Welcome back to my ultimate guide to clothing security! If you recall our last segment, we talked about how a few merchandising tricks can stop shoplifters from raking in your profits. I’d like to continue that here but focus a little more on one area of the store where I KNOW you are losing money to thieves, your fitting room. I can see you cringe through my keyboard at the mere mention of that area. I’ve been in the LP world for 10 years now and I still hate the fitting room… You can’t have cameras, chances are you can’t have it staffed constantly and you don’t want to ruin your legitimate shoppers experience by making them feel like they are a thief. So what are you supposed to do?
Good clothing security starts with a solid fitting room program. I’ve worked in big box retailers, specialty stores and for very small companies. All of them have had the same downfall with their fitting rooms. There was never a solid program in place. While each of these companies focused on using clothing security tags, a proper fitting room program was overlooked. I always said if I owned my own store one day, I would have a fitting room that would see zero losses!
First things first. If you are one of those retailers that places a clothing security tag remover back here, get rid of it right now. Seriously. Stop reading, go take it down and come back. I’ll wait….. I know why some of you do it. If you have that customer that is spending $500 on a single article of clothing, you want to provide them with the ability to try it on and not wait for an employee to run to the front of the store, then back to the fitting room. I get it, trust me. Also trust when I say the thieves know what stores have this, and will exploit it every single day of the week. Clothing security really starts here. You never, ever want to make it that easy for a shoplifter.
Second, have a policy and stick to it. If you want your fitting rooms manned by an employee all hours of the day, then schedule for it. Don’t have that employee off in another part of the store if it’s slow. All it takes is 1 minute for a shoplifter to drop in, see that it’s unattended and hit you for thousands. You can have the best clothing security tag on the market, but an unattended fitting room will get you every time. Also, make your fitting room policies known with in store signage. Make sure your customer’s understand that there is a limit (whatever you want it to be) of what can be taken into the stall. Signage in the fitting room that speaks to the prosecution of shoplifters should also be in every stall.
While no one has one program that is the end all-be all to fitting rooms, I’d like to know the differences there are out there. Drop a line in the contact section if you have some suggestions on fitting room controls. I’d be curious to see how the small apparel stores handle things. As I close out the fitting room portion of this series, it brings me straight to the next segment on organized retail theft, and how no matter how great your controls are, you can still find yourself the victim. I hope you come back for part 3 as I discuss that very topic.
For more information, contact us: Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547
Welcome back to my ultimate guide to clothing security! If you recall our last segment, we talked about how a few merchandising tricks can stop shoplifters from raking in your profits. I’d like to continue that here but focus a little more on one area of the store where I KNOW you are losing money to thieves, your fitting room. I can see you cringe through my keyboard at the mere mention of that area. I’ve been in the LP world for 10 years now and I still hate the fitting room… You can’t have cameras, chances are you can’t have it staffed constantly and you don’t want to ruin your legitimate shoppers experience by making them feel like they are a thief. So what are you supposed to do?
Good clothing security starts with a solid fitting room program. I’ve worked in big box retailers, specialty stores and for very small companies. All of them have had the same downfall with their fitting rooms. There was never a solid program in place. While each of these companies focused on using clothing security tags, a proper fitting room program was overlooked. I always said if I owned my own store one day, I would have a fitting room that would see zero losses!
First things first. If you are one of those retailers that places a clothing security tag remover back here, get rid of it right now. Seriously. Stop reading, go take it down and come back. I’ll wait….. I know why some of you do it. If you have that customer that is spending $500 on a single article of clothing, you want to provide them with the ability to try it on and not wait for an employee to run to the front of the store, then back to the fitting room. I get it, trust me. Also trust when I say the thieves know what stores have this, and will exploit it every single day of the week. Clothing security really starts here. You never, ever want to make it that easy for a shoplifter.
Second, have a policy and stick to it. If you want your fitting rooms manned by an employee all hours of the day, then schedule for it. Don’t have that employee off in another part of the store if it’s slow. All it takes is one minute for a shoplifter to drop in, see that it’s unattended and hit you for thousands. You can have the best clothing security tag on the market, but an unattended fitting room will get you every time. Also, make your fitting room policies known with in store signage. Make sure your customer’s understand that there is a limit (whatever you want it to be) of what can be taken into the stall. Signage in the fitting room that speaks to the prosecution of shoplifters should also be in every stall.
