EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECKS AND THE EFFECTS THEY HAVE ON SHRINK
A core part of my job is investigating employee theft. Even with stringent hiring practices, constant training and always conducting employee background checks prior to hiring someone, dishonest employees are always a problem. It’s a game of statistics, really. I have 30 stores in my region. 70 or so employees at each store location. That’s a little over 2,000 employees. If just 5% of employees will steal something (and that’s being very conservative) that means at any given time, about 100 employees in my region will be engaging in nefarious activities. That means a great deal of my time is spent investigating and resolving these types of thefts. That all means that there are numerous folks that are terminated for theft.
I was looking for a new computer recently and decided to try out a new electronics store that had recently come into the market. I start browsing and an employee comes up behind me and asks if I need help. As I turn around, I (and her) quickly realize that our paths have crossed once before. She had stolen quite a substantial amount of product from my store about a year ago. I guess this new store doesn’t see a benefit in pre-employment screening. I decide I don’t want a computer from the store and head out. As I’m leaving, I hear a voice yell my name. I look over and an old high school buddy of mine is actually the manager of the store. I walk over to chat a bit.
The conversation ultimately goes to what I’m up to, and I mention that his salesperson wasn’t the most honest when she worked for my company. Looking like I just shot his dog, he confesses that the one thing he does not like about the company is that they do not run an employee background check on potential candidates. He also tells me that the same team member is suspected of stealing speakers, but they don’t have cameras in the store either. For a minute, I thought I had traveled into some alternate dimension where shrink wasn’t a concern for brick and mortar retailers.
I don’t know what became of that employee. I never did return to that store. Not because I morally disagreed with their LP practices. I don’t care if a store doesn’t do a thorough pre-employment screening; it’s not my company. The reason I didn’t make a purchase was the prices were just too high. I could buy the same item down the road at a competitor for 15-20% less. Could their higher prices be a sign that they are struggling to profit? Could that grasp for profit come from shrink? Maybe.
Think of your own business and your own customers. You always want to provide customers with the best possible experience; most often, that means having the lowest price around. As a retailer, you have to do all that is in your power to keep operating costs down in order to maximize the profit out of every item you sell. Part of that equation is limiting your exposure to shrink. Just as you apply security tags to high theft items, you should use an employee background check to prevent bad apples from being introduced into your basket. A simple and painless pre-employment screening can really make the difference of using red ink, or black on your next P+L.
Employee Background Check is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
A core part of my job is investigating employee theft. Even with stringent hiring practices, constant training and always conducting employee background checks prior to hiring someone, dishonest employees are always a problem. It’s a game of statistics, really. I have 30 stores in my region. 70 or so employees at each store location. That’s a little over 2,000 employees. If just 5% of employees will steal something (and that’s being very conservative) that means at any given time, about 100 employees in my region will be engaging in nefarious activities. That means a great deal of my time is spent investigating and resolving these types of thefts. That all means that there are numerous folks that are terminated for theft.
I was looking for a new computer recently and decided to try out a new electronics store that had recently come into the market. I start browsing and an employee comes up behind me and asks if I need help. As I turn around, I (and her) quickly realize that our paths have crossed once before. She had stolen quite a substantial amount of product from my store about a year ago. I guess this new store doesn’t see a benefit in pre-employment screening. I decide I don’t want a computer from the store and head out. As I’m leaving, I hear a voice yell my name. I look over and an old high school buddy of mine is actually the manager of the store. I walk over to chat a bit.
The conversation ultimately goes to what I’m up to, and I mention that his salesperson wasn’t the most honest when she worked for my company. Looking like I just shot his dog, he confesses that the one thing he does not like about the company is that they do not run an employee background check on potential candidates. He also tells me that the same team member is suspected of stealing speakers, but they don’t have cameras in the store either. For a minute, I thought I had traveled into some alternate dimension where shrink wasn’t a concern for brick and mortar retailers.
I don’t know what became of that employee. I never did return to that store. Not because I morally disagreed with their LP practices. I don’t care if a store doesn’t do a thorough pre-employment screening; it’s not my company. The reason I didn’t make a purchase was the prices were just too high. I could buy the same item down the road at a competitor for 15-20% less. Could their higher prices be a sign that they are struggling to profit? Could that grasp for profit come from shrink? Maybe.
