their employee and “bad” guys who create one of stress have the same amount of fraud. The statistics and antidotal information show that owners who manage through personality, rather than systems and controls, are likely to fail.

Employees are 15 times more likely to steal than outsiders and are responsible for 44% of a business’s theft losses (National Federation of Independent Business). This results in almost a 1/3 of businesses failing due to employee fraud (U.S. Department of Commerce). In another 1/3 it’s believed to be a .05% – 1% loss of profit.

The number 1 deterrent is security systems and controls embedded into the cultural. A business’s security culture – values, beliefs and norms which guide how the business and the people in it operate – is important to a business’s survival. When people work within one there’s a profound positive effect on employee morale, operations and the bottom line.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Workshop, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

Prevent Shoplifting This Year

January 7, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

The shoplifting figures in the United States are nothing to laugh about. Billions of dollars are lost to shoplifters every year and the detrimental effect they have on business is serious. Loss prevention personnel are at risk every time they stop a shoplifter, and the solution to this problem has evaded the retail industry with costly consequences. Retailers spend millions of dollars in loss prevention systems, and studies show that these businesses benefit from the investment. The shoplifting is still there, but retailers are able to maintain and keep track of the inventory more easily. For more news about shoplifting, follow the links below.

Shoplifters Costing Businesses Billions

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Shoplifting is a crime police say affects all types of businesses, and it’s costing a fortune.

WFMY News 2 went to several Triad businesses Friday. Owners at those businesses said shoplifters are crippling their day-to-day operations.

One Greensboro store manager said shoplifters cost his business anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 each year.

“If somebody really wants to steal something, they’re going to steal it,” he said, “Ain’t nothing you can do about it.”

He’s frustrated, and he’s not alone.

Nationwide, shoplifters steal about $13 billion in merchandise every year, according to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention. The same organization reports one in 11, or 27 million people in the U.S., are regular shoplifters.

KCSO shoplifting task force makes record number of arrests

KNOXVILLE — A Knox County Sheriff’s Office holiday shoplifting task force made a record number of arrests for 2014.

KCSO’s Safe Holiday Task Force made 372 arrests between Nov. 24 and Dec. 29, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The team was credited with 342 arrests during the same time period in 2013.

While the majority of the 2014 arrests were for shoplifting, they also included 35 felony theft charges, 12 DUI arrests and two fugitive captures.

The annual operation also recovered a record amount of stolen merchandise, totaling $65,614 worth of goods, and located two stolen vehicles. About $50,000 worth of stolen items were recovered in 2013.

Drug habit fuels shoplifting ring in Richmond and around Macomb County

A shoplifting ring has targeted Richmond stores for more than two years, according to a detective with the Richmond Police Department. Thieves steal easily marketable goods to fuel drug addictions, particularly heroin addiction, the detective said.

“What we have seen — and what our counterparts in Chesterfield and at the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department have seen — is a loose ring of individuals shoplifting certain high-priced items like Enfamil baby formula, Red Bull and Crest White Strips, and then either taking these directly to the drug house and trading them for drugs or selling them back-door to another store for cash to buy drugs,” said Det. Julia Frantz.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, Anti-shoplifting training, Employee Theft, Prevent Shoplifting, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Post Christmas Blues

January 5, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Well, the 2014 Holiday Season is over; now we are dealing with the post-Christmas issues, returns, inventory and tallying up how we did! Even without official numbers you probably have an idea. Are returns higher than what you expected? Did shoplifters get more than what you were prepared to lose? One of the problems, we as business owners face, is that we get ramped up for sales but we tend to put off preparing for loses. We tell ourselves that we will get to it later. Then when that B or C priority rises to the level of serious loss, it is too late. But we all do that, with many things. It is part of running a business.

Eventually we get tired of dealing with something over and over again and decide to break the cycle. What is the saying? “Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity”. Thieves will not go away, in fact they will only get worse unless you deal with them head on with real business solutions. Shoplifting and employee theft are actually very simple issues to address. You will never eliminate them completely, however, you can reduce them to an expected level balancing the cost and effect.

