If you haven’t already completed your physical inventory process by now, it’s probably coming up very soon. You surely know that you have to prepare the store and merchandise for the actual counting event, and prepare your team for the chaos with a solid plan of action. With all of the additional people in the store and extra workload, it can be a difficult task to prevent shoplifting and workplace accidents at the same time. In addition to preparing the merchandise and team for the counting and auditing, you should also ensure your team is on the lookout for safety and theft concerns during the entire process. It’s important that you discuss this with your team before the big event, because you are obviously going to be extremely busy that day and you’ll need help identifying and correcting any issues that arise.
It’s a good idea to have all of your normal tasks already taken care of so you don’t have to worry about this during the inventory process. Make sure all of your merchandise is fully protected with retail anti-theft devices like the Alpha Spider Wrap. These types of devices not only provide great deterrence, but they also immediately let you know that someone is tampering with the device and trying to steal your merchandise. This can be an invaluable tool on days when you can’t give your high theft merchandise the full attention usually given by associates in the area, and will go a long way to help prevent shoplifting and alert your team to any attempted thefts as they occur. You’ll be able to hear the alarm while you are completing other tasks, and respond appropriately.
In addition to ensuring all of your merchandise is protected, you should also be preparing your team for the safety concerns that may arise during the process. The inventory preparation process can be a daunting task to complete, and even normally safety conscious employees are often rushing to complete tasks in order to comply with a fast approaching deadline. This is when accidents are most likely to happen. Working in larger, big box stores, you usually have an outside company come in and perform the actual inventory counting. Normally this is done by a company that brings in a lot of people into the store at one time and completes the scanning of merchandise within a day or less. You can imagine that this translates to an environment that is busier than your employees are used to working.
So make sure you take advantage of anything that can make the entire process smoother and limit any distractions, such as retail anti-theft devices that are made to prevent shoplifting, before you start the inventory process. You will have plenty of other things to worry about, and you can be confident that your products are being protected from shoplifters while you are attending to your other tasks. This way you can focus on getting accurate, and the best possible results from the count. After merchandise is counted, you should be conducting audits on the counts that have been performed by your team, or the third party company to ensure that any mistakes are fixed prior to the final numbers being keyed. It’s normal to find some mistakes while auditing previous counts, so expect that you will find them. When auditing, you obviously want to spend some time on high dollar merchandise that can have the most effect on your
For more information contact us: (prevent shoplifting) or call 1.770.426.0547
If you haven’t already completed your physical inventory process by now, it’s probably coming up very soon. You surely know that you have to prepare the store and merchandise for the actual counting event, and prepare your team for the chaos with a solid plan of action. With all of the additional people in the store and extra workload, it can be a difficult task to prevent shoplifting and workplace accidents at the same time. In addition to preparing the merchandise and team for the counting and auditing, you should also ensure your team is on the lookout for safety and theft concerns during the entire process. It’s important that you discuss this with your team before the big event, because you are obviously going to be extremely busy that day and you’ll need help identifying and correcting any issues that arise.
It’s a good idea to have all of your normal tasks already taken care of so you don’t have to worry about this during the inventory process. Make sure all of your merchandise is fully protected with retail anti-theft devices like the Alpha Spider Wrap. These types of devices not only provide great deterrence, but they also immediately let you know that someone is tampering with the device and trying to steal your merchandise. This can be an invaluable tool on days when you can’t give your high theft merchandise the full attention usually given by associates in the area, and will go a long way to help prevent shoplifting and alert your team to any attempted thefts as they occur. You’ll be able to hear the alarm while you are completing other tasks, and respond appropriately.
In addition to ensuring all of your merchandise is protected, you should also be preparing your team for the safety concerns that may arise during the process. The inventory preparation process can be a daunting task to complete, and even normally safety conscious employees are often rushing to complete tasks in order to comply with a fast approaching deadline. This is when accidents are most likely to happen. Working in larger, big box stores, you usually have an outside company come in and perform the actual inventory counting. Normally this is done by a company that brings in a lot of people into the store at one time and completes the scanning of merchandise within a day or less. You can imagine that this translates to an environment that is busier than your employees are used to working.
