All of us within the loss prevention field have had those moments where we question how people can prove to be so lacking in common sense or logic.

It wasn’t until around five in the afternoon last Saturday that our shoplifter du jour walked through the first floor mall entry point.  Right away the woman set off every alert signal in the profession: clothes that didn’t fit the weather, an almost immediate focus on the cameras, and she made a path for one of the most secluded corners of the first floor, which just so happened to be located next to the designer shirts.  With two LP detectives observing through the CCTV and one on the floor we bore witness to this young woman pull two empty shopping bags from her pockets and then began moving from rack to rack deftly pulling clothes from there hangers and dropping them in her bags in front of dozens of other customers, some of whom spoke out or reported her actions to store employees.  She paid no attention to the fact that there were Checkpoint tags on the items she selected.  It took her all of three minutes to get her fill and try to escape through another entrance where immediately all of the clothing security tags triggered the alarm just as two LP detectives and three local police officers converged on her.  In spite of the witnesses who pointed her out, in spite of the clothing alarms that alerted everyone to her theft, in spite of the blatant video evidence she protested her innocence and insisted we were all crazy and she would see us on the end of a lawsuit.

Right now she is facing five years in prison for the extent of her crimes.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

For those of us in Loss Prevention, Organized Retail Crime is probably the second biggest threat to a store’s bottom line right behind internal theft.  Every ORC syndicate is different in methodology and composition and therefore each one must be discovered and dealt with differently.  There is no ‘silver bullet’ no ‘perfect system’ to catch these seasoned thieves in the act and they have been at it for so long that shoplifting is their primary source of income; therefore they have made it their business to know our capabilities and our equipment.  It doesn’t mean we can’t catch them, but it does mean they are among the hardest shoplifters to stop.

At my particular store, ORC syndicates target high end clothing and accessories nine times out of ten.  Even with our extensive camera network and with security tags on clothes and purses they still manage to beat us a fair amount of time.  But, every so often we manage to stop them by taking advantage of what we know and what we have at our disposal.  At my store we use Checkpoint tags on our clothes and purses.  The ORC groups know this and all have their methods for dealing with them be it taking them to a fitting room and snapping off the tags with tools or stuffing them in foil-lined bags to try and confuse the clothing alarm.  Usually, while they go about trying to remove or disable the clothing security tags they have something else going on to catch our attention or screen their movements.  Even if they have a plan to be in and out before we have time to react, the amount of time they need to invest to deal with the Checkpoint tags gives us the opportunity to stop them.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

When you work in clothing sales, you start to live in a different sense of seasonality. Swim suits start to show up in the dead of winter. Coats make their appearances in the sweltering heat of August. This is in addition to the constant change of new product on a daily basis in some retailers. When you spend significant payroll hours remerchandising and setting new POGs, clothing security is often pushed to the bottom of the priority list.

It may seem that the need for clothing security doesn’t always outweigh the costs involved starting it up. Here are some common concerns about clothing security tags.

Hard tags are expensive: Yes, the initial investment can be a large sum of money. However, Checkpoint tags cannot be deactivated. The pins and tags are physically removed at the point of purchase. That means the tags are reusable. Once the initial purchase of hard tags is made, there is a minimal financial upkeep.

How will one product work for all my merchandise? The clothing security tags have different sized pins or lanyards that will accommodate just about every scenario needed.

Regardless of which season’s clothing you are getting in, there is a Checkpoint tag designed to fit. After your clothes are tagged, they will stay secured no matter how many times they are moved around. It will be one less thing to check off when you do your next plan o gram.

 Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security tags, clothing alarm, or clothing security contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

Having a clothing alarm in your store is obviously the best clothing security device you can employ. That being said the system is only as good as the people and policies that work and are enforced within those same four walls. Being a multi unit loss prevention manager allowed me to see how good or how bad a clothing alarm could work depending on the store staffs. In the good stores the employees were trained from day one on the importance of clothing security, how to place security tags on clothes, how the clothing security tags functioned and how to properly react to a clothing alarm.

Knowledgeable store managers knew that having a Checkpoint system was a benefit that if worked with properly could reduce the store’s shrink. They also understood that the weakest employee would be their weakest link in shrink reduction. An inept employee could affect the clothing alarm system a number of ways; for example, they could improperly place security tags on clothes causing damage to the product or offering little or no deterrence to the potential shoplifter, they could simply forget to apply the checkpoint tags and they could improperly react to a clothing alarm by overreacting or not reacting at all. The good store managers are always on top of training and auditing compliance of the consistency and proper application of the checkpoint tags.

One of my stores was constantly having issues with attempts and successful defeats of the clothing security tags. This is a huge red flag that there are much larger problems within a store. I immediately called my district sales counterpart to review and crunch some numbers. We sat down and reviewed inventory counts as well as daily, weekly and monthly sales trends and quickly realized that shrink was trending up and sales were trending down. I knew this would be the case but I wanted my sales partner to be there when I put the two trends together so that he could see how I came about that conclusion from a few defeated checkpoint tags.

