The holiday season is officially under way and your stress level is about to go into overload. When we’re overly stressed bad things happen to us mentally, emotionally and physically: headaches, digestive issues, eating too much, concentration problems, decreased impulse control, increased emotional sensitivity, poor planning ability and sleep disturbances.
The goal for a lot of people in retail is to “just get through the holidays” with the least amount of difficulties and stress, which is a reasonable objective. So, what can you do to achieve your objective? The number 1 thing you can do for yourself and your employees (as well as family, customers and friends) is to prioritize sleep.
Getting enough high quality sleep is a crucial biological need. A short term sleep deprivation of just 2 weeks can lead to memory loss, inability to focus and poor decision making skills. A long-term deficiency can cause an increased risk of heart disease, obesity and depression.
There are many things you can do to make a difference in the quality and quality of your sleep. But, one of the biggest is to stop your harmful electronics’ habits — starting now to relieve holiday stress. Poor management of electronic devices is one of the biggest problems people have in falling and staying asleep.
Our bodies produce melatonin at night to help us fall and stay asleep. A cool, quiet and dark room triggers your body to release it. The light and noise from computers, Kindles, TVs, phones and other devices interferes with this process.
The guideline is — don’t use any device 1 hour before bedtime. It gives the melatonin time to work by eliminating all the light, stimulation/aggravation and noise. It’s estimated that people who leave on even 1 device get at least 30 minutes less sleep a night than those who turn them all off. Also, they wake up more often and are more restless.
It’s important to create a good sleep routine and getting control of your unhealthy electronics’ habit is a place to start. In fact, it might be all you need to have increased energy, a better memory, improved physical well being, stronger coping skills and a calmer mood.
After all, your employees won’t care or remember what cookies you baked for the holiday party. But, they will care and remember that you were short of temper and long on criticism because you stayed up too late searching on-line for the perfect recipe.
Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 200 articles published. She’s a business consultant and former psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, business and addiction. She’s a coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator. She has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, seminars and college classes.
Step back and take a hard look. Or better yet ask someone you trust to do that. A friend, another business owner…… they really do not need to have any special skills. You should look at your store from the prospective of the shoplifter. If you were going to steal, how would you do it? Do you have dark areas, high shelving, hidden spots that would make the thief comfortable? Is your store unkempt, dirty and not stocked in an organized way? Shoplifters are attracted to these environments. If you are presenting that look, then the shoplifter probably knows you are not able to keep up or simply do not care. This will also breed more shoplifting as word gets around that YOUR STORE is an easy mark.
Are they asleep at the switch? Do they care? Have you trained them how you want the shoplifting deterrence program in your store to work and what their roll in it is? This is not something you can put off. It’s like saving money in an account. You got to start. If you are one of Loss Prevention Systems Customers already, then you know this. That is why we conduct live, personalized shoplifting prevention and loss prevention training for our customers. 
This is the best time for retailers. We make a good chunk of our profits during the last 3 months of our fiscal year. Walk into any major retailer right now and you’ll already see a litany of holiday themed gifts, home décor and all things red and green. We also tend to beef up our staff this time of year as well. Some of us hire part-time works, some may even add a full-time position or two and a great many of us will employ temporary workers. The threat of employee theft also peaks around this time as well. 
As I sit here on this Halloween night, thinking about how great it was when I was a kid to pillage the neighborhoods for candy and treats, I can’t help but also think about the next 60 days. The real fright comes now for all of us in the retail game. We’ve got so little time to do so very much. We all have new receipts pouring in, plan-o-grams that need setting, bulk stacks that need stacking and bins that need filling; all with the mad hopes of grabbing every possible dollar from now until December 24. A big part of that plan, for most, is hiring temporary help to get us through. Have you ever thought about how these temporary workers can impact your LP goals? With a little training and guidance, they can be one of your greatest holiday assets.
Ever given any thought to your receiving area and your back door? How often do you open it and walk away? Do you require a manager be present when it’s open, or do you “trust” your warehouse crew with a key? Have you ever considered that an unattended back door could not only cause shrink, but also compromise the safety of your customer and employees? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may have a problem.
It is not surprising that CVS is once again the recipient of a lawsuit.
A good loss prevention plan starts with focusing on the basics. One of the basics is to monitor high risk merchandise. For a variety of reasons some items are stolen more often than others. It makes sense that they should be given extra attention and protection.