While no one has one program that is the end all-be all to fitting rooms, I’d like to know the differences there are out there. Drop a line in the contact section if you have some suggestions on fitting room controls. I’d be curious to see how the small apparel stores handle things. As I close out the fitting room portion of this series, it brings me straight to the next segment on organized retail theft, and how no matter how great your controls are, you can still find yourself the victim. I hope you come back for part three as I discuss that very topic.
For more information, contact us at Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547
Bothering Your Customers Can Help Put Cash Back Into Your Pocket
Trying to prevent shoplifting can be a frustrating business. There have been many times when I’ve seen a customer select an item, like batteries or vitamins, and then watch as that customer quickly disappears down another aisle. By the time I’ve caught up with the customer, the item is frequently gone and I’m almost certain that they’ve stuffed it in a purse or somewhere in their clothing but I didn’t see the actual concealment of the item. Stopping that person and accusing them of shoplifting is risky, because you don’t have firsthand knowledge of the crime if you didn’t see them actually conceal the item. A strong suspicion isn’t enough to make a shoplifting apprehension. Lawsuits have been filed against stores where loss prevention personnel errantly accuse customers of shoplifting.
In situations like this, deterring the suspected shoplifter is the way to go. Deterring a suspected shoplifter can happen in many different ways. The most common way is to offer excellent customer service. You offer so much customer service that you start driving the shoplifter insane. Let’s return to my earlier example of a customer who had batteries one minute and then those batteries were suddenly gone. If I wanted to deter this shoplifter, the first thing I’d do would be to send a cashier over to the shoplifter and have the cashier ask if the shoplifter needed help to finding the battery aisle. Next, I’d send someone from another department, like the dairy department, and have that employee ask the shoplifter the same thing. After three or four employees asking the shoplifter the same thing, that shoplifter knows that his only option is to dump the merchandise somewhere and make a run for it. It’s always amusing watching the shoplifter frantically try and find an empty aisle so that the merchandise can be de-concealed. I’m obnoxious enough that I sometimes say something snarky to the shoplifter as he does the walk of shame out of the store.
A deterrence can be very useful if you want to prevent shoplifting, although it can carry some risk. Sometimes a shoplifter doesn’t want to be deterred and is determined to get out of the store with their stolen merchandise. Several years ago, I saw a suspected shoplifter with 4 boxes of Motrin and I watched as he sped up and started walking down another aisle. By the time I caught up with him, the Motrin was gone but I didn’t see him conceal it. I started trying to deter him by sending employees to “help” him, but after the 2nd employee offered to assist him in finding the Motrin, he started screaming profanities and epithets at everyone. As I got closer, I could see the outline of the Motrin in his pants, so I went ahead and called the police to report the shoplifting and the insane outburst. This fine, upstanding citizen (I nicknamed him Motrin Man) , continued swearing and threatening employees. After two more minutes of this, I decided that mentally, Motrin Man was a few pills short of a bottle, if you know what I mean.
Eventually, the police arrived and Motrin Man was still screaming and threatening people so the police arrested him for shoplifting, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. It turned out that Motrin Man was high on drugs and was trying to steal the painkillers to sell them for more drug money. That day I was lucky because I was able to prevent shoplifting, and send a criminal to jail. Deterring suspected shoplifters isn’t as satisfying as making a shoplifting apprehension, but it does get the job done.
“For more information on how to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or at preventshopliftingloss.net”
Trying to prevent shoplifting can be a frustrating business. There have been many times when I’ve seen a customer select an item, like batteries or vitamins, and then watch as that customer quickly disappears down another aisle. By the time I’ve caught up with the customer, the item is frequently gone and I’m almost certain that they’ve stuffed it in a purse or somewhere in their clothing but I didn’t see the actual concealment of the item. Stopping that person and accusing them of shoplifting is risky, because you don’t have firsthand knowledge of the crime if you didn’t see them actually conceal the item. A strong suspicion isn’t enough to make a shoplifting apprehension. Lawsuits have been filed against stores where loss prevention personnel errantly accuse customers of shoplifting.
