Loss Prevention Workshop

E-Commerce Fraud:What You Need to Know

March 26, 2015 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

With the digital age came different types of fraud retailers were not used to encounter in their daily operations. Shoplifters came to the store and the loss prevention team knew the policies and procedures to follow to apprehend the shoplifter. Now, retailers fear online fraud and debate on how to keep customers information safe. The most prevalent fraud retailers are to be aware of is card fraud. Keeping cardholder’s information safe is a top priority for online retailers, and monitor suspicious transactions has become a top priority for them.

To learn or read more about e-commerce fraud follow the links below.

e-Commerce Fraud: The Rapidly Growing Challenge for Retail Investigations

Just as the word “e-commerce” has come to refer to a menagerie of different specialized markets, so e-commerce fraud comes in many different guises. And as the great pace of retail evolution dictates that retailers’ transaction processes are constantly changing, so the frauds change with them.

In a bid to stand on the top of the heap competitively, retailers are offering as many options to consumers as possible when it comes to ways to buy. You can place an online order at an in-store kiosk to be shipped to your house. You can place an order from your mobile device to be picked up at a local store. You don’t like the color of the new curtains you ordered through the online customer rewards program? You can return them to the nearest brick-and-mortar store to save on shipping.

There are multitudes of different ways for customers to shop in the modern omni-channel retailing world. But this proliferation of transaction processes can leave behind more and more holes that malicious actors can exploit. “You have this almost complete melding of digital and physical worlds now, and the primary challenge is keeping pace with that evolution,” said Jerett Sauer, director of loss prevention at Gap Inc. “Awareness of risk has always been a core part of any great LP program, and historically, digital space was outside that sphere of awareness; the focus was on people touching a POS or physical merchandise.

Kount and Ethoca Join Forces to Help Ecommerce Merchants Eliminate More Fraud, Accept More Orders

Kount, a leading provider of fraud detection and sales boosting technology, and Ethoca, the industry standard for collaboration-based technology solutions that help card issuers and online merchants increase transaction acceptance and stop ecommerce fraud, today announced a strategic partnership to help ecommerce merchants increase their overall acceptance levels.

Ecommerce merchants aim to strike a delicate balance: eliminating as much fraud as possible, while maximizing the acceptance of good orders. With the increasing frequency of data breaches and online security threats, many ecommerce merchants are tightening their fraud tools to stop as much fraud as possible, but that often results in too many good orders that are wrongly rejected and result in lost revenue.

Through its partnership with Ethoca, Kount now offers merchant customers worldwide an additional, complementary service with Ethoca Alerts. These alerts provide a safeguard to catch fraud that has already been confirmed between the card issuing bank and the cardholder.

Smart Card Technology Will Affect Your Fraud Prevention Strategy

With large retail chains like Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels experiencing massive data breaches, U.S. banks and brick-and-mortar merchants face serious pressure to increase credit card security measures by implementing smart card technology.

This shift to more secure card-present transactions at physical, smart-card ready terminals will impact ecommerce sites as fraudsters are stymied at brick-and-mortar stores and turn their attentions to card-not-present (CNP) transactions online.

As smart cards become standard in the U.S., forward thinking ecommerce merchants must prepare for the coming increase in online fraud. Now is the time for software companies to ensure that their fraud prevention system is ready.

Brick-and-Mortar Merchants Face Serious Pressure

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Workshop, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, surveillance

Bartenders Beware- Employee Theft

March 15, 2015 by Staff Editor
If your nightclub or restaurant is experiencing inventory losses with your alcohol, chances are you have a problem with employee theft. There is a multitude of ways that your bartenders can steal from you, but there is also a multitude of ways that you can prevent employee theft behind the bar.

One of the easiest ways is to ensure your bartenders and wait staff all go through some kind of loss prevention training. This can be either in house, or contracted out through a loss prevention workshop. During the training, you and your employees will become more aware of different ways that employees have been caught stealing. This is great way to let employees know not to try it, because it is a known method- and it doesn’t work.

It is also a chance to define exactly what constitutes theft- from the obvious stealing bottles, to free drinks, and even a matter of over pouring their shots of liquor. When your employees have a clear set of expectations, definitions and consequences, they are less likely to take the risk of stealing from you.