To forcibly attempt to defeat security tags on clothes you bring a lot of attention to yourself as well as make a lot of noise. Having this many repeated offenses within one store told me that the staff was not employing good customer service and had become task oriented as opposed to paying attention to their surroundings and more importantly to the customer. I invited my sales partner to sit in the LP office and watch the performance of his staff. Within an hour we had concluded that indeed a mass training effort was needed, and as a side note he helped me and one of my store detectives apprehend a shoplifter who had cut a couple checkpoint tags and stuffed shirts down his pants.

My sales partner could not believe we had found poor sales numbers and poor customer service practices as a result of finding defeated clothing security tags. I explained to him that the checkpoint system is helpful on many levels and every piece if studied can give you insight as to the entire business not merely loss prevention. From that point on we shared a great partnership that opened many insights for both of us into either side of the business. That type of partnership allows for deeper understanding of business decisions that on the surface you with which you may not agree. Clothing security is imperative and necessary but one must never forget to utilize every facet of the checkpoint system. I always tell my peers never doubt what a checkpoint system can do for your business.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

I worked a case regarding a theft ring that was into designer handbags. I partnered up with one of the other retailers in the mall where we were anchor stores. They had suffered big losses in this department, and were sure that we would be next on the list.

Immediately we got to work on our clothing security. The checkpoint tags were already in the store for a different product group. It was the most obvious way to push clothing security into the handbag department.

In addition to the checkpoint tags, we talked to our handbag department, telling them to be extra vigilant. If they saw even the slightest thing that made them suspicious, they were to call us. We made extra visits to the department and made sure our CCTV covered the area completely. We were sure we were set.

Sure enough, a week later, the ring came into our store. It was right at closing time when the associates were finishing up for the day. There were five of them. They came in, each grabbed as many bags as they could and ran out the door. I heard the clothing alarm, raced to the door, and saw as the last one exited. They had a car waiting for them.

Not wanting to face a five to one showdown, I contacted the local PD and gave them the license plate number from their vehicle. I knew exactly what had been taken and had the video to back it up. Because of the checkpoint tags setting the clothing alarm off, we had an immediate reaction to the theft.

The PD was able to recover all but two of the bags because of this timely information.

  Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

 

While working for a mid sized clothing retailer I experienced the growing pains of a company trying to implement goals and policies from a large clothing company. One of those tools was the Checkpoint system which is a rf based clothing alarm system. It is the best clothing security system on the market. The decision to employ a clothing alarm that requires security tags on clothes lets you know from the beginning it is an interactive process to make use of storewide clothing security. That interactive partnership is not just within the loss prevention department but with all employees including management. This can prove to be a challenge since any requirement that demands more work and additional payroll can cause conflict among department heads.

The main conflict was between loss prevention and the sales department. The sales department assumed that the loss prevention department would responsible for placing all of the checkpoint tags on the product. Three people could not place the security tags on clothes while also protecting the store. The sales department and loss prevention had to sit down and review Checkpoint’s training materials which very explicitly explained that implementation and success was based on every employee’s willingness to take part in the deployment of the system. While the structure was being installed we jumped into the main differences between the departments to diffuse the problems before the system installation was complete. Once we reviewed the overall clothing security plan which included attaching, auditing and removing clothing security tags, it was fully understood by both sides that they had to work together to ensure a successful deployment. The training material and the support from the checkpoint representative were the grease on the hard to mesh gears. The training material mapped out the success to clothing security in a very detailed fashion. The main overall point throughout the training was triumph through teamwork. We also learned that consistency on the application of the clothing security tags was very important as well as daily or weekly audits of the checkpoint tags for compliance.

The process was slow only because of the friction that already existed within the company between sales and loss prevention. I do feel though that because the checkpoint system required interaction from everyone it brought the two departments closer whether they liked it or not. Employees from both sides of the fence working shoulder to shoulder placing security tags on clothes gave them all a vested interest to protect inventory as well as insight into each others day to day activities. Loss prevention took care of the auditing process to ensure the checkpoint tags were placed on the clothes correctly and consistently. The sales department ensured all employees knew how to react when the clothing alarm was activated if someone attempted to take a piece of clothing from the store without the clothing security tags being removed. The sales department also ensured the checkpoint tags were removed at the point of sale to reduce false alarms. It was every employee’s duty to ensure the detacher that removed the clothing security tags was kept secured at all times. In the end the checkpoint system became a healing salve that allowed the company to grow closer and start the process of growing together to become bigger and better everyday.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

When you work in soft line retail, shrink used to not be a huge concern in children’s clothing. Focus was on products like jewelry or leather coats, jeans and athletic shoes. Children’s clothes were never on any big watch list. Recently this is starting to change.