In situations like this, deterring the suspected shoplifter is the way to go. Deterring a suspected shoplifter can happen in many different ways. The most common way is to offer excellent customer service. You offer so much customer service that you start driving the shoplifter insane. Let’s return to my earlier example of a customer who had batteries one minute and then those batteries were suddenly gone. If I wanted to deter this shoplifter, the first thing I’d do would be to send a cashier over to the shoplifter and have the cashier ask if the shoplifter needed help to finding the battery aisle. Next, I’d send someone from another department, like the dairy department, and have that employee ask the shoplifter the same thing. After three or four employees asking the shoplifter the same thing, that shoplifter knows that his only option is to dump the merchandise somewhere and make a run for it. It’s always amusing watching the shoplifter frantically try and find an empty aisle so that the merchandise can be de-concealed. I’m obnoxious enough that I sometimes say something snarky to the shoplifter as he does the walk of shame out of the store.
A deterrence can be very useful if you want to prevent shoplifting, although it can carry some risk. Sometimes a shoplifter doesn’t want to be deterred and is determined to get out of the store with their stolen merchandise. Several years ago, I saw a suspected shoplifter with 4 boxes of Motrin and I watched as he sped up and started walking down another aisle. By the time I caught up with him, the Motrin was gone but I didn’t see him conceal it. I started trying to deter him by sending employees to “help” him, but after the 2nd employee offered to assist him in finding the Motrin, he started screaming profanities and epithets at everyone. As I got closer, I could see the outline of the Motrin in his pants, so I went ahead and called the police to report the shoplifting and the insane outburst. This fine, upstanding citizen (I nicknamed him Motrin Man) , continued swearing and threatening employees. After two more minutes of this, I decided that mentally, Motrin Man was a few pills short of a bottle, if you know what I mean.
Eventually, the police arrived and Motrin Man was still screaming and threatening people so the police arrested him for shoplifting, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. It turned out that Motrin Man was high on drugs and was trying to steal the painkillers to sell them for more drug money. That day I was lucky because I was able to prevent shoplifting, and send a criminal to jail. Deterring suspected shoplifters isn’t as satisfying as making a shoplifting apprehension, but it does get the job done.
“For more information on how to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or at preventshopliftingloss.net”
Every three months or so my company’s Loss Prevention department hosts a networking seminar with retailers in the area, along with our local, county, state and federal law enforcement partners with the aim of identifying and reducing shoplifting and organized retail crime. We’ve done this for the past 5 years and it has paid huge dividends. Historically, we’ve invited the large retailers that also have nation-wide operations. Retailers with strong LP departments that have the tools and resources to stop shoplifting. Over the past year or so, a new trend has started to emerge through, as thieves in this area are more and more aware that the big business are sharing information and taking a much, much harder stance on shoplifting. That trend is that thieves are now targeting smaller stores that don’t have the resources that the bigger companies do.
Just last month, we hosted one of these meetings and I met a manager for a small, family owned hardware store. He stated that he had been victimized by shoplifters constantly and the sheriff’s office recommend he come to one of these meetings. We talked for a bit and I asked him what type of EAS (electronic article surveillance) system he had in place. He had no idea what I was referring to. I bet that there are quite of few of you out there right now reading this who are in the same boat. You’re tired of shoplifters stealing from your store, but you don’t know where to start. If you are going to stop shoplifting, it has to start with electronic article surveillance.
Walk into any major retailer. As soon as you enter the doors, stop. Look to your left and right. See those towers? That’s the most visible part of their EAS system. Those towers work in concert with special tags that are applied to high value/high theft items throughout the store. Whether it be on an expensive personal electronic device, or a pair of denim jeans, these tags are made to affix easily to these products to deter and prevent theft. They are easily removed and/or deactivated at the point of purchase by a store team member. If a tag is still attached to an item and that item passes through those towers, an audible and visual alert will sound in order to alert your store team that a tag is passing through. While it can often be a mistake on the cashier’s part, it can also be a very clear indicator that someone is stealing your store’s merchandise.