Think of your own business and your own customers. You always want to provide customers with the best possible experience; most often, that means having the lowest price around. As a retailer, you have to do all that is in your power to keep operating costs down in order to maximize the profit out of every item you sell. Part of that equation is limiting your exposure to shrink. Just as you apply security tags to high theft items, you should use an employee background check to prevent bad apples from being introduced into your basket. A simple and painless pre-employment screening can really make the difference of using red ink, or black on your next P+L.
Employee Background Check is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Electronic Article Surveillance-3 WC blog 101
Checkpoint hard Tags-3
Stop Shoplifting -4
Gen 3 Checkpoint Hard Tags Can Keep You From Feeling Blue From Jean Theft
Ask anyone who has been in Loss Prevention and they can probably tell you about a shoplifter or a group of shoplifters who they will always remember. It may because of what they were stealing or the manner of theft. It may even be how they acted once they were stopped. I have a number of these stories from my many years as a Loss Prevention Associate and a Loss Prevention Manager. While I enjoy being able to share these experiences, I also like to be able to share what may have prevented the situation and the lessons learned so that retail owners and managers may be able to prevent shoplifting incidents in their stores. Many of the lessons learned involve merchandise protection strategies that would have been useful to stop shoplifting before it got out of hand. One of the Checkpoint hard tags I wish I had access to was the Checkpoint Gen 3 Checkpoint tag.
Before I go on with my story, let me share a bit of information on what the Gen 3 Checkpoint hard tags are so that it makes sense how it would have made a difference for our store. The Gen 3 tag is a two-piece hard tag that is pinned together through a piece of clothing. It has an aesthetically appealing disc shaped design that does not take away from the appearance of a garment. Yet, while it has a pleasing look it is durable, tamper resistant and difficult to take off without the proper removal device. It is built to activate electronic article surveillance antennas in the event of an attempt to shoplift the merchandise it is attached to. The alarm activation elicits response from store personnel so they can recover the merchandise before it is removed from the store.
In the case I referenced earlier, I was the Loss Prevention Manager for a big box retailer. We had been experiencing a sharp increase in the loss of denim jeans from our store and I had to try to put a stop to it. We had two issues that we were contending with, one being that we are in a tourist area and we had a lot of people wearing backpacks to the store and we did not check them at when they walked in or hold them at our return desk due to liability concerns. Second, we did not have enough security staff to be in the store during all hours of operation so it was apparent when we did not have a uniformed security officer at our front doors. I had our team begin doing live surveillances on the jean wall and leaving a camera on them when we were not there, reviewing that video when we were back at work. The only protections to stop shoplifting of the merchandise at the time were soft Checkpoint tags applied to the manufacturer hang tag. Unfortunately, we were finding the manufacturer tags and the electronic article surveillance tags lying around the store and in the fitting rooms. Eventually our efforts with surveillance paid off and we got a suspect on camera.
We had some foreign student workers who were brought in to work for tourist oriented businesses in our area during the summer. Some of these student workers were known to be stealing in a number of stores but it was not always easy to catch them since they tended to work in groups. Through live video surveillance we did see a couple of young ladies filling their purses with several pair of jeans after removing tags and we apprehended them. This did not completely stop shoplifting of denims, but it did seem to slow down significantly after this arrest. The shoplifters had their work visas revoked and they received fines for the theft.
The lesson I hope those reading this article will take away is that had the Gen 3 Checkpoint hard tags been available to us, we could have taken better steps to protect the merchandise and not suffered the losses we did before catching our thieves. If you have hard to tag merchandise, look at the electronic article surveillance options available to stop shoplifting offered by Checkpoint.
For more information on Checkpoint hard tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Ask anyone who has been in Loss Prevention and they can probably tell you about a shoplifter or a group of shoplifters who they will always remember. It may because of what they were stealing or the manner of theft. It may even be how they acted once they were stopped. I have a number of these stories from my many years as a Loss Prevention Associate and a Loss Prevention Manager. While I enjoy being able to share these experiences, I also like to be able to share what may have prevented the situation and the lessons learned so that retail owners and managers may be able to prevent shoplifting incidents in their stores. Many of the lessons learned involve merchandise protection strategies that would have been useful to stop shoplifting before it got out of hand. One of the Checkpoint hard tags I wish I had access to was the Checkpoint Gen 3 Checkpoint tag.