Many retailers do not realize that they can and should attack both issues internally first. Take a look at your procedures. Step back and look at them – I mean truly LOOK at them, hard. Why are you doing something the way it is done? Is that the reason for your losses? A good example may be your cash handling procedures. Is your till generally short? How much? Why? If your policy is that you do not make an issue out of a drawer that is $15 or less short, then you have sent the message to your employees that they can steal or be careless up to $15. Fifteen dollars multiplied by 365 days a year is A LOT of money to any retailer, large or small. All of this because of your “procedure” or attitude.

How about shoplifters? Do you really know how to prevent and stop them? Do you teach this to your employees? If you don’t you can never expect to be as profitable as you can and should be. Shoplifters will react to your efforts by going elsewhere. That is what you want. This allows you to spend more of your resources and human capital on your paying customers. Sell more, lose less should be your motto!

If you want help, we are here for you. If you do not, that is OK also. But you can fix your losses.

We wish you a great and prosperous 2015!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Loss Prevention Seminars, mobile POS loss prevention, Periodic inventory, Perpetual Inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention

Merchandise Availability- Alpha Security

January 3, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

When we look at ways to prevent shoplifting, we are really trying to do is to increase our merchandise availability. Sure, no one really wants thieves and crooks taking advantage of our businesses, but the bottom line is about maximizing our availability to increase our revenue from customer sales.

Retail anti theft devices, such as the one developed by industry leader Alpha Security, are tried and true tools specifically created to prevent shoplifting. As shoplifting decreases, our inventories become more accurate and more plentiful (due to a lack of missing merchandise). We, as retailers, spend significantly less time worrying about whether or not we have a particular item in stock, and more time getting the customers to actually buy them.

When customers can walk into a location and find the item they want, and the quantity they need, sales increase. Taking it one step further, you also get the advantage of repeat business. The customer knows they can rely on your retail location to be in stock for their consumer needs. By reducing theft through the use of Alpha Security retail anti theft devices, you assure you have the right in stock availability to satisfy your customer’s needs.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for Alpha 2Alarm, Alpha 3Alarm, Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap and other retail anti-theft devices from Alpha Security to use in conjunction with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap, Fashion2, Jewel Lok, Nano Gate, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Shark Tag, Spider Wrap

New In Box-Alpha Spider Wrap

December 31, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Some inventory items are valuable only if they can be resold as NIB or New In Box. Any damage to the box, or a lack of tags is an indicator that the product is either used, or stolen- both of which reduces the resale value as well as the actual ability to be resold. Other items can be sold without the box. In those cases, the Alpha Security Alpha Spider Wrap is an effective deterrent.

Power tools are a good example of an item that does not need to be sold new in box. In some cases, it is even easier to sell power tools if they look to be slightly used. These tools are taken to construction sites and sold with a story that they no longer need them, or they didn’t like the tool and bought a different one.

The Alpha Spider Wrap retail anti theft devices prevent shoplifting by keeping the power tools in their boxes. This makes them harder to steal. A large box is more obvious walking out a door, than a power tool tucked inside of a coat. If the Alpha Spider Wrap wires are cut to eliminate the tools packaging, an audible alarm is activated, alerting everyone around that the box is being tampered with.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

On The Way Out- Prevent Shoplifting

December 24, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

If you are one of the 95% of retailers who has experienced shoplifting in your stores over the last few years, you might be trying to figure out how to build a better mousetrap that will prevent shoplifting. The success will be in not stopping the shoplifters once they have started trying to steal, but rather stopping them from wanting to steal once they are in your store.

That subtle difference can mean the world to your shrink results and to your bottom line. Many retailers don’t realize just how hard it is to stop a shoplifter once they have started the shoplifting process.

If a shoplifter has come into the store and weighed the effectiveness of your security with their own level of confidence and decided they can get away with the theft, it is too late. Now the shoplifter has a goal in mind, and a plan. Once they have the merchandise in their possession, they are determined to get back out of the store, sometimes by whatever means they deem necessary- including violence.

By beefing up your retail anti theft devices and other kinds of store security, you start to weigh the scales back into your favor, persuading the shoplifter to steal somewhere less risky.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

By beefing up your retail anti theft devices and other kinds of store security, you start to weigh the scales back into your favor, persuading the shoplifter to steal somewhere less risky.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Lurking In The Shadows- Alpha Nano Gate

December 17, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I think every retailer I have ever worked for has stumbled across a shoplifter lurking in a back corner. They sit and they wait for an opportunity to remove retail anti theft devices or conceal their shoplifting efforts.

