How do we balance clothing security and keeping our associates and ourselves safe from harm. We know that if we do nothing to combat shoplifting that we will soon be out of business. Shoplifters are like anyone else, they talk. And talk they do, to other shoplifters. They compare stories, techniques and where the best places to steal are. We have to combat shoplifters or your store will end up on the shoplifters’ short list. Clothing security and the security of any other type of merchandise is really quite simple. That is the easy part! If you want help with that reach out to us. We can fix it.
But when is enough, enough? There are shoplifters out there that are ready to take it to the next level and hurt someone in order to get away. The reasons are many, i.e. drugs, desperation, greed, debt or just that they “want it”. When I conduct my live Stop Shoplifting seminars either in person or via webinar I always tell a story. Many years ago a shoplifter stole an item from a store in a mall. That was not in dispute. The item was not just petty it was around $500+, a felony. He was seen by store management and ran. This was a store in a mall on the second level. As he was running to escape, he collided with a woman holding an infant. The infant flew out of her arms and went over the railing and was killed on impact on the planter below.
The shoplifter was caught and prosecuted for not only felony theft but for the infant’s death. That was on the criminal court side. He stole the merchandise, ran, and caused the death of the infant. We do not even need to go into the civil suits that were filed. You can imagine who was sued, everyone including the retailer and employees.
But now put yourself into the place of the manager who chased him. How would you feel? You might say to yourself that you were simply pursuing a thief that caused the death. It’s not my fault. Or, is it? If you did not chase the shoplifter to begin with, it would have never happened. These are the things that you will have to wrestle with, for the rest of your life. I have been a Law Enforcement Officer in both the civilian and military worlds. I have faced more life and death situations, both my life and others, than I care to remember. There have been many thousands of times that I have asked myself if I could have done something different.
So, all of this happened due of $500. It was simply NOT WORTH IT! In fact I want you to look at your shoplifting problem from a completely different angle. If you have an incident where you have to chase a shoplifter occurs and your training to stop shoplifting and procedures broke down or failed. In that case you need to go back and refine your program to stop shoplifting, not be chasing shoplifters through the parking lot. When reading this in the comfortable environment you are in right now it may sound like good justice that the shoplifter himself runs out into traffic and gets hit by a car. But the potential for innocent casualties from that could be too horrible to consider.
When a loss occurs reverse engineer it. Where were the break downs? Was your staff paying attention? Were they even trained in what to look for? Do you have adequate Sensormatic Security Systems in place? Are those Sensormatic Security Systems working correctly? Do you have the correct Sensormatic clothing security tags? Are those clothing security tags placed correctly? Are the clothing security tags using the correct pin? Does your staff (and you) know how to PROPERLY react to a Sensormatic Security System alarm? Is your store’s merchandise arranged and displayed correctly or is it customer AND shoplifter friendly? Are small, high dollar, popular items on an end cap in the back of the store? Are you relying on a CCTV system to discourage shoplifters? Shoplifters do not care if you have cameras or not.
Look at it this way. After thirty-five years in Loss Prevention I have found that there are only two ways to prevent shoplifting and they both must be done together. Staff training to PREVENT or stop shoplifting and a Sensormatic Security System. Other brands are fine also but retail theft prevention with Sensormatic systems tend to protect the widest range of products. Retail theft prevention needs to be a constant, consistent effort on your part. And retail theft prevention must involve your trained staff. Without them you can have the best Sensormatic systems installed and you will still have shoplifting problems. Loss Prevention Systems will train you and your staff on how to avoid confrontations and discourage shoplifters while delighting your good customers.
So if you are ready to stop shoplifting once and for all, contact us or call us toll free at 1-770-426-0547 and let us attack your shoplifting problems together.
Pre-employment screening-3 WC Blog 655
Applicant Management Center-4
Let An Applicant Management Center Uncover Hidden Problems For You.