Before I go on with my story, let me share a bit of information on what the Gen 3 Checkpoint hard tags are so that it makes sense how it would have made a difference for our store. The Gen 3 tag is a two-piece hard tag that is pinned together through a piece of clothing. It has an aesthetically appealing disc shaped design that does not take away from the appearance of a garment. Yet, while it has a pleasing look it is durable, tamper resistant and difficult to take off without the proper removal device. It is built to activate electronic article surveillance antennas in the event of an attempt to shoplift the merchandise it is attached to. The alarm activation elicits response from store personnel so they can recover the merchandise before it is removed from the store.
In the case I referenced earlier, I was the Loss Prevention Manager for a big box retailer. We had been experiencing a sharp increase in the loss of denim jeans from our store and I had to try to put a stop to it. We had two issues that we were contending with, one being that we are in a tourist area and we had a lot of people wearing backpacks to the store and we did not check them when they walked in or hold them at our return desk due to liability concerns. Second, we did not have enough security staff to be in the store during all hours of operation so it was apparent when we did not have a uniformed security officer at our front doors. I had our team begin doing live surveillances on the jean wall and leaving a camera on them when we were not there, reviewing that video when we were back at work. The only protections to stop shoplifting of the merchandise at the time were soft Checkpoint tags applied to the manufacturer hang tag. Unfortunately, we were finding the manufacturer tags and the electronic article surveillance tags lying around the store and in the fitting rooms. Eventually our efforts with surveillance paid off and we got a suspect on camera.
We had some foreign student workers who were brought in to work for tourist oriented businesses in our area during the summer. Some of these student workers were known to be stealing in a number of stores but it was not always easy to catch them since they tended to work in groups. Through live video surveillance we did see a couple of young ladies filling their purses with several pair of jeans after removing tags and we apprehended them.This did not completely stop shoplifting of denims, but it did seem to slow down significantly after this arrest. The shoplifters had their work visas revoked and they received fines for the theft.
The lesson I hope those reading this article will take away is that had the Gen 3 Checkpoint hard tags been available to us, we could have taken better steps to protect the merchandise and not suffered the losses we did before catching our thieves. If you have hard to tag merchandise, look at the electronic article surveillance options available to stop shoplifting offered by Checkpoint.
For more information on Checkpoint hard tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
JM Blog 7 ROI 9/28/2016
Key words KW – Free Loss Prevention Calculator 5
KW- Loss Prevention Calculator 4
Spending Increases Profits? Free Loss Prevention Calculator Makes ROI As Easy As Clicking A Mouse
As anyone in business will tell you that it is profits that make everything else ok. No one bats an eyelash at the money spent on an advertisement when sales spike a few percentage points the day after. In Loss prevention we never have such an easy or obvious way to show how we increased profits, no easy graph to show your return on investment. As a result, getting approval for new expenses is often a challenge; after all it isn’t like we can pull up a Loss Prevention Calculator on our PC to show how quickly our work will impact the bottom line. Right? What if I told you there was a Free Loss Prevention Calculator available to do just that?
A Free Loss Prevention Calculator you ask? That seems rather magical now doesn’t it? Well it isn’t but what this Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool to put hard values at your fingertips to determine your ROI. Trust me, after several years in loss prevention I can tell you that investing in shoplifting prevention systems will increase profits. As for your ROI you can be sure that these investments can be looked at know that the profits question is a matter of when, not if, the system will pay for itself. Beauty is that after a system has paid for itself it actually makes you money.
I know this concept is not going to be easy for some people to take, after all we can clearly see the line item expense on the P&L but what we can’t see is the number of people who don’t steal. It can be a tough sell but that’s where the Free Loss Prevention Calculator comes in. Using average values, you will be able to see an actual number, not a guess, not a ball park but an actual number when making this ROI decision.