We have all seen the signs of these shoplifting safe havens. When you look under shelves, or tables you can find a mass of torn of price tags, or sometimes locate hoards of merchandise that a shoplifter is ferreting away to steal later on when they think the coast is clear.

While the obvious solution is to open up these back corners and areas, it is not always practical (or physically possible) to try and remerchandise the entire store to eliminate them.

Another solution is to use retail anti theft devices like the Alpha Security Alpha Nano Gate. This is a product that is designed to fit into small spaces, or back areas of a store that lend themselves to shoplifting.

The Alpha Nano Gate is a miniature EAS tower that attaches onto a wall or other stable spot. As a customer or shoplifter enters the area with tagged merchandise, an alarm will go off alerting staff to a potential theft issue in progress.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

While the obvious solution is to open up these back corners and areas, it is not always practical (or physically possible) to try and remerchandise the entire store to eliminate them.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Holiday Help

December 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The Help Wanted signs, advertisements, and postings are already popping up across the country. Retailers nationwide are starting the process of hiring their holiday help. By hiring them in October and Early November, retailers anticipate that these employees will be trained and ready for the big day after Thanksgiving sales, and throughout the holiday shopping season.

The plus side to hiring temporary help, whether it is during the winter holidays, or the summer garden season, is that the employees are there for the hours and days only when the store actually needs them. Hiring on a seasonal or temporary basis allows the retailers to terminate the employment at the end of the season with little future responsibility in the form of unemployment or severance benefits. This doesn’t mean that it is a one-sided employment relationship.

These temporary jobs are a great solution for people looking to make some extra money to pay for holiday gifts or toys. Teachers who have the summer off can pick up additional work that will not interfere when the school year starts back up. Many temporary workers are hard working, and enjoy the freedom that a temporary position gives them. Other temporary workers do so in the hopes of proving themselves worthy of a permanent position after the season is over.

The downside to hiring temporary help, regardless of time of year, is that many of these employees will not have a sense of ownership or loyalty for the company they are working for. In particular, near the end of their employment these disengaged employees who are about to be let go might try to take a little extra for themselves on their way out the door.

Just as with any other employee theft case where the employee steals because they feel they are owed additional compensation, temporary employees can fall into this same mentality. Perhaps it is because they were not offered a permanent position, or perhaps they feel like they gave up more of their holidays than what they realized they would working these seasonal hours, it is easy for a temporary employee to decide they want more.

With no ownership, a limited time frame of their employments, and a sense of entitlement, many seasonal employees historically end up in employee theft situations. These losses cut into very critical profits, as seasonal/ holiday sales often make or break a store’s financial success for the year. It is also problematic due to the short time frame that these crimes are executed within.

Typically, employees who steal do not want to leave their jobs. They might stay at a particular employer for years, building their safety net and refining their methods. They will usually escalate over a period of time, starting with very small thefts to see what they can get away with. This gives anyone investigating a pattern of shortages discovered over a period of time to look for and follow.

When a seasonal hire decides to steal, they know that they might only have a matter of a few months, or only a few weeks to take all that they can. They might decide to only make one large theft, or multiple small thefts that might not pop up on anyone’s radar. From an investigative standpoint, it is often too late to determine who is causing these shortages. By the time the losses are discovered, or a pattern of theft appears, the employee could have already left their employment.

One of the best ways to prevent these losses is to execute all policies and procedures at 100%, especially during these overly busy times. Any breech of policy is more likely to quickly red flag. Seasonal hires should not be given access to keys, codes, alarms, etc. Leave those to a permanent employee. Finally, conducting mini investigations during the season will help uncover any potential theft risks while they are happening, instead of waiting to find evidence after the fact.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Perpetual Inventory, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics

One For Each- Retail Anti Theft Devices

December 3, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Alpha Security Alpha Jewel Lok is actually comprised of three different locking mechanisms for earrings. They recognized that they could not just make one style of Alpha Jewel Lok that would sufficiently protect all three styles of earrings available on the market today.

