Checkpoint Security System-3 WC Blog 373
Stop Shoplifting-3
Checkpoint Tags-3
Weather Emergencies And Other Crisis; How Do You Prepare, Respond, Recover and Do You Still Stop Shoplifting? Part 2
I had several tornado watches and warnings I had to respond to while working as a Retail Loss Prevention Manager. Usually these took place when we were under severe thunderstorm warnings which happen regularly here during the summer. We couldn’t shut down computers, registers to protect against power surge damage because we still operated the store during the storms. We also had to stop shoplifting since customers were still shopping at those times so we continued to operate our Checkpoint Security System as well. If the wind was picking up we locked the automatic doors which had a tendency to fly open. Otherwise we monitored our weather radio and a portable radio I had in my office until we had to act. In Part 1 of this series I shared a story about a category 1 hurricane which hit our area and our store remained open. In this article I will share a couple of other crisis our store went through and how we responded.
Before I continue I do want to briefly tell readers about Checkpoint Security Systems, what they are and why I include them in a discussion on severe weather. The systems are anti-theft tools called electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems because they are a system of electrically powered detection towers, deactivation pads designed to de-tune soft Checkpoint tags and the Checkpoint tags themselves, which may be soft labels or hard tags that attach to clothes and other products. When power goes out due to a storm the towers become inoperable and cannot detect tags and therefore no longer stop shoplifting. Being aware of this means addressing it should be included in emergency action plans.
Living in a beach, resort area we get quite a few waterspouts just offshore. Generally they stay over the ocean without doing any damage. During one storm, a water spout actually came on land and became a full-blown tornado, less than a mile from our store. I got people to move to the center of our building when we got the tornado warning but to this day I still have to shake my head thinking about what one of our store managers did that day. The Manager On Duty went outside to see if she could see the tornado! I had to yell at her to get back in the building. We don’t see many tornados around here, so I guess she got caught up in the excitement. Ultimately the twister turned away and died out shortly afterwards but no damage was done to the store or any of our customers…or managers!
In a different emergency, a fuel truck overturned on the highway in front of our store. Aside from the obvious concern about the leaking contents, we had a different problem. Police had to divert traffic through our parking lot, directly in front of our front doors. There was no written plan for this but my team improvised in my absence. Customers wanting to enter and leave were having a terrible time as the line of cars would not stop to let people pass. It took them away from monitoring the Checkpoint security system towers but my team partnered with the manager on duty to have someone monitor for alarms set off by Checkpoint tags. They then stepped outside and began directing traffic. The Loss Prevention team helped customers enter the store and get out to their cars. Their efforts allowed the store to stay open and operate as normal.
One crisis that impacted our area for nearly a week, a small brush fire turned into a major fire emergency. There had been extremely dry conditions here and a resident decided to burn leaves, ignoring a burn ban. Fire fighters from all over the state and neighboring states came in to assist. In order to help in some way I partnered with our store manager and district Loss Prevention Manager to provide bottled water for firefighters and the company made a donation to The American Red Cross to assist families displaced by the fires. Though it was not a threat to the store, the impact on the community was real and some of our employees had homes in the threatened areas.
Emergency response can be difficult and the emergency itself can seem to grow exponentially when a plan is not in place. Training and review of emergency procedures can give a level of confidence to managers even when a situation cannot be foreseen, like an overturned truck. Plan now and don’t forget that Loss Prevention and the need to stop shoplifting should be a part of those plans. In Part 3 I will discuss some ideas on how to make an emergency plan.
Checkpoint Security Systems are important and we can help you with them. Call at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
I had several tornado watches and warnings I had to respond to while working as a Retail Loss Prevention Manager. Usually these took place when we were under severe thunderstorm warnings which happen regularly here during the summer. We couldn’t shut down computers, registers to protect against power surge damage because we still operated the store during the storms. We also had to stop shoplifting since customers were still shopping at those times so we continued to operate our Checkpoint Security System as well. If the wind was picking up we locked the automatic doors which had a tendency to fly open. Otherwise we monitored our weather radio and a portable radio I had in my office until we had to act. In Part 1 of this series I shared a story about a category 1 hurricane which hit our area and our store remained open. In this article I will share a couple of other crisis our store went through and how we responded.
