Alpha Shark Tags-4 WC blog 76
Wardrobing-3
Return Fraud-4
Curtail Return Fraud – Clip Clothes With Alpha Shark Tags
Often return fraud is easy to identify. Someone comes in with a receipt and they present a piece of merchandise that doesn’t match any information on the receipt and they want money back. It may be a case of not paying attention and getting the wrong receipt from home, but if they are insistent on getting cash, not a merchandise card or a credit on a credit card, it is probably a fraudulent return. Merchandise being returned with the wrong tags is another fairly easy method to detect. There are thieves who have tag attachment guns at home and can change out tags on garments. These fraud attempts can be prevented by sales associates paying attention to the merchandise returned and ensuring all the appropriate information matches. On the other hand, there is also return fraud which can be a little more difficult to prevent. There are people who will pick up receipts from outside the store, and if they know how to read the information, they go into the store, find a matching item and take it to the return desk for a refund. There are also those people who will enter a store, walk past an unoccupied check lane, pick up a store shopping bag and then proceed to fill it up while posing as a customer. These people then “return” the merchandise, in most cases without a receipt. Often they don’t mind receiving a gift card or merchandise card because they turn around and try to sell it to another customer. The most difficult fraud to deter is wardrobing. This is the customer who buys an item, wears it a time or two and returns it for a refund. They ALWAYS keep the receipt and the tags so there a fewer chances that a refund will be denied. There is only one good method to prevent this type of return fraud and that is to use Alpha Shark Tags on your clothing.
Alpha Shark Tags prevent wardrobing because they are pinned onto a piece of clothing and cannot be removed and re-attached when the clothing is done being worn. These are one-time use only devices and have to be removed by the customer. They are to be pinned in a highly visible area of a shirt, slacks, skirt or any other garment and the customer cuts the tag off at home when they are ready to wear it out. The purpose is so that if someone attempts to wear the item out with friends or even to work as a “New Outfit” the tag makes it clear that the item is intended to be returned. Imagine the embarrassment of wearing a new suit into a job interview and a bright orange tag is hanging from the tie, from the seam along the edge of the knee on a pair of slacks and one from the collar of a suit coat. The interview is probably going to be somewhat awkward when the applicant has to explain what the tags are for.
If your store is using Alpha Shark Tags and you have made your store return policy very clear, there will be no cause for your store to take back an item that has had the tags removed. The use of these tags will reduce the shortage you incur each time you refund and a garment that has been worn and may have odors or makeup on it. Those items are often marked way down and the loss is in your gross margin.
Don’t become a victim of wardrobing and other types of return fraud. Use Alpha Shark Tags on your clothing and see how much your profits will increase when you don’t have to mark items out of stock or take excessive markdowns.
For more information on Alpha Shark Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Often return fraud is easy to identify. Someone comes in with a receipt and they present a piece of merchandise that doesn’t match any information on the receipt and they want money back. It may be a case of not paying attention and getting the wrong receipt from home, but if they are insistent on getting cash, not a merchandise card or a credit on a credit card, it is probably a fraudulent return. Merchandise being returned with the wrong tags is another fairly easy method to detect. There are thieves who have tag attachment guns at home and can change out tags on garments. These fraud attempts can be prevented by sales associates paying attention to the merchandise returned and ensuring all the appropriate information matches. On the other hand, there is also return fraud which can be a little more difficult to prevent. There are people who will pick up receipts from outside the store, and if they know how to read the information, they go into the store, find a matching item and take it to the return desk for a refund. There are also those people who will enter a store, walk past an unoccupied check lane, pick up a store shopping bag and then proceed to fill it up while posing as a customer. These people then “return” the merchandise, in most cases without a receipt. Often they don’t mind receiving a gift card or merchandise card because they turn around and try to sell it to another customer. The most difficult fraud to deter is wardrobing. This is the customer who buys an item, wears it a time or two and returns it for a refund. They ALWAYS keep the receipt and the tags so there a fewer chances that a refund will be denied. There is only one good method to prevent this type of return fraud and that is to use Alpha Shark Tags on your clothing.
Alpha Shark Tags prevent wardrobing because they are pinned onto a piece of clothing and cannot be removed and re-attached when the clothing is done being worn. These are one-time use only devices and have to be removed by the customer. They are to be pinned in a highly visible area of a shirt, slacks, skirt or any other garment and the customer cuts the tag off at home when they are ready to wear it out. The purpose is so that if someone attempts to wear the item out with friends or even to work as a “New Outfit” the tag makes it clear that the item is intended to be returned. Imagine the embarrassment of wearing a new suit into a job interview and a bright orange tag is hanging from the tie, from the seam along the edge of the knee on a pair of slacks and one from the collar of a suit coat. The interview is probably going to be somewhat awkward when the applicant has to explain what the tags are for.
If your store is using Alpha Shark Tags and you have made your store return policy very clear, there will be no cause for your store to take back an item that has had the tags removed. The use of these tags will reduce the shortage you incur each time you refund and a garment that has been worn and may have odors or makeup on it. Those items are often marked way down and the loss is in your gross margin.
Don’t become a victim of wardrobing and other types of return fraud. Use Alpha Shark Tags on your clothing and see how much your profits will increase when you don’t have to mark items out of stock or take excessive markdowns.
For more information on Alpha Shark Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Stock rooms tend to be highly vulnerable areas for theft. Of course they do vary in size based on the size of the store and the merchandise carried in the store but all are potential security risks. Regardless of what size a stock room is it is important to ensure there are appropriate security measures in place. It is easy to assume that since merchandise is in a stockroom area there is limited access to it and therefore it is safe from theft until it goes to the floor. There can be a tendency for complacency on the part of managers when they fail to recognize the possibility of employees stealing while in a stockroom. In many cases retail anti-theft devices are not placed on merchandise until the product is moved to the sales floor.
