As much as one would like to think that all you need for retail theft prevention in a store is buying a Checkpoint security system it just isn’t that simple.  As good an anti-shoplifting measure as Checkpoint systems are they don’t function as the be-all, end-all device in the game of loss prevention.  Instead it serves to supplement you, the store manager or loss prevention team, in your bid to stop shoplifting.

Don’t think that this blog is meant to dissuade anyone from actually procuring a Checkpoint security system; it isn’t.  The truth of the matter is that I am simply attempting to enlighten the readers to the facts: there is no such thing as the ‘absolute power’ in retail theft prevention.  There is no super-device, no magic arrow to solve ALL your shoplifting problems.  It is YOU who has to determine what suite of equipment best assists your staff and fits to your store’s layout.  It is YOU who has to decide what provides the best coverage of your products and entry points.

Even if Checkpoint systems could do almost everything on their own, they would be nothing without human oversight.  Even the best of systems can be defeated by determined thieves so it is up to us, the humans who can make decisions to go on the evidence before us.  At the very least, these systems provide us with a set of stop-gaps that allow us to ward of less determined criminals and create obstacles to slow down the much more ‘seasoned’ ones.

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547

In the world of retail theft prevention there are quite a few concepts that are treated as ‘common knowledge’ to those of us in the business.  Concepts such as ‘camera systems are no good if nobody is using them’ or ‘what’s the point in having security tags if you don’t attach them to products’.  In truth these things should be common knowledge (or more accurately common sense) to anyone in the retail game but there are some concepts that may not be so plain to see.

A good example would be retail theft prevention using your store’s layout and merchandising plan.  Even if you use the top tier Checkpoint security system and have enough Checkpoint security tags to tag your stores entire inventory these mean nothing to ‘smash and grab’ style shoplifters.  They don’t care if the products are tagged six ways from Sunday.  They don’t care if they set off every alarm on your Checkpoint security system.  All they care about is grabbing the priciest products within twenty feet of your store entrance and getting in and out as fast as possible.

In truth there is only one real way to dissuade such a criminal, apart from hiring a door guard for every minute that your store is open, you must ensure that anything in your store of any significant value (which is, of course, based on your profit margin and discretion) is placed as far towards the rear of the store as possible.  The more space between that product and your front door means the more time the shoplifter has to worry about being seen on camera, or by you which means an increased likelihood in them being identified and apprehended.

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547

 

So you have a brand new Checkpoint security system and all the tags one could ever need for a store but still question how to implement it all.

The important thing to remember is that any anti-shoplifting system will likely stop shoplifting by all but the most seasoned thieves in their tracks so you need to know how you might consistently confound their efforts long enough to spot them and call the cops.

One thing to consider would be the placement of individual tags.  You always want to make the tags visible enough so your staff knows where they are to remove them, but in such an awkward and unnoticeable spot that they prove difficult to remove otherwise.  I have seen a lot of winter jackets with tags placed at the very edge of the sleeves where there is little fabric for the tag to hold onto making it extremely easy to simply pop them off.  Instead I must recommend a point such as the base of the collar or even the armpit area of the jacket.  That way there is a decent amount of clothing in the way to conceal the tag, but also making it nearly impossible to illicitly remove the Checkpoint Security tags without causing severe damage to the clothing itself.

The other thing to consider is the Checkpoint systems towers.  These noticeable, unmistakable pieces of equipment sit at your doorways waiting for some tagged item to pass through them before emitting a loud and irritating alarm for all to hear.  It does no good without tags on your products so make sure all the items you are looking to protect have the appropriate tags on them.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547

So you have a brand new Checkpoint security system and all the security tags one could ever need for a store but still question how to implement it all.

The important thing to remember is that any anti-shoplifting system will likely stop shoplifting by all but the most seasoned thieves in their tracks so you need to know how you might consistently confound their efforts long enough to spot them and call the cops.

One thing to consider would be the placement of individual tags.  You always want to make the tags visible enough so your staff knows where they are to remove them, but in such an awkward and unnoticeable spot that they prove difficult to remove otherwise.  I have seen a lot of winter jackets with tags placed at the very edge of the sleeves where there is little fabric for the tag to hold onto making it extremely easy to simply pop them off.  Instead I must recommend a point such as the base of the collar or even the armpit area of the jacket.  That way there is a decent amount of clothing in the way to conceal the tag, but also making it nearly impossible to illicitly remove the Checkpoint Security tags without causing severe damage to the clothing itself.