When I first started out I had this same conceptual argument over a few different shrink reduction strategies. Management pushed back against the LP initiatives because they couldn’t see the ROI. I finally got through to the operations team when, after a particularly productive meeting, I threw out the number $5000, the amount that I knew we had recently recovered. Management didn’t seem to think this was significant and I didn’t have a Loss Prevention Calculator to show them. I was frustrated
Then it hit me. I made a point to them they couldn’t argue with. I asked the loudest of the managers a simple question. I said “If the District Manager came here and said he had a way for you to increase your profit line by $5000 would you tell him that you weren’t going to do what he suggested because you couldn’t see the ROI of his idea? Would you tell him you were too busy or that you were simply ok with only making X dollars and that adding $5000 more wasn’t worth your time? ”No one had an answer to that question.
What we did have was an understanding. An understanding that no one is too busy and no investment is unreasonable if it is guaranteed to increase profits. I didn’t have the luxury of a Loss Prevention Calculator; much less a Free Loss Prevention Calculator but now we all have access to this tool. For all of us the time spent fighting for buy in on an idea or initiative is, quite frankly time we could use elsewhere, like making money. Take advantage of this tool and add some punch to your next pitch, use the Free Loss Prevention Calculator to show exactly how much and how long your investment will become a profit.
Need information on our Free Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
As anyone in business will tell you that it is profits that make everything else ok. No one bats an eyelash at the money spent on an advertisement when sales spike a few percentage points the day after. In Loss prevention we never have such an easy or obvious way to show how we increased profits, no easy graph to show your return on investment. As a result, getting approval for new expenses is often a challenge; after all it isn’t like we can pull up a Loss Prevention Calculator on our PC to show how quickly our work will impact the bottom line. Right? What if I told you there was a Free Loss Prevention Calculator available to do just that?
A Free Loss Prevention Calculator you ask? That seems rather magical now doesn’t it? Well it isn’t but what this Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool to put hard values at your fingertips to determine your ROI. Trust me, after several years in loss prevention I can tell you that investing in shoplifting prevention systems will increase profits. As for your ROI you can be sure that these investments can be looked at know that the profits question is a matter of when, not if, the system will pay for itself. Beauty is that after a system has paid for itself it actually makes you money.
I know this concept is not going to be easy for some people to take, after all we can clearly see the line item expense on the P&L but what we can’t see is the number of people who don’t steal. It can be a tough sell but that’s where the Free Loss Prevention Calculator comes in. Using average values, you will be able to see an actual number, not a guess, not a ball park but an actual number when making this ROI decision.
When I first started out I had this same conceptual argument over a few different shrink reduction strategies. Management pushed back against the LP initiatives because they couldn’t see the ROI. I finally got through to the operations team when, after a particularly productive meeting, I threw out the number $5000, the amount that I knew we had recently recovered. Management didn’t seem to think this was significant and I didn’t have a Loss Prevention Calculator to show them. I was frustrated.
Then it hit me. I made a point to them they couldn’t argue with. I asked the loudest of the managers a simple question. I said “If the District Manager came here and said he had a way for you to increase your profit line by $5000 would you tell him that you weren’t going to do what he suggested because you couldn’t see the ROI of his idea? Would you tell him you were too busy or that you were simply ok with only making X dollars and that adding $5000 more wasn’t worth your time? ”No one had an answer to that question.
What we did have was an understanding. An understanding that no one is too busy and no investment is unreasonable if it is guaranteed to increase profits. I didn’t have the luxury of a Loss Prevention Calculator; much less a Free Loss Prevention Calculator but now we all have access to this tool. For all of us the time spent fighting for buy in on an idea or initiative is, quite frankly time we could use elsewhere, like making money. Take advantage of this tool and add some punch to your next pitch, use the Free Loss Prevention Calculator to show exactly how much and how long your investment will become a profit.
Need information on our Free Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
Prevent Shoplifting-4 WC blog 226
Alpha Keepers-5
Retail anti-theft devices-3
Minimizing Merchandise Presentation To Prevent Theft May Hurt Sales; Alpha Keepers Allow Fuller Displays And Prevent Shoplifting
Balance. That is the key to driving profitable sales. Retailers have to be able to do those things necessary to increase sales while being smart about protecting against theft and fraud. This can seem like a catch-22 at times and lead to frustration. Do you fill your shelves with product and have it available for customers to purchase? Do you partially fill your shelves in hopes that patrons will buy the product before shoplifters steal it from the shelves? Maybe you put up locking display showcases and open them up when customers want to look at something? Balance is finding the happy medium that allows you to fill your store shelves, provide customer access to merchandise and prevent shoplifting all at the same time. That is not easy. Using Alpha Keepers retail anti-theft devices is the solution for maintaining that balance.
