- Do you want to understand what is going on inside an employee’s head when they are involved in employee theft?
- How do you talk to your employees about employee theft?
These and many other issues are addressed in our new training seminar
“Keep your friends close, keep your employees closer”
We go in-depth into the world of employee theft and the employee.
LPSI can conduct this seminar live at your company, at our facility or live via a WebEx.
Contact us for more information.
The gold standard in the loss prevention world is the National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) by Dr. Richard C. Hollinger PhD at the University of Florida Department of Sociology, Criminology and Law. This study has been conducted for the last 20 plus years.
The 2011 sources of shrinkage break down as follows (note that the preliminary percentages do not total 100 percent):
• Employee Theft – 43.9%
• Shop Lifting – 35.7%
• Administrative Error – 12%
• Vendor Fraud – 5%
• Unknown – 5.5 %
Clearly our biggest exposure continues to be employee theft. Almost half of a retailer’s losses are caused by employees that steal from you.
When you combine employee theft and shoplifting, almost 80% of our losses are due to both internal and external theft.
As a retailer you cannot be passive about your anti-theft program, policies and procedures. You must be pro-active. Yes, cameras, Checkpoint systems and burglar alarm systems are critical. They are your base infrastructure. However, simply installing equipment, then patting yourself on the back because you feel the issues are solved, is a false sense of security.
Theft has to be addressed daily. It needs to be on your mind and your staff’s mind all the time. How do you react to a Checkpoint system alarm? Does your staff simply waive the customer on? How is your merchandise arranged? Are your high theft items in locations that can be monitored easily? Are you and your staff trained in loss prevention techniques?
You want to get some of that 80 percent back to your bottom line? Contact us today or call 1-770-426-0547!
Did you know that your burglar alarm system can be a business management tool? Most all modern alarm systems built within the last 15 years already contain firmware to do much more than monitor alarms. As a business owner you can use these features to manage your physical security. Here are a few to consider:
- ·An Open/Close Report – you should use this feature to see who arms and disarms you system. It tells you who was the first one in in the morning and the last one out for the evening. It records the date and time. This information is sent to your central station (CS) and is logged into their computer. Your alarm company sends you an automated email on a daily, weekly or whatever schedule you want showing this information. Review this report quickly each week. You can then question why that employee entered your business at 2 AM. Cost: $5 to $10 per month.
- Time/Test – this feature sends an automated signal to the CS daily or weekly. The CS computer is looking for it on schedule. If the CS computer does not receive the signal, it brings that to the attention of an operator. Not only does this tell you within a day that your alarm system may not be reporting signals but it can also reveal phone line or phone system problems. Cost: approximately $10 per month.
- New systems can do many other things. They can control heating, air conditioning and lighting. These systems can also tie video to your alarm system and email and text you when your system is disarmed or armed and include a short video clip of the camera looking at the front door.
As you may have seen on a TV commercial, you can also arm, disarm, and in most cases do anything you can do at the alarm keypad from your smart phone or PC. Soon some systems will have live video look-in. All of this from any computer or smart phone anywhere in the world.
Alpha High Theft Solutions is always on the cutting edge. We now have two more weapons in our arsenal when protecting liquor and wine. This is bottle security at its best.
Magna Guarde Bottle Cap – this bottle cap is designed for those extra-large bottle necks and uniquely shaped caps. Like all of Alpha’s bottle caps, Magna Guarde provides product denial. This means that not only is the bottle protected from shoplifters but it also keeps a person from opening the bottle in the store to pour off or consume. Magna Guarde is the same design style as EASy Guarde.
3 Alarm Omni Guarde Bottle Cap – WOW, this is a hot item. Imagine an Alpha Bottle Cap with a 3 Alarm sounder built in!!! An Alpha High Theft Solutions 3 Alarm Bottle Cap provides protection on three levels: first, if the shoplifter tries to remove the cap in store, the 95 db sounder goes off.
Second, if a shoplifter attempts to remove the bottle from the store, it will set the Checkpoint System or other EAS system off.
Third, if the product goes through the Checkpoint System, other EAS system or Alpha’s Nano Gate, the built in 95 db sounder goes off. This feature also provides a bit of entertainment as the shoplifter has no choice but to give you back the bottle hidden inside their coat or bag that is screaming out.
This combined with product denial makes the 3 Alarm Omni Guarde Bottle Cap the hot item in the bottle security market.
Ready to order? Contact us today!
Mystery Shops are completed by Professional Shoppers who are also known as Mystery Shoppers. These Mystery Shoppers are individuals who come into a retail store and evaluate the shopping experience. This could include customer service, speed of service, greetings by employees, product selection, age verification in the case of liquor or tobacco sales just to name a few.
Many of our mystery shops also evaluate the cleanliness of the store, employee uniforms and tend to weigh heavily on customer service. In most cases a purchase is made and we provide all of that information about the sale itself to the owner or manager. In some cases our clients want us to set up a particular situation and see how employees handle it. This may involve asking for products related to a specific event such as a wedding or holiday.
In other shops we look at integrity issues such as employee theft or giving away merchandise. In those cases the Mystery Shopper randomly selects employees or a specific employee if our client has a concern. The Professional Shoppers attempts to get “hooked up” with merchandise or service by paying the employee directly. Since that would constitute a criminal offence, the company can take legal action against the employee.
Overall a Mystery Shopper program utilizing Professional Shoppers, sets up and helps maintain a healthy environment for employees, customers and management.
Want a Mystery shop? Call us today!