The other thing to consider is the Checkpoint systems towers.  These noticeable, unmistakable pieces of equipment sit at your doorways waiting for some tagged item to pass through them before emitting a loud and irritating alarm for all to hear.  It does no good without tags on your products so make sure all the items you are looking to protect have the appropriate tags on them.

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547

 

I learned a series of valuable lessons on Saturday.  The most important of all of is that if you are approaching a suspect and they are with a group of other people you have to separate them from that group no matter what.  If not, your endeavors to ensure proper retail theft prevention may prove for naught.

A perfect example of this occurred this past weekend.  A suspect was spotted on the floor, followed throughout the store via cameras by myself and the LPM as she selected a fragrance and used her nails and teeth to remove the plastic anti-shoplifting shell from the item.  Once that was accomplished she discarded everything but the perfume itself in various parts of the store until she left where she was stopped by another member of the team under orders of the LPM.

The problem took place when she was being escorted back inside.  Before she had been stopped she had rendezvoused with several friends who were not only following her back inside the store, but also creating a scene.  At one point I thought they would start a riot.

While this was occurring she was claiming she no longer had the item.  I directed my LPM via radio to the locations of the anti-shoplifting shell and the other discarded pieces but she insisted that the perfume was still in the store.  A friend of hers directed the LPM to a display rack and produced the missing perfume.

We were shocked and under the immediate assumption it was a bad stop until I reviewed the video.  Not once had the suspect come within ten feet of the display.  That led us to the conclusion that while the group was creating a scene one of them planted the item there AFTER returning to the store.

The moral of this story of retail theft prevention: kick the crowds to the curb and just take the suspect.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547

 

The most commonly stolen item at my store is denim. Until recently we had little to no anti-shoplifting measures to stop shoplifting in this department. It was like a free-for all. These items were walking out the door just as fast as we were able to fill the shelves because we had no anti-shoplifting devices. How are we supposed to do our jobs as loss prevention if the companies weren’t helping up out with any anti-shoplifting support or retail theft prevention?

We recently started using Checkpoint security tags, which makes sense sine we are already using Checkpoint security systems for the store alarm. The Checkpoint security tags are simple and get the job done. You place the pin into the clothing and attach the tag portion and BAM anti-shoplifting device to the rescue!

Checkpoint security tags are the king and queen in retail theft prevention. When a company starts using Checkpoint security tags it has a 30% return on investment (ROI) in the first year of installing them. I have worked with Checkpoint systems at other retailers. I have used their camera systems, alarm systems, deactivation pads, EAS (Electronic Article System) towers, and Checkpoint tags. Checkpoint systems make my job a lot easier.

When spinning cameras looking to catch a shoplifter one of my favorite things to look for is people checking the merchandise for Checkpoint security tags. That is the first indicator that tells us that this person is looking to steal something. Most shoplifters will go through a few stacks of jeans to find one missing its security tag. I once had the Director of Loss Prevention for my company in my store say he had heard that we had been dealing with a lot of denim boosters in our stores and wanted to see the video. When we played it for him he had us pause and rewind it several times. He pointed out how the guys would check the pants for tags as they selected them. He really enjoyed seeing that the extra measures we had taken with security by adding checkpoint security tags to our merchandise were really paying off. When we first started using Checkpoint systems there was a lot of push back from the stores thinking we were going to hurt merchandise sales because of it. The Director of Loss Prevention had us copy the video for him and he played it for others in the company that were skeptical about using the Checkpoint systems. He showed them exactly where we were making an impact to our bottom line. Without these tags we would have lost a lot more merchandise than we did that year. We never heard another complaint after that. It just goes to show that Checkpoint security systems really work for retailers.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase Anti-Shoplifting devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system from Checkpoint Systems to stop shoplifting in your store.

For more information on Anti-Shoplifting, Checkpoint Labels, a Checkpoint Security System, Checkpoint Security Tags, Checkpoint Systems, or Checkpoint Tags and how they can work with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system contact us at Retail theft prevention to Stop Shoplifting in your store or call 1.770.426.0547