Checkpoint Tags Vs. Boosters

Did you know you can take an online shoplifting course for a mere $50?  That is a terrifying thought for a retail manager.  Actually, when I clicked on it (yes, I really did), it was a course for a person that has been caught shoplifting to take, so they can ask a judge for leniency on their court date.  It’s like a psychological breakdown to help someone understand their crime, how it effects their social circle and community, and is supposed to help them stop shoplifting.  There are some boosters I would like to see sentenced to take this class, over and over again, at least until they see how crazy they make me when they come steal from our store over and over.  When businesses invest their time and money into anti-shoplifting devices like Checkpoint Tags, they can see the return in their inventory numbers and profit.  

So just yesterday I had yet another visit from my newest foe.  Not even two weeks ago, she came in a managed to remove the Alpha Spider Wraps and Checkpoint Tags from some boxes of hair regrowth formulas.  She was in a totally different vehicle, wore her hair down instead of up, and this time she did not come in alone.   I saw them come in separately and something told me she looked familiar, but I just couldn’t put it together.  They hung out in the health and beauty aisles, and since I had been having problems over there with theft, I kept my eye on them.  I even went to our small greeting card section and watched them where they could not see me.  I watched them a bit longer, and decided they were not a threat.  The guy was walking really slow, almost shuffling and I second guessed myself so I walked away.  Even though I know better than to ever judge someone by their appearance, I let my guard down.  I walked over to that section of the store to stock a random item and found discarded Checkpoint Tags from yet another hair regrowth item plus an expensive electric toothbrush as well.

When I reviewed the video the couple watched me the whole time I was watching them.  When they saw me walk to the back room, they made their moves.  The woman obviously does not want to take the chance of getting caught having her bag lined with foil to defeat our system.  Being caught with a “booster bag” in our state is a felony.  What she doesn’t seem to realize is that removing anti-shoplifting tools from a product is also a felony.  

I can’t blame the Checkpoint Tags for not doing their job.  In this case, I have to blame myself.  I knew she would come back since she had been successful the first time she came in.  I should have taken proactive measures to protect my inventory.  Becoming reactive to theft is a big mistake many retailers make.  One neat trick I occasionally use that really puts a damper on a booster is to wrap clear packing tape around the item.  It not only prevents the thief from removing the tag, but it also renders the product useless to them.  The whole point of these “foot soldiers” of organized retail crime is for them to get product for their buyer to resell.  The buyer will then pay these people pennies on the dollar of the actual value of the stolen merchandise and make a huge profit for themselves.  But neither wants the packaging damaged, or they know their chances of selling it will go down considerably.  

You just have to remember that as technology advances, the thieves will keep up with it and change their methods.  Sometimes you may have to go old school and get creative to beat them, or at least discourage them from coming back to your store.  Checkpoint Tags will always be a true and tested theft deterrent against petty theft and basic shoplifters.   Boosters are a different breed and they have to be treated as such.  For them you have to add a little extra effort and make their jobs harder so they go steal from your competition instead!

For more information on Checkpoint Tags contact us at 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net

Can Bottle Lok Save Your License?

How much is your license worth?  I’m not talking about a driver’s license; I mean your alcohol license.  Would the investment in Bottle Locks be worth the time and effort you spent getting your business licensed to sell beer and wine?  In my state, the store manager of the business has to have the license in their name, because they are responsible for the daily operations, paperwork and invoice retention, and training of the employees.  I had to get fingerprinted, submit an additional background check, and endure several hours of training in order to receive the licenses and permits necessary to sell bottled beer and wine.  In some states, if a minor is able to obtain alcohol, via buying it illegally or even stealing it from the store, that business can lose it’s license!  Now,  to be completely honest, I manage a small retail pharmacy.  We only sell those products to drive traffic into our store, and to be able to advertise we have something our competition does not.  So that said, bottle security has not really been my biggest concern.    However, a situation that arose recently has forced me to think otherwise.

When parents come into my store with children, they don’t always keep them right at their side.  Although we don’t have any type of toy section, some parents let them wonder through the aisles unsupervised.  Most times the kids are just walking around, texting or playing games, on their phones.  Other times, they are trashing the place, running around and screaming, like little monsters.  Then there are the sneaky ones that are trying new things and want to see how far they can push their limits.  This latter one was the kind of kid I dealt with yesterday.  To begin with, about a month ago we found a near empty bottle of cheap wine hidden behind some other products.  (We don’t have Bottle Locks on every single item over in the wine section, only the more premium high retail brands.)  When we reviewed video footage, we were shocked to see it was a young girl, so not at all what we expected.  She had a water bottle with her, and she poured that wine into it, while the woman she was with was buying her prescription.  Honestly though, we chalked it up to a one time thing and just moved on.  We figured it was just a kid making a bad choice and it wouldn’t happen again.  We were wrong.  One: about the girl, and two: about not attaching Bottle Locks to every single bottle.  

