Clothing Security Tags-5 WC Blog 483
Checkpoint Tags-3
Clothing Security Tags Deter Most Thieves
Clothing security tags are really good at deterring and preventing shoplifting. There are times in the world of Retail Loss Prevention when you see someone steal clothing regardless of whether or not merchandise is tagged. It isn’t too surprising that people will do a lot of dumb things but what can be surprising is who we see stealing and sometimes what people are stealing. Checkpoint tags on clothes are effective but it just so happens there are a few people that don’t worry themselves over them. I want to share about two such shoplifters I dealt with in my Loss Prevention Career.
I should take a break from my story about odd shoplifters I have encountered and discuss what clothing security tags are. These aren’t the clothing hang tags from the manufacturer (although soft Checkpoint tags can be embedded in them) I am referring to a hard tag that is attached to a garment. These tags are placed in a prominent location on a clothing item and most of the time will deter a criminal who sees them. The tags are nearly impossible to remove from clothing without damaging the product. When clothes are damaged it renders it useless to the criminal. The tags also have the ability to activate Checkpoint pedestals when carried too close to them. Even when concealed in a bag or being worn by a would-be thief merchandise that is tagged sets off an alarm and lights in a pedestal. Associates respond, conduct receipt checks and using training they have received recover merchandise. So, deterrence and detection can save a store a vast amount of money in reduced shortage.
But like I was alluding to in the beginning of my article not everyone is necessarily concerned about clothing security tags or even Retail Loss Prevention people for that matter. These can turn into odd shoplifting cases. One case I had was as a Loss Prevention Associate in a department store. It was a slow night and I was in the camera room looking for activity. I noticed an older woman walking through departments and she seemed to be browsing. I casually observed her since there was no other activity and she had a large purse in her shopping cart. I thought I noticed her pick up an item without paying much attention to it and place it in her purse. I admit I was shocked as this woman could have been my grandmother! A few more minutes and she did it again. I reviewed my videotape to be sure I saw what I thought I saw. Sure enough she had concealed the item. At that time our store did not use clothing security tags on everything so I was not sure she would set off any alarms when she would eventually leave. Eventually my 72 year old shopper did leave the store without paying for the merchandise. I did stop her and contacted the police. She was released by them to her husband who apparently had to deal with this on a regular basis.
Another odd shoplifter I encountered was when I was a Loss Prevention Manager. I had a male shopper in our lingerie department. I had other experiences like this that were less than pleasant to deal with. The guy was standing behind fixtures and appeared to be looking at female shoppers nearby. I began watching him anticipating that I would have to go and intervene. It wasn’t long before I saw him pick up a piece of lingerie and hide it under his shirt. That was NOT what I was expecting. A few more lingerie items were concealed and he walked towards the doors. In this instance one or more of the items had Checkpoint tags on them and the pedestals alarmed as I stopped him. We returned to the security office and I recovered the merchandise from the blushing blunderer. I’m still not sure if he was blushing for being caught or for what he was stealing. He did get a one-way ride to the city jail where he could share his exploits with the fellas.
Clothing security tags are an effective means of preventing theft and deterring crime. Two things must be remembered. The best protection is when everything is tagged and when you understand that there are a few people who will disregard those tags and steal anyways. Be ready to respond to pedestal alarms and don’t be shocked if it turns out to be someone’s grandmother who is trying to rip you off.
Clothing security tags are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Clothing security tags are really good at deterring and preventing shoplifting. There are times in the world of Retail Loss Prevention when you see someone steal clothing regardless of whether or not merchandise is tagged. It isn’t too surprising that people will do a lot of dumb things but what can be surprising is who we see stealing and sometimes what people are stealing. Checkpoint tags on clothes are effective but it just so happens there are a few people that don’t worry themselves over them. I want to share about two such shoplifters I dealt with in my Loss Prevention Career.