Before I continue I do want to briefly tell readers about Checkpoint Security Systems, what they are and why I include them in a discussion on severe weather. The systems are anti-theft tools called electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems because they are a system of electrically powered detection towers, deactivation pads designed to de-tune soft Checkpoint tags and the Checkpoint tags themselves, which may be soft labels or hard tags that attach to clothes and other products. When power goes out due to a storm the towers become inoperable and cannot detect tags and therefore no longer stop shoplifting. Being aware of this means addressing it should be included in emergency action plans.
Living in a beach, resort area we get quite a few waterspouts just offshore. Generally they stay over the ocean without doing any damage. During one storm, a water spout actually came on land and became a full-blown tornado, less than a mile from our store. I got people to move to the center of our building when we got the tornado warning but to this day I still have to shake my head thinking about what one of our store managers did that day. The Manager On Duty went outside to see if she could see the tornado! I had to yell at her to get back in the building. We don’t see many tornados around here, so I guess she got caught up in the excitement. Ultimately the twister turned away and died out shortly afterwards but no damage was done to the store or any of our customers…or managers!
In a different emergency, a fuel truck overturned on the highway in front of our store. Aside from the obvious concern about the leaking contents, we had a different problem. Police had to divert traffic through our parking lot, directly in front of our front doors. There was no written plan for this but my team improvised in my absence. Customers wanting to enter and leave were having a terrible time as the line of cars would not stop to let people pass. It took them away from monitoring the Checkpoint security system towers but my team partnered with the manager on duty to have someone monitor for alarms set off by Checkpoint tags. They then stepped outside and began directing traffic. The Loss Prevention team helped customers enter the store and get out to their cars. Their efforts allowed the store to stay open and operate as normal.
One crisis that impacted our area for nearly a week, a small brush fire turned into a major fire emergency. There had been extremely dry conditions here and a resident decided to burn leaves, ignoring a burn ban. Fire fighters from all over the state and neighboring states came in to assist. In order to help in some way I partnered with our store manager and district Loss Prevention Manager to provide bottled water for firefighters and the company made a donation to The American Red Cross to assist families displaced by the fires. Though it was not a threat to the store, the impact on the community was real and some of our employees had homes in the threatened areas.
Emergency response can be difficult and the emergency itself can seem to grow exponentially when a plan is not in place. Training and review of emergency procedures can give a level of confidence to managers even when a situation cannot be foreseen, like an overturned truck. Plan now and don’t forget that Loss Prevention and the need to stop shoplifting should be a part of those plans. In Part 3 I will discuss some ideas on how to make an emergency plan.
Checkpoint Security Systems are important and we can help you with them. Call at 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Checkpoint Security System- 3 WC Blog 372
Stop Shoplifting-3
Checkpoint Tags-3
Weather Emergencies And Other Crisis; How Do You Prepare, Respond, Recover and Do You Still Stop Shoplifting? Part 1
Severe weather is a threat every business owner must be prepared for be it hurricanes, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, earthquakes or any other crisis you can think of. In some cases there is some sort of advance warning that makes it a little easier to keep customers and employees safe. Other times the event occurs without warning. What are some of the weather situations I have contended with as a manager in retail and even working in a college library and what steps did we have to take to recover and get back to normal operations? As a Loss Prevention Manager I had to ensure building safety and ensure our Checkpoint Security System and other retail theft prevention tools were working properly.
Why would I mention a Checkpoint Security System when discussing severe weather and recovery afterwards? The anti-theft systems in the store stop shoplifting and if you and your team are in recovery mode, you may have enough systems up and running to open your doors to sell merchandise and still be less than 100% fully back to normal. This means if there are customers in the store and they are attempting to steal, Checkpoint tags are not going to prevent pilferage if the electronic article surveillance pedestals aren’t working. Checkpoint tags emit a radio frequency signal that is picked up by pedestals and activate an alarm built into the pedestals. The pedestals do require an active power source and if the power is out, or a power surge has damaged the unit, the ability for tags to be detected is disrupted. Obviously many types of storms can result in power issues affecting a store.