This is a prefect time to explain what the consequences will be for any employee caught reducing the company’s profits or inventory- intentionally or otherwise. Some offenses may only require additional training, while others will constitute termination of employment and prosecution.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

If your nightclub or restaurant is experiencing inventory losses with your alcohol, chances are you have a problem with employee theft. There is a multitude of ways that your bartenders can steal from you, but there is also a multitude of ways that you can prevent employee theft behind the bar.

One of the easiest ways is to ensure your bartenders and wait staff all go through some kind of loss prevention training. This can be either in house, or contracted out through a loss prevention workshop. During the training, you and your employees will become more aware of different ways that employees have been caught stealing. This is great way to let employees know not to try it, because it is a known method- and it doesn’t work.

It is also a chance to define exactly what constitutes theft- from the obvious stealing bottles, to free drinks, and even a matter of over pouring their shots of liquor. When your employees have a clear set of expectations, definitions and consequences, they are less likely to take the risk of stealing from you.

This is a prefect time to explain what the consequences will be for any employee caught reducing the company’s profits or inventory- intentionally or otherwise. Some offenses may only require additional training, while others will constitute termination of employment and prosecution.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks…Me

March 2, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
I was recently the Keynote Speaker at a retail conference. The audience was very engaged! As a speaker and trainer I like those situations best.

We had many great questions and comments. But there is one that I continue to think about. Someone mentioned that a way that shoplifters are now discouraging you and your staff from providing customer service is by using a cell phone.

Let’s step back. The first key to preventing shoplifting is the liberal application of customer service. Impulse, armature and professional shoplifters cannot ply their evil trade if your staff is customer servicing them to death.

So now enters the cell phone. If the shoplifter is on a call, real or pretend then we are likely, out of courtesy not to approach them. What a wonderful way to keep us away from them in our own store! This is something I had never considered before. In fact what I have been thinking about is that there are other tools they could use to accomplish the same thing.

Listening to music with a head set on, talking on a two-way radio as if it is work related or how about being busy with electronic tablet or phone with email. Again any situation they can create to keep us at arm’s length.

However, there is a well-established solution to this. All of these techniques fall under the category of distraction or diversion. The solution to this tactic is simply MORE customer service.

Those actions by a “customer” are at a minimum rude. It is also a red flag that you should now pay attention to. Being in your store, taking your time and resources and being on the phone is rude. But we do not want to respond in kind. Instead apply an even more generous application of customer service.

Stay with them, keep your eye on them and make sure they know it. A legitimate customer will feel it and get off the phone, device…. The shoplifter will have a different reaction. They will get frustrated. You are frustrating their efforts to obtain a bit of privacy so they can conceal your merchandise.

Frustrating a shoplifter is our goal. Drive them crazy and send them on their way hopefully never to be seen again, at least by you!

You can reach Bill Bregar at 770-426-7593 x101 or at [email protected]. Bill has over 35 years of experience in the Loss Prevention industry. He has personally investigated over 2300 employees for theft and dealt with shoplifting all the way from his days of apprehending shoplifters as a store detective to the development of policy and procedure for several major retail chains in the role of Director of Loss Prevention.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, mobile POS loss prevention, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention

Shoplifting Apprehension that Turn Violent

March 2, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
Over the past two years or so, I’ve managed well over 1,000 shoplifting cases. Just like any other job, it starts to become a routine. You watch for selection, intent, pass the points of sale, exit. Approach, process, and on to the next one. It’s strange that in my line of work the daily routine is based solely on someone committing a crime. Well, what happens when the apprehensions is not so routine? What should you, or your team do if a shoplifter becomes confrontational, or even physically violent?

I’ve seen several instances of shoplifters becoming physically violent in the very recent past. Member of my team, including myself, have been physically assaulted and even pepper sprayed by shoplifting suspects. I’ve even see greater acts of violence at surrounding retailers. Is that really worth a $50 item? Absolutely not. We are seeing very often that drug addicts, who are stealing to support their habit are committing these crimes. Their minds are focused on their addiction and they will do whatever is necessary to avoid capture, even if that means harming you or a member of your team. The best defense is always a good offense, and the first step in remaining safe in this climate is to analyze the risk associated with each and every shoplifting detention.

