Q: What questions can I ask employee candidates in the interview (not really!)? Okay we know what we would like to ask!
- Are you lying?
- Why is there a gap between employments? Were you in jail….or prison?
- Have you been convicted of a crime?
If “yes” answer the follow up question is: Do you need a separate piece of paper to list them?
- Do you intend to steal from my company?
If “yes” answer the follow up question is: Will it be more than $5000 or less?
- Have you murdered anyone in the last 7 years?
- Are there any undiscovered bodies buried anywhere on your property or under your basement floor?
- Has your photo or likeness ever been on a Post Office bulletin board?
- Have you ever appeared in an episode of COPS and not either wearing a uniform or as the Camera Man?
- Do you have any prison tattoos?
- Do you restrict the use of illegal narcotics to weekends only or just on trips funded by the money and merchandise you will steal from me?
- Have you ever left a crime scene before the Police arrived?
- Do you intend to steal from my customers?
- Which illegal narcotics do you use on a daily basis?
- Heroin
- Cocaine
- LSD
- Meth
- All of the above
- Have you ever appeared on a sex offender list in ANY country?
- After answering “yes” to any of these questions do you really think I am going to employ you?
LPSI Customers – If you would like a real list of 100 questions you CAN ask please contact us.
It is important to convey to the customer that this is an INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEM not the shoplifter, bad guy, criminal system.
INCOMING ALARMS:
Ask the customer:
- Have you purchased something in another store with a system like this? Other retailers may not have properly deactivated a label they placed on merchandise.
- Are you returning an item for exchange or refund? Was the item they are returning, purchased or stolen?
- Is there any reason you can think of for our inventory system to alarm? Let the customer offer input as to why the system is alarming. They may become nervous and give you more information.
In some cases shoplifters will enter a store intentionally with a live tag or label to set your system off. They may say something like “oh, this happens to me all the time”. That way when they leave and set the Checkpoint System off you will simply allow them to go. Use this as a customer service opportunity to “fix” the customers problem. A real customer will be appreciative.
OUTGOING ALARMS:
A great way to approach the customer is to say “let me take care of that for you”. In many cases the alarm could be as a result of the cashier not removing a hard tag or deactivating a label. So approach them to provide customer service: approach customer in friendly manner and ask to check their receipt.
You can imply there may have been an error and an item may not have been deactivated. Implying the customer has done something can escalate the situation. If the customer is not stealing, this is another form a good and attentive customer service.
Take the customers bag and walk it through the Checkpoint System yourself. You know you do not have a tag or label on yourself. If it alarms then chances are the item is in the bag.
The best way to resolve this is to ask for the receipt and take the merchandise to a cash/wrap and look for the item that is causing an alarm. Check the merchandise against the receipt. Shoplifters will sometimes drop a concealed item they had on their person into the bag after they leave the cash/wrap.
If the bag does not alarm then ask the customer to walk back through the system including any purses, coats… they are carrying. If it alarms then the customer has a tag or label on their person. Follow your stores procedures for a potential shoplifter.
Checkpoint Systems are proven commercial equipment that many State Laws acknowledge. It is perfectly safe as harmless as an FM radio. It will not affect or impair watches, magnetic tapes, cameras, hearing aids, pace makers, cell phones, access control cards or any other similar device.
In some cases shoplifters will become agitated and argumentative. Remember you have the legal and moral high ground. Stay calm and continue to use your skills to resolve the issue. If you are in doubt ask for assistance from your store staff.
Retail Loss “Penalty” Costs Average U.S. Household $615 Annually; Dishonest Employees Biggest Contributor; Shoplifting Remains Significant
THOROFARE, NJ — Nov. 4, 2015 – Shrink, comprised of shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, and administrative errors, rose in the U.S. from 1.28 percent of sales in 2013-2014 to 1.97 percent during 2014-2015, based upon responses from common retail respondents who participated in Global Retail Theft Barometer surveys both years.
Click to Download the Report Now
Globally, this compares to 1.42 percent, a figure also up from the previous .94 percent average of all common retailers surveyed the previous year.
Retailers expressed that a range of factors, including a challenging retail environment, caused them to implement austerity measures resulting in a reduction of loss prevention investments. This, combined with areas of high unemployment and limited tools to monitor internal theft and inventory discrepancies, all contributed to an increase in their shrink.
According to the report, the annual cost of shrink to U.S. shoppers, as absorbed or passed on from retailers, averaged $615 per household.
The study, underwritten by an independent grant from Checkpoint Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CKP), was carried out during 2014-2015 by The Smart Cube and Ernie Deyle, a retail loss prevention analyst. It was based upon in-depth phone and written survey interviews conducted in 24 countries among more than 200 retailers representing nearly $1 trillion in sales during 2014-2015.
