Prevent Shoplifting – 3 WC Blog 547
Alpha Keepers-5
Alpha Keepers Are The Answer To Lock-Up Case Lunacy
From time to time I find the need to go on a rant about efforts I see to prevent shoplifting after visiting different stores. I have to wonder who is making some of the decisions with respect to shortage protection initiatives. The other day I was shopping in a chain store and glanced at a small locking display case. Because I write about this stuff and because I have been involved in Retail Loss Prevention for so long I happen to be nosey about these things. What could be so important in this store (if I said where I was you would probably say the same thing) that there would be a need for a locking showcase? Well, there was some type of pay-as you-go cell phone and a $1 dollar phone card of some sort. You read that right, a ONE dollar card. A little further down the same aisle were foods that were more expensive! Now I will be generous and say that this might have been a fluke. However, I got to another aisle that had air freshener refills in one of those cases that sounds a chiming noise when the door is opened by a customer. I thought that the strategy was really odd. If shortage was an issue in these departments it would have been easier and made more sense to use Alpha Keepers on the items that were being “secured”.
Alpha Keepers are clear, hard protective boxes with locking lids. The boxes have electronic article surveillance (EAS) technology built into them that is designed to work with Checkpoint Security System towers. The boxes are extremely tough and can only be opened with a detachment tool usually kept secured at store points of sale. Efforts to force open a Keeper box results in a tamper alarm sounding and alerting store employees to an attempted theft. Responding associates prevent shoplifting by providing great customer service to the would-be thief. If a criminal is foolish enough to try to carry an item protected in a Keeper past a Checkpoint tower the tower will sense the radio waves sent out by the Keeper. An alarm in the tower sounds at the attempted breach. Again, associates respond to the alarms and through careful receipt checks get the perpetrator to buy the item or hand it over. Either way theft is stopped.
Not only was I amused by the merchandise that was locked up in these showcases I was surprised that ANYTHING was locked up in the store. There were two employees working from what I could see. One was at the cash register (before she left the salesfloor for some reason, maybe a break?) and the other was on the salesfloor absorbed in putting out merchandise. Who was going to help me if I had wanted to look at something in a showcase? From the pace of the salesfloor guy I did not get the impression he was going to be in a hurry to assist me if I opened the chime door to the air freshener refills. CEO of Loss Prevention Systems Inc., Bill Bregar understands that for small and medium sized stores staffing could be limited to one or two people in the store at any given time. Locking merchandise in a showcase doesn’t make sense when store employees may be tied up at a register or at the other end of the store helping another customer. The only thing it may do is annoy a customer or prevent a sale. Sure, merchandise will be protected as it sits and does absolutely nothing to assist sales. Bill wants store managers to see that by using Alpha Keepers merchandise is still protected but customers can pick up an item and walk around. There is no need for a sales person to come by with a key and unlock it. Protected merchandise will sell rather than gather dust in a case.
The other take away in this is either protect merchandise or don’t protect it. If a manager is going to limit what will be protected, at least have it make sense. Don’t put an air freshener refill in a security case to prevent shoplifting and leave the main air fresheners on an open sell shelf. Don’t take up valuable salesfloor space with a locking showcase for a one dollar card of some sort. Alpha Keepers give more flexibility in what can be protected and take up less floor space in the process.
Take theft prevention seriously. Let the folks at Loss Prevention Systems Inc. help you in shortage reduction planning and the tools that can make you successful. Alpha Keepers can improve access to goods while freeing up your employees to provide customer service and ring sales.
Alpha Keepers are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
From time to time I find the need to go on a rant about efforts I see to prevent shoplifting after visiting different stores. I have to wonder who is making some of the decisions with respect to shortage protection initiatives. The other day I was shopping in a chain store and glanced at a small locking display case. Because I write about this stuff and because I have been involved in Retail Loss Prevention for so long I happen to be nosey about these things. What could be so important in this store (if I said where I was you would probably say the same thing) that there would be a need for a locking showcase? Well, there was some type of pay-as you-go cell phone and a $1 dollar phone card of some sort. You read that right, a ONE dollar card. A little further down the same aisle were foods that were more expensive! Now I will be generous and say that this might have been a fluke. However, I got to another aisle that had air freshener refills in one of those cases that sounds a chiming noise when the door is opened by a customer. I thought that the strategy was really odd. If shortage was an issue in these departments it would have been easier and made more sense to use Keepers on the items that were being “secured”.
Keepers are clear, hard protective boxes with locking lids. The boxes have electronic article surveillance (EAS) technology built into them that is designed to work with an EAS System towers. The boxes are extremely tough and can only be opened with a detachment tool usually kept secured at store points of sale. Efforts to force open a Keeper box results in a tamper alarm sounding and alerting store employees to an attempted theft. Responding associates prevent shoplifting by providing great customer service to the would-be thief. If a criminal is foolish enough to try to carry an item protected in a Keeper past an EAS tower the tower will sense the radio waves sent out by the Keeper. An alarm in the tower sounds at the attempted breach. Again, associates respond to the alarms and through careful receipt checks get the perpetrator to buy the item or hand it over. Either way theft is stopped.
Not only was I amused by the merchandise that was locked up in these showcases I was surprised that ANYTHING was locked up in the store. There were two employees working from what I could see. One was at the cash register (before she left the salesfloor for some reason, maybe a break?) and the other was on the salesfloor absorbed in putting out merchandise. Who was going to help me if I had wanted to look at something in a showcase? From the pace of the salesfloor guy I did not get the impression he was going to be in a hurry to assist me if I opened the chime door to the air freshener refills. CEO of Loss Prevention Systems Inc., Bill Bregar understands that for small and medium sized stores staffing could be limited to one or two people in the store at any given time. Locking merchandise in a showcase doesn’t make sense when store employees may be tied up at a register or at the other end of the store helping another customer. The only thing it may do is annoy a customer or prevent a sale. Sure, merchandise will be protected as it sits and does absolutely nothing to assist sales. Bill wants store managers to see that by using Keepers merchandise is still protected but customers can pick up an item and walk around. There is no need for a sales person to come by with a key and unlock it. Protected merchandise will sell rather than gather dust in a case.
The other take away in this is either protect merchandise or don’t protect it. If a manager is going to limit what will be protected, at least have it make sense. Don’t put an air freshener refill in a security case to prevent shoplifting and leave the main air fresheners on an open sell shelf. Don’t take up valuable salesfloor space with a locking showcase for a one dollar card of some sort. Keepers give more flexibility in what can be protected and take up less floor space in the process.
Take theft prevention seriously. Let the folks at Loss Prevention Systems Inc. help you in shortage reduction planning and the tools that can make you successful. Keepers can improve access to goods while freeing up your employees to provide customer service and ring sales.
Keepers are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
