Checkpoint Systems-3
Checkpoint Systems- Always On, Always Working
Long before I came to the retail side I worked for a completely different industry. I was a fast food general manager for four eternally long years. I had no need for Checkpoint Systems; I had no idea what that even was. I did not have to deal with external theft. I had the occasional issue with an employee taking food, mostly just hiding a couple sandwiches to take home. I did catch one guy trying to steal packs of breakfast ham, and a whole box of frozen hamburger patties. He stashed them at the back door with the trash, but he couldn’t get out until I came to unlock the door (and inspect the trash.) Manager-1, Dumb Employee-0. After that I went to work for a discount grocery chain. Although the store manager always swore we had lots of shoplifters, we didn’t have any type of anti-shoplifting devices. Even our one and only camera was fake.
When I came to work for a retail pharmacy business, that was my first introduction to Checkpoint Systems and the other types of anti-shoplifting tools. Of course, I had seen the pedestals at the doors of many businesses before, and I figured they were there to detect theft. During my training period, I assumed this was how shoplifters were caught. I learned what we had to have in order to detain someone, but I never seemed to see anything suspicious. But when those pedestals alarmed, I was like an Olympic sprinter coming from where ever I was working to stop the thief! To my dismay, it always turned out the cashier up front or in the pharmacy didn’t get the Checkpoint tag deactivated. I did eventually calm down and I’m ashamed to admit I almost became like the rest of the employees, hardly even paying attention to that announcement and alarm beeping.
After about 3 months, I started really getting into the business and noticing things that I had not seen before. For one, in the back of the store, in the couple of food sections, I kept finding Checkpoint tags stuck to the shelves or in the floor. I could tell they’d been peeled off of other items, and I knew we didn’t put them on food anyway, so it wasn’t like they were just falling off. I also noticed that when I was walking the floor, ordering or straightening, that the shelves of OTC medications would have product one day and the next day the whole section would be empty. Fast food never taught me about flea market thieves or “boosters.” Then one day I had my first experience with one, and I’ll never forget it.
I was in the back aisles stocking some food items and this guy comes around the corner into the aisle I’m working in. (The shelving fixture was six feet tall, so he had not seen me.) I see the basket in his hand is FULL of big boxes of pain medications. He is still walking forward but looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is following him. He stops and puts the basket down, still not seeing that I am less than five feet from him, and starts peeling off a Checkpoint tag. I think the light-bulb came on in my head at the exact moment he sensed I was standing there. I’m not sure which of us was the most surprised. I was terrified because suddenly I didn’t know what to do. He picks up the basket like he’s going to run, and that’s when I came to my senses and my instincts took over. I very loudly told him to drop the basket and come to the front with me. He looked at me like I had two heads, of course. He did drop the basket, but he took off running like he was on fire and he was out the front door and in the getaway car in no time.
The lesson here is don’t ever just let yourself and your staff just go through the motions. Sometimes there will be false alarms because the EAS labels did not get deactivated. Use those as opportunities to talk to your customers. Make a joke of it if you need to, and offer excellent customer service. Having Checkpoint Systems is like having a big scary security guard there to watch over the store for you. You don’t have to feed it, but pay attention to it and all it’s components. If you do find discarded Checkpoint tags, watch that section a little closer. You’ll get your thief just like I did.
For more information about Checkpoint Systems, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
Long before I came to the retail side I worked for a completely different industry. I was a fast food general manager for four eternally long years. I had no need for Checkpoint Systems; I had no idea what that even was. I did not have to deal with external theft. I had the occasional issue with an employee taking food, mostly just hiding a couple sandwiches to take home. I did catch one guy trying to steal packs of breakfast ham, and a whole box of frozen hamburger patties. He stashed them at the back door with the trash, but he couldn’t get out until I came to unlock the door (and inspect the trash.) Manager-1, Dumb Employee-0. After that I went to work for a discount grocery chain. Although the store manager always swore we had lots of shoplifters, we didn’t have any type of anti-shoplifting devices. Even our one and only camera was fake.
When I came to work for a retail pharmacy business, that was my first introduction to Checkpoint Systems and the other types of anti-shoplifting tools. Of course, I had seen the pedestals at the doors of many businesses before, and I figured they were there to detect theft. During my training period, I assumed this was how shoplifters were caught. I learned what we had to have in order to detain someone, but I never seemed to see anything suspicious. But when those pedestals alarmed, I was like an Olympic sprinter coming from where ever I was working to stop the thief! To my dismay, it always turned out the cashier up front or in the pharmacy didn’t get the Checkpoint tag deactivated. I did eventually calm down and I’m ashamed to admit I almost became like the rest of the employees, hardly even paying attention to that announcement and alarm beeping.