I train my teams to analyze the inherent risk of a stop on two simple factors. 1) What is the item being stolen? Is it on its own a weapon? 2) The perceived state of mind of the suspect. Does your suspect appear to be under the influence of drugs, or alcohol? If you can answer yes to both, then there’s a higher chance of the risk of violence and it may be a better idea to allow law enforcement to intervene. I stress this every single day with my team. They all know that there is nothing in that entire store that is worth jeopardizing their safety. Sometimes, though, violence may come from the most unsuspecting source, and you should know how to react during these instances.

If you find yourself in a situation when confronted at the time of apprehension with violence, you should immediately terminate the apprehension and allow the suspect to leave… with or, without the merchandise. Never should you put yourself, your team or your customer’s safety in jeopardy over store merchandise. If you’re confronted and need to defend yourself, then do so in as safe a manner as possible. Training your LP staff in a basic self-defense course is a great tool that is being more widely adopted at more retailers.

In addition to those common sense steps, your company should also have clearly written and accessible policies regarding shoplifting apprehensions and the use of force. If you are in charge of these policies, you should set a clear expectation of how store personnel should contact a shoplifter, as well as details regarding the use of force. The last thing you want is for an employee to get severely injured while trying to protect assets come back with a lawsuit claiming they were subjected to an unsafe work environment. Without clear, written policies, that could be a reality.

Criminals will continue to steal, and a percentage will no doubt become violent in some way. In the LP filed, it is an occupational hazard. With the proper training and common sense policies, you can ensure the safety of your teams. Several states are also currently looking into passing new legislation that would enhance the charge for shoplifters who assault an LP agent. Some states also have laws on the books that turn a shoplifting into a strong arm robbery under these circumstances. If these were to become a nationwide standard, we may be able to start reversing this very disturbing trend.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Preventing Shoplifting

February 13, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
Managers in your store can play an important role in preventing shoplifting. Being aware of the procedures to take when a shoplifting incident occurs protects your employees and your store alike. Shoplifting education programs through the NASP can help organizations prevent shoplifting and educate their employees. The rules and procedures to take by employees when a shoplifting incident occurs can save lives, medical bills and negative publicity occurring from a shoplifting incident. Follow the links below for more news about shoplifting.

Walmart Manager Says He Was Fired After Stopping Alleged Shoplifter

For several years now, Consumerist has reported on variety of stories where a former Walmart employee says they were fired either stopping a shoplifter or defending themselves in an altercation with customers. The latest such incident involves the manager of an Alabama Walmart who claims he was dismissed after stopping an alleged repeat offender from shoplifting again.

AL.com reports that the former manager was blindsided when he was fired a month after he chased and confronted a shoplifter attempting to steal nearly $1,000 worth of merchandise.

The man says the incident occurred during the night shift, when he heard an alarm signaling that an emergency door was open.

When the manager reached the door, he saw a man he described as an habitual shoplifter leaving with a cart full of merchandise.

“When I caught up to the individual he turned and grabbed me, struck me in the face and dragged me to the ground,” the manager says. “I got loose and was holding him down when security personnel from an apartment complex across the street came to help until police arrived.”

VIDEO: Teens ‘Terrorize’ Marysville Grocery Store

MARYSVILLE-

Five teenagers entered a Marysville Save Mart around 1:40 p.m. Wednesday and “terrorized the store,” police say.

A Marysville Police spokesperson told FOX40 four teenage girls and one teenage boy vandalized the store aisle by aisle, shouting out gang slogans and throwing grocery items on the ground. One of those items, according to police, was a bottle of oil, which caused a 64-year-old man to slip and fall.

The retired Air Force veteran was taken to Rideout Medical Center and treated for a potentially fractured elbow, according to police.

Store managers told officers on scene that employees tried to stop the teenagers, but one punched the manager in the face. At some point, police say the teenagers went to the liquor aisle, opened a bottle of alcohol, and started drinking.

The two officers who responded to the incident have minor injuries after one of the teen’s resisted arrest.

Arrests made in two Kroger shoplifting incidents

Two shoplifting incidents were reported Thursday at the Kroger grocery story on U.S. Highway 29, according to Athens-Clarke County police reports.

In one incident, Mary Ashley Moss, 22, of a Johns Creek, Ga., address was charged with shoplifting after swapping price tags on some items and concealing other items as she checked out of the store. According to a police report, Moss told Kroger managers “she did not think it was stealing since she was paying for something in the process.” According to police, Moss was attempting to take $50 worth of hygiene products. She was released from the Clarke County Jail after posting a $1,500 bond.