This past weekend we were working on the sales floor and found another empty bottle of the same stuff we had found the month prior.  Something told my assistant that same girl had been the culprit, and the video proved him to be correct.   She came in with the same woman, and did the exact same thing as last time.  This time I knew something had to be done.  I am a parent of a fifteen year old, and I would want to know if this was happening with her.  I did some detective work, and was able to determine who she was with by reviewing prescription records.  I called the woman who informed me this was her neighbor’s child, and she was only with her because her mother was at work.  So this girl was coming to the store, stealing this wine, and going home afterward to drink it while she was alone in the house.  This was going from bad to worse.  I got the mother’s phone number and called her, knowing she was again at work.  Our bottle security issues paled in comparison to the problems this mother could face in the future if she was not informed of what this child was up to.  The mother called me back and we talked for some time.  She confided in me some other problems she was having with this girl, who in fact turned twelve years old this past weekend.  TWELVE!  I don’t wish that mother’s problems on anyone, and I hope they can get that child the help and attention she needs now so her issues don’t escalate.  

Bottle security is a real issue and it should always be taken seriously.  Your business and employees should do everything possible to ensure you never contribute to a minor being hurt or killed by getting access to alcohol from your shelves.  Bottle Locks can help keep that from happening.  They have different alarm capabilities, and they keep the lids secured shut.  We have already made changes to our product protection plan.  Every bottle on the shelf has a Bottle Lock around it’s neck.  They are virtually indestructible, and I know they keep the bottles secured until they are sold.  To an adult.

For more information about Bottle Locks, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Bottlelock.net  

Finders Keepers – Prevent Shoplifting With Alpha Security

Security tags are generally placed on smaller boxes of merchandise in order to prevent shoplifting, but is there another alternative?  Don’t get me wrong, those tags are a great resource and do a great job protecting merchandise, but sometimes shoplifters are able to cut or rip the tags off of the boxes and take the merchandise.  There lies the problem, how do you stop that from happening?  The answer is to use Keepers from Alpha Security, which are sturdy, solid, and totally encompass the product.  The Alpha Keepers also are locked closed, but can be easily opened with a magnetic key once the product is purchased at the register.  At the same time, they are clear so the customers still have full view of the product inside the Alpha Keeper.  

One of the biggest shoplifter apprehensions I have conducted to date involved a very large amount of movies and TV box sets, was just under $2,500, and the actual theft took less than thirty minutes to commit.  We noticed that our entertainment area had been looking light on inventory for the past couple of weeks, so I began reviewing sales, count changes and video of the area.  The only problem was that the camera wasn’t in the best position to view the area, so we couldn’t identify what was happening.  We moved a camera closer to the area and constantly monitored the aisle for activity.  At the time, we didn’t have any retail anti-theft devices on the movies.  The only measure to prevent shoplifting in the area was shelving that made it where you could only pick up movies one or two at a time, instead of the whole stack.  Unfortunately this shelving wasn’t consistent throughout the area, and only slowed down the theft.

While I was watching the aisle, I noticed a kid that picked up a few video games very quickly.  He then walked over to what appeared to be his mother and handed her the games, which she then dropped into a large open bag in her shopping cart.  She then went over to where the movies were, and began picking up multiple movies at once and throwing them into the bags.  If this weren’t enough, she was then met by a man that had two more shopping carts with large open bags.  Then both of them basically started clearing off the shelves of movies and TV boxed sets.  

By the time they were done picking up merchandise and bagging it, the bags were completely full.  They then all met up together and walked out of the store, where we stopped them and brought them back into the store.  Once I started talking to the shoplifters, they verified that they were a family, and that they had done the same thing previously to sell the merchandise to a store that buys, sells and trades movies.  The point of this story was to show how much impact one case can have on your profit in a short period of time, and that it may have been avoided if the movies were placed in Alpha Keepers. If you’re trying to prevent shoplifting in your store, you’ll definitely want to give these devices a chance. You’ll be happy you found these Keepers from Alpha Security.

For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

The Ultimate Guide To Clothing Security – Part 1

Whether you’re like myself (a busy LP professional), or like my father (a small business owner), I would recommend taking some time off every now and then. To go out and relax at the beach, or lake is not only good for your mental health, it’ll go a long way at helping you solve some of those pestering problems you’ve been having at your store. For the last 3 days I’ve found myself on the gulf coast. Mainly for work, but I took a few personal days to really relax. What I found was as I’m sitting there listening to waves crash against the shore, is my mind had time to wander. It was in the relaxed state that I began to think of all the clothing theft that I’ve seen over the past year in my stores and how we’ve battled it. I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if someone would’ve given me these answers a long time ago. Maybe then, my stores wouldn’t have lost so much money. So I sat back tonight and penned something I hope you will find very useful. It’s my ultimate guide to clothing security. 