After about 3 months, I started really getting into the business and noticing things that I had not seen before. For one, in the back of the store, in the couple of food sections, I kept finding Checkpoint tags stuck to the shelves or in the floor. I could tell they’d been peeled off of other items, and I knew we didn’t put them on food anyway, so it wasn’t like they were just falling off. I also noticed that when I was walking the floor, ordering or straightening, that the shelves of OTC medications would have product one day and the next day the whole section would be empty. Fast food never taught me about flea market thieves or “boosters.” Then one day I had my first experience with one, and I’ll never forget it.
I was in the back aisles stocking some food items and this guy comes around the corner into the aisle I’m working in. (The shelving fixture was six feet tall, so he had not seen me.) I see the basket in his hand is FULL of big boxes of pain medications. He is still walking forward but looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is following him. He stops and puts the basket down, still not seeing that I am less than five feet from him, and starts peeling off a Checkpoint tag. I think the light-bulb came on in my head at the exact moment he sensed I was standing there. I’m not sure which of us was the most surprised. I was terrified because suddenly I didn’t know what to do. He picks up the basket like he’s going to run, and that’s when I came to my senses and my instincts took over. I very loudly told him to drop the basket and come to the front with me. He looked at me like I had two heads, of course. He did drop the basket, but he took off running like he was on fire and he was out the front door and in the getaway car in no time.
The lesson here is don’t ever just let yourself and your staff just go through the motions. Sometimes there will be false alarms because the EAS labels did not get deactivated. Use those as opportunities to talk to your customers. Make a joke of it if you need to, and offer excellent customer service. Having Checkpoint Systems is like having a big scary security guard there to watch over the store for you. You don’t have to feed it, but pay attention to it and all it’s components. If you do find discarded Checkpoint tags, watch that section a little closer. You’ll get your thief just like I did.
For more information about Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
BF06
bottle security- 4
bottle lock-4
bottle locks-4
BOTTLE LOCKS FOR ALL ALCOHOL PRODUCTS NOT JUST THE EXPENSIVE ONES
Having worked both the retail market and grocery market in regards to loss prevention, I’ve seen my fair share of incidents involving the direct theft of liquor, wine and other alcoholic goods. One case in particular however happened before bottle security had evolved but in hindsight, I can see how it could have changed the outcome.
One afternoon before work, I received an urgent phone call from my DLPM (District Loss Prevention Manager). He asked me to deviate from my normally scheduled store for that day and head directly to a different store instead. It was a store that our loss prevention personnel rarely had to staff for shoplifter surveillance. He explained to me that for the past couple of days, store management reported that the wine section of the store was getting ‘hit’ significantly hard with theft. It’s something that would have never happened if the bottle locks were being used.
The bottle lock, introduced to the market in 2002 by Alpha Security, is an ingenious device that prevents liquor bottles from being opened without destroying the bottle itself. A definite highly effective theft prevention tool. Anyhow, after rerouting myself to the problem store and speaking with management, I thought it might be best to ask if anyone had reviewed the CCTV footage of the wine department to try and identify the problem. Of course no one had thought of reviewing the footage so I thought I’d start there. Seemed to me that they should have been more attentive to overall bottle security!
Scanning through the video footage, I observed a male subject enter into the wine department and proceed to act suspiciously. I was alerted to him due to his excessive clothing (winter coat, even though it was June) and obvious glances up towards the surveillance cameras. He proceeded to the section of the wine department that housed the most expensive brands.
I thought for sure that I’d see him select the $100+ bottles of wine. He would look through the shelves, pretending to read the labels. However I could tell that he was actually examining the tops of the bottles. I assumed to see which bottles he could get into quickest. The store had most recently tried using a less sophisticated version of today’s bottle locks and it appeared that he was avoiding the ones that had those bottle lock devices on top. As it turned out, he stayed clear of the more expensive wine that we had in stock and proceeded to the cheaper product. I noticed that he began to select bottles off the shelves that didn’t have bottle locks installed on them. They were actually void of any bottle security whatsoever because those cheaper wine’s weren’t in the view of our CCTV camera placements.
This guy loaded up on five cheap bottles of wine and stuffed them all into a makeshift girdle sling that was situated underneath of his winter coat. After realizing that the coast was clear, he made a bee line for the front of the store, passed all points of sale and exited. At the time I was thinking to myself that it was a normal, run of the mill case of a hobo wanting some alcohol to drown his sorrows in. Boy was I wrong!
I don’t know what made me think of it but I decided to take a look at the exterior parking lot camera. From there I could see the guy climb into minivan parked along the far perimeter of lot. It was sort of difficult to make out but I could tell that there were other people in the minivan with him. The more I looked at the footage, it looked like there were at least 4 other people in the vehicle with him. I could tell from the shadows casting through the glass that they were passing around the wine bottles he had just stolen.