I should take a break from my story about odd shoplifters I have encountered and discuss what clothing security tags are. These aren’t the clothing hang tags from the manufacturer (although soft Checkpoint tags can be embedded in them) I am referring to a hard tag that is attached to a garment. These tags are placed in a prominent location on a clothing item and most of the time will deter a criminal who sees them. The tags are nearly impossible to remove from clothing without damaging the product. When clothes are damaged it renders it useless to the criminal. The tags also have the ability to activate Checkpoint pedestals when carried too close to them. Even when concealed in a bag or being worn by a would-be thief merchandise that is tagged sets off an alarm and lights in a pedestal. Associates respond, conduct receipt checks and using training they have received recover merchandise. So, deterrence and detection can save a store a vast amount of money in reduced shortage.
But like I was alluding to in the beginning of my article not everyone is necessarily concerned about clothing security tags or even Retail Loss Prevention people for that matter. These can turn into odd shoplifting cases. One case I had was as a Loss Prevention Associate in a department store. It was a slow night and I was in the camera room looking for activity. I noticed an older woman walking through departments and she seemed to be browsing. I casually observed her since there was no other activity and she had a large purse in her shopping cart. I thought I noticed her pick up an item without paying much attention to it and place it in her purse. I admit I was shocked as this woman could have been my grandmother! A few more minutes and she did it again. I reviewed my videotape to be sure I saw what I thought I saw. Sure enough she had concealed the item. At that time our store did not use clothing security tags on everything so I was not sure she would set off any alarms when she would eventually leave. Eventually my 72 year old shopper did leave the store without paying for the merchandise. I did stop her and contacted the police. She was released by them to her husband who apparently had to deal with this on a regular basis.
Another odd shoplifter I encountered was when I was a Loss Prevention Manager. I had a male shopper in our lingerie department. I had other experiences like this that were less than pleasant to deal with. The guy was standing behind fixtures and appeared to be looking at female shoppers nearby. I began watching him anticipating that I would have to go and intervene. It wasn’t long before I saw him pick up a piece of lingerie and hide it under his shirt. That was NOT what I was expecting. A few more lingerie items were concealed and he walked towards the doors. In this instance one or more of the items had Checkpoint tags on them and the pedestals alarmed as I stopped him. We returned to the security office and I recovered the merchandise from the blushing blunderer. I’m still not sure if he was blushing for being caught or for what he was stealing. He did get a one-way ride to the city jail where he could share his exploits with the fellas.
Clothing security tags are an effective means of preventing theft and deterring crime. Two things must be remembered. The best protection is when everything is tagged and when you understand that there are a few people who will disregard those tags and steal anyways. Be ready to respond to pedestal alarms and don’t be shocked if it turns out to be someone’s grandmother who is trying to rip you off.
Clothing security tags are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
BOOSTERS LEAVE RETAILER EMPTY HANDED, AFTER ATTEMPTING TO STEAL HIGH DOLLAR ITEMS SECURED WITH CLOTHING SECURITY TAGS!
Clothing Security Tags -4 ML Blog 25
Security tags on clothes – 3
Boosters drive Loss Prevention teams absolute CRAZY. They wipe out shelves within minutes, killing your sales and shrink numbers. There are several incidents while I am just at lunch, and boosters were in and out of my location! My store had a policy at the time, to not utilize security devices on certain items we sold. Stores struggle on the decision of utilizing security devices on products or not. A lot of retailers worry about the cost versus seeing the return on investment from using merchandise protection standards. However, these were the “hot” items that the boosters wanted currently. Instead of being frustrated daily, I took it upon myself to do a Best Practice Security Device Program. I wrote up an action plan up on why I was going to go above and beyond with tagging standards. I ordered clothing security tags to deter the thieves and to prove how this program can really work. You learn truly by experimenting with different devices, figuring out what actually deters merchandise from leaving the building. Normally this will send boosters to your competitors, keeping your items on your shelves to sell. Why not invest your money on what has been proven to stop shoplifting in other retailers?! I personally like to invest in security tags on clothes, in order to reduce their amount of loss each year. I have had several, crazy experiences to prove this method.
