Most of my friends and family don’t like to shop with me anymore. At some point, or another, chances are that I’ve “embarrassed” them at a store by catching a shoplifter. I can’t help it, it’s almost like second nature. Even in stores that I don’t work for, I can usually pick out a thief from a mile away. It was no difference a few nights ago when I stopped to pick up a bottle of wine from the grocery store. My girlfriend and I were in the liquor section when I noticed a familiar face tampering with a bottle lock.
I say a familiar face because I had apprehended this guy for theft at my store not two weeks prior. It’s good that people have hobbies… I just wished they would pick up the kind that doesn’t involve constantly breaking the law. This store must have had a great deal of problems with shoplifters since they had several liquor bottle security measures in place. None of these controls seem to faze this guy. He went on about his way selecting some top shelf product. Once he had a small hand basket full, he started walking around the store, eventually stopping near the exits, where he stood around for quite some time. I figured he was just going to walk out with the product, so I had my girlfriend find a store manager while I kept my eye on him.
Before the manager could get to the front, he simply walked out the store, liquor, with EASy bottle locks still attached, in hand. I didn’t work for the store, but still couldn’t let a thief get away. I grabbed him right outside and told him he needed to pay for the alcohol or leave it. He remembered my name from our encounter a few days ago and told me he just needed it for a party he was throwing since he was now off probation. I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony… or stupidity. I waited with the manager for local police to arrive and they happily took him to jail for the night. The manager was so appreciative, that he gave me a little discount on that bottle of wine I was purchasing. My girlfriend on the other hand, was not so happy that our 5 minute stop turned into an hour trip!
For more information, contact us: Bottle Lock, or call 1.770.426.0547
Most of my friends and family don’t like to shop with me anymore. At some point, or another, chances are that I’ve “embarrassed” them at a store by catching a shoplifter. I can’t help it, it’s almost like second nature. Even in stores that I don’t work for, I can usually pick out a thief from a mile away. It was no different a few nights ago when I stopped to pick up a bottle of wine from the grocery store. My girlfriend and I were in the liquor section when I noticed a familiar face tampering with a Bottle Lok.
I say a familiar face because I had apprehended this guy for theft at my store not two weeks prior. It’s good that people have hobbies… I just wished they would pick up the kind that doesn’t involve constantly breaking the law. This store must have had a great deal of problems with shoplifters since they had several liquor bottle security measures in place. None of these controls seem to faze this guy. He went on about his way selecting some top shelf product. Once he had a small hand basket full, he started walking around the store, eventually stopping near the exits, where he stood around for quite some time. I figured he was just going to walk out with the product, so I had my girlfriend find a store manager while I kept my eye on him.
Before the manager could get to the front, he simply walked out the store, liquor in hand, with EASy bottle locks still attached. I didn’t work for the store, but still couldn’t let a thief get away. I grabbed him right outside and told him he needed to pay for the alcohol or leave it. He remembered my name from our encounter a few days ago and told me he just needed it for a party he was throwing since he was now off probation. I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony… or stupidity. I waited with the manager for local police to arrive and they happily took him to jail for the night. The manager was so appreciative, that he gave me a little discount on that bottle of wine I was purchasing. My girlfriend on the other hand, was not so happy that our 5 minute stop turned into an hour trip!
For more information, contact us: Bottle Lock, or call 1.770.426.0547
We all have the same goal year in and year out. We want our businesses to be profitable and we want to eliminate as much shrink as humanly possible. One of the biggest contributors to shrink is shoplifting. No secret. As a merchant and a business owner it is up to you to stop shoplifting, but still provide a pleasant shopping experience for your customers. Can you very well put everything you have under lock and key? Theoretically, yes, but most customers want to touch and feel a product before purchasing it. In my experience, most customers will not want to find an employee to open a case, or unlock an item either. While there are some situations where you absolutely have to physically secure an item, there is a world of products out there that can help you curb external losses, all while providing an enjoyable shopping experience to your honest customers.