To make a long story short, I was able to uncover additional footage of this guy (and his drinking buddies) coming into the store and boosting around 10-15 bottles of wine each night for at least the past few nights. What they were doing was coming into the store, loading up on bottles and getting drunk outside in the parking lot. With no bottle lock security in place, it was easy pickings. Management decided to place the bottle lock devices on all alcoholic products thereafter. The guys never came back and loss was averted from thereon! No matter cheap or expensive; this is the way to go when bumping up your bottle security!
For more information about bottle locks, contact us at 1-770-426-0547.
Having worked both the retail market and grocery market in regards to loss prevention, I’ve seen my fair share of incidents involving the direct theft of liquor, wine and other alcoholic goods. One case in particular however happened before bottle security had evolved but in hindsight, I can see how it could have changed the outcome.
One afternoon before work, I received an urgent phone call from my DLPM (District Loss Prevention Manager). He asked me to deviate from my normally scheduled store for that day and head directly to a different store instead. It was a store that our loss prevention personnel rarely had to staff for shoplifter surveillance. He explained to me that for the past couple of days, store management reported that the wine section of the store was getting ‘hit’ significantly hard with theft. It’s something that would have never happened if the bottle locks were being used.
The bottle lock, introduced to the market in 2002 by Alpha Security, is an ingenious device that prevents liquor bottles from being opened without destroying the bottle itself. A definite highly effective theft prevention tool. Anyhow, after rerouting myself to the problem store and speaking with management, I thought it might be best to ask if anyone had reviewed the CCTV footage of the wine department to try and identify the problem. Of course no one had thought of reviewing the footage so I thought I’d start there. Seemed to me that they should have been more attentive to overall bottle security!
Scanning through the video footage, I observed a male subject enter into the wine department and proceed to act suspiciously. I was alerted to him due to his excessive clothing (winter coat, even though it was June) and obvious glances up towards the surveillance cameras. He proceeded to the section of the wine department that housed the most expensive brands.
I thought for sure that I’d see him select the $100+ bottles of wine. He would look through the shelves, pretending to read the labels. However I could tell that he was actually examining the tops of the bottles. I assumed to see which bottles he could get into quickest. The store had most recently tried using a less sophisticated version of today’s bottle locks and it appeared that he was avoiding the ones that had those bottle lock devices on top. As it turned out, he stayed clear of the more expensive wine that we had in stock and proceeded to the cheaper product. I noticed that he began to select bottles off the shelves that didn’t have bottle locks installed on them. They were actually void of any bottle security whatsoever because those cheaper wines weren’t in the view of our CCTV camera placements.
This guy loaded up on five cheap bottles of wine and stuffed them all into a makeshift girdle sling that was situated underneath of his winter coat. After realizing that the coast was clear, he made a B line for the front of the store, passed all points of sale and exited. At the time I was thinking to myself that it was a normal, run of the mill case of a hobo wanting some alcohol to drown his sorrows in. Boy was I wrong!
I don’t know what made me think of it but I decided to take a look at the exterior parking lot camera. From there I could see the guy climb into a minivan parked along the far perimeter of lot. It was sort of difficult to make out but I could tell that there were other people in the minivan with him. The more I looked at the footage, it looked like there were at least 4 other people in the vehicle with him. I could tell from the shadows casting through the glass that they were passing around the wine bottles he had just stolen.
To make a long story short, I was able to uncover additional footage of this guy (and his drinking buddies) coming into the store and boosting around 10-15 bottles of wine each night for at least the past few nights. What they were doing was coming into the store, loading up on bottles and getting drunk outside in the parking lot. With no bottle lock security in place, it was easy pickings. Management decided to place the bottle lock devices on all alcoholic products thereafter. The guys never came back and loss was averted from thereon! No matter cheap or expensive; this is the way to go when bumping up your bottle security!
For more information about bottle locks contact us at 1-770-426-0547.
FLYING HIGH WITH CHECKPOINT LABELS
I’ve been an LP manager for years and years now. One thing that has evolved over time is the prevalence of social media and how it correlates with theft. Open up a new tab and go to Facebook. It’s ok, I’ll wait. Within a few seconds, you can find “online garage sales” for just about anywhere in the country. While mostly this is great if you want to try and clear out some of that junk in the attic or in the closets, some people are using these pages as an easy and often anonymous way to fence stolen goods. Sometimes it’s not enough to simply stop shoplifting, but you have to stop/shutdown/dismantle the avenues in which the stolen property is being resold. Only then will you truly put a stop to the losses. Sometimes, this can be done with a little research and something as small and simple as a Checkpoint Label.