Alpha Keepers are durable, see-through boxes that allow product to be secured for protection, yet free to be handled by customers. Display cases require an employee with a key to unlock the door, show and monitor the merchandise as a customer looks it over and decides if it is something they want. Alpha Keepers allow the retailer to place merchandise directly on the shelf where it is available to the customer to handle. All package information can be read through the box, ingredients, contents, warnings, etc. The only difference between displaying items in the Keeper versus on an open display is that Alpha Keepers prevent shoplifting since they are very difficult to force open and they are electronic article surveillance (EAS) sensitive. In other words if a store is equipped with EAS antennas, when a shoplifter attempts to steal merchandise in a Keeper box, the antenna alarm will activate. That activation sounds an alert that warns employees unpaid items are being taken out of the store. Merchandise not protected by retail anti-theft devices results in drastic reductions to the profit margin due to theft. If they don’t prevent shoplifting, small to medium sized businesses may not be able to absorb those losses as easily as a major retailer and could go out of business.
Over the course of my career in retail I have seen store managers attempt to use different strategies to prevent shoplifting. One of those strategies is to reduce the amount of a product displayed on a shelf if that item is targeted by criminals. At first glance this sounds like a reasonable solution to the problem. There are issues with this strategy that retailers don’t consider. If that minimal amount of product runs out, due to sales or theft, how quickly does it get replenished for the next customer? Another concern noted in a booklet created by Iowa State University North Central Regional Center For Rural Development, titled “Visual Merchandising, A Guide For Small Retailers”, written by Holly Bastow-Shoop, North Dakota State University, Dale Zetocha, North Dakota State University and Gregory Passewitz, The Ohio State University, May 1991 http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/uploads/files/133/NCRCRD-rrd155-print.pdf “A window or display area with too little merchandise makes a store appear to be going out of business or, indicates to the customer that the establishment is less than prosperous.” (pg. 55).
A retailer cannot afford to lose sales because they have created a perception that the store is going out of business. I have first- hand experience that appearance does affect the shopping habits of customers. The store I currently work in was transitioning from a seasonal displays and preparing for the next seasonal set of shippers. In doing so we had clearance merchandise spread out and empty main aisles where shippers had been located. A customer was looking around and I offered her assistance. She said she was just looking but had a look of concern on her face. I asked if there was something specific she was looking for. She hesitated said “No”, and then asked me if the store was going out of business. I reassured her we were not, but due to merchandising that was what she perceived. This misperception was due to stocking/merchandising caused by the time of the year, but clearly if a store deliberately limits merchandise and displays look anemic customers may limit or stop shopping at that location.
Retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha Keepers allow a retailer to keep displays full for customers and increase sales. Customers can have the freedom to select merchandise and continue shopping. Owners can be confident merchandise will be paid for at the register.
Get more information on Alpha Keepers. Contact us at 1.770.426.0547 today.
Balance. That is the key to driving profitable sales. Retailers have to be able to do those things necessary to increase sales while being smart about protecting against theft and fraud. This can seem like a catch-22 at times and lead to frustration. Do you fill your shelves with product and have it available for customers to purchase? Do you partially fill your shelves in hopes that patrons will buy the product before shoplifters steal it from the shelves? Maybe you put up locking display showcases and open them up when customers want to look at something? Balance is finding the happy medium that allows you to fill your store shelves, provide customer access to merchandise and prevent shoplifting all at the same time. That is not easy. Using Alpha Keepers retail anti-theft devices is the solution for maintaining that balance.
