Sensormatic Safers – 4 WC Blog 738
Retail Anti-Theft Devices – 4
Don’t Irritate Customers With Poor Merchandise Protection – Use Sensormatic Safers Part 2
Perhaps the title of this article should be, “Don’t irritate ME with Poor Merchandise Protection – Use Sensormatic Safers Part 2”. I started Part 1 of this series discussing several aspects of retail which have recently irritated ME as a customer in some stores. I will say though that I am very certain that what I get perturbed about also perturbs other customers and some of them even more so. In my list of grievances I mentioned several that had to do with the merchandise protection strategies or lack of strategies that need to be improved upon. While most of the issues took place when I was shopping in big box retail stores I know they will not heed my pleas to address the concerns. On the other hand owners of the smaller, independent stores may be open to the wisdom of someone with over 28 years of retail experience and 17 of those in Retail Loss Prevention.
I am frustrated at store management dependence on locking showcases and locking peghooks in lieu of other retail anti-theft devices on the market that are much better alternatives. Lock-up display cases sound like a cure all for theft. Lock it behind a glass door and it can’t be stolen right? Put it on a locking peghook and customers can still look at the item but shoplifters are thwarted in trying to steal the product. Let’s say I agree with you (which I can tell you from personal experience is not necessarily the case, no pun intended) and these are effective at stopping criminals I know of another method of protection that surpasses these methods. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI), a company with over 30 years of experience in theft prevention and shortage improvement, suggests the Sensormatic Safers to their clients as a way to drive sales and prevent shoplifting. A product is placed in a Safer and locked inside of it. Since the protective device works with electronic article surveillance towers a customer or shoplifter who gets too close to Sensormatic pedestals at the front doors will trip the alarm. The merchandise is only removed at the point of sale by the cashier.
I prefer the use of these retail anti-theft devices over the traditional lock-up case or locking peghook and here is why. If I am a customer and I want to just look at something that is locked up I have to seek assistance. It may be through a call button or it could be I have to search for an employee who is able to assist me but regardless of the method I have to get help. I don’t even know that I am going to make a purchase I simply want to look at merchandise. I should also mention that if the employee I do find doesn’t have the keys to the case and has to get someone who does, I am either going to get more frustrated or I am going to walk out. From the store manager perspective I know you are on a tight payroll budget so you may not have anyone immediately assigned to open display cases. You are working hard to balance a schedule out to cover all of your hours and get tasks done. I am going to sidetrack just for a minute. LPSI can help you improve your scheduling effectiveness based on foot traffic and it will also improve your sales. Contact them about the benefits of a door counting sensor for your business. Back to what I was saying, the Safer allows customers to pick up and view items without the necessity of associates unlocking retail anti-theft devices. The customer can choose to carry the item through the store while shopping and the item is removed at the point of sale. The customer AND the store manager benefits from the use of Sensormatic Safers.
I will make one other observation about display cases and locking peghooks from my personal experiences. I have seen thieves break into display cases from the backside, cutting through pegboard. I have also seen them manipulate doors and I have seen them work in teams to confuse an employee and steal merchandise. I have observed merchandise removed from security peghooks when the hang tab was cut through. These are not perfect solutions in terms of retail anti-theft devices.