In the other incident, William Joseph Adams II, 47, of Timber Ridge Lane in Colbert, was charged with shoplifting after allegedly taking $75 worth of meat from the store.

Adams left the store in a blue Ford Fiesta that was stopped shortly after the incident, headed toward Madison County, by Athens-Clarke police. Adams was released from the Clarke County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Workshop, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

A Sense Of Pride- Loss Prevention Training

February 5, 2015 by Staff Editor
Anyone who has every had to conduct or host a training class or seminar has had the same fear at some point- Will any of the information set in? Before I gave any of my loss prevention training classes I thought about it. I worried that the employees would be bored, finding the information irrelevant to them, or simply more concerned about what they were going to have for lunch later on that day.

During one particular class, I had a lady who was very upfront that the only reason she was working here was to get the employee discount. Needless to say, I quickly assumed that she would barely pay attention, much less remember anything that I was teaching her.

Months later, she came unexpectedly barging into my office. They very first thing she said was “I remembered what you said in loss prevention training about red flags…” Sure enough, she did remember, and she was right in picking up on some red flags, which ended up stopping a loss of almost $1200 dollars.

To this day, I am not sure about who had a greater sense of pride- her or me. She was so proud of herself for doing something she never dreamed herself capable of. I was proud that I had given her the tools, in such a way that she remembered after all of those months, to be successful.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Anyone who has every had to conduct or host a training class or seminar has had the same fear at some point- Will any of the information set in? Before I gave any of my loss prevention training classes I thought about it. I worried that the employees would be bored, finding the information irrelevant to them, or simply more concerned about what they were going to have for lunch later on that day.

During one particular class, I had a lady who was very upfront that the only reason she was working here was to get the employee discount. Needless to say, I quickly assumed that she would barely pay attention, much less remember anything that I was teaching her.

Months later, she came unexpectedly barging into my office. They very first thing she said was “I remembered what you said in loss prevention training about red flags…” Sure enough, she did remember, and she was right in picking up on some red flags, which ended up stopping a loss of almost $1200 dollars.

To this day, I am not sure about who had a greater sense of pride- her or me. She was so proud of herself for doing something she never dreamed herself capable of. I was proud that I had given her the tools, in such a way that she remembered after all of those months, to be successful.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Most Controllable Expense- Employee Theft

January 15, 2015 by Staff Editor
The most controllable expense a store has is its payroll. Hours can be fluctuated up or down based upon the sales needs of a given day, week or a specific event. As such, when other store expenses rise, payroll is often the first to be cut to make up the financial difference. When hours start getting cut, employees will often take it upon themselves to make up the difference- resulting in employee theft.

Employee theft isn’t only about cash theft or inventory theft. Employee theft is about the unauthorized use or gain of any company assets- including payroll. Because it is easier for an employee to justify a slide in their favor of the hours worked than it is to justify stealing cash for that same amount of money, time card theft is an often overlooked but equally as detrimental form of theft.

Attending a loss prevention workshop that covers a variety of theft situations from employees can help you to not only see when time card theft is happening, but what to do about it, and ultimately how to avoid it from happening again.

Time card theft usually starts out pretty small- a few minutes here and there. If left unchecked, employees can start to wheedle multiple hours out of you before you begin to notice.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

The most controllable expense a store has is its payroll. Hours can be fluctuated up or down based upon the sales needs of a given day, week or a specific event. As such, when other store expenses rise, payroll is often the first to be cut to make up the financial difference. When hours start getting cut, employees will often take it upon themselves to make up the difference- resulting in employee theft.

Employee theft isn’t only about cash theft or inventory theft. Employee theft is about the unauthorized use or gain of any company assets- including payroll. Because it is easier for an employee to justify a slide in their favor of the hours worked than it is to justify stealing cash for that same amount of money, time card theft is an often overlooked but equally as detrimental form of theft.

Attending a loss prevention workshop that covers a variety of theft situations from employees can help you to not only see when time card theft is happening, but what to do about it, and ultimately how to avoid it from happening again.