Just a few weeks ago I was conducting a floor walk and I came to the outdoor game section of the store. This is where we stock yard games, toys, etc. A new and popular category for us is disc golf. The sport is really sweeping the country right now. Chances are if you looked it up in your area, you’d find several courses in your community. I’m also an avid, albeit amateur player, myself. So I’m always drawn to this area of the store. I make it a part of my day to ensure that the shelves are stocked and everything is in its place. It is a new category for my store, so I want to capture as many sales as possible.
I came in one morning a few weeks back and at some point during the day, I walked over to the discs and noticed that the entire aisle was empty. There was not a single disc left. Surely, we had to be re-working the aisle, or perhaps even a large sale had happened over the weekend. After checking with the other managers and looking at the sales over the weekend, it became abundantly clear that they had been stolen. I never thought I’d have to take measures to stop shoplifting on these items!
We reported the theft to local police and corrected our inventory. It was a nearly $5,000 loss. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I had a trick up my sleeve. Well, not really up my sleeve; just a roll of Checkpoint Labels in my office. When we were finally replenished on the stolen goods, I made it a point to tag every single disc with a soft tag. These had my store’s logo and number on it, so I could identify the product should it turn up somewhere it shouldn’t be. I really thought I would stop shoplifting with such a simple solution. I was wrong.
A few more weeks had gone by and again I walk into to my store and see half the aisle of discs missing. Where did they go? How did they beat the Checkpoint Label? I began investigating the most recent theft, but I couldn’t find any video from the store (mainly since we didn’t have a camera over that aisle). So I then began researching online sites, and that’s when I found one of those online garage sale pages.
There they were. I had simply stumbled onto the thieves who were targeting my disc golf product. I could even see the tags with my company logo in the photos! A quick call to a detective friend of mine and a staged purchase lead to 4 felony arrests and the recovery of about $4k in product. All due to a simple, yet effective Checkpoint Label
For more information, contact us: Checkpoint Labels, or call 1.770.426.0547
I’ve been an LP manager for years and years now. One thing that has evolved over time is the prevalence of social media and how it correlates with theft. Open up a new tab and go to Facebook. It’s ok, I’ll wait. Within a few seconds, you can find “online garage sales” for just about anywhere in the country. While mostly this is great if you want to try and clear out some of that junk in the attic or in the closets, some people are using these pages as an easy and often anonymous way to fence stolen goods. Sometimes it’s not enough to simply stop shoplifting, but you have to stop/shutdown/dismantle the avenues in which the stolen property is being resold. Only then will you truly put a stop to the losses. Sometimes, this can be done with a little research and something as small and simple as a Checkpoint Label.
Just a few weeks ago I was conducting a floor walk and I came to the outdoor game section of the store. This is where we stock yard games, toys, etc. A new and popular category for us is disc golf. The sport is really sweeping the country right now. Chances are if you looked it up in your area, you’d find several courses in your community. I’m also an avid, albeit amateur player, myself. So I’m always drawn to this area of the store. I make it a part of my day to ensure that the shelves are stocked and everything is in its place. It is a new category for my store, so I want to capture as many sales as possible.
I came in one morning a few weeks back and at some point during the day, I walked over to the discs and noticed that the entire aisle was empty. There was not a single disc left. Surely, we had to be re-working the aisle, or perhaps even a large sale had happened over the weekend. After checking with the other managers and looking at the sales over the weekend, it became abundantly clear that they had been stolen. I never thought I’d have to take measures to stop shoplifting on these items!
We reported the theft to local police and corrected our inventory. It was a nearly $5,000 loss. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I had a trick up my sleeve. Well, not really up my sleeve; just a roll of Checkpoint Labels in my office. When we were finally replenished on the stolen goods, I made it a point to tag every single disc with a soft tag. These had my store’s logo and number on it, so I could identify the product should it turn up somewhere it shouldn’t be. I really thought I would stop shoplifting with such a simple solution. I was wrong.
A few more weeks had gone by and again I walk into to my store and see half the aisle of discs missing. Where did they go? How did they beat the Checkpoint Label? I began investigating the most recent theft, but I couldn’t find any video from the store (mainly since we didn’t have a camera over that aisle). So I then began researching online sites, and that’s when I found one of those online garage sale pages.
There they were. I had simply stumbled onto the thieves who were targeting my disc golf product. I could even see the tags with my company logo in the photos! A quick call to a detective friend of mine and a staged purchase lead to 4 felony arrests and the recovery of about $4k in product. All due to a simple, yet effective Checkpoint Label
For more information about Checkpoint Labels contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