It’s 5:00pm on a Saturday, and the store is packed with customers on this busy weekend. The store team is running around helping shoppers, while I am scanning CCTV cameras looking for boosters. I am waiting for 2 subjects that target my store once a month on specific weekend days. I was able to develop their trend, and knew they were going to hit my store at some point that weekend. I kept my cameras pointed on the highly targeted woman’s shirts and played the waiting game. Finally by 7:30pm, I see the familiar subjects that I know all too well. They were scoping the store suspiciously for cameras, then quickly headed for the woman’s department. I keep CCTV on the subjects and within minutes of seeing their strange behaviors, both subjects walk right up to the woman’s shirts they have targeted previously. Just 2 weeks ago, I received my new clothing security tags in and I had the store team place them on this entire fixture. Subject 1, quickly goes up to the rack and grabs a stack of the shirts priced at $49.99 per piece. Subject 2 scopes the area, and then signals for Subject 1 to go to the fitting room. They both go into the fitting room and stay in there for 10 minutes. I watch them exit the fitting room, and see them come out with the stack of shirts, dumping them on a random fixture. I run to check the fixture to make sure they didn’t take any. I check the shirts and literally start jumping in the air for joy! All of the associates in the area looked at me like I was crazy, but I was extremely pumped! I was able to see that they dumped everything because they couldn’t get the clothing security tags off of the products! Finally, I was able to put a stop to these boosters! After dumping the clothes, they exited the building quickly and you could actually see them frowning and upset! A HUGE win for our store! They left my store and never came back. I never spotted them again, which shows the deterrent tag method really worked. I ended up totaling up how much these boosters would have left my store with, if I did not have the security devices present: a grand total of $499.90! Within minutes it went from close to $500.00 going right out the door, to the boosters leaving immediately with NOTHING. However, think about how much they got away with previously or when I was not there to observe? I was lucky that I figured out who they were and when they were coming in. This investigation led us to take action by placing security tags on clothes. It is such a small task, for such a big prevention. In this day and age, it is not realistic for associate awareness on the sales floor to be enough in deterring the thieves. Retailers have to use more advanced protection devices that really deters the thieves from coming into the store. I’ve learned that associates including myself cannot observe everything that is going on every day. Even an entire Loss Prevention team cannot observe everything that is going on every single day. So what are you going to do to stop the booster craziness?!
In my several years of being an Asset Protection Manager, I see a massive amount of these same incidents happening on camera due to security tags on clothes. The boosters panicking leaving all items behind, after seeing what tags we use. This is the route to go, if you are looking for an inexpensive fix that truly puts boosters to a stop!
For more information about Clothing Security Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Boosters drive Loss Prevention teams absolute CRAZY. They wipe out shelves within minutes, killing your sales and shrink numbers. There are several incidents while I am just at lunch, and boosters were in and out of my location! My store had a policy at the time, to not utilize security devices on certain items we sold. Stores struggle on the decision of utilizing security devices on products or not. A lot of retailers worry about the cost versus seeing the return on investment from using merchandise protection standards. However, these were the “hot” items that the boosters wanted currently. Instead of being frustrated daily, I took it upon myself to do a Best Practice Security Device Program. I wrote up an action plan up on why I was going to go above and beyond with tagging standards. I ordered clothing security tags to deter the thieves and to prove how this program can really work. You learn truly by experimenting with different devices, figuring out what actually deters merchandise from leaving the building. Normally this will send boosters to your competitors, keeping your items on your shelves to sell. Why not invest your money on what has been proven to stop shoplifting in other retailers?! I personally like to invest in security tags on clothes, in order to reduce their amount of loss each year. I have had several, crazy experiences to prove this method.