A few years back, I was selected by my company to be a part of a team designated to put together a company wide tagging policy. We had checkpoint systems installed in our stores, but we weren’t doing that great of a job protecting our merchandise from theft. Back then, I didn’t know much about different EAS tags, and figured they were all about the same. Either a hard tag, spider wrap or a plastic keeper box. I had no idea there was, what seemed, to be endless solutions out there to meet just about every need we had. We sat down a few times a week and looked at our most commonly stolen items from our stores. Based on the price of the item, we would look to implement either a checkpoint tag, or other solution that would keep the product secure, all while still keeping it available to the customer.
As the year progressed and we began splitting these anti-shoplifting devices and direction to our stores, the feedback was almost immediately and always positive from our store management teams. For too long, they fought with shoplifters and either had to take the losses, or sacrifice sales to simply protect their product. We also received feedback from our customers, which surprised some of us in the office. Most people understand the impact shoplifting has on the cost of a product are perfectly fine with a retailer taking steps to deter criminal activity. The most common concern we received was that the merchandise had to be accessible. It didn’t matter if there was a spider wrap, or an iS tag on the product, as long as our customer was able to handle the merchandise without the added stress of finding a free store employee made them very happy.
While each retailer is different, it doesn’t matter if you run 2 stores, or 2000, shoplifting will affect you in some way. Whether it be from an employee skimming money, or an organized crime operation, you have to take action to protect your inventory. Don’t stand idly by while your hard earned money walks out of your doors. Take the initiative to adopt protective standards in your store and watch how quickly you can cut down on losses and increase your stores profitability.
For more information, contact us: Anti-Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
We all have the same goal year in and year out. We want our businesses to be profitable and we want to eliminate as much shrink as humanly possible. One of the biggest contributors to shrink is shoplifting. No secret. As a merchant and a business owner it is up to you to stop shoplifting, but still provide a pleasant shopping experience for your customers. Can you very well put everything you have under lock and key? Theoretically, yes, but most customers want to touch and feel a product before purchasing it. In my experience, most customers will not want to find an employee to open a case, or unlock an item either. While there are some situations where you absolutely have to physically secure an item, there is a world of products out there that can help you curb external losses, all while providing an enjoyable shopping experience to your honest customers.
A few years back, I was selected by my company to be a part of a team designated to put together a company wide tagging policy. We had Checkpoint Systems installed in our stores, but we weren’t doing that great of a job protecting our merchandise from theft. Back then, I didn’t know much about different EAS tags, and figured they were all about the same. Either a hard tag, Spider Wrap or a Keeper. I had no idea there was, what seemed, to be endless solutions out there to meet just about every need we had. We sat down a few times a week and looked at our most commonly stolen items from our stores. Based on the price of the item, we would look to implement either a Checkpoint Tag, or other solution that would keep the product secure, all while still keeping it available to the customer.
As the year progressed and we began splitting these anti-shoplifting devices and direction to our stores, the feedback was almost immediately and always positive from our store management teams. For too long, they fought with shoplifters and either had to take the losses, or sacrifice sales to simply protect their product. We also received feedback from our customers, which surprised some of us in the office. Most people understand the impact shoplifting has on the cost of a product are perfectly fine with a retailer taking steps to deter criminal activity. The most common concern we received was that the merchandise had to be accessible. It didn’t matter if there was a Spider Wrap, or an EAS tag on the product, as long as our customer was able to handle the merchandise without the added stress of finding a free store employee made them very happy.
While each retailer is different, it doesn’t matter if you run 2 stores, or 2000, shoplifting will affect you in some way. Whether it be from an employee skimming money, or an organized crime operation, you have to take action to protect your inventory. Don’t stand idly by while your hard earned money walks out of your doors. Take the initiative to adopt protective standards in your store and watch how quickly you can cut down on losses and increase your stores profitability.
For more information, contact us: Anti-Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
There are some people in this world that will steal just about anything. I have discovered that food is now on that long list. I was at work this weekend, and while straightening shelves, I found a couple of half eaten giant size candy bars and an open soda hidden behind some other merchandise. We had a situation a couple weeks ago with some teenage girls taking ice cream from the freezer, opening a box of spoons, and going back to the pharmacy waiting area to enjoy their stolen treats. I work for a retail pharmacy with only a couple small food categories, so it made me wonder what is happening in grocery stores. I looked into some online articles, and the amount of Meat Theft is astounding.