 When you think of clothing security, your mind probably goes straight to those Checkpoint Tags and EAS systems that we are all too familiar with. What if I told you that’s not necessarily the case? Good clothing security measures can be as simple as changing the direction of the hangers on your face out bars. In my stores, any high end product is merchandised in this manner. The first hanger is positioned facing left, the second right and so forth down the line. This prevents a shoplifter from grabbing a handful in a hurry and bursting through the doors. This is common though. Most apparel retailers do this, and if you’ve been in the retail industry a few months, you most likely already are aware of this tactic. What about those lesser known tricks of the trade? 

 The way I think about clothing security is not so much about the most effective Checkpoint Tag, but how can I merchandise my product in a way that helps me to boost sales all while keeping losses to a minimum. Another way that I’ve used in the past is what I call “upwards merchandising”. Basically, the walls of my fitting rooms are pretty tall, so every year I have my stores merchandise the football jerseys higher than eye level. This allows the customer to see them when they first enter the store and it keeps them away from a shoplifter. I’ve found that the customer that is coming into the store for that product will appreciate the one on one service my employees give them since they are spending well over $150. Guess what else? I also don’t have to inconvenience the customer with removing a Checkpoint Tag so they can try on the product. Another great idea to protect your merchandise all while still keeping it very visible!

 What other clothing security methods do you use in your store? I’d love to know, so please feel free to post in the comments below. Maybe I’ll feature them in an upcoming segment. In closing, remember that it’s not always about a physical security measure that will stop a thief. Some clever merchandising and solid controls will go a long ways. In the next 3 parts to my series, we’ll talk about some of those controls like fitting rooms, the rise of organized shoplifting in addition to some new technology that’s on the horizon. 

 For more information, contact us at Clothing Security, or call 1.770.426.0547

Lock It Up And Sales Go Down

I work for a small retail pharmacy.  We have a small fragrance section in most of our stores and they are set up in locked glass cases.  Fragrance sales are usually based around holidays like Christmas and Valentines Day for us, because let’s face it, we are not a typical destination store for that kind of purchase.  We actually run specials on them on a regular basis, but the sales in the category are stagnant.  When it comes to retail anti theft devices, fragrances are a bit difficult to protect.  They come in different size boxes, some skinny and tall, while others are short and wide.  The cost and retail associated with these items is too great to risk solely adhering Checkpoint Labels to the outside of the packages.  While most do come to us source tagged, most stores still have to go a step beyond that to ensure we are not letting these boxes walk out the door unpaid.  I am fortunate enough to manage a store in a fairly upscale area.  The shrink in this particular store is well known to be very low every year.   Any store has to take steps to protect fragrance inventory, but we decided to try something new and even unheard of in our business.

Our store’s fragrances are the first thing you see when you come in our front door.  One day as we were looking around the store, trying to get an “eye of the customer” view, my staff and I were talking about how uninviting the big glass case looks.  Customers come in and walk past the case, some may glance toward it, but for the most part, it may as well be invisible.  We had once tried running streamers from the ceiling, and adding sale signs to catch shoppers’ eyes.  Sales were not increasing though.  The thought processes we came up with were glass cases give the vibe that “We don’t trust you!” to the average shopper, or they add a barrier that is just too much trouble and people don’t want to have to ask for items.  How could we still protect fragrance boxes and get people to buy them from us instead of the big box store?  The answer was simple.  Remove the barrier.

We took down the glass case and packed it away safely in the back room.  Then we boxed up every one of our fragrance packages in Alpha Keepers.  These are strong plastic cases that lock up and secure almost any item you can think of.  They come in many different sizes and they were the perfect solution.  They keep the products inside completely visible and they allow the consumer to pick up their selection.  They still sit right on the shelves, and they take up the exact same space they did before.  The big difference now is that as customers walk in the door and see an item they like, they can walk right over and pick it up.  Before the change we implemented, they walked in the door and walked right past the section, sometimes thinking they may ask for something from the case on their way out.  But after they left the pharmacy, they were too distracted by their medication information or a line at the front had formed so they changed their minds.  

Sales have increased dramatically and no major losses have occurred.  We have had an occasional theft, but honestly, the added sales offsets that and makes it nothing to be too concerned about.  Alpha Keepers have been the answer to this problem and many more.  We even took down our glass case we used to keep the teeth whitening kits in as well.  

For more information about Alpha Keepers contact us 1.770.426.0547 or Preventshopliftingloss.net