Pre-employment screening can assist store owners in identifying hidden problems that could cause major problems for a business down the road. I thought about this today as I am getting a used car my son purchased fixed up for him. My mechanic had located this car, gave it a test drive and told me that for the $900 we would pay for it we would be getting a great deal. There were a few concerns with how it was idling but he believed for another $500 he could get it running smoothly. $1400 for a car that would get my son to his new job for a couple of years is a bargain, no car payments to make. I purchased parts the mechanic said would be needed and delivered them to him. Later in the afternoon I got a call that there may be a different issue to fix. As he had dug into the engine he found that someone had done some home-made repairs that were possibly the cause of the symptoms he had thought were causing the rough idling. I had to spend another $170 on additional parts (I am waiting to see if these parts fix the issue and I can return the other parts I bought). The thing about this is hidden problems were masked until the mechanic dug into the motor to identify where the true fix needed to be made. I may be paying a few hundred additional dollars and I should have a reliable vehicle. Store owners that hire someone with a checkered past may pay a much higher price for those underlying issues. An applicant management center can help prevent hiring mistakes.
Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) can be your car mechanic so to speak. They can conduct pre-employment screening for employers that truly look past the surface information of an applicant to uncover information that could be hidden from you. Is an applicant lying about a criminal past or a job history? Maybe the job you need filled requires a certain level of educational there are applicants who will falsify applications for a shot at that job. LPSI can verify whether a candidate has the degree or education they claim. What would the potential ramifications be if you hired a person who is on the national sex offender registry and you were not aware of it? Yes, it is possible the employee would behave while working around other employees and your customers. But what is going to happen to YOUR business and YOUR reputation if you don’t bother with a background check and YOUR employee does assault someone? Even if they don’t do the offense while on the clock there is a strong possibility social media will get the word out on where that person works and lives. What will your other employees think? An applicant management center can help keep your business and reputation safe.
Lest you think the only service provided by an applicant management center is conducting background checks store owners should also be aware that there is much more available to them. Want to make sure you run a drug-free workplace? LPSI also offers drug screening for business owners. Have you ever wished you could organize your hiring process including files into one central location without dealing with mounds of paperwork? They can do that for you as well. Bill Bregar who is the Chief Executive Officer of LPSI has drawn from his background as a Loss Prevention Director for national chain stores and his experiences of running his own business to help other business owners. He knows the risks associated with hiring the wrong people and he is in tune with how to run profitable stores. That is why his company offers the applicant management center to ensure retailers can be profitable through better hiring.
Pre-employment screening won’t help you get your car up and running or fix an engine with a rough idle but it can help you run a smooth business operation. Get to know more about the people you are considering hiring by hiring a company that can uncover problems BEFORE they become your problem!
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Pre-employment screening can assist store owners in identifying hidden problems that could cause major problems for a business down the road. I thought about this today as I am getting a used car my son purchased fixed up for him. My mechanic had located this car, gave it a test drive and told me that for the $900 we would pay for it we would be getting a great deal. There were a few concerns with how it was idling but he believed for another $500 he could get it running smoothly. $1400 for a car that would get my son to his new job for a couple of years is a bargain, no car payments to make. I purchased parts the mechanic said would be needed and delivered them to him. Later in the afternoon I got a call that there may be a different issue to fix. As he had dug into the engine he found that someone had done some home-made repairs that were possibly the cause of the symptoms he had thought were causing the rough idling. I had to spend another $170 on additional parts (I am waiting to see if these parts fix the issue and I can return the other parts I bought). The thing about this is hidden problems were masked until the mechanic dug into the motor to identify where the true fix needed to be made. I may be paying a few hundred additional dollars and I should have a reliable vehicle. Store owners that hire someone with a checkered past may pay a much higher price for those underlying issues. An applicant management center can help prevent hiring mistakes.
Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) can be your car mechanic so to speak. They can conduct pre-employment screening for employers that truly look past the surface information of an applicant to uncover information that could be hidden from you. Is an applicant lying about a criminal past or a job history? Maybe the job you need filled requires a certain level of educationa. There are applicants who will falsify applications for a shot at that job. LPSI can verify whether a candidate has the degree or education they claim. What would the potential ramifications be if you hired a person who is on the national sex offender registry and you were not aware of it? Yes, it is possible the employee would behave while working around other employees and your customers. But what is going to happen to YOUR business and YOUR reputation if you don’t bother with a background check and YOUR employee does assault someone? Even if they don’t do the offense while on the clock there is a strong possibility social media will get the word out on where that person works and lives. What will your other employees think? An applicant management center can help keep your business and reputation safe.