I recall one time as a Loss Prevention Manager our store was in the path of a category 1 hurricane. Being in a beach location we are familiar with hurricanes and though they should never be taken lightly, this particular one was just barely above tropical storm strength and most of the locals were not too concerned about it. During a conference call with our district office I was asked my thoughts on whether we should close or stay open. I recommended we stay open. There were several factors I considered but this storm popped up unusually quickly and gave little time to prepare. We kept the store open through the storm and though power went out quite a few customers stopped in and waited out the storm. Some browsed and others hung out in the food court area chatting and making new friends. After the storm passed we were the only store in the area open for business as we ran on partial electricity with our emergency generator. I stood at the front doors conducting receipt checks since our Checkpoint Security System was not operating and I need to try to stop shoplifting to the best of my ability (partial power was reserved for registers and some lighting and while the ability to detect Checkpoint tags was important it was not critical for operations). I also made a point of letting people know the store was open since the store was pretty dark even with partial lights and all the other stores in our block were closed. People were driving by slowly trying to find somewhere that was open. I remember multiple customers telling me how much they appreciated us being open because they needed water, flashlights, batteries and other essentials.
As a store manager/owner, be aware of severe weather. Have an action plan in place even for unusual events and have a recovery plan in place to go back to business as usual. Don’t forget it is still important to stop shoplifting but making sure everyone is safe and the store is up and running are the priorities. In part 2 I will continue with a few more crises I encountered and some tip for preparing your own store. As a former Eagle Scout, I will remind you of the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared.
Get more information on Checkpoint Security Systems, contact us at 1.770.426.0547 today.
Severe weather is a threat every business owner must be prepared for be it hurricanes, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, earthquakes or any other crisis you can think of. In some cases there is some sort of advance warning that makes it a little easier to keep customers and employees safe. Other times the event occurs without warning. What are some of the weather situations I have contended with as a manager in retail and even working in a college library and what steps did we have to take to recover and get back to normal operations? As a Loss Prevention Manager I had to ensure building safety and ensure our Checkpoint Security System and other retail theft prevention tools were working properly.
Why would I mention a Checkpoint Security System when discussing severe weather and recovery afterwards? The anti-theft systems in the store stop shoplifting and if you and your team are in recovery mode, you may have enough systems up and running to open your doors to sell merchandise and still be less than 100% fully back to normal. This means if there are customers in the store and they are attempting to steal, Checkpoint tags are not going to prevent pilferage if the electronic article surveillance pedestals aren’t working. Checkpoint tags emit a radio frequency signal that is picked up by pedestals and activate an alarm built into the pedestals. The pedestals do require an active power source and if the power is out, or a power surge has damaged the unit, the ability for tags to be detected is disrupted. Obviously many types of storms can result in power issues affecting a store.
I recall one time as a Loss Prevention Manager our store was in the path of a category 1 hurricane. Being in a beach location we are familiar with hurricanes and though they should never be taken lightly, this particular one was just barely above tropical storm strength and most of the locals were not too concerned about it. During a conference call with our district office I was asked my thoughts on whether we should close or stay open. I recommended we stay open. There were several factors I considered but this storm popped up unusually quickly and gave little time to prepare. We kept the store open through the storm and though power went out quite a few customers stopped in and waited out the storm. Some browsed and others hung out in the food court area chatting and making new friends. After the storm passed we were the only store in the area open for business as we ran on partial electricity with our emergency generator. I stood at the front doors conducting receipt checks since our Checkpoint Security System was not operating and I need to try to stop shoplifting to the best of my ability (partial power was reserved for registers and some lighting and while the ability to detect Checkpoint tags was important it was not critical for operations). I also made a point of letting people know the store was open since the store was pretty dark even with partial lights and all the other stores in our block were closed. People were driving by slowly trying to find somewhere that was open. I remember multiple customers telling me how much they appreciated us being open because they needed water, flashlights, batteries and other essentials.