I don’t know if it is because more people are out of work, or because kids clothes are getting more expensive, but I am seeing a rise in the shrink dollars. If you haven’t already, I would suggest starting to use clothing security tags on children’s clothes.

For the baby and toddler clothes, it would be easy to use checkpoint tags for clothing security. Since these items typically are not tried on in the store (like adult’s clothing) a hard tag would not impede the shopping experience.

For bigger kid’s clothes, clothing security would be easy with a soft tag. The non-adhesive tags could be slid into a pocket. Soft tags can also be attached as a price tag or barcode.

Just about every kid I know likes stickers, so I would steer away from any sort of sticky soft tag that could be discovered by a child trying on an outfit. It is discouraging enough to suffer losses in the hands of a shoplifter. It would be even worse to have your security measures defeated by a 5 year old.

There are multiple Checkpoint tags to choose from to facilitate proper tagging based on the type of clothing.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

I never fail to see something new in my internal cases. Sometimes it makes me laugh. Sometimes I think about how much more productive they could have been if they had only used their evil genius for good instead of bad. Sometimes I just look at the employee and sigh. That’s how this last case was. One big “did you really just do that and think you wouldn’t get caught” sigh.

Clothing security is a huge focus in our stores. Many an inventory loss has been avoided because of our diligence. We do a great job using Checkpoint tags to coincide with our clothing alarm. With security tags on clothes, the losses we do incur are easier to track. Take this employee for example.

I was reviewing our report for clothing alarms that happened before and after hours. One incident had shown up. When I reviewed on our CCTV system, it showed an employee leaving with one of our brand new jackets and a pair of pants on. I reviewed her during the day and saw that she had come in to work with a different outfit on, and no bag. When I reviewed for a purchase, there wasn’t one.

This employee had stolen a brand new outfit for her date that night. She said she was going to return it, which is why she didn’t bother to take the clothing security tags off.

If it hadn’t been for the clothing security tags, the clothing alarm wouldn’t have gone off. It was an easy case; you just followed the obvious trail she left behind.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

Even though it’s still cold outside, many clothing retailers are marking down the cold weather product and making way for the new spring collections.  For most it is also the beginning of the new fiscal year so the time to add clothing security, such as clothing security tags and a clothing alarm, is now.  Here are the reasons why.

First, putting security tags on clothes is not really an option if you want to keep profits high.  Shoplifting is at an all-time high and not store is immune.  To add to the already theft laden market, warm weather clothes are the easiest to steal.  It is pretty conspicuous when someone puts on a second jacket and tries to walk out.  It is also obvious when large sweaters are stuffed under someone’s shirt.  What is not obvious is when that women puts on a high dollar bikini and walks out.  The customer who pockets the new sunglasses or steals a pair of shorts is not obvious.  The smaller / skimpier products are just plain easier to steal and must be protected.

Since we have to put security tags on clothes I suggest using Checkpoint tags.  Checkpoint tags are cost effective.  Checkpoint tags are also reliable and known to shoplifters so they are a great theft deterrent.  You will also need a clothing alarm from Checkpoint as well so that when the customer tries to walk out with concealed product you will be alerted and can respond to the potential theft.

The second reason to get your clothing security now is that it is the beginning of the year.  The price of this investment isn’t going to change so by making this acquisition at the beginning of the year you get to reap the benefits of your investment for the full year instead of only part of the year.  It just makes sense to get your full money’s worth by buying sooner rather than later.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on Checkpoint tags, clothing security, clothing alarm, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547

I love hearing about people’s New Years resolutions. Some of them are so far fetched you know they won’t make it through the first week. Some of them are pretty typical, you know the ones, eat right, drink less, workout more. That’s the one that perks my ears when I hear employees talking about it. Workout more.

Now I think it’s amazing to want to take charge of your life and your health. I also know that about this time of year, we get in fresh new shipments of athletic attire and inevitably we have at least one employee stealing their way into their New Year’s Resolution.

It’s because of this trend that I emphatically start putting security tags on clothes starting with the athletic wear. I know that clothing security tags is strong visual message not to steal that particular item. I like that the clothing security tags do most of the work for us. The majority of the employees stay honest because they don’t want to contend with beating a clothing alarm.

Clothing security doesn’t just stop there for us. We also talk about the high shrink departments every chance we get. Just as shoplifters avoid being noticed, employees are less likely to steal if they know the area is under constant surveillance.

After the initial resolution has either wilted or become a habit, I can put to rest my worries of protecting our athletic wear. I know its now time to move on to protecting the next target.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase a clothing alarm or clothing security tags.

For more information on clothing security, clothing alarm, Checkpoint tags, or clothing security tags contact us at security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547