While an EAS system alone will not stop shoplifting completely, it should be one of the first steps you take in order to control external losses in your store. Shoplifters are like water, whereas they will always follow the path of least resistance. If the item they want is secured at your store, chances are, they will go down the road and steal from the store where they very same item isn’t secured.
For more information, contact us: Stop Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
Every three months or so my company’s Loss Prevention department hosts a networking seminar with retailers in the area, along with our local, county, state and federal law enforcement partners with the aim of identifying and reducing shoplifting and organized retail crime. We’ve done this for the past 5 years and it has paid huge dividends. Historically, we’ve invited the large retailers that also have nation-wide operations. Retailers with strong LP departments that have the tools and resources to stop shoplifting. Over the past year or so, a new trend has started to emerge through, as thieves in this area are more and more aware that the big business are sharing information and taking a much, much harder stance on shoplifting. That trend is that thieves are now targeting smaller stores that don’t have the resources that the bigger companies do.
Just last month, we hosted one of these meetings and I met a manager for a small, family owned hardware store. He stated that he had been victimized by shoplifters constantly and the sheriff’s office recommend he come to one of these meetings. We talked for a bit and I asked him what type of EAS (electronic article surveillance) system he had in place. He had no idea what I was referring to. I bet that there are quite of few of you out there right now reading this who are in the same boat. You’re tired of shoplifters stealing from your store, but you don’t know where to start. If you are going to stop shoplifting, it has to start with electronic article surveillance. Walk into any major retailer. As soon as you enter the doors, stop. Look to your left and right. See those towers? That’s the most visible part of their EAS system. Those towers work in concert with special tags that are applied to high value/high theft items throughout the store. Whether it be on an expensive personal electronic device, or a pair of denim jeans, these tags are made to affix easily to these products to deter and prevent theft. They are easily removed and/or deactivated at the point of purchase by a store team member. If a tag is still attached to an item and that item passes through those towers, an audible and visual alert will sound in order to alert your store team that a tag is passing through. While it can often be a mistake on the cashier’s part, it can also be a very clear indicator that someone is stealing your store’s merchandise.
While an EAS system alone will not stop shoplifting completely, it should be one of the first steps you take in order to control external losses in your store. Shoplifters are like water, whereas they will always follow the path of least resistance. If the item they want is secured at your store, chances are, they will go down the road and steal from the store where they very same item isn’t secured.
For more information, contact us: Stop Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
The most effective way to predict future behavior is to look at previous behavior; that’s where pre-employment screening comes in. Employee background checks are a low-cost way to protect profits and, more importantly, a company’s image.
There is a lot of fear about conducting pre-employment screening, so a lot of companies don’t do it. The best way to avoid all of the legal pitfalls is to use a company that specializes in employee background checks. They know the laws and most importantly, all of the best sources of information.
When a person is involved in stealing from their employer, it’s usually not the first time they’ve done it. After nearly 20 years of conducting internal theft investigations, I’ve found that most cases involve people who’ve been caught before. Effective pre-employment screening can remove these risks from the applicant pool.
As a person becomes more experienced at stealing from their employer, they become bolder and less fearful of the consequences, causing them to steal more in a shorter time frame. The employee with a history of theft is a greater loss risk and pre-employment screening can weed them out during the application process.
Address verification is a key component of employee background checks. A long time ago, I noticed that an applicant had addresses mostly in the local area, but suddenly moved hundreds of miles away into a very rural area with the same address for several years, then recently moved right back to his previous address. The rural address hundreds of miles away………when address verification was ran, it was found to be a State Prison where the person was incarcerated for credit card fraud. Had we not found this out through pre-employment screening and the person subsequently began stealing customer credit card numbers, we would have faced not only liability and losses, but also a lot of negative publicity.
An often over-looked area in employee background checks is the company image. I once worked for a company that began to receive phone calls that they had a known sex offender working behind the counter in a store that served families with children. Our concern was that in these particular locations, the employees worked alone or with one other person. A review of our pre-employment screening showed that no criminal background was found in the county he lived in. We quickly decided to ask a vendor to take a look and found that he was on the Sex Offender Registry in another state, and had moved without notifying them. Can you imagine the liability for a company if something happened at the store? We immediately made the decision to begin using a pre-employment screening vendor on 100% of our employees.
