Bottle Service – 5 WC blog 26
Nightclub – 5
EASy bottle – 4
Protect Profits From Pricey Premiums – Consider The Benefits Of A Bottle Service
Bars and nightclubs are high energy, fast paced environments. But like any business, they have their own unique challenges and risks associated with them. Because they sell alcohol, the potential liabilities club owners and even employees face can be a little intimidating. No business owner wants to have to contest a lawsuit, but in today’s litigious society, there always seems to be someone seeking to make a quick buck. This is not to infer there are not legitimate claims out there, but many lawsuits are trivial and looking for that fast settlement. So what can an owner do to protect his or her interests and still run a profitable club or bar? Why not take a look at the advantages of starting a bottle service that includes Alpha bottle locks to minimize liabilities?
Unfortunately where alcohol is served, there is a strong likelihood that at some point someone will become too intoxicated and a fight will break out. If a nightclub has a bottle service option, a well-trained serving staff can monitor alcohol consumption by the parties they are serving. How so? This service provides customers who purchase it, special treatment and a dedicated server. The level of service purchased determines the number of and type of bottled alcohol beverages they will be served. The bottles come with bottle locks, such as the Alpha EASy bottle guard, that can only be opened with a key held by the server. The server controls the amount of alcohol consumed by members of a group and can determine if an individual may have reached their limit and can stop serving that person. Think of the benefit to your nightclub if you could cut off alcohol to patrons before they hit a level of intoxication that might contribute to a fight.
Starting and running bars and clubs costs money. One must invest in a building, equipment, merchandise (in this case primarily alcoholic beverages) and staff. While nightclubs have the potential to bring in significant profits, there are expenses that have to be controlled or those profits will quickly dwindle away. Insurance is one of those costs required for any business, but the bar and club owner have to be sure to have coverage for more than just liability coverage. Do you have property insurance to cover damages due to broken property if a fight breaks out? Furnishings, glasses, signs, even the exterior of the building such as landscaping need to be covered. If, as mentioned above, your wait staff is trained to identify customers who are becoming too intoxicated they can use their customer service training and control of the bottle lock key to cut off drinks to a patron who may start a fight, become involved in a fight, or simply start falling into things and breaking them. Prevention can save you on insurance by not having to file claims.
Is your club insured for liability that covers dram shop laws? These laws hold bars and clubs liable if they serve a person that is intoxicated and that person injures a third party, which may include car accidents. Making bottle service an option in your club may help to limit this risk. Trained staff who may suspect a member of the party they are serving has had too much to drink they can keep the EASy bottle lock on and prevent further service. They can partner with management to make arrangements for a taxi, or they can work with a party leader to ensure there is a designated driver who can get the patron home.
Use of EASy bottle locks can also protect a bar or club owner against employee theft, another concern when looking at property insurance. It is not a pleasant thought to consider that your employees might steal from you, but it happens and in a club without controls in place, employees could easily hide bottles and leave with them. Having an EAS system and using EASy bottle locks, you can deter employees from leaving work with your product, since the lock will alarm at the antenna. As long as you have key controls in place, employees will not be able to get the caps off if they were to get a bottle home. Lose too many bottles and you may have to file property loss claims against your insurer.
Taking steps to minimize insurance claims, by using bottle service in your nightclub and Alpha locks on your bottles can reduce your expenses. Fewer insurance claims leads to more money in your pocket. See if bottle service might be the right fit for your club.
For more information on bottle service contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Bars and nightclubs are high energy, fast paced environments. But like any business, they have their own unique challenges and risks associated with them. Because they sell alcohol, the potential liabilities club owners and even employees face can be a little intimidating. No business owner wants to have to contest a lawsuit, but in today’s litigious society, there always seems to be someone seeking to make a quick buck. This is not to infer there are not legitimate claims out there, but many lawsuits are trivial and looking for that fast settlement. So what can an owner do to protect his or her interests and still run a profitable club or bar? Why not take a look at the advantages of starting a bottle service that includes Alpha bottle locks to minimize liabilities?
Unfortunately where alcohol is served, there is a strong likelihood that at some point someone will become too intoxicated and a fight will break out. If a nightclub has a bottle service option, a well-trained serving staff can monitor alcohol consumption by the parties they are serving. How so? This service provides customers who purchase it, special treatment and a dedicated server. The level of service purchased determines the number of and type of bottled alcohol beverages they will be served. The bottles come with bottle locks, such as the Alpha EASy bottle guard, that can only be opened with a key held by the server. The server controls the amount of alcohol consumed by members of a group and can determine if an individual may have reached their limit and can stop serving that person. Think of the benefit to your nightclub if you could cut off alcohol to patrons before they hit a level of intoxication that might contribute to a fight.