The Alpha Jewel Lok retail anti theft devices are hard to defeat locks that secure earrings onto the jewelry cards, preventing a shoplifter from easily stealing the merchandise.

The three kinds of locks are for hoop earrings, stud earrings and French wire earrings. Each lock designed with the specific characteristics of each earring in mind.

The stud earring locks not only attach the earring to the jewelry card by securing the post on the back, but they also incorporate a “parking” area for the backs to be kept. As anyone who wears a stud earring knows, the back is just as essential as the actual earring is when you are wearing them.

The French wires attach onto the wire with a low profile design that cannot be seen from the front. This helps keep a better visual appearance for these often flashy or highly decorative earrings.

Hoop earrings also need their own locks to prevent shoplifting. Just like the other two styles, the hoop posts are secured to the card from the back providing a secure deterrent from shoplifters.

The Alpha Jewel Lok retail anti theft devices are hard to defeat locks that secure earrings onto the jewelry cards, preventing a shoplifter from easily stealing the merchandise.

The three kinds of locks are for hoop earrings, stud earrings and French wire earrings. Each lock designed with the specific characteristics of each earring in mind.

The French wires attach onto the wire with a low profile design that cannot be seen from the front. This helps keep a better visual appearance for these often flashy or highly decorative earrings.

Hoop earrings also need their own locks to prevent shoplifting. Just like the other two styles, the hoop posts are secured to the card from the back providing a secure deterrent from shoplifters.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Conducting A Security Self Audit

December 1, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Part of your internal auditing process should be a section devoted specifically to your store’s safety and security measures. Some points should be audited on a daily basis, while others can be less frequently, such as once a month. When you monitor your store’s security measures consistently, you are able to respond more quickly to any malfunctions or procedural breakdowns.

One of the easiest security features to audit on a daily basis is your EAS and security tags. These are the anti theft devices put onto your merchandise that provide a visual deterrent to potential shoplifters. Ensuring 100% compliance is not only a stronger deterrent, but also reinforces the concept of operational accuracy and a check and balance system internally. Employees who are held accountable to stringent operational standards are less likely to look for opportunities to steal from their employer.

A daily audit of EAS tags consists of a department rotation and a spot check of those items. There is no need to check every single item, unless there is a pattern of under performance in those areas. The best way to do the daily audit is to only audit 20 or so items on a given day. From there, it is easy to determine the percentage of accuracy. If out of 20 items only ten have the appropriate tagging, you have 50% compliance. You can do more or less based upon your actual needs, but a similar process will be the most time efficient, with the most accurate results.

Along the same lines is auditing the EAS alarms at your doors. These alarm activations should be reviewed by CCTV whenever possible. You need to understand why you are having alarm activations, and how your employees are responding to them. You can bet that the shoplifters coming into your store are watching for this, so don’t give them the advantage by being oblivious to what is going on in your stores.

If an EAS alarm is activated, your employees should respond to the person going out the door and offer their assistance to deactivate any tags that were missed during checkout. You should look to see if you have a specific employee who is not deactivating tags properly, causing unnecessary alarms. You should also review to see if you have the same person setting off alarms, they might be a shoplifter to watch out for. These audits can be done weekly rather than daily and still prove effective.

One area in particular to audit at 100% is alarm activations before and after your store closes. While most of the alarms are likely to be dismissed by stock/ freight movement to replenish selling shelves, you want to watch out for that one that is not. The alarm activation you are looking for is caused by an employee stealing. It is not unheard of for an employee who is stealing from their store to try and take the merchandise out after hours. Fewer people are around to notice, and the employee can take more merchandise out at a time, without arousing suspicion. If no one goes back to review these after hours alarms, the employee can go undetected for months or sometimes even years.

Any reputable alarm company, such as Checkpoint, will give you a daily and weekly listing of alarm activations. The report should include the time and the date, allowing you to cross reference with your CCTV recordings. By looking at the times, you can quickly determine which alarms are after hours. After hours alarms should be conducted as soon as the report is received. If an employee actually is stealing, it needs to be swiftly investigated and dealt with to prevent further financial losses.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, EAS Devices, Loss Prevention Training, prevent shrinkage, shoplifting