A friend of mine has all the passion of an entrepreneur and absolutely no patience. When news of potential privatization of the state run liquor stores hit his state he had visions of buying and running several of these locations. He gave no thought to liquor bottle security or loss prevention of any kind. He just knew he was going to run his own fleet of package stores and be the boss.

I obviously tried to help ground him a bit as I have done throughout our friendship. I wanted him to sit down and formulate a business plan that included a well rounded loss prevention piece that addressed bottle security directly. I even offered to do some research for him since I knew he would not give it a thought otherwise. I was looking for a company that made any type of bottle locks. At that point in time I didn’t know if there was any such thing as a bottle lock. I was hoping there would be bottle locks that could be placed somewhere on the bottle to deter shoplifting. It was imperative that we find a bottle security solution before my friend bought one or more of these businesses otherwise we would be playing catch up forever.

I found a company called Alpha security, they had an entire system, the EASy bottle system that employed alarmed bottle locks. I could not believe our luck. In speaking with Alpha Security representative I was happy to hear there were different models of the bottle lock and that he would be happy to bring the actual bottle locks to a sit down meeting to discuss Alpha security’s potential to do business with my friend.

My friend had purchased three locations and was excited to get started. We reviewed several options for liquor bottle security including the EASy bottle system, several versions of the bottle lock, CCTV and wireless video monitoring. The Alpha Security representative was very helpful and was very knowledgeable regarding overall bottle security. He helped my friend make some very cost effective decisions regarding his liquor bottle security strategy. In the end it was a mix of the EASy bottle security system and CCTV that became the foundation for my friend to secure his business.

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

In the business of Loss Prevention, we have a saying. You can’t be there all the time. People usually used it as a cop out for losses that occur when they aren’t around, but it can also speak to why things like bottle security are so important. I’ve been using Alpha security products for my liquor bottle security needs for a long time, and it makes me feel comfortable that even when I’m not watching cameras, my merchandise is safe and secure with the EASy Bottle bottle lock system.

I spent a lot of time and stress frustrated with losses that were occurring just after I left work or just before I got there. There is nothing worse than walking in to an employee telling you, “You just missed a case! Five minutes ago there was this guy that…” you get the picture. The fact is that no matter how much you try or how many eyes you have watching, you are never going to catch 100% of the thieves that walk into your building. On the bright side, bottle locks can do a much better job of this. For starters, liquor bottle security is a huge deterrent. A shoplifter takes one look at that and says, “I’m going down the street to a place that doesn’t have a bottle locks.” And when you have that overly determined shoplifter willing to take the risk, they will soon realize that when they get outside, they still can’t open the bottle lock, and they won’t be back again. Bottle security deters theft, detects theft, and prevents those pesky repeat offenders all the time, not just when you’re there.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

According to a 2011 study on underage drinking conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, shoplifting has become an increasingly popular method used by minors to illegally obtain alcohol. Underage drinking has an effect on the community as a whole, and it’s the duty of schools and parents to reduce opportunities for unsupervised parties and home access to alcohol. But what responsibilities are left to retailers? Legally, in most jurisdictions expectations of retailers extend to asking for identification and training their employees on spotting fakes and counterfeits. Socially, however, shouldn’t we be making it harder for the youths in our communities to illegally consume alcohol?

Based on the findings of this study, a national campaign called We Don’t Serve Teens is being promoted and sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. This campaign stresses the role retailers’ can play in reducing underage alcohol access and consumption.  The commission recommends that retailers not only take steps to decrease overall theft in their establishment, but especially theft by minors. One of their suggestions was for stores to have a more open floor plan to make it easier for store personnel to monitor their alcohol stock.

The commission also recommended retailers to increase their liquor bottle security and significantly reduce not only underage alcohol theft but all liquor shoplifting, by investing in bottle locks; an anti-theft device that is secured over the cap of the bottle and removed after the item is sold. Not only do these devices serve as visual deterrents, they physically prevent someone from accessing the bottle’s contents while it’s secured on the product. Not only do they help retailers with their problems of bottle security, but they help make them more socially responsible and responsive to the needs of their community by preventing underage alcohol theft.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Lock, Bottle locks, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security, or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

While no one ever plans on having an employee steal, it is an unfortunate reality of the retail environment. Take a look at the following suggestions. There are no sure fire ways to avoid theft. Implementing some of these strategies will reduce your exposure to the criminal element.

First, are you running background checks on your employees? That will help reduce the bad apples from the start.

Next, understand that the honest employees you do hire may not always remain so. Be watchful of signs of financial stress or alcohol abuse. Both situations could lead to cash or liquor theft.

The next part is to implement some form of bottle security. Alpha Security has a truly comprehensive line of products specifically for liquor bottle security. Their EASy Bottle is a quick fix to prevent theft. It is a cap that is placed over the top of a bottle that has an embedded alarm tag. Too close to the doors without being removed will sound the audible alarm on your towers.