Starting and running bars and clubs costs money. One must invest in a building, equipment, merchandise (in this case primarily alcoholic beverages) and staff. While nightclubs have the potential to bring in significant profits, there are expenses that have to be controlled or those profits will quickly dwindle away. Insurance is one of those costs required for any business, but the bar and club owner have to be sure to have coverage for more than just liability coverage. Do you have property insurance to cover damages due to broken property if a fight breaks out? Furnishings, glasses, signs, even the exterior of the building such as landscaping need to be covered. If, as mentioned above, your wait staff is trained to identify customers who are becoming too intoxicated they can use their customer service training and control of the bottle lock key to cut off drinks to a patron who may start a fight, become involved in a fight, or simply start falling into things and breaking them. Prevention can save you on insurance by not having to file claims.
Is your club insured for liability that covers dram shop laws? These laws hold bars and clubs liable if they serve a person that is intoxicated and that person injures a third party, which may include car accidents. Making bottle service an option in your club may help to limit this risk. Trained staff who may suspect a member of the party they are serving has had too much to drink they can keep the EASy bottle lock on and prevent further service. They can partner with management to make arrangements for a taxi, or they can work with a party leader to ensure there is a designated driver who can get the patron home.
Use of EASy bottle locks can also protect a bar or club owner against employee theft, another concern when looking at property insurance. It is not a pleasant thought to consider that your employees might steal from you, but it happens and in a club without controls in place, employees could easily hide bottles and leave with them. Having an EAS system and using EASy bottle locks, you can deter employees from leaving work with your product, since the lock will alarm at the antenna. As long as you have key controls in place, employees will not be able to get the caps off if they were to get a bottle home. Lose too many bottles and you may have to file property loss claims against your insurer.
Taking steps to minimize insurance claims, by using bottle service in your nightclub and Alpha locks on your bottles can reduce your expenses. Fewer insurance claims leads to more money in your pocket. See if bottle service might be the right fit for your club.
For more information on bottle service contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
PREVENTING REFUND FRAUD
I’m happy to say that I’ve survived another holiday shopping season in the retail industry. We all are, I’m sure. Now that the hustle and bustle is behind us, we need to turn our attention to refund fraud, which peaks this time of year. I normally see 10-12 cases each year in the two weeks after Christmas. Why is this so?
There are several reasons why refund fraud seems to increase in popularity this time of year. I believe the main reason is that cashiers think they can mask their dishonest actions in with the copious amounts of returns being conducted. While you can be the victim of employee theft at any point in the year, this period of time is really the best opportunity for a cashier to steal thousands, perhaps without you ever noticing.
How many times will you simply take care of a customer? They are bringing back a gift and want cash, or a credit to their account in lieu of store credit. I mean, there are hundreds of people in line waiting to return an item right now. In my stores, managers make this call about 5% of time. So if, during this time of year, a manager audits a cashier refunds, they don’t really think twice if they see a refund without a receipt where cash was given back. This is where a dishonest cashier can really take you to the cleaners.
Let’s say that for every day this cashier works, they conduct a fraudulent refund (or two) for $300. The cashier figures they can get away with it for at least 2 weeks, usually when the return traffic dies down. Working 5 days a week, this cashier can skim $3,000 from you without you ever realizing it. The cashier simply processes a refund transaction on the register without a customer present and selects cash. They then pocket the cash and voila! This is one of the most common forms of employee theft.
About three years ago, I had a cashier do this to me at one of my stores. This particular cashier had memorized the manager’s key code as well as the sku number for a high dollar pair of shoes. Over the course of 3 weeks, the cashier conducted over $20,000 in refund fraud by returning the same sku for cash, multiple times a day. This wasn’t just a case of manager’s overlooking returns due to sales volume, but a control measure failure on every level. You can prevent this from happening to your store by a following a few simple steps.
Cashier supervisors should always match refund documents at the end of each cashier’s shift. In my experience, dishonest cashier will throw away the register receipt instead of entering it in with their paperwork. Missing refund slips should always be investigated. Next, any deviation in policy needs to be approved by a manager. This allows you to easily spot potentially fraudulent transactions. Last, randomly audit and count several tills throughout the day. If dishonest cashiers are holding cash to pocket later, counting their tills in the middle of the day is a great way to catch them. By implementing a few simple control measures, you can help deter employee theft and make sure your profits stay in your pocket!