Alpha Keepers are durable, see-through boxes that allow product to be secured for protection, yet free to be handled by customers. Display cases require an employee with a key to unlock the door, show and monitor the merchandise as a customer looks it over and decides if it is something they want. Alpha Keepers allow the retailer to place merchandise directly on the shelf where it is available to the customer to handle. All package information can be read through the box, ingredients, contents, warnings, etc. The only difference between displaying items in the Keeper versus on an open display is that Alpha Keepers prevent shoplifting since they are very difficult to force open and they are electronic article surveillance (EAS) sensitive. In other words if a store is equipped with EAS antennas, when a shoplifter attempts to steal merchandise in a Keeper box, the antenna alarm will activate. That activation sounds an alert that warns employees unpaid items are being taken out of the store. Merchandise not protected by retail anti-theft devices results in drastic reductions to the profit margin due to theft. If they don’t prevent shoplifting, small to medium sized businesses may not be able to absorb those losses as easily as a major retailer and could go out of business.
Over the course of my career in retail I have seen store managers attempt to use different strategies to prevent shoplifting. One of those strategies is to reduce the amount of a product displayed on a shelf if that item is targeted by criminals. At first glance this sounds like a reasonable solution to the problem. There are issues with this strategy that retailers don’t consider. If that minimal amount of product runs out, due to sales or theft, how quickly does it get replenished for the next customer? Another concern noted in a booklet created by Iowa State University North Central Regional Center For Rural Development, titled “Visual Merchandising, A Guide For Small Retailers”, written by Holly Bastow-Shoop, North Dakota State University, Dale Zetocha, North Dakota State University and Gregory Passewitz, The Ohio State University, May 1991 http://ncrcrd.msu.edu/uploads/files/133/NCRCRD-rrd155-print.pdf “A window or display area with too little merchandise makes a store appear to be going out of business or, indicates to the customer that the establishment is less than prosperous.” (pg. 55).
A retailer cannot afford to lose sales because they have created a perception that the store is going out of business. I have first- hand experience that appearance does affect the shopping habits of customers. The store I currently work in was transitioning from a seasonal displays and preparing for the next seasonal set of shippers. In doing so we had clearance merchandise spread out and empty main aisles where shippers had been located. A customer was looking around and I offered her assistance. She said she was just looking but had a look of concern on her face. I asked if there was something specific she was looking for. She hesitated said “No”, and then asked me if the store was going out of business. I reassured her we were not, but due to merchandising that was what she perceived. This misperception was due to stocking/merchandising caused by the time of the year, but clearly if a store deliberately limits merchandise and displays look anemic customers may limit or stop shopping at that location.
Retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha Keepers allow a retailer to keep displays full for customers and increase sales. Customers can have the freedom to select merchandise and continue shopping. Owners can be confident merchandise will be paid for at the register.
Get more information on Alpha Keepers. Contact us at 1.770.426.0547 today.
AA blog 04
Prevent shoplifting: 2
Alpha Spider Wrap: 4
Retail Anti-Theft devices: 2
The Police Prosecute Offenders, They Don’t Prevent Shoplifting. How The Alpha Spider Wrap Can Help You Prevent Shoplifting And Protect Your Investment.
I wanted to get a message to the small business owners out there regarding a topic I think is really important. Small retail stores tend to not properly secure their property to prevent shoplifting because they think the initial cost is too high, and they don’t see the cost benefit, as I see them. For example I responded to a report of shoplifting at a small store that sold mostly electronics; such as televisions, video gaming machines, games, movies and other high priced electronic items. I made contact with the manager who indicated that they had done an inventory and found that they were off by quite a large margin on their inventory. He estimated they lost approximately $15000.00 in inventory over a 60 day period. He provided a list of high priced items that were missing along with a video recording. The manager was able to identify four subjects taking merchandise, consistent with the missing inventory, during that time frame. The subjects were filling a cart and walking out with the items undetected. Now I won’t say the store had no security because they did, but there were flaws and weaknesses in their system. First, most of their large expensive items were not protected by an Alpha Spider Wrap, which would have prevented them from walking out the door with them. They did have some retail anti-theft devices on their property, but they were focused more on the smaller items, that could be concealed. They did not focus on the larger items because they assumed it would be easy to detect that type of theft, but they were wrong.