The majority of people that steal food are not doing so because they are hungry, or cannot afford to buy what they need to feed their families. Most Meat Theft is perpetrated by people that just do not want to pay for it. In cases where a person simply stuffs a pack of steaks down their pants, many times they had money to buy something, but they wanted the better or more expensive stuff, so they decided to just steal that instead. In other cases people come in and load up a cart full of items and go right out the door with it. Much of this type of theft can be traced to a local restaurant, or they load it up into a truck and go door to door selling it. I have never really considered the possible origin of the product when this one random guy comes through my neighborhood with a giant cooler on the back of his truck selling steaks at ridiculously low prices. While I’ve never purchased anything from him, I am sure some people do since he’s obviously making money. He may be legit, but I am not willing to take the chance. (Besides that “meat from a truck” does not sound like a good idea to me)
One way grocers can put a stop to Meat Theft is to add Checkpoint Labels that are specially designed to stick to cold packages. Whether it be the “one off” guy that stuffs a pack of t-bones down in his jeans, the lady with the giant shoplifter bag full of stolen pork chops, or the brazen thief rolling a cart full of London broil out the front door trying to appear as though he paid at the other register, the specially made Checkpoint Labels will cause the alarm to sound. The labels are not easily removed so tampering with them may cause the plastic wrapping to be torn and damaged. Plus now that the technology has improved, there is not as much danger of a consumer forgetting to remove the tag before microwaving the package if they decide to. Meat Theft is a big problem because it is an unusual target, and because getting out the door undetected is so easy. The packages are flat, so they can be hidden easier. Most grocers do not have dedicated loss prevention people, or the employees are all concentrated at the front of the store, away from the meat cases, usually located in the back. If your store is seeing a trend of Meat Theft, take a look into these Checkpoint Labels.
For more information contact us at Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547
There are some people in this world that will steal just about anything. I have discovered that food is now on that long list. I was at work this weekend, and while straightening shelves, I found a couple of half eaten giant size candy bars and an open soda hidden behind some other merchandise. We had a situation a couple weeks ago with some teenage girls taking ice cream from the freezer, opening a box of spoons, and going back to the pharmacy waiting area to enjoy their stolen treats. I work for a retail pharmacy with only a couple small food categories, so it made me wonder what is happening in grocery stores. I looked into some online articles, and the amount of Meat Theft is astounding.
The majority of people that steal food are not doing so because they are hungry, or cannot afford to buy what they need to feed their families. Most Meat Theft is perpetrated by people that just do not want to pay for it. In cases where a person simply stuffs a pack of steaks down their pants, many times they had money to buy something, but they wanted the better or more expensive stuff, so they decided to just steal that instead. In other cases people come in and load up a cart full of items and go right out the door with it. Much of this type of theft can be traced to a local restaurant, or they load it up into a truck and go door to door selling it. I have never really considered the possible origin of the product when this one random guy comes through my neighborhood with a giant cooler on the back of his truck selling steaks at ridiculously low prices. While I’ve never purchased anything from him, I am sure some people do since he’s obviously making money. He may be legit, but I am not willing to take the chance. (Besides that “meat from a truck” does not sound like a good idea to me)
One way grocers can put a stop to Meat Theft is to add Checkpoint Labels that are specially designed to stick to cold packages. Whether it be the “one off” guy that stuffs a pack of t-bones down in his jeans, the lady with the giant shoplifter bag full of stolen pork chops, or the brazen thief rolling a cart full of London broil out the front door trying to appear as though he paid at the other register, the specially made Checkpoint Labels will cause the alarm to sound. The labels are not easily removed so tampering with them may cause the plastic wrapping to be torn and damaged. Plus now that the technology has improved, there is not as much danger of a consumer forgetting to remove the tag before microwaving the package if they decide to. Meat Theft is a big problem because it is an unusual target, and because getting out the door undetected is so easy. The packages are flat, so they can be hidden easier. Most grocers do not have dedicated loss prevention people, or the employees are all concentrated at the front of the store, away from the meat cases, usually located in the back. If your store is seeing a trend of Meat Theft, take a look into these Checkpoint Labels.
For more information contact us at Antishoplifting.net or call 1.770.426.0547