For more information about Refund Fraud contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
I’m happy to say that I’ve survived another holiday shopping season in the retail industry. We all are, I’m sure. Now that the hustle and bustle is behind us, we need to turn our attention to refund fraud, which peaks this time of year. I normally see 10-12 cases each year in the two weeks after Christmas. Why is this so?
There are several reasons why refund fraud seems to increase in popularity this time of year. I believe the main reason is that cashiers think they can mask their dishonest actions in with the copious amounts of returns being conducted. While you can be the victim of employee theft at any point in the year, this period of time is really the best opportunity for a cashier to steal thousands, perhaps without you ever noticing.
How many times will you simply take care of a customer? They are bringing back a gift and want cash, or a credit to their account in lieu of store credit. I mean, there are hundreds of people in line waiting to return an item right now. In my stores, managers make this call about 5% of time. So if, during this time of year, a manager audits a cashier refunds, they don’t really think twice if they see a refund without a receipt where cash was given back. This is where a dishonest cashier can really take you to the cleaners.
Let’s say that for every day this cashier works, they conduct a fraudulent refund (or two) for $300. The cashier figures they can get away with it for at least 2 weeks, usually when the return traffic dies down. Working 5 days a week, this cashier can skim $3,000 from you without you ever realizing it. The cashier simply processes a refund transaction on the register without a customer present and selects cash. They then pocket the cash and voila! This is one of the most common forms of employee theft.
About three years ago, I had a cashier do this to me at one of my stores. This particular cashier had memorized the manager’s key code as well as the sku number for a high dollar pair of shoes. Over the course of 3 weeks, the cashier conducted over $20,000 in refund fraud by returning the same sku for cash, multiple times a day. This wasn’t just a case of manager’s overlooking returns due to sales volume, but a control measure failure on every level. You can prevent this from happening to your store by a following a few simple steps.
Cashier supervisors should always match refund documents at the end of each cashier’s shift. In my experience, a dishonest cashier will throw away the register receipt instead of entering it in with their paperwork. Missing refund slips should always be investigated. Next, any deviation in policy needs to be approved by a manager. This allows you to easily spot potentially fraudulent transactions. Last, randomly audit and count several tills throughout the day. If dishonest cashiers are holding cash to pocket later, counting their tills in the middle of the day is a great way to catch them. By implementing a few simple control measures, you can help deter employee theft and make sure your profits stay in your pocket!
For more information about Refund Fraud contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
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Show the Shoplifter Their Poor Business Case and Use Deterrence to Stop Shoplifting!
Deterrence: This is the real answer if one wants to stop shoplifting. Everyone in my profession loves to catch the shoplifter and bring him or her to justice but the damage is already done by that time. Your merchandise has left the floor and is possibly damaged and not resalable; you have expended resources capturing the thief; your customers have been exposed to an apprehension in your store, giving them pause about how safe it is to shop in your store; and now you have to choose to prosecute and expend more resources. Wouldn’t it be better if the shoplifter decided your store was the wrong place to be shoplifting?
I argue that it would and am sure you will agree that preventing that shoplifting in the first place is the best answer. Shoplifting is a growing crime and now has outgrown internal theft as your number one loss causing threat as a retailer. What can we do to prevent the crime and deter the shoplifter from targeting your store?
Many of you already have one potential solution: strong customer service that makes the shoplifter feel as though he or she can never be alone in your store to do their crime. Combine that with electronic article surveillance (EAS) and consistent policies surrounding how your staff ensures that EAS tags are placed on merchandise and that anti-shoplifting alarms are responded to appropriately, and you have a solid deterrence program as well as a solid anti-shoplifting response program.
Checkpoint systems, a world leader in retail theft prevention offers many strategies and options designed to stop shoplifting in its tracks. You see, the same strategy that catches shoplifters works to deter shoplifters but it is even more important to execute it consistently and purposely. Checkpoint system has a variety of hard and soft tags, specialized packaging, spider-wraps, and EAS antenna configurations to protect a very diverse inventory of merchandise. If you take advantage of the variety of configurations available to you, your Checkpoint systems will do the work. Every time an alarm goes off on your anti-shoplifting system and your staff responds quickly and appropriately to deal with the alarm it reinforces to the potential shoplifter that this store has systems in place to stop shoplifting and takes those systems seriously. When they go to your high dollar merchandise and find spider-wraps or Alpha cases on the merchandise, their frustration increases as they know they have to overcome those anti-shoplifting devices if they are to get their hands on your merchandise. Every time they see you respond to alarms or address tampering with packages by detaining the shoplifter and calling the police it is reinforced in the shoplifter’s mind that there is a cost to doing his kind of business in your business. This is what you want!