Time card theft usually starts out pretty small- a few minutes here and there. If left unchecked, employees can start to wheedle multiple hours out of you before you begin to notice.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Shoplifting Stories and Stats

January 14, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
Many retailers invest thousands of dollars to protect themselves against theft. From surveillance to electronic devices, these retail shop owners try to find a way to reduce their shrinkage in a daily basis. Whether they are dealing with petty shoplifters, employee theft or organized groups, they have to know their problem first to be able to find a solution they can implement in their store. To read more about this common problem, follow the links below for more information.

EPD: Retail theft up in 2014

EASTON — The Easton Police Department reported a 61 percent increase in retail thefts in 2014 — from 163 retail theft cases in 2013 to about 263 in 2014.

In response to this increase, the EPD announced that each month it will release photographs of all individuals who were charged with retail theft.

There’s an understanding that to better prosecute and deter thefts, a partnership between retailers and law enforcement is vital, EPD said.

In August 2013, EPD also started a Retail Investigator’s Network, which brings together retail loss prevention/asset protection investigators, prosecutors and law enforcement from Easton and Denton.

During these meetings, solved and unsolved investigations are discussed, which has increased closure rates in Easton and Denton, police said. These meetings have opened lines of communications between retailers. These meetings are also used to educate everyone in crime trends and other criminal activity that’s associated with retail theft.

In 2014, retail loss prevention/asset protection investigators and law enforcement in Easton and Denton have saved retailers about $142,722, EPD said.

Dover Police See 19% Drop In Reported Shoplifting Cases Since Posting Arrests Online 1-6-15

The Dover Police Department saw a 19% drop in shoplifting complaints since beginning the Shoplifter Notification Program on August 7th, 2014. The program which posts mug-shots of persons arrested for shoplifting on a weekly basis on the department website and social media outlets, has helped to reduce shoplifting incidents during the 4-month trial period. The reduction in shoplifting incidents during the trial period also led to a 12% drop for the entire calendar year compared to 2013 numbers and bringing the total number of shoplifting cases below 1,000 for the first time since 2010.

From 2011 through 2013, the Dover Police Department investigated 3,290 shoplifting cases, averaging 3 per day during that time period. In an effort to help reduce the amount of shoplifting cases in the City of Dover, the department began the weekly notifications, displaying the names and booking photos of those arrested. The goal of the notifications is to notify Dover merchants of offenders in hopes of being able to reduce the number of shoplifting cases. The majority of shoplifting cases are committed by repeat offenders and the department’s goal is that by releasing the information, store employees will be better informed when monitoring their stores and inventory, and that suspects will think twice before stealing merchandise in fear that their name and photo will be shared with the public.

The Flowerpot Bandit: Man ‘holds up petrol station’ wearing a flowerpot on his head and wielding a chainsaw, but only manages to steal a bottle of soft drink

A teenager has been arrested after he allegedly held up a petrol station while wearing a flower pot on his head and wielding a chainsaw, though he only managed to steal a bottle of soft drink.

The man entered the 7-Eleven service station in Ipswich, Queensland, at 4.30am on Monday, wearing a flower pot on his head in an attempt to conceal his identity, it will be alleged.

He is accused of lunging at the shop assistants while holding a running chainsaw, and demanding money from them.

Chainsaw attack: The 19-year-old held up a service station wearing a flower pot on his head. He then made demands for money from the male attendant

The terrified shop assistants, who were cleaning a coffee machine at the time he entered, claim they then retreated into a back room and called police.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Shoplifting Prevention

Law Enforcement and Retail Loss Prevention Partnerships

January 9, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
Shoplifting isn’t just a problem for retailers. It is a crime and it affects everyone in some way. Whether it be the retail store that suffers lost profits, the consumer who is faced with higher prices, or a community that is plagued with organized criminal syndicates all dealing in stolen property. For years, it seemed like I was fighting the shoplifting battle alone. I could deploy the most sophisticated camera systems, or use the newest EAS technology, but those career shoplifters were still targeting my stores on a daily basis. And getting away with hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods.

I felt the response from local law enforcement wasn’t what it should’ve been. Understandably, police usually see shoplifting as a petty crime. It’s a low priority in most jurisdictions, as it falls behind drug crimes, auto theft, burglaries and the more violent crimes. It wasn’t’ until two years ago that police in my parish began addressing the ever-growing shoplifting problem with a very unique solution.