So make sure you take advantage of anything that can make the entire process smoother and limit any distractions, such as retail anti-theft devices that are made to prevent shoplifting, before you start the inventory process. You will have plenty of other things to worry about, and you can be confident that your products are being protected from shoplifters while you are attending to your other tasks. This way you can focus on getting accurate, and the best possible results from the count. After merchandise is counted, you should be conducting audits on the counts that have been performed by your team, or the third party company to ensure that any mistakes are fixed prior to the final numbers being keyed. It’s normal to find some mistakes while auditing previous counts, so expect that you will find them. When auditing, you obviously want to spend some time on high dollar merchandise that can have the most effect on your
For more information contact us: Prevent Shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547
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How Many Laptops Fit Your Pants? Not Your Problem with Anti-Shoplifting Strategies in Place
Just how many laptops will fit into one’s pants? That is a question that you don’t see on many trivia game shows but it was a question I and my staff became interested in not too many years ago. We were continuously losing laptop computers on our cycle counts for some time and it became clear that they were not just evaporating once we started doing some tape reviews. A man, who was actually pretty good at disguising himself from the camera was getting away with laptops on display, secreting them on his person and getting out the door without activating our anti-shoplifting devices.
He was finally caught when Checkpoint tags were inserted in the battery compartment of every display laptop as well as on the exterior. He was careful to remove the exterior tag of the four laptops he removed next but he didn’t even think about there being an interior tag. He managed to stuff the four laptops down his very baggy cargo pants and head for the exit where he promptly activated the Checkpoint security system and the chase was on! Our security staff chased him for over a block with him trying to hold his pants up as laptops were falling to the ground, finally cornering him with a patrol vehicle and a uniformed security officer. He tried resisting but was quickly talked out of it with the snap of a collapsible baton opening. After he was helped to his feet, handcuffed, and allowed to hold his pants up, he was taken back to the store and the police were called to take him into custody. The four laptops were scuffed up but not damaged but we did not recover the eight others he had stolen on other occasions.
There are many anti-shoplifting strategies that one can use to try to prevent serial shopliftings like these from occurring. The Checkpoint security system utilizing electronic article surveillance (EAS) was our saving grace. Closed-circuit television is instrumental in many a retail theft prevention incident; however, it requires someone to be watching the right thing at the right time; otherwise, the incident can only be investigated after it has already occurred. During busy store times when sales help is busy and security is tied up doing its customer service duties is the perfect time for a would-be shoplifter to do his or her thing. The “laptop bandit” knew that and was careful to avoid detection by cameras as well as disguised himself in case he was seen by the camera on subsequent review. He just couldn’t get by little 2-inch Checkpoint tags stuck in the battery compartment.
Checkpoint systems has many solutions for various merchandise. As a wise retailer, you want to employ both visible deterrents and invisible anti-shoplifting devices to aid in the apprehension of the shoplifter who tries to defeat your retail theft prevention strategies. Visible deterrents include strong signage and public viewing monitors for your closed-circuit television system as well as visible EAS antennae with responsive staff. Your invisible strategies can include the secreted Checkpoint tags in places shoplifters won’t expect or won’t look. If you put a tag on the outside, they are likely to stop looking after they defeat that one and not bother to look for the one hidden somewhere else in the device. This is that much important with display merchandise that is left out in the open to be handled by your customers. It is too easy for someone to walk off with that display camcorder—or in our case, a laptop.
Our goal for retailers is to make life difficult for the potential shoplifter. Their job should not be easy which means ours is not either. We have to work at protecting our merchandise; otherwise, you might find yourself trying to count how many laptops really do fit in a pair of cargo pants!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
Just how many laptops will fit into one’s pants? That is a question that you don’t see on many trivia game shows but it was a question I and my staff became interested in not too many years ago. We were continuously losing laptop computers on our cycle counts for some time and it became clear that they were not just evaporating once we started doing some tape reviews. A man, who was actually pretty good at disguising himself from the camera was getting away with laptops on display, secreting them on his person and getting out the door without activating our anti-shoplifting devices.