As a store manager/owner, be aware of severe weather. Have an action plan in place even for unusual events and have a recovery plan in place to go back to business as usual. Don’t forget it is still important to stop shoplifting but making sure everyone is safe and the store is up and running are the priorities. In part 2 I will continue with a few more crises I encountered and some tip for preparing your own store. As a former Eagle Scout, I will remind you of the Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared.
Get more information on Checkpoint Security Systems, contact us at 1.770.426.0547 today.
Can Loss Prevention Be Free?-3 WC Blog 351
Free Loss Prevention Calculator-4
Don’t Fool Around Guessing If A Loss Prevention System Can Save You Money; Discover What Your ROI Will Be With The Free Loss Prevention Calculator
I work in an academic library and currently we are working on an assessment plan that will fit into our University’s strategic plan. Part of what we are doing is looking at what changes we have made, programs we have implemented and projects we have undertaken and we are trying to measure the success of those programs. This is not always easy to do. Some of the things we have done are easy to measure. For example, we changed some checkout policies for laptop computers so that they are one day checkouts during the week but on Fridays they are checked out for an entire weekend. This was not always the case. We used to make laptop checkouts 24 hours period. We changed the rules so people could go out of town for a weekend and athletes could travel to games without worrying about trying to renew over the phone or missing a deadline. The result was a reduction in the number of late returns and the fines collected. What is the Return On Investment? One might say we lost dollars so that was a negative return. Not that our student body did not have to pay out as much and could enjoy weekends was a positive return. It also led to happier customers for us to deal with. As we continue to look forward we are planning other projects and we need to anticipate what the Return on Investments will be in those instances. Likewise, for retailers it is important to take a look at theft and fraud and make plans for how to reduce shortage. Will it cost you money? Will you get back what you invest in it? Can Loss Prevention be free? Perhaps.
The Free Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool you can go into, at no cost and begin making plans on reducing shortage by investing in an electronic article surveillance system. You enter information in a few fields, your company annual sales, and how much you would like to invest in Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) equipment. The program estimates your store’s beginning shortage at 1.2 %, the average amount for most retailers nationwide and an estimated reduction of shortage to about .65%. The calculator then gives you the number of months it would roughly take for an EAS system to pay for itself. In other words by paying back in savings what you spend on the system it really does pay for itself, answering the question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free? Afterwards you can add what you save to your profit line or consider using them for business expansion or increasing staff. By the way, when using the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, none of the information is saved and you can change information as much as you like.
The question then becomes, “If the system pays for itself and then I start making money, how is hiring more staff or expanding my business adding to my profit line?” What happens when you add staff to your stores is that you make a positive impact in several areas. More people on your salesfloor means more customer service, and more people finding the items they want. Additional sales people have the opportunity for more suggestive selling, helping people realize there are things they need or could use with a purchase they are making. For example someone shopping for a printer may not realize they also needed additional ink or a ream of paper. Expanding the business itself, increasing your store floor space or opening an additional store translates to sales growth too. There is your ROI simply from the purchase of an anti-theft system for your store. And you invested because a Free Loss Prevention Calculator showed you what you could save from reduced theft.
Can Loss Prevention be free? It can be, but the most effective way to convince you is for you to try out the Free Loss Prevention Calculator.