It’s 5:00pm on a Saturday, and the store is packed with customers on this busy weekend. The store team is running around helping shoppers, while I am scanning CCTV cameras looking for boosters. I am waiting for 2 subjects that target my store once a month on specific weekend days. I was able to develop their trend, and knew they were going to hit my store at some point that weekend. I kept my cameras pointed on the highly targeted woman’s shirts and played the waiting game. Finally by 7:30pm, I see the familiar subjects that I know all too well. They were scoping the store suspiciously for cameras, then quickly headed for the woman’s department. I keep CCTV on the subjects and within minutes of seeing their strange behaviors, both subjects walk right up to the woman’s shirts they have targeted previously. Just 2 weeks ago, I received my new clothing security tags in and I had the store team place them on this entire fixture. Subject 1, quickly goes up to the rack and grabs a stack of the shirts priced at $49.99 per piece. Subject 2 scopes the area, and then signals for Subject 1 to go to the fitting room. They both go into the fitting room and stay in there for 10 minutes. I watch them exit the fitting room, and see them come out with the stack of shirts, dumping them on a random fixture. I run to check the fixture to make sure they didn’t take any. I check the shirts and literally start jumping in the air for joy! All of the associates in the area looked at me like I was crazy, but I was extremely pumped! I was able to see that they dumped everything because they couldn’t get the clothing security tags off of the products! Finally, I was able to put a stop to these boosters! After dumping the clothes, they exited the building quickly and you could actually see them frowning and upset! A HUGE win for our store! They left my store and never came back. I never spotted them again, which shows the deterrent tag method really worked. I ended up totaling up how much these boosters would have left my store with, if I did not have the security devices present: a grand total of $499.90! Within minutes it went from close to $500.00 going right out the door, to the boosters leaving immediately with NOTHING. However, think about how much they got away with previously or when I was not there to observe? I was lucky that I figured out who they were and when they were coming in. This investigation led us to take action by placing security tags on clothes. It is such a small task, for such a big prevention. In this day and age, it is not realistic for associate awareness on the sales floor to be enough in deterring the thieves. Retailers have to use more advanced protection devices that really deters the thieves from coming into the store. I’ve learned that associates including myself cannot observe everything that is going on every day. Even an entire Loss Prevention team cannot observe everything that is going on every single day. So what are you going to do to stop the booster craziness?!
In my several years of being an Asset Protection Manager, I see a massive amount of these same incidents happening on camera due to security tags on clothes. The boosters panicking leaving all items behind, after seeing what tags we use. This is the route to go, if you are looking for an inexpensive fix that truly puts boosters to a stop!
For more information about Clothing Security Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Can Loss Prevention Be Free? -4 wc blog 436
Loss Prevention Calculator-3
There Are A Lot Of Dumb Questions To Be Answered In Retail But “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” Is Not One Of Them
Working in retail it is funny the kinds of questions I get asked by customers. When there was a chance of a hurricane coming in the direction of the area where I live, I had one woman and her daughter ask me if they should evacuate from the area. I have been through quite a few hurricanes and typhoons so I knew what I was planning for myself and my family but trying to tell someone else what to do is not something I like to do. I told this customer what I was going to do but my recommendation for her was that she should do what she was comfortable with for herself. Another question I am asked frequently when I am selling a desk or chair to a customer is, “Is this hard to put together?” My usual reply is that the item is not too hard to put together as long as you look over the directions, lay out the parts and take your time. When I was a Loss Prevention Manager and I would catch an employee stealing I would inevitably be asked, “Am I going to jail?” Although the answer seemed pretty obvious to me I would try to deflect the answer until after I completed my theft interview with them and then give the answer in the affirmative (most of the time). One question I have never been asked but one day wish I would get as an inquiry is, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” It may sound absurd to ask, but the answer may not be as obvious as you would think it would be.
Can Loss Prevention be free? It is an interesting question but the answer is within your grasp if you take the time to use the Loss Prevention Calculator on the Loss Prevention Systems Inc. website. This calculator gives a retail business owner to the ability to see how long it would take for a Checkpoint Security System to pay for itself through inventory shortage reduction due to theft. The way the Loss Prevention Calculator does this is it allows a store owner to input the annual sales for their business, it estimates the annual inventory shortage at about 1.2% shrink (the average shortage for retailers nationwide) and then the user inputs how much they would be willing to invest in a Checkpoint Security System. The calculator reduces shortage to .65% and then gives the number of months it would take for the system to pay for itself in shortage reduction savings for the store. So the answer to the question, “Can Loss Prevention be free?” is a resounding YES!