He was finally caught when Checkpoint tags were inserted in the battery compartment of every display laptop as well as on the exterior. He was careful to remove the exterior tag of the four laptops he removed next but he didn’t even think about there being an interior tag. He managed to stuff the four laptops down his very baggy cargo pants and head for the exit where he promptly activated the Checkpoint security system and the chase was on! Our security staff chased him for over a block with him trying to hold his pants up as laptops were falling to the ground, finally cornering him with a patrol vehicle and a uniformed security officer. He tried resisting but was quickly talked out of it with the snap of a collapsible baton opening. After he was helped to his feet, handcuffed, and allowed to hold his pants up, he was taken back to the store and the police were called to take him into custody. The four laptops were scuffed up but not damaged but we did not recover the eight others he had stolen on other occasions.
There are many anti-shoplifting strategies that one can use to try to prevent serial shopliftings like these from occurring. The Checkpoint security system utilizing electronic article surveillance (EAS) was our saving grace. Closed-circuit television is instrumental in many a retail theft prevention incident; however, it requires someone to be watching the right thing at the right time; otherwise, the incident can only be investigated after it has already occurred. During busy store times when sales help is busy and security is tied up doing its customer service duties is the perfect time for a would-be shoplifter to do his or her thing. The “laptop bandit” knew that and was careful to avoid detection by cameras as well as disguised himself in case he was seen by the camera on subsequent review. He just couldn’t get by little 2-inch Checkpoint tags stuck in the battery compartment.
Checkpoint systems has many solutions for various merchandise. As a wise retailer, you want to employ both visible deterrents and invisible anti-shoplifting devices to aid in the apprehension of the shoplifter who tries to defeat your retail theft prevention strategies. Visible deterrents include strong signage and public viewing monitors for your closed-circuit television system as well as visible EAS antennae with responsive staff. Your invisible strategies can include the secreted Checkpoint tags in places shoplifters won’t expect or won’t look. If you put a tag on the outside, they are likely to stop looking after they defeat that one and not bother to look for the one hidden somewhere else in the device. This is that much important with display merchandise that is left out in the open to be handled by your customers. It is too easy for someone to walk off with that display camcorder—or in our case, a laptop.
Our goal for retailers is to make life difficult for the potential shoplifter. Their job should not be easy which means ours is not either. We have to work at protecting our merchandise; otherwise, you might find yourself trying to count how many laptops really do fit in a pair of cargo pants!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
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Alpha Jewel Lok-5, retail anti-theft devices-4, prevent shoplifting-3
The Little Devices That Make All The Difference – Alpha Jewel Lok
When it comes to merchandise protection, bigger isn’t always better. Don’t get me wrong, for larger items, you need to use retail anti-theft devices that will be big enough for the merchandise packaging, but what about the smaller items? If you are a store that sells any kind of jewelry, watches or accessories, then the Alpha Jewel Lok may be just what you have been looking for in a merchandise protection device. It would be unrealistic to use bulky retail anti-theft devices for jewelry or watches, because these are the types of items that your customers want to handle and even try on while they are shopping in your store.
With the Alpha Jewel Lok, that’s exactly what they will be able to do with the merchandise. This is because the Alpha Jewel Lok is the smallest lightweight EAS based retail anti-theft device available for use today, and it’s a great solution to help you prevent shoplifting. The device itself is very small, and has a little hook on the end of it that locks it closed. I think of it as a miniature padlock with EAS capabilities, so it will set off the EAS towers at the exit if someone tries to leave the store with it attached to an item. The small size of the device makes it a perfect solution for jewelry, because you can attach the device directly to the product. For example, all you would have to do to secure a necklace or bracelet is to open the device, place the hook through one of the links on the necklace, and then close it. The same goes for a watch, you could attach the device to the item by clipping it onto the buckle, a hole in the wrist strap, or really anywhere that the hook will fit on the item.