Get more information on The Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
I work in an academic library and currently we are working on an assessment plan that will fit into our University’s strategic plan. Part of what we are doing is looking at what changes we have made, programs we have implemented and projects we have undertaken and we are trying to measure the success of those programs. This is not always easy to do. Some of the things we have done are easy to measure. For example, we changed some checkout policies for laptop computers so that they are one day checkouts during the week but on Fridays they are checked out for an entire weekend. This was not always the case. We used to make laptop checkouts 24 hours period. We changed the rules so people could go out of town for a weekend and athletes could travel to games without worrying about trying to renew over the phone or missing a deadline. The result was a reduction in the number of late returns and the fines collected. What is the Return On Investment? One might say we lost dollars so that was a negative return. Not that our student body did not have to pay out as much and could enjoy weekends was a positive return. It also led to happier customers for us to deal with. As we continue to look forward we are planning other projects and we need to anticipate what the Return on Investments will be in those instances. Likewise, for retailers it is important to take a look at theft and fraud and make plans for how to reduce shortage. Will it cost you money? Will you get back what you invest in it? Can Loss Prevention be free? Perhaps.
The Free Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool you can go into, at no cost and begin making plans on reducing shortage by investing in an electronic article surveillance system. You enter information in a few fields, your company annual sales, and how much you would like to invest in Checkpoint electronic article surveillance (EAS) equipment. The program estimates your store’s beginning shortage at 1.2 %, the average amount for most retailers nationwide and an estimated reduction of shortage to about .65%. The calculator then gives you the number of months it would roughly take for an EAS system to pay for itself. In other words by paying back in savings what you spend on the system it really does pay for itself, answering the question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free? Afterwards you can add what you save to your profit line or consider using them for business expansion or increasing staff. By the way, when using the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, none of the information is saved and you can change information as much as you like.
The question then becomes, “If the system pays for itself and then I start making money, how is hiring more staff or expanding my business adding to my profit line?” What happens when you add staff to your stores is that you make a positive impact in several areas. More people on your salesfloor means more customer service, and more people finding the items they want. Additional sales people have the opportunity for more suggestive selling, helping people realize there are things they need or could use with a purchase they are making. For example someone shopping for a printer may not realize they also needed additional ink or a ream of paper. Expanding the business itself, increasing your store floor space or opening an additional store translates to sales growth too. There is your ROI simply from the purchase of an anti-theft system for your store. And you invested because a Free Loss Prevention Calculator showed you what you could save from reduced theft.
Can Loss Prevention be free? It can be, but the most effective way to convince you is for you to try out the Free Loss Prevention Calculator.
Get more information on The Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Alpha Security – 4 WC Blog 352
Retail anti-theft devices-3
Why Work Hard To Catch Criminals When You Can Save Yourself The Trouble With Retail Anti-Theft Devices?
How far would you go to catch a crook? I had a few employee theft cases that I would say qualified as being a little extreme. One that comes to mind involved a couple of part-time hires we brought on board for our holiday season. I was the Loss Prevention Manager for the store and assisted in all of our new hire orientation sessions. During the holidays we would hold orientations for groups ranging from 2 up to 30 people. In one particular orientation I noticed that two fellas were not paying attention and were joking back and forth. That caught my attention and I made a point to find out their names and where they would be working. I also noticed their attention was piqued when I gave the tour of the security office. I should note, I only kept a camera or two on screen and shut off all other monitors. I never gave away where my cameras were located, especially the covert ones. It was obvious my two new compadres were trying to take in as much as they could. I found out the guys would be working on our freight team in the early morning hours. I made a point to conduct a covert overnight surveillance after they had a few days of training under their belts. It was during this surveillance that I saw my new employees had been assigned to work in our electronics freight and that included the secure lock-up for backstock electronics! I thought I saw some suspicious activity but couldn’t confirm it. In those days we had limited camera coverage in our lock up areas and even over our salesfloor. Our retail anti-theft devices were limited to electronic article surveillance (EAS) soft tags. Alpha Security products were not a part of our theft prevention strategy at the time.
For my readers who are not familiar with Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices, these are a family of EAS products that can protect a wide variety of merchandise. Some products are locking cables, protective locking boxes, wire wraps (known as Spider Wrap) and hard tags. All of the devices are compatible with EAS pedestals and will activate the alarms if they are carried too close to doors where pedestals are situated. Tampering with these devices also results in alarms sounding that are built into Alpha’s products.