Lest you think the only service provided by an applicant management center is conducting background checks store owners should also be aware that there is much more available to them. Want to make sure you run a drug-free workplace? LPSI also offers drug screening for business owners. Have you ever wished you could organize your hiring process including files into one central location without dealing with mounds of paperwork? They can do that for you as well. Bill Bregar who is the Chief Executive Officer of LPSI has drawn from his background as a Loss Prevention Director for national chain stores and his experiences of running his own business to help other business owners. He knows the risks associated with hiring the wrong people and he is in tune with how to run profitable stores. That is why his company offers the applicant management center to ensure retailers can be profitable through better hiring.
Pre-employment screening won’t help you get your car up and running or fix an engine with a rough idle but it can help you run a smooth business operation. Get to know more about the people you are considering hiring by hiring a company that can uncover problems BEFORE they become your problem!
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Electronic Article Surveillance – 4 WC Blog 768
Sensormatic hard tags – 3
Great Power Comes With The Use Of Sensormatic Hard Tags
Electronic article surveillance is an extremely popular form of retail security but if it is not implemented properly it can become problematic. I do not say this to discourage owners and managers from purchasing a Sensormatic security system or Sensormatic tags but to make sure that people understand there are responsibilities that come with owning and using a system. To steal a quote from the “Spiderman” movie, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Anti-theft systems are powerful and can stop shoplifting but they can hurt customer service too.
I have long believed that the failure to remove Sensormatic hard tags when a customer makes a purchase does cause a problem for the retailer. Shoppers get irritated and embarrassed by false alarms. The alarm itself causes a distraction to other shoppers (which is okay if the alarm is legitimate but not because of a cashier error). False alarms take up unnecessary time from the responding supervisor. To add to all of these I have noticed that some websites that claim to tell people how to remove electronic article surveillance tags (not related to Sensormatic or any anti-theft system dealer or manufacturer) allegedly do so in response to finding tags still on merchandise after a customer gets home. I do know that tags are sometimes left on merchandise and it does create a headache for the patron. It has happened to me and I have had to go back to the store and have the tag removed. Did the alarm sound when I left the store? Yes, I think so, other people were walking out and in at the same time. After waiting for someone to respond to the alarm I got irritated and left. As you would expect when I returned the alarm went off again and people looked at me and I was further annoyed. Then there is the look from the return desk employee that lets you know they don’t quite believe your story with or without a receipt. Customer distractions can lead to customer dissatisfaction and THAT can hurt future sales from that shopper and those friends of theirs they talk to about their experience.
I want to digress for a moment and talk about those websites that allege to “show” or “tell” someone how to remove Sensormatic hard tags without the proper removal tool only a store should possess. After reading through several of these sites I just shook my head in disgust. First, if I take them at their word that they are “helping” those who have made purchases and found a tag left on their merchandise, I can still say they are not helping. The methods that I was reading about would very likely lead to damaged product completely defeating the purpose for not returning to the store. The methods could also result in injury to the person following the ill-advised instructions. I do not wish to see people get injured especially when they are following stupid advice. Second, I don’t buy that the writers or videographer wannabe’s are really trying to help hapless shoppers. I happen to believe the intention of these people is to encourage theft. Why would they do that? I can’t speak to their reasoning, of course I can’t explain why people want to shoplift either all I know is I have dedicated many years to catching and stopping criminals.
Retail owners and managers please heed my recommendation, use electronic article surveillance in your store. If you have an older system, consider upgrading to a newer, more energy-efficient Sensormatic system. Use genuine Sensormatic hard tags to protect against theft and increase the profit for your store through reduced shortage and increased sales (resulting from the decreased theft). I can hear it now, “But you just told me that there can be customer service issues if cashiers don’t remove tags”. What I said was there can be problems if a system is not implemented properly. That is where Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) comes in to play. With the purchase of a new Sensormatic security system from LPSI you receive the training you and your team need to properly operate a system. From tagging of products to system testing and alarm response LPSI will ensure your store will operate an effective anti-theft program.