It can sometimes be a real challenge when looking for ways to prevent shoplifting in your store, so when you find a solution that actually works, you need to take advantage of it. It’s not all about merchandise protection devices though, you also need to make sure that everyone that works for you is on the lookout for possible theft and suspicious activity. Train your team on what to look for, and to always offer assistance to customers that are anywhere in their areas. Not only will this keep your paying customers happy by having someone there to answer their questions, but it will also deter a significant amount of theft in your store. Shoplifters don’t like the extra attention, and will most likely leave the area if an employee is consistently asking customers if they need assistance.
What’s great about the Alpha Jewel Lok is that it can also be used in conjunction with a metal lanyard or cable if needed, which can open up many opportunities to use the devices on other types of merchandise as well. Like most other devices used to protect merchandise, you will need a special S3 key to open and close the device, or everyone would be able to get it open. There’s no need to worry though, because the key is easy to use, and convenient and small enough to carry around with them at all times so your customers won’t have to wait. Every different type of merchandise I’ve used these little devices on have shown as significant difference in the amount of loss that occurred. They are the real deal, and are just as reliable as any of the larger retail anti-theft devices I have ever used to prevent shoplifting.
For more information about Alpha Jewel Lok contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
When it comes to merchandise protection, bigger isn’t always better. on’t get me wrong, for larger items, you need to use retail anti-theft devices that will be big enough for the merchandise packaging, but what about the smaller items? If you are a store that sells any kind of jewelry, watches or accessories, then the Alpha Jewel Lok may be just what you have been looking for in a merchandise protection device. It would be unrealistic to use bulky retail anti-theft devices for jewelry or watches, because these are the types of items that your customers want to handle and even try on while they are shopping in your store.
With the Alpha Jewel Lok, that’s exactly what they will be able to do with the merchandise. This is because the Alpha Jewel Lok is the smallest lightweight EAS based retail anti-theft device available for use today, and it’s a great solution to help you prevent shoplifting. The device itself is very small, and has a little hook on the end of it that locks it closed. I think of it as a miniature padlock with EAS capabilities, so it will set off the EAS towers at the exit if someone tries to leave the store with it attached to an item. The small size of the device makes it a perfect solution for jewelry, because you can attach the device directly to the product. For example, all you would have to do to secure a necklace or bracelet is to open the device, place the hook through one of the links on the necklace, and then close it. The same goes for a watch, you could attach the device to the item by clipping it onto the buckle, a hole in the wrist strap, or really anywhere that the hook will fit on the item.
It can sometimes be a real challenge when looking for ways to prevent shoplifting in your store, so when you find a solution that actually works, you need to take advantage of it. It’s not all about merchandise protection devices though, you also need to make sure that everyone that works for you is on the lookout for possible theft and suspicious activity. Train your team on what to look for, and to always offer assistance to customers that are anywhere in their areas. Not only will this keep your paying customers happy by having someone there to answer their questions, but it will also deter a significant amount of theft in your store. Shoplifters don’t like the extra attention, and will most likely leave the area if an employee is consistently asking customers if they need assistance.
What’s great about the Alpha Jewel Lok is that it can also be used in conjunction with a metal lanyard or cable if needed, which can open up many opportunities to use the devices on other types of merchandise as well. Like most other devices used to protect merchandise, you will need a special S3 key to open and close the device, or everyone would be able to get it open. There’s no need to worry though, because the key is easy to use, and convenient and small enough to carry around with them at all times so your customers won’t have to wait. Every different type of merchandise I’ve used these little devices on have shown as significant difference in the amount of loss that occurred. They are the real deal, and are just as reliable as any of the larger retail anti-theft devices I have ever used to prevent shoplifting.
For more information about Alpha Jewel Lok contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