Employees are great resources to prevent shoplifting, but they can’t be your only means of detection. Employees are consistently helping customers, stocking inventory, making sales and doing other things that prevent them from being aware at all times. That is why we can’t ignore the larger more expensive items and the best way to do that is with an Alpha Spider Wrap. These devices come in various sizes and are equipped with expandable cables that can wrap around any shape for secure protection without damaging the item. They have an alarm and a flashing light built in that sounds when they try and leave the store with the merchandise or if someone tries to remove the device. These devices are reusable and are attached in store for easy use on items such as televisions, computers, gaming systems, tools and many other high priced bulky items. They serve as a means to assist associates with detection and prevention and add a huge cost savings as both a deterrent and a notification. Unfortunately in this particular situation the loss is hard to recover from.
Although I was able to identify the subjects, because they were what we call known offenders, the business will never fully recover from this loss. I found a fraction of the stolen property at the local pawn shop, some of which was recovered, some of which had been shipped out to other stores or sold. All the offenders were prosecuted for Burglary and Grand Theft, some of which served jail time others got a slap on the wrist. I would venture to say that store will see little to no restitution through the criminal justice system, as most offenders have no means to re-pay the debt and don’t care to. If they fail to comply they just go back to jail, which doesn’t benefit the retailer at all, and the process can be very lengthy.
This is why it is imperative for small businesses to take matters into their own hands to prevent shoplifting and to protect their property because prevention is always better than prosecution. The Alpha Spider Wrap and various other retail anti-theft devices are a cost efficient means to protect your property and increase profit.
The Alpha Spider Wrap is important and we can help you with it, call 1.770.426.0547.
I wanted to get a message to the small business owners out there regarding a topic I think is really important. Small retail stores tend to not properly secure their property to prevent shoplifting because they think the initial cost is too high, and they don’t see the cost benefit, as I see them. For example I responded to a report of shoplifting at a small store that sold mostly electronics; such as televisions, video gaming machines, games, movies and other high priced electronic items. I made contact with the manager who indicated that they had done an inventory and found that they were off by quite a large margin on their inventory. He estimated they lost approximately $15000.00 in inventory over a 60 day period. He provided a list of high priced items that were missing along with a video recording. The manager was able to identify four subjects taking merchandise, consistent with the missing inventory, during that time frame. The subjects were filling a cart and walking out with the items undetected. Now I won’t say the store had no security because they did, but there were flaws and weaknesses in their system. First, most of their large expensive items were not protected by an Alpha Spider Wrap, which would have prevented them from walking out the door with them. They did have some retail anti-theft devices on their property, but they were focused more on the smaller items, that could be concealed. They did not focus on the larger items because they assumed it would be easy to detect that type of theft, but they were wrong.
Employees are great resources to prevent shoplifting, but they can’t be your only means of detection. Employees are consistently helping customers, stocking inventory, making sales and doing other things that prevent them from being aware at all times. That is why we can’t ignore the larger more expensive items and the best way to do that is with an Alpha Spider Wrap. These devices come in various sizes and are equipped with expandable cables that can wrap around any shape for secure protection without damaging the item. They have an alarm and a flashing light built in that sounds when they try and leave the store with the merchandise or if someone tries to remove the device. These devices are reusable and are attached in store for easy use on items such as televisions, computers, gaming systems, tools and many other high priced bulky items. They serve as a means to assist associates with detection and prevention and add a huge cost savings as both a deterrent and a notification. Unfortunately in this particular situation the loss is hard to recover from.
Although I was able to identify the subjects, because they were what we call known offenders, the business will never fully recover from this loss. I found a fraction of the stolen property at the local pawn shop, some of which was recovered, some of which had been shipped out to other stores or sold. All the offenders were prosecuted for Burglary and Grand Theft, some of which served jail time others got a slap on the wrist. I would venture to say that store will see little to no restitution through the criminal justice system, as most offenders have no means to re-pay the debt and don’t care to. If they fail to comply they just go back to jail, which doesn’t benefit the retailer at all, and the process can be very lengthy.
This is why it is imperative for small businesses to take matters into their own hands to prevent shoplifting and to protect their property because prevention is always better than prosecution. The Alpha Spider Wrap and various other retail anti-theft devices are a cost efficient means to protect your property and increase profit.
The Alpha Spider Wrap is important and we can help you with it, call 1.770.426.0547.