Faulty loss prevention equipment, lack of training and poor tag removal processes can hurt a store’s reputation. Sensormatic has a reputation as a leader in retail theft prevention and is used by retailers world-wide to help fight shortage and improve profits. LPSI will show you how you can have great responsibility as you as add the great power of a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system.
For more information on Sensormatic hard tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Electronic article surveillance is an extremely popular form of retail security but if it is not implemented properly it can become problematic. I do not say this to discourage owners and managers from purchasing a Sensormatic security system or Sensormatic tags but to make sure that people understand there are responsibilities that come with owning and using a system. To steal a quote from the “Spiderman” movie, “With great power comes great responsibility”. Anti-theft systems are powerful and can stop shoplifting but they can hurt customer service too.
I have long believed that the failure to remove Sensormatic hard tags when a customer makes a purchase does cause a problem for the retailer. Shoppers get irritated and embarrassed by false alarms. The alarm itself causes a distraction to other shoppers (which is okay if the alarm is legitimate but not because of a cashier error). False alarms take up unnecessary time from the responding supervisor. To add to all of these I have noticed that some websites that claim to tell people how to remove electronic article surveillance tags (not related to Sensormatic or any anti-theft system dealer or manufacturer) allegedly do so in response to finding tags still on merchandise after a customer gets home. I do know that tags are sometimes left on merchandise and it does create a headache for the patron. It has happened to me and I have had to go back to the store and have the tag removed. Did the alarm sound when I left the store? Yes, I think so, other people were walking out and in at the same time. After waiting for someone to respond to the alarm I got irritated and left. As you would expect when I returned the alarm went off again and people looked at me and I was further annoyed. Then there is the look from the return desk employee that lets you know they don’t quite believe your story with or without a receipt. Customer distractions can lead to customer dissatisfaction and THAT can hurt future sales from that shopper and those friends of theirs they talk to about their experience.
I want to digress for a moment and talk about those websites that allege to “show” or “tell” someone how to remove Sensormatic hard tags without the proper removal tool only a store should possess. After reading through several of these sites I just shook my head in disgust. First, if I take them at their word that they are “helping” those who have made purchases and found a tag left on their merchandise, I can still say they are not helping. The methods that I was reading about would very likely lead to damaged product completely defeating the purpose for not returning to the store. The methods could also result in injury to the person following the ill-advised instructions. I do not wish to see people get injured especially when they are following stupid advice. Second, I don’t buy that the writers or videographer wannabe’s are really trying to help hapless shoppers. I happen to believe the intention of these people is to encourage theft. Why would they do that? I can’t speak to their reasoning, of course I can’t explain why people want to shoplift either all I know is I have dedicated many years to catching and stopping criminals.
Retail owners and managers please heed my recommendation, use electronic article surveillance in your store. If you have an older system, consider upgrading to a newer, more energy-efficient Sensormatic system. Use genuine Sensormatic hard tags to protect against theft and increase the profit for your store through reduced shortage and increased sales (resulting from the decreased theft). I can hear it now, “But you just told me that there can be customer service issues if cashiers don’t remove tags”. What I said was there can be problems if a system is not implemented properly. That is where Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) comes in to play. With the purchase of a new Sensormatic security system from LPSI you receive the training you and your team need to properly operate a system. From tagging of products to system testing and alarm response LPSI will ensure your store will operate an effective anti-theft program.
Faulty loss prevention equipment, lack of training and poor tag removal processes can hurt a store’s reputation. Sensormatic has a reputation as a leader in retail theft prevention and is used by retailers world-wide to help fight shortage and improve profits. LPSI will show you how you can have great responsibility as you as add the great power of a Sensormatic electronic article surveillance system.
For more information on Sensormatic hard tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