Your Checkpoint systems are now not only catching shoplifters, they are working to stop shoplifting altogether in your store. Shoplifters are businessmen too (maybe just not good ones). They have to evaluate their ROI (return on investment) and balance risk against gain. They understand that there is risk in their business but they try to balance that risk with the potential reward of getting their hands on your merchandise and reselling it. When that risk cause by an increased potential for getting caught because they have to take an inordinate amount of time overcoming your Checkpoint systems or have to expose themselves to the eyes of your staff who are approaching them regularly to provide them good customer service, their ROI and risk versus gain does not make a solid business case for shoplifting in your store.
You have now proven the thesis of this blog: Deterrence is the real answer to stop shoplifting! The good news is that we have also shown that it can be done at the same time as you are trying to capture the shoplifters and can easily become part of your business operations. Let’s make shoplifters rethink their business case when it comes to doing business in your business – put your Checkpoint systems to work for you!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
Deterrence: This is the real answer if one wants to stop shoplifting. Everyone in my profession loves to catch the shoplifter and bring him or her to justice but the damage is already done by that time. Your merchandise has left the floor and is possibly damaged and not resalable; you have expended resources capturing the thief; your customers have been exposed to an apprehension in your store, giving them pause about how safe it is to shop in your store; and now you have to choose to prosecute and expend more resources. Wouldn’t it be better if the shoplifter decided your store was the wrong place to be shoplifting?
I argue that it would and am sure you will agree that preventing that shoplifting in the first place is the best answer. Shoplifting is a growing crime and now has outgrown internal theft as your number one loss causing threat as a retailer. What can we do to prevent the crime and deter the shoplifter from targeting your store?
Many of you already have one potential solution: strong customer service that makes the shoplifter feel as though he or she can never be alone in your store to do their crime. Combine that with electronic article surveillance (EAS) and consistent policies surrounding how your staff ensures that EAS tags are placed on merchandise and that anti-shoplifting alarms are responded to appropriately, and you have a solid deterrence program as well as a solid anti-shoplifting response program.
Checkpoint systems, a world leader in retail theft prevention offers many strategies and options designed to stop shoplifting in its tracks. You see, the same strategy that catches shoplifters works to deter shoplifters but it is even more important to execute it consistently and purposely. Checkpoint system has a variety of hard and soft tags, specialized packaging, spider-wraps, and EAS antenna configurations to protect a very diverse inventory of merchandise. If you take advantage of the variety of configurations available to you, your Checkpoint systems will do the work. Every time an alarm goes off on your anti-shoplifting system and your staff responds quickly and appropriately to deal with the alarm it reinforces to the potential shoplifter that this store has systems in place to stop shoplifting and takes those systems seriously. When they go to your high dollar merchandise and find spider-wraps or Alpha cases on the merchandise, their frustration increases as they know they have to overcome those anti-shoplifting devices if they are to get their hands on your merchandise. Every time they see you respond to alarms or address tampering with packages by detaining the shoplifter and calling the police it is reinforced in the shoplifter’s mind that there is a cost to doing his kind of business in your business. This is what you want!
Your Checkpoint systems are now not only catching shoplifters, they are working to stop shoplifting altogether in your store. Shoplifters are businessmen too (maybe just not good ones). They have to evaluate their ROI (return on investment) and balance risk against gain. They understand that there is risk in their business but they try to balance that risk with the potential reward of getting their hands on your merchandise and reselling it. When that risk cause by an increased potential for getting caught because they have to take an inordinate amount of time overcoming your Checkpoint systems or have to expose themselves to the eyes of your staff who are approaching them regularly to provide them good customer service, their ROI and risk versus gain does not make a solid business case for shoplifting in your store.
You have now proven the thesis of this blog: Deterrence is the real answer to stop shoplifting! The good news is that we have also shown that it can be done at the same time as you are trying to capture the shoplifters and can easily become part of your business operations. Let’s make shoplifters rethink their business case when it comes to doing business in your business – put your Checkpoint systems to work for you!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
I’m sitting right now in an airport traveling to a new store opening. I was lucky enough to get “volunteered” to do a training class for a colleague who couldn’t make it. I’m thinking about the last 3 days of this week and trying to wrap up 2 cases that I closed out. Both were employee theft cases. Both cashiers. Both cost my stores thousands of dollars. I know as well as the next person, that I will never stop internal theft completely. I can limit my store’s exposure to loss, and that all starts with an employee background check.