The local sheriff’s office began reviewing shoplifting statistics and assigned two detectives to develop a program with local retailers to coordinate efforts and share information on shoplifters. At the onset, I was approached by these detectives. I was the regional LP manager for one the the largest retailers in the parish. It didn’t take much to convincing to get me and my company onboard. I reached out to my industry contacts and before long, over 100 different retailers were working in concert with local police to dismantle some of the most well-known shoplifting rings. These weren’t just big box retailers with LP departments. The vast majority were small, family owned stores and supermarkets who were tired of seeing the same shoplifters day in and day out. Once a quarter, everyone would meet in a large auditorium and swap cases and share photos of big time boosters, or unknowns. It didn’t take long for some very substantial cases to be made, as well as the sheriff’s office realizing just how bad the problem was.

Everyone was quick to see what we knew all along. Shoplifting was not being committed by a bored teenager. Most of our shoplifters were drug addicts who were hooked on heroin, which is making a massive comeback in the US. Gangs of 10-15 at a time would target stores across the area. They would steal merchandise, conduct fraud refunds; whatever it took to make enough money for their next score. As more and more information was shared, police came to learn that most shoplifters were also suspects in other, more serious crimes. Based on our partnerships, we bang identifying car thieves, drug dealers and violent offenders, al who hand their hands in shoplifting.

While we’ve only scratched the surface, preliminary numbers for 2014 show over 4,000 arrest for shoplifting in this one parish alone. Most of these originated from the partnership group. This is a staggering number to comprehend. The hope is that with more support from the DA’s office, this number will start to decrease. We’ve already seen prosecutors push for heavier penalties and even prison time for some of the biggest repeat offenders. Hopefully, these types of partnerships can continue to be forged, and our law enforcement agencies will continue partnering with the Loss Prevention industry to help turn the tide against shoplifting.

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

Cycle Counts

January 9, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment
With only a distant memory of the holiday shopping season in our minds and spring business just on the horizon, it’s a good time to start focusing on inventory control and accuracy. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, retailers sometimes lose focus on what’s really important, their inventory. It should be second nature for you to take an annual inventory of your store. The best time to do this is soon after the holiday. Think about it, your store is most likely at a low inventory point, so counting is normally easier, and you have a little extra in the payroll budget due to that month of increased sales. It only makes since. Often though, this annual inventory is the only time some retailers verify their on hand accuracy, however, cycle counts can be of great benefit to any store environment, any time of year.

If you are unfamiliar with cycle counts, just think of them as a mini-inventory focused on a small section of your store. In my experience, conducting a count on high value, or high theft merchandise at least quarterly (monthly is better), can actually help boost sales. For example, let’s say that you sell several styles of pocket knives. Your sales are good in this category, but your shrink is always high. You know you lose knives daily due to theft, so your on hand counts are always a little off. If you are replenished based on those counts, then you may not be getting the product you need, which will then hurt your ability to sell that product. Not only is the theft creating a loss, but now you are losing sales because your customers can’t purchase a knife you don’t have. If you waited an entire year to conduct an inventory, you would lose those sales for the entire year. This can easily be corrected through consistent and well planned cycle counts.

Once you have the areas of the store selected that would benefit from a cycle count, plan to do them on a day that is historically a low sales day, like early on a Monday morning. This gives you a chance to get it done with minimal interference from customers, and it won’t mess with your counts if a customer purchases an item you are counting. Take a small section, once a month. Don’t try and count an entire department. Keep it simple and focus on a small area that is normally high shrink. Print out what you should have on the books, and compare it to what you physically have. Simply make any adjustment to your inventory as needed. It’s really that simple and it’s a great way to stay in stock for your customers.

As in the example above, as a manager, or store owner, you know what areas of the store have the most shrink. In order to combat theft and remain in a good stock position throughout the year, you have to have accurate on hand counts. If you implement any inventory adjustments, always ensure that they are conducted by a manager, or one of your most trusted employees. Having an inaccurate count can cause a loss on paper, and/or keep you out of stock even longer. Additionally, this can also help you to identify areas of employee theft as well. If you have items that are shipped to your store that are stored in areas only accessible to employees, you shouldn’t have any losses. For instance, if you have high end sunglasses that are kept locked in a case and you find you are missing hundreds of dollars’ worth of those glasses, chances are you may have an internal theft issue. If you would wait until the end of the year to find that during your annual inventory, you may never be able to uncover the source of the loss.

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