As I said, our company was not using Alpha Security at that time so many of our items were unprotected. Since merchandise was coming off of the trucks from the distribution center and the freight team was pushing it to the floor or the backroom, it was vulnerable to theft. I reworked my schedule around my suspects’ schedules. I also partnered with my District LP Manager and made him aware of the case. After several covert observations from my office with no definitive results I brought my L.P. team in overnight to assist me. We set up a covert camera, trying to get the best angle in the stock room. I then climbed on the steel shelving and hid behind merchandise on the top shelves. Now if you’ve ever seen the metal grating that serves as shelves for some big home improvement stores THAT is the stuff I was laying on. I will tell you that is one of the most uncomfortable positions I have ever had to maintain and especially when the subjects were in the stockroom with me. I did this at least three times and each time was a minimum of 6 hours. After several inconclusive surveillances in which suspicious behaviors were observed and merchandise went missing a district L.P. investigator came to assist me. Another 2 nights on the shelves and another 2 nights we only had suspicion but no firm evidence of a crime.
The Investigator was feeling pressure to close the case and so even though we only had one of the two suspects working, he conducted an interview. Since I was still relatively new to my job I deferred to his position and experience. Well, the interview yielded no admission and no merchandise was recovered. Needless to say neither employee returned to work. Days after the interview I found product packaging hidden behind plumbing access doors in one of the employee restrooms. As I look back on it now, I believe Alpha Security devices would have prevented the thefts I am certain the two employees were responsible for committing.
With all of the choices of retail anti-theft devices on the market today, there is little reason an internal merchandise theft case should ever have to get this big. Don’t go to great lengths to try to catch bad guys, just use Alpha Security products and save yourself the trouble.
Need information on Alpha Security? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
How far would you go to catch a crook? I had a few employee theft cases that I would say qualified as being a little extreme. One that comes to mind involved a couple of part-time hires we brought on board for our holiday season. I was the Loss Prevention Manager for the store and assisted in all of our new hire orientation sessions. During the holidays we would hold orientations for groups ranging from 2 up to 30 people. In one particular orientation I noticed that two fellas were not paying attention and were joking back and forth. That caught my attention and I made a point to find out their names and where they would be working. I also noticed their attention was piqued when I gave the tour of the security office. I should note, I only kept a camera or two on screen and shut off all other monitors. I never gave away where my cameras were located, especially the covert ones. It was obvious my two new compadres were trying to take in as much as they could. I found out the guys would be working on our freight team in the early morning hours. I made a point to conduct a covert overnight surveillance after they had a few days of training under their belts. It was during this surveillance that I saw my new employees had been assigned to work in our electronics freight and that included the secure lock-up for backstock electronics! I thought I saw some suspicious activity but couldn’t confirm it. In those days we had limited camera coverage in our lock up areas and even over our salesfloor. Our retail anti-theft devices were limited to electronic article surveillance (EAS) soft tags. Alpha Security products were not a part of our theft prevention strategy at the time.
For my readers who are not familiar with Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices, these are a family of EAS products that can protect a wide variety of merchandise. Some products are locking cables, protective locking boxes, wire wraps (known as Spider Wrap) and hard tags. All of the devices are compatible with EAS pedestals and will activate the alarms if they are carried too close to doors where pedestals are situated. Tampering with these devices also results in alarms sounding that are built into Alpha’s products.
As I said, our company was not using Alpha Security at that time so many of our items were unprotected. Since merchandise was coming off of the trucks from the distribution center and the freight team was pushing it to the floor or the backroom, it was vulnerable to theft. I reworked my schedule around my suspects’ schedules. I also partnered with my District LP Manager and made him aware of the case. After several covert observations from my office with no definitive results I brought my L.P. team in overnight to assist me. We set up a covert camera, trying to get the best angle in the stock room. I then climbed on the steel shelving and hid behind merchandise on the top shelves. Now if you’ve ever seen the metal grating that serves as shelves for some big home improvement stores THAT is the stuff I was laying on. I will tell you that is one of the most uncomfortable positions I have ever had to maintain and especially when the subjects were in the stockroom with me. I did this at least three times and each time was a minimum of 6 hours. After several inconclusive surveillances in which suspicious behaviors were observed and merchandise went missing a district L.P. investigator came to assist me. Another 2 nights on the shelves and another 2 nights we only had suspicion but no firm evidence of a crime.