Keep in mind that Bottle locks are great to guard against both employee theft and external theft (shoplifters).

If you can, include some camera equipment at your store. Common points of view would be over the registers and at the entrance/ exit doors. Make sure that your cameras are visible to anyone who enters. As a general rule, people are less likely to do something bad if they are aware of being filmed.

This is a great start to protecting your employee’s good name and your good profits. Keep your eyes open and your employees will be more likely to stay honest.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

There are two types of liquor bottle security: Passive and Assertive. When one starts to look at how to protect the investment of liquor and wine inventory, it is important to take a dual approach. While there are many different components to passive and assertive theft prevention, here are a few examples of each one.

A passive form of bottle security is one that leaves an impression in someone’s mind that there is more to your liquor bottle security program. It can be as simple as taking inventory on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean you have to count every bottle every day. It could just mean you pick a select grouping to count. Anyone who is watching (employee or customer) will have the impression that if something is missing, you will know immediately. They will be less likely to steal.

An assertive form of bottle security would be the use of an anti theft device such as the EASy bottle by Alpha security. This is a product that attaches over the mouth of a bottle. It prevents the contents from being consumed prior to purchase. The EASy Bottle Bottle lock will also sound an alarm at the doors if the lock gets too close.

These bottle locks are visual deterrents against shoplifting. It is a more in your face approach, as anyone who enters your establishment will take note of their presence.

Being passive and assertive in your shrink reduction will lend to consistent levels of profit. Taking a dual approach will strengthen your rate of success.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

 

As of late I have been contacted by a few potential business owners who are eyeing up the latest trends by states to get out of the state run liquor store business. These potential business owners contacted me as a lp consultant to go over a way to move from a government run entity to a privately run business. We all know that the private sector is more conscious of protecting the bottom line.

My initial move was to go to a few of the proposed state run locations to see what bottle security measures, if any, they had in place. Besides CCTV I did not see any additional liquor bottle security. I was troubled at the lack of urgency to secure the inventory. I spoke to a couple of the managers regarding my research into their loss prevention techniques and they confirmed that the only bottle security measures they had in place was their inventory counts and CCTV.

My second step in the process was to research any company that touted liquor bottle security as one of their fortes’. I came across a company called Alpha Security. I was duly impressed with Alpha Security’s EASy Bottle system which employed an alarmed bottle lock as the key to its success. There were several different types of bottle locks offered within the EASy bottle system. All of the bottle locks were alarmed and if tampered with would render the product in-consumable. My only concern was that the bottle lock would be too cumbersome for proper marketing and storage. I was delighted to see that not only were the bottle locks not too big or gaudy but that they were in fact lean and aesthetically pleasing while clearly denoting its purpose to deter theft.

Armed with this research regarding Alpha Security’s EASy bottle system I sat down with several of these potential business owners. Liquor bottle security was the topic of discussion. They were duly impressed with the dual purpose of the bottle lock, excellent bottle security and storage/marketing capability. The business owners saw the weakness of the government run facilities attempt at loss prevention and the strength of Alpha Security’s solutions to those loss prevention opportunities. An overall strategy was formulated that I believe will give these business owners a fighting chance to facilitate a seamless change from the government sector to the private sector.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Lock, Bottle locks, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

I was consulting for a gentleman that owns three liquor store locations in urban markets. He was having significant shrink in all of his locations. He had only been in business for about two years and although sales were healthy his losses were eroding most of the profits he was acquiring. I asked him what type of loss prevention tools he had, CCTV, EAS, bottle locks, lockable cases etc. I was trying to gauge what type of liquor bottle security he had started out with and find out if those tools were being utilized correctly. The owner stated that the only loss prevention tool he had purchased was CCTV in all three locations. I told him I wanted to visit all three locations, meet the staffs and review each store from top to bottom as well as view the books and sample some video. This would give me a closer insight as to the source of his losses.

Not surprisingly the source of shrink for all three stores was a combination of blatant shoplifting and employee indifference to the thefts. I found no evidence of employee theft but definitely a frustration among the staffs that they were helpless to catch the thieves. They all expressed a need for additional liquor bottle security. The business was on the brink of failure and was looking over a bottomless pit. I had my work cut out for me.

I found a company called Alpha security that specifically dealt with liquor bottle security via a system they called EASy Bottle which employed the use of actual bottle locks. Each bottle lock was alarmed and if attempts were made to defeat the tag it would render the contents of the bottle inconsumable. I was impressed with the bottle locks dual purpose. I was equally impressed with lean sleekness of the bottle lock which allowed the bottles to be stored on shelves without affecting marketing or storage. Alpha Security has successfully applied RF technology to their EASy Bottle system. This type of bottle security would be the cornerstone of my strategy to help the business owner.