Retail anti-theft devices do prevent shoplifting on the sales floor. Wrapping electronics merchandise in Alpha Spider Wrap for example allows the customer to handle product and walk around the store with it for convenience. The electronic alarm capabilities and tamper proof hardware provide the store with protection against theft. Sales go up when customers don’t have to wait for assistance to get an item from a secured show case. The same protection that can prevent shoplifting can also be used to prevent employee theft. The one place that employees have access to and where customers cannot go is the stockroom so it should be a focus for making sure Alpha Spider Wraps and other devices are being used here.
When I was Loss Prevention Manager for a big box store, I recall having one particular case that made me rethink our merchandise protection strategy in terms of when we protected merchandise and specifically in our stockroom. We had a stockroom dedicated to electronics within our main stockroom.This area was monitored by several cameras and a key was required by a team member in order to enter it. It seemed that this was a secure environment with little chance of internal theft. Securing product with retail anti-theft devices could take place when merchandise was ready to go to the sales floor.
One morning I was approached by one of our stock team members who was trained to work in the electronics stockroom. She told me she had come across an empty package in the electronics stockroom. I inspected the box and left it in place and initiated an investigation. After several weeks I was able to successfully identify the culprit and caught him stealing several high dollar items, including a digital camera. During live closed circuit television surveillance I watched the employee remove contents from a box, conceal the merchandise in his pants and then hide the empty package behind other products on the shelf. I stopped him while he still had the merchandise in his pants, making it more than a little difficult for him to deny his crime.
The case made me realize that while we did a good job of using Alpha Spider Wrap and other retail anti-theft devices on our sales floor to prevent shoplifting, we had a very real flaw in our overall merchandise protection strategy. I had relied too heavily upon the stockroom controls we had in place to be the deterrent to internal theft when I could have been using the same devices to add increased security to merchandise in the stockroom areas. Even though I did catch this particular employee within his first few months of employment, I could never be absolutely certain I had an admission for ALL the theft he had caused. The question I think every conscientious investigator asks is, “Did I get a full and complete admission?” I like to believe I did, but the question always nags at me.
Don’t allow your stockroom to be the place from which a dishonest employee feels comfortable stealing. Use the retail anti-theft devices that prevent shoplifting to also stop internal theft. Protect your merchandise when it enters the store and it will be safe wherever you keep it, on the sales floor or in the stockroom.
For more information on Retail Anti-Theft Devices, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Medical tablet theft and i-pad theft are an increasing concern as more and more medical providers and facilities see the value of this technology and are integrating it in the healthcare profession. The theft of an i-pad carries with it not only the actual cost of the hardware, but also the potential compromise of patient information. I have written previously that one solution to prevent the theft of medical i-pads is the use of Alpha Thunder Tags and electronic article surveillance antennas. It has crossed my mind that if medical facilities can protect their own devices with anti-theft devices, what about the potential to also protect patient’s tablets and i-pads from theft?
Before I go on, you may be not be familiar with Alpha Thunder Tags so let me first tell you a little about what the tag is and how it prevents medical i-pad theft or tablet theft. The Thunder Tag is a reusable, anti-theft device that is attached to a mobile medical device. If tampered with, the tag emits a loud, piercing alarm. If it is carried within the range of an electronic article surveillance (EAS) antenna located near a doorway or entrance, the antenna alarm activates and staff is warned that someone is attempting to walk out with a device. The 3 Alarm version of the tag also has a built in alarm that will sound if the protected device is carried past the EAS antenna.
My thinking on the subject is this; theft from hospital patients is a very real issue. While it may not be commonplace, there are numerous documented incidents of theft from patients and some of these have included tablet and i-pad theft. Here are some examples:
In a Sept. 12, 2014 story, according to dailybruin.com, a medical student allegedly stole an i-pad from a dying woman.
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n a Globalnews.ca, 17 April 2013 article, a new mother had her wallets and i-pad stolen from her hospital room in a Canadian hospital.
According to App.com in a 26 December 2015 article, an AristaCare at Whiting assisted-living facility nursing assistant was accused of stealing i-pads as well as other personal belongings from patients.
Pix 11.com reported on July 24, 2015, that from January to May a serial thief was sneaking into rooms and stealing valuables. On 1 May 2015 the subject stole a tablet from an elderly man’s room.
Suppose a medical center is taking steps to protect themselves from tablet theft and i-pad theft by using Alpha Thunder Tags. The hospital would already have the EAS antennas in place to detect devices being removed from the facility. Now consider as a part of the check in process for patients, the offering of Alpha Thunder Tags for patient laptops and i-pads. If accepted, facility staff could apply a tag to the patient’s device and upon checkout; staff could remove the tag with their controlled removal tool. If a thief attempted to steal a patient’s i-pad or tablet, the same system protecting hospital equipment would also protect patients.
From a public relations standpoint, offering anti-theft protection to patients for personal devices could be a significant boost to customer trust and satisfaction. For liability purposes, offering such devices could reduce hospital responsibility if a loss took place and a patient had refused the option of a Thunder Tag. I am not a legal expert, but it would seem to me that if the situation were to arise and a healthcare facility could show that the same protection they use for their equipment was offered to a patient and it was refused, responsibility would then seem to have to be borne by the victim.
There should be no question that protecting hospital i-pads and tablets from theft has to be a requirement, considering the costs associated with lost patient data. With a system already in place, why not offer the same protections of Alpha Thunder Tags to patients and earn the trust of your clientele?
For more information on Alpha Thunder Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