The Investigator was feeling pressure to close the case and so even though we only had one of the two suspects working, he conducted an interview. Since I was still relatively new to my job I deferred to his position and experience. Well, the interview yielded no admission and no merchandise was recovered. Needless to say neither employee returned to work. Days after the interview I found product packaging hidden behind plumbing access doors in one of the employee restrooms. As I look back on it now, I believe Alpha Security devices would have prevented the thefts I am certain the two employees were responsible for committing.
With all of the choices of retail anti-theft devices on the market today, there is little reason an internal merchandise theft case should ever have to get this big. Don’t go to great lengths to try to catch bad guys, just use Alpha Security products and save yourself the trouble.
Need information on Alpha Security? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
It’s hell working in retail. There’s no sugar coating our jobs. We battle customer needs, employee relations issues, in-stock position, payroll, theft and the list just can go on for days. Sometimes, I go home completely worn out by the job; however, it’s days where I get a good bust that really keep me going. It’s very hard to Stop Shoplifting, but a keen set of eyes and quick reacting can often lead to great things.
To tell this story, we first have to go back; way back. To my very first year as an LP manager for my company. About 9 years. I was reviewing product returns from the previous day when I came across these flashlights that we didn’t carry. There was about 8, or 9 of them in the returns area, but they had our pricing labels attached to them. Finding it highly odd, I started doing a bit of research. I found the customer that returned them on camera and noted that he had a receipt. Even stranger. So I pulled the original transaction history and found where the sale took place; at a store a few miles up the road about a week prior.
According to the receipt, this guy purchased 9 flashlights at about $4.99 each. In reviewing the transaction video, he had a small basket full of assorted product. I even yelled at my computer screen when I saw my cashier remove various Checkpoint Tags from high dollar product, only for it to ring $4.99. He was actually able to leave the store with around $900 in product, and he only paid about $20. Then to add insult to injury, he went out and purchased some $.50 flashlights at another retailer, swapped the tags on those and returned them to me. He really is a genius. His total cost was about $5 for a $900 load. That’s a pretty good ROI if you ask me. With this video and information, I was able to enlist the help of local police. Eventually, flashlight guy was identified, but never arrested. As time went by, it drifted further from my mind as the demands of daily life took precedence, and well, I had to Stop Shoplifting in other areas of my store, ya’ know?
Fast forward to present day. I’m walking to the front office from the rear of the store. As I’m walking near the front exit doors, I hear my EAS tower sound. I immediately apologize to the customer for failing to remove the Checkpoint Tags and ask to view his receipt so I may address this with the cashier that assisted him. He was very understanding; thanked me for my professionalism and began talking. Talking a whole lot. As I was jotting down the cashier’s name, I noticed that the receipt was for a bunch of $4.99 flashlights. Like a scene out of a movie, a flash of light and vivid memories of years past came flooding back. As soon as I looked in the buggy he was pushing, I saw hundreds of dollars’ worth of product. And not one flashlight.
As if the stars couldn’t align even more on this day, a good friend of mine enters the store at this exact moment. My friend is a state trooper, who also happened to be on duty at the time. With his help, we bring my flashlight guy to the security office where I’m able to recover nearly $1,500 worth of product. The better part? He still had an active warrant for the theft that occurred at the same store nearly 9 years ago. Good day all around.
After he was led out in handcuffs, I approached the cashier that failed to remove the Checkpoint Tags on one of his products. Instead of scolding the cashier for doing so, I bought her a snack and thanked her for helping me close such an old case, albeit by sheer dumb-luck. Sometimes, to Stop Shoplifting, you have really put in the leg work, other times, you just have to be at the right place, at the right time.
For more information about Checkpoint Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