I sat down with the business owner and reviewed the results of my overall audit. He was a bit surprised at the employee indifference but otherwise was very open to the results. The next step was to discuss my thoughts to improve bottle security within his stores. I laid out Alpha Security’s EASY Bottle system. I was sure to bring a few bottle locks with me to show him how the bottle lock worked with his product. The owner was extremely excited about the EASy bottle system as being the main focus of bottle security in his three stores.

We sat down we each store staff laid out the plan to protect the company’s assets and explained that they would have to work diligently to implement and interact with the system to ensure success. Training was a huge key in this business’s success story. Within 3 months of employing the EASy Bottle system the company’s shrink was on a sharp decline. By the end of the year the shrink had been reduced by more than 60%. Needless to say both I and the business owner were very happy with Alpha Security’s system.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Lock, Bottle locks, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 

While previously working as an agent, my location was seeing an increase shrinkage from theft in our liquor department and needed to tackle the issue of bottle security. The store I was working in was one of many locations for a national corporation and based on shortage and locality we had been classified as a “low-exposure” store. Consequently, merchandise protection strategies such as EASy Bottle and bottle locks were not available to our location, which were reserved for “high-exposure” stores.

Due to the absence of a bottle lock solution, liquor bottle security incidents were occurring daily. One subject regularly came into the store on her lunch break to drink a couple of bottles of high-priced wine before returning to work. A group began targeting Hennessy liquor, which disappeared off the shelves and into their pant legs and jackets. My team dedicated our efforts to reducing this loss even if the company wasn’t providing us with solutions from Alpha security. We performed perpetual inventory of “hot” liquor items twice a day and spent the majority of our shifts monitoring the aisle via CCTV.

Our efforts resulted in the reduction of theft in the liquor department, but other departments were now seeing an increase. There just weren’t enough agents to dedicate their shifts to sitting in front of monitors and staring at the cameras of high theft areas. I believe our liquor bottle security dilemma could have been avoided had the company been willing to provide all of its stores with EASy Bottle bottle locks, a theft solution from Alpha security. Whether a store is able to have a security team on its payroll or not, a bottle lock prevents the item from being opened before they are removed at the point of sale. With this peace of mind, store personnel can keep their merchandise on an open display without worrying about bottle security.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security, Bottle Lock, Bottle locks, Bottle Security, liquor bottle security, or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.

The State of Washington is in the process of privatizing liquor sales. This means there is a huge opportunity for retailers in the state! It also means that shoplifters are looking forward to new opportunities. Liquor bottle security is critical from the start. Retailers that take bottle security serious before they open their doors to liquor sales customers this year will be ahead of the pack.

Bottles locks such as EASy Bottle, EASy Guarde, Crystal Guarde and Steel Grip by Alpha Security will keep your profits in store by denying shoplifters the ability to steal your product. Bottle locks can even deny shoplifters the ability to open and consume or pour off your merchandise into a flask before they even leave the store.

Washington State retailers will be facing these same issues just like other states have. The great news is that the bottle lock solution works and works very well. Alpha Security basically invented the bottle lock and produces the highest quality bottle locks made. They are built to stand up to wear and tear in a retail environment. A bottle lock is simple and easy to apply and remove, by store staff.

A bottle security program is easy to set up and maintain. It is clearly cost effective. Consider the loss of one bottle of Grey Goose. Shoplifters do not target less expensive brands they go right for the expensive stuff. Securing these bottles behind a counter has a negative effect on your good customers. They cannot shop and compare as easily. Keeping all product on the sales floor and available it the principal behind a wine and liquor bottle security program.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks , Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Being a mentor to several managers and loss prevention employees within my company, I seem to field a lot of problem solving questions. Some of the questions that pop up are about liquor bottle security. What’s the best solution? What is cost effective? Will it be a drain on my payroll to implement and then maintain? I usually recommend the use of bottle locks for all around bottle security.

Alpha Security has a nice assortment of EASy Bottle Bottle Locks. They are designed to fit a variety of sizes and types of liquor bottles. By protecting the contents inside, the locks create an easy solution to liquor bottle theft and unauthorized usage. It’s a great addition to protecting your investments in both the retail sector and in restaurants or bars.

The bottle locks are easy to apply, easy to maintain, and easy to get results. I always recommend to my trainees that sometimes it is the easiest solution to a problem that garners the best results.

I know that cost effective liquor bottle security will always be a question. When you use a bottle lock, not only will it save countless hours of misspent payroll, but also it saves the headache of worrying about bottle security.

There are enough challenges out there that take up our time when it comes to customer service, merchandising, and driving sales. When you can eliminate the problems associated with shrink, it’s a snap to say EASy Bottles really are easy!

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase EASy Bottle bottle locks by Alpha Security.

For more information on Bottle Security , liquor bottle security or EASy Bottle, Alpha Security , Bottle Lock , Bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547