Seasonal Comparisons
Seasonally, U.S. respondents said that 46 percent of their yearly losses occurred in winter, nearly twice as much as the next season, autumn, at 24 percent. Spring (18 percent) and summer (12 percent) followed.
Vertical Retail Comparisons
U.S. apparel specialists (2.28 percent), pharmacies/drugstores (2.25 percent) and non-grocery retailers (1.9 percent) witnessed the highest shrink rates because of the widespread prevalence of internal and external retail theft targeting their merchandise.
Employee Theft vs. Shoplifting
In fact, while shoplifting is the biggest cause of retail shrink in 18 of the 24 countries surveyed, in the U.S., employee theft ranked first at 45 percent, with shoplifting next at 36 percent. The primary reasons for employee theft were weak pre-employment screening procedures, reduced associate supervision, increasing part-time workforce (especially during peak winter periods when theft is highest), and the easy sale of stolen merchandise.
Shoplifting continues to plague the retail industry due to escalating problem of organized retail crime, easy sales of stolen merchandise through online sites, reduced investments in loss prevention tools and resources, and the general perception of shoplifting as a “low-risk/non-offensive” crime.
Most Stolen Merchandise
Shoplifters and dishonest employees in the U.S. primarily targeted small and easy-to-conceal items such as liquor, mobile accessories, batteries, fashion accessories and razor blades, as well as high-value items with high resale value, such as tablets. When sorted by retail vertical, the most stolen items included footwear (Apparel and Fashion Accessories); batteries (DIY Home Improvement); mobile device accessories (Electronics); wines and liquor (Food and Beverage); and razor blades (Health and Beauty).
According to Deyle, “This year’s results highlight the persistent factors that impact shrink and ultimately reduce retailers’ profitability. Even if retailers are paying more attention to all aspects of the problem, without a strong investment in loss prevention tactics, tools and resources, they won’t get the results they’d expect. Our hope is that this report helps the industry better understand all the complexities of the shrink problem as well as the most cost-effective ways of addressing it.”
“This is our fourteenth year of supporting what continues to be the industry’s only global statistical research,” said Per Levin President of Merchandise Availability Solutions, Checkpoint Systems. “To combat increased shrink, retailers are adopting strategies to approach losses from a wider perspective from all levels within the organization and work with their supplier and solutions partners. With the right technologies, people and processes, they can achieve improved merchandise availability, which directly impacts shoppers’ satisfaction and retailers’ profitability.”
Loss Prevention Measures
Click to Download the Report Now
During the latest reporting period, U.S. retailers that also participated in the study in 2013 reduced their overall loss prevention spend to 0.50% of sales, which contributed to the reported increase in shrink. Most common loss prevention store solutions included CCTV/DVR (83 percent), alarm monitoring (78 percent), and security guards (63 percent). Most common merchandise protection solutions deployed to prevent retail theft included alectronic article surveillance (EAS) (68 percent), spider wraps/security keepers (41 percent) and advanced inventory control tactics (27 percent).
Interested parties can obtain a copy of the complete 135-page Global Retail Theft Barometer report and see a video overview of the study at http://www.GlobalRetailTheftBarometer.com. In addition, an in-depth review of the study will be available via a webinar hosted by Loss Prevention Magazine on November 11 at 1 p.m. EST.
Retailers wishing to participate in next year’s Global Retail Theft Barometer study may register here.
About The Smart Cube (www.thesmartcube.com)
The Smart Cube is a global professional services firm that specializes in delivering custom research and analytics services. The firm helps organizations make critical decisions based on bespoke intelligence and insight. Founded in 2003, The Smart Cube has conducted more than 19,000 studies through its global network of 500 analysts. The firm is headquartered in London and has professionals throughout Asia Pacific, the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Follow The Smart Cube on LinkedIn athttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-smart-cube or on Twitter @TSCInsights.
About Checkpoint Systems (www.Checkpoint Systems.com)
Checkpoint Systems is a global leader in merchandise availability solutions for the retail industry, encompassing loss prevention and merchandise visibility. Checkpoint provides end-to-end solutions enabling retailers to achieve accurate real-time inventory, accelerate the replenishment cycle, prevent out-of-stocks and reduce theft, thus improving merchandise availability and the shopper’s experience. Checkpoint’s solutions are built upon 45 years of radio frequency technology expertise, innovative high-theft and loss prevention solutions, market-leading RFID hardware, software, and comprehensive labeling capabilities to brand, secure and track merchandise from source to shelf. Checkpoint’s customers benefit from increased sales and profits by implementing merchandise availability solutions to ensure the right merchandise is available at the right place and time when consumers are ready to buy. Listed on the NYSE (NYSE: CKP), Checkpoint operates in every major geographic market and employs more than 4700 people worldwide.