To give you a little insight, let’s take the bigger of my two cases this week. A new cashier was about 3 months into their employment. About a month ago, she accidently processes a refund to a gift card instead of cash for a customer. She corrects the mistake by giving the customer cash, but decides to keep the gift card. Seeing how easy it was, and the fact that she didn’t get caught on the first time, she did it again. Then, again. You guessed it, and again. Over the next month and a half, this cashier processes a few refunds every single day she worked. Over this time period, she racks up over $8,000 in fraudulent refunds. We of course terminated her and prosecuted her, but here’s the thing. She’s going to need another job. If you’re not running an employee background check, her next stop could be your door.
Pre-employment screening can help set you up for success, or for failure. You have to know who you are letting in your building. There’s of course only one way to do that, running an employee background check. Now, I’m not saying everyone who commits a crime in their youth should be barred from a job 20 years down the road, but looking at someone’s criminal history is a great tool to assist in reducing the likelihood of internal theft.
Say for instance, during the pre-employment screening process, you have a candidate who’s been arrested once a year for the past 8 years for theft/fraud. There is a clear pattern of behavior that is not likely going to change anytime soon. As a hiring manager, this person should no longer be considered for employment. Will that person commit a crime again? There is no absolute way to tell that. Is there, statistically a chance that they will follow the same pattern? Absolutely.
Now consider you are once again in that pre-employment screening phase. You have a very qualified candidate with a strong educational background and years and years of experience in the field. You notice on the background check that they were convicted of a theft 15 years ago. Outside of that, their criminal record is spotless. Would you consider hiring this person to work for you? I would and I have. I can very well pose the same two questions as I did above. There is, however, a smaller likelihood of this person committing another crime.
I tell managers and store directors this every day of the week. If you want to limit your exposure to internal theft, it all has to start at the hiring phase. The keys to success are a strong hiring process, where only the absolute best candidates are brought in on the team and of course a solid employee background check to help further weed out any liabilities. The next time you have an employee steal from you, think back to when they were hired. Did you do all you could to see that theft coming?
For more information about Employee Background Checks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
It’s finally over! Black Friday is all but a distant memory and the crazy rush of holiday shoppers has subsided. You can finally take a break, right? Think again. This time of year is full of thieves who make a hefty living conducting refund fraud. And what better time of year to do than now? Below are some of the most common forms of this type of fraud, and ways that you can prevent it.
Off the Floor Refunds
In this scenario, the thief is simply taking advantage of a heavy return time. They will enter the store without product and grab an expensive item off the shelf. The thief then returns to the service desks and states it was a gift and they would like store credit. This same story is repeated 100 more times throughout the day so the cashier doesn’t bat an eye.
Added Items
This type of refund fraud is a play on the scenario above. Here, the customer enters the store with a bag containing an item that was legitimately purchased. While walking to the service desk, they take a quick detour and throw a high priced item into the bag. Once at the service desk, both items are returned to the unsuspecting cashier.
Theft and Return
In this scenario, a team of thieves arrives at your store. While one waits in the vehicle, the other enters the store and steals a few high dollar items. Your store team is distracted by the volume of returns and customers in the store, so the theft is easy to carry out. The stolen goods are then brought to thief #2, whom is waiting in the vehicle. Thief #2 then enters the store with the stolen goods and presents it for a return. The thieves make a few hundred bucks and your teams are none the wiser.
Theft and Return – Part 2
This type of refund fraud is a bit harder to detect. The act is conducted just as it is in the scenario above, however the theft occurs at one store location and the thieves drive across town to a second store location to conduct the refund. It helps them to cover their tracks a little better and makes it more difficult for the retailer to catch on to the scheme.
The Dishonest Cashier
Why give all the credit to the shoplifters, when dishonest cashiers always seem to gravitate towards refund fraud. With the copious amounts of refunds taking place the week after the holidays, it’s very easy for a cashier to slip in a few fraudulent transactions. It is very difficult to discern the legitimate refund transactions from the fraudulent ones. In this scenario, the cashier conducts a refund transaction, only there is no customer present. The cashier selects store credit, cash or even their own credit card as the form of tender, pocketing the amount.
Is there any way to prevent refund fraud? Yes! Taking a few extra steps can save your store thousands in fraudulent transactions. 1st, establish a return policy that states without an original purchase receipt, only store credit can be given to the customer. Next, establish a procedure for customers coming into the store to conduct a return. For example, an associate at the entrance can stamp each item that a customer wants to return. When the item gets to the service desk, the cashier looks for the stamp before proceeding. A manager would be called for any discrepancies. Lastly, audit returns on a daily basis. Look for frequently stolen items, in addition to cashiers who are giving refunds that are against policy. With a few simple controls in place, you can be certain that you won’t be giving the store away after the holidays!
For more information about Refund Fraud contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