The key thing regarding employee background checks is to ensure that your vendor understands the legal implications and checks as many resources as possible. Pre-employment screening should be used for all positions, to effectively reduce your risk at all levels. Using a professional vendor for employee background checks protects you from liability related to the checks.
The cost of an effective pre-employment screening program is far less than the cost of employee theft, fraud losses, liability costs, and lost revenue through negative publicity that can occur without it. Think about the return on investment by investing a little up front versus the cost of the loss incurred, the time and money invested in investigation (cameras and personnel), and the fact that the odds of recovering money after a loss from the suspect are incredibly low; employee background checks are the better route.
For more information about pre-employment screening contact us at backgroundcheckexperts.net or call us at 1.770.426.0547.
The most effective way to predict future behavior is to look at previous behavior; that’s where pre-employment screening comes in. Employee background checks are a low-cost way to protect profits and, more importantly, a company’s image.
There is a lot of fear about conducting pre-employment screening, so a lot of companies don’t do it. The best way to avoid all of the legal pitfalls is to use a company that specializes in employee background checks. They know the laws and most importantly, all of the best sources of information.
When a person is involved in stealing from their employer, it’s usually not the first time they’ve done it. After nearly 20 years of conducting internal theft investigations, I’ve found that most cases involve people who’ve been caught before. Effective pre-employment screening can remove these risks from the applicant pool.
As a person becomes more experienced at stealing from their employer, they become bolder and less fearful of the consequences, causing them to steal more in a shorter time frame. The employee with a history of theft is a greater loss risk and pre-employment screening can weed them out during the application process.
Address verification is a key component of employee background checks. A long time ago, I noticed that an applicant had addresses mostly in the local area, but suddenly moved hundreds of miles away into a very rural area with the same address for several years, then recently moved right back to his previous address. The rural address hundreds of miles away………when address verification was ran, it was found to be a State Prison where the person was incarcerated for credit card fraud. Had we not found this out through pre-employment screening and the person subsequently began stealing customer credit card numbers, we would have faced not only liability and losses, but also a lot of negative publicity.
An often over-looked area in employee background checks is the company image. I once worked for a company that began to receive phone calls that they had a known sex offender working behind the counter in a store that served families with children. Our concern was that in these particular locations, the employees worked alone or with one other person. A review of our pre-employment screening showed that no criminal background was found in the county he lived in. We quickly decided to ask a vendor to take a look and found that he was on the Sex Offender Registry in another state, and had moved without notifying them. Can you imagine the liability for a company if something happened at the store? We immediately made the decision to begin using a pre-employment screening vendor on 100% of our employees. The key thing regarding employee background checks is to ensure that your vendor understands the legal implications and checks as many resources as possible. Pre-employment screening should be used for all positions, to effectively reduce your risk at all levels. Using a professional vendor for employee background checks protects you from liability related to the checks.
The cost of an effective pre-employment screening program is far less than the cost of employee theft, fraud losses, liability costs, and lost revenue through negative publicity that can occur without it. Think about the return on investment by investing a little up front versus the cost of the loss incurred, the time and money invested in investigation (cameras and personnel), and the fact that the odds of recovering money after a loss from the suspect are incredibly low; employee background checks are the better route.
For more information about pre-employment screening contact us at backgroundcheckexperts.net or call us at 1.770.426.0547.
One design of our small retail pharmacies is referred to as Beauty on the Door because the makeup is merchandised on the perimeter wall straight down the first aisle as you walk in. For those of us that actually work in these locations, they are more like Beauty Out the Door. Cosmetics is our biggest shrink category period, and one of the biggest problems for many retailers, whether they are big boxes or small independents. When we identify a new product that we know is likely to be targeted, we start looking through our Anti-Shoplifting options for the right Checkpoint Label. Lipsticks, eyeliners, mascaras, and foundations are generally high retail items and unfortunately fit right into pockets and purses, easily and completely concealed.
