Checkpoint Hard Tags-5 WC Blog 255
EAS tags-4
electronic article surveillance-3
Stop shoplifting-5
Helping Employees Understand How Checkpoint Hard Tags Helps Prevent Shortage
During my time as a Loss Prevention Manager we would regularly look at numbers and break them down for training purposes. We wanted to make stock shortage make sense to our store employees. It’s one thing to tell someone that the store stock shortage results came in at a 1% shrink rate it’s another thing for it to have meaning. In real life, that doesn’t sound like a tremendous amount and it certainly isn’t going to motivate an employee to do much to try to stop shoplifting. What difference will it make to that employee if one out of ten pairs of designer jeans valued at $50 hanging on a fixture is missing the Checkpoint hard tag? Nine pair of the jeans are protected, isn’t that adequate? What are the odds a shoplifter would be looking to steal THAT particular size? If your employees are indifferent to shortage you need to help them understand how important it is that they help stop shoplifting. They need to be alert to missing EAS tags and properly responding to electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm activations. Shortage needs to be discussed in relevant terms to motivate people to want to impact it.
For readers who are not familiar with Checkpoint hard tags, I would like to take a minute to discuss them and how they can help a store stop shoplifting. EAS tags come in a soft or hard tag version. The soft tags can be peeled off of a roll of tags and applied to most surfaces. Checkpoint hard tags are designed of a hard plastic that comes in two parts. The main piece is pinned through a garment and a cap is pushed over the pin and keeps the tag on the item. Removal of the tag requires a special detachment tool and any other attempt to take the tag off results in damage to the clothing item to which it is attached. Checkpoint tags all work in conjunction with electronic article surveillance antennas and cause an antenna alarm to sound if tagged merchandise comes too close to the doorway where the antenna is located. To sum it up, EAS tags stop shoplifting through visual deterrence (shoplifters see tags and don’t want to hassle with them) and physical alarm activations (the chance of being stopped for a receipt check or the possibility they could be apprehended for theft).
When we trained employees, we tried very hard to make the numbers we were tossing at them make more sense and more of an impact. For example, one statistic we used was that for every item that was stolen, it was estimated it would require selling ten of that item to make up the lost profit. If that one pair of $50 designer jeans that was missing the Checkpoint tag was stolen it was estimated we would have to sell $500 of that same type of jeans to make up the loss. We found that the employees paid more attention when they took that into consideration.
Another training tool we incorporated to make inventory results make more sense to associates was to break the losses down by the year, month, week, day and hour. This is a great way to remind people that theft isn’t a once a year event, but it takes place throughout the year. It serves to make it clear it is important to stop prevent theft daily. Think about it like this, I worked for a big box retailer so just to make it easy $120,000 shortage would have been a good result but consider how this breaks down:
• $10,000 a month in losses
• $2307.62 a week in losses
• $328.77 a day in losses
• $13.70 an hour in losses
When all of this is taken into consideration, missing Checkpoint hard tags don’t seem like such a small deal any longer. Now employees take more ownership of helping to stop shoplifting by ensuring all merchandise has an EAS tags on them. Instead of waving off the person who has activated the electronic article surveillance antennas they will be more inclined to do a thorough receipt check. Shortage has relevance and employees see they can make an impact.
Stock shortage hurts a store’s profitability and all employees can play a role in stopping it, but there needs to be context. Explain it to your employees and help them understand how they can impact shortage by making sure Checkpoint hard tags are properly placed on all merchandise.
Checkpoint hard tags are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
During my time as a Loss Prevention Manager we would regularly look at numbers and break them down for training purposes. We wanted to make stock shortage make sense to our store employees. It’s one thing to tell someone that the store stock shortage results came in at a 1% shrink rate it’s another thing for it to have meaning. In real life, that doesn’t sound like a tremendous amount and it certainly isn’t going to motivate an employee to do much to try to stop shoplifting. What difference will it make to that employee if one out of ten pairs of designer jeans valued at $50 hanging on a fixture is missing the Checkpoint hard tag? Nine pair of the jeans are protected, isn’t that adequate? What are the odds a shoplifter would be looking to steal THAT particular size? If your employees are indifferent to shortage you need to help them understand how important it is that they help stop shoplifting. They need to be alert to missing EAS tags and properly responding to electronic article surveillance (EAS) alarm activations. Shortage needs to be discussed in relevant terms to motivate people to want to impact it.
For readers who are not familiar with Checkpoint hard tags, I would like to take a minute to discuss them and how they can help a store stop shoplifting. EAS tags come in a soft or hard tag version. The soft tags can be peeled off of a roll of tags and applied to most surfaces. Checkpoint hard tags are designed of a hard plastic that comes in two parts. The main piece is pinned through a garment and a cap is pushed over the pin and keeps the tag on the item. Removal of the tag requires a special detachment tool and any other attempt to take the tag off results in damage to the clothing item to which it is attached. Checkpoint tags all work in conjunction with electronic article surveillance antennas and cause an antenna alarm to sound if tagged merchandise comes too close to the doorway where the antenna is located. To sum it up, EAS tags stop shoplifting through visual deterrence (shoplifters see tags and don’t want to hassle with them) and physical alarm activations (the chance of being stopped for a receipt check or the possibility they could be apprehended for theft).
When we trained employees, we tried very hard to make the numbers we were tossing at them make more sense and more of an impact. For example, one statistic we used was that for every item that was stolen, it was estimated it would require selling ten of that item to make up the lost profit. If that one pair of $50 designer jeans that was missing the Checkpoint tag was stolen it was estimated we would have to sell $500 of that same type of jeans to make up the loss. We found that the employees paid more attention when they took that into consideration.
Another training tool we incorporated to make inventory results make more sense to associates was to break the losses down by the year, month, week, day and hour. This is a great way to remind people that theft isn’t a once a year event, but it takes place throughout the year. It serves to make it clear it is important to stop prevent theft daily. Think about it like this, I worked for a big box retailer so just to make it easy $120,000 shortage would have been a good result but consider how this breaks down:
• $10,000 a month in losses
• $2307.62 a week in losses
• $328.77 a day in losses
• $13.70 an hour in losses
When all of this is taken into consideration, missing Checkpoint hard tags don’t seem like such a small deal any longer. Now employees take more ownership of helping to stop shoplifting by ensuring all merchandise has an EAS tags on them. Instead of waving off the person who has activated the electronic article surveillance antennas they will be more inclined to do a thorough receipt check. Shortage has relevance and employees see they can make an impact.
Stock shortage hurts a store’s profitability and all employees can play a role in stopping it, but there needs to be context. Explain it to your employees and help them understand how they can impact shortage by making sure Checkpoint hard tags are properly placed on all merchandise.
Checkpoint hard tags are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