Some of you are thinking to yourselves, “If I have to pay for it then it isn’t free.” But you need to think of it in these terms that will make more sense. Let’s pretend your annual stock shortage is $10,000 for arguments sake. You reduce that amount by about half in the first year you own your system. You have now saved almost $5,000 in reduced shortage. Depending on how much you spent on your Checkpoint System and tags you may have almost paid for your investment. Keep your shortage down to $5,000 in the next year and you can see how much you have saved over two years. After you have recouped your investment you are now just adding money to your bottom line. You may choose to invest in expanding your business, hiring more people or adding additional Loss Prevention Measures to save even more. In a sense Loss Prevention is paying for itself.
The Loss Prevention Calculator is free to use and requires no sign on or registration to use. You can make as many entries and variations of them as you like and if you decide you are interested then YOU make the choice to speak to LPSI about a Loss Prevention System. They don’t call you or harass you with unsolicited phone calls. So while I may never get the question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” I am giving you the answer anyways, YES it can be and it can make your company more profitable in the long run.
Need information on the Loss Prevention Calculator? Contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 now.
Working in retail it is funny the kinds of questions I get asked by customers. When there was a chance of a hurricane coming in the direction of the area where I live, I had one woman and her daughter ask me if they should evacuate from the area. I have been through quite a few hurricanes and typhoons so I knew what I was planning for myself and my family but trying to tell someone else what to do is not something I like to do. I told this customer what I was going to do but my recommendation for her was that she should do what she was comfortable with for herself. Another question I am asked frequently when I am selling a desk or chair to a customer is, “Is this hard to put together?” My usual reply is that the item is not too hard to put together as long as you look over the directions, lay out the parts and take your time. When I was a Loss Prevention Manager and I would catch an employee stealing I would inevitably be asked, “Am I going to jail?” Although the answer seemed pretty obvious to me I would try to deflect the answer until after I completed my theft interview with them and then give the answer in the affirmative (most of the time). One question I have never been asked but one day wish I would get as an inquiry is, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” It may sound absurd to ask, but the answer may not be as obvious as you would think it would be.
Can Loss Prevention be free? It is an interesting question but the answer is within your grasp if you take the time to use the Loss Prevention Calculator on the Loss Prevention Systems Inc. website. This calculator gives a retail business owner to the ability to see how long it would take for a Checkpoint Security System to pay for itself through inventory shortage reduction due to theft. The way the Loss Prevention Calculator does this is it allows a store owner to input the annual sales for their business, it estimates the annual inventory shortage at about 1.2% shrink (the average shortage for retailers nationwide) and then the user inputs how much they would be willing to invest in a Checkpoint Security System. The calculator reduces shortage to .65% and then gives the number of months it would take for the system to pay for itself in shortage reduction savings for the store. So the answer to the question, “Can Loss Prevention be free?” is a resounding YES!
Some of you are thinking to yourselves, “If I have to pay for it then it isn’t free.” But you need to think of it in these terms that will make more sense. Let’s pretend your annual stock shortage is $10,000 for arguments sake. You reduce that amount by about half in the first year you own your system. You have now saved almost $5,000 in reduced shortage. Depending on how much you spent on your Checkpoint System and tags you may have almost paid for your investment. Keep your shortage down to $5,000 in the next year and you can see how much you have saved over two years. After you have recouped your investment you are now just adding money to your bottom line. You may choose to invest in expanding your business, hiring more people or adding additional Loss Prevention Measures to save even more. In a sense Loss Prevention is paying for itself.
The Loss Prevention Calculator is free to use and requires no sign on or registration to use. You can make as many entries and variations of them as you like and if you decide you are interested then YOU make the choice to speak to LPSI about a Loss Prevention System. They don’t call you or harass you with unsolicited phone calls. So while I may never get the question, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” I am giving you the answer anyways, YES it can be and it can make your company more profitable in the long run.
Need information on the Loss Prevention Calculator? Contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 now.