Some labels are too big for cosmetics, and extend over the edges of the products. This can be a problem when stocking them into their fixture, or cause them to stick to one another. The other issue is they will probably just get removed by the shoplifter. You need labels that will cover the item’s available surface, conform to the round bottles and even the occasional square lipstick tubes if you want to increase your Anti-Shoplifting successes.
When it comes to stealing makeup, I have seen a wide range of creative methods to get it out the door. There were the two women in bright neon shirts that came in and walked down the aisle grabbing as much as they could and throwing everything these into these huge bags. They were out the door in less than six minutes at this store, and made off with over $4,000 in product the first time they hit. The second time, they did the same thing and got about that much again. As you can probably guess, that store did not make their shrink budget for that year. They were thankfully caught about six months later. Mostly at my store, we deal with petty theft. We have a lot of foot traffic and we are in an inner city type store. Day after day, men and women of all ages steal a variety of items from our cosmetics sections. Sometimes it is for personal use, and other times it is to try and return the item for a refund. The sad thing is these add up as well, and the more times they come in and pocket our inventory and get away with it, the more it eats into our bottom line. I caught a woman just last week with about $40 worth of foundations and eye shadows stuffed into her purse. Sadly, until that day, she was a regular customer and she has probably been ripping us off for years.
There are some Anti-Shoplifting methods that we are looking into, and they revolve around the right Checkpoint Labels. As I mentioned before, the right size label used for product protection can mean the difference in deterring the theft, catching the thief, or just losing these high dollar items to small time and professional thieves. There are small round labels that will easily wrap around and stick perfectly to odd size items. There are also clear labels that are put on over the UPC of the product, and not easily detected by a shoplifter. Those are just two examples you could employ to help stop the flow of unpaid cosmetics going out the door.
For more information please contact us at: Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547
One design of our small retail pharmacies is referred to as Beauty on the Door because the makeup is merchandised on the perimeter wall straight down the first aisle as you walk in. For those of us that actually work in these locations, they are more like Beauty Out the Door. Cosmetics is our biggest shrink category period, and one of the biggest problems for many retailers, whether they are big boxes or small independents. When we identify a new product that we know is likely to be targeted, we start looking through our Anti-Shoplifting options for the right Checkpoint Label. Lipsticks, eyeliners, mascaras, and foundations are generally high retail items and unfortunately fit right into pockets and purses, easily and completely concealed.
Some labels are too big for cosmetics, and extend over the edges of the products. This can be a problem when stocking them into their fixture, or cause them to stick to one another. The other issue is they will probably just get removed by the shoplifter. You need labels that will cover the item’s available surface, conform to the round bottles and even the occasional square lipstick tubes if you want to increase your Anti-Shoplifting successes.
When it comes to stealing makeup, I have seen a wide range of creative methods to get it out the door. There were the two women in bright neon shirts that came in and walked down the aisle grabbing as much as they could and throwing everything into these huge bags. They were out the door in less than six minutes at this store, and made off with over $4,000 in product the first time they hit. The second time, they did the same thing and got about that much again. As you can probably guess, that store did not make their shrink budget for that year. They were thankfully caught about six months later.
Mostly at my store, we deal with petty theft. We have a lot of foot traffic and we are in an inner city type store. Day after day, men and women of all ages steal a variety of items from our cosmetics sections. Sometimes it is for personal use, and other times it is to try and return the item for a refund. The sad thing is these add up as well, and the more times they come in and pocket our inventory and get away with it, the more it eats into our bottom line. I caught a woman just last week with about $40 worth of foundations and eye shadows stuffed into her purse. Sadly, until that day, she was a regular customer and she has probably been ripping us off for years.
There are some Anti-Shoplifting methods that we are looking into, and they revolve around the right Checkpoint Labels. As I mentioned before, the right size label used for product protection can mean the difference in deterring the theft, catching the thief, or just losing these high dollar items to small time and professional thieves. There are small round labels that will easily wrap around and stick perfectly to odd size items. There are also clear labels that are put on over the UPC of the product, and not easily detected by a shoplifter. Those are just two examples you could employ to help stop the flow of unpaid cosmetics going out the door.
For more information please contact us at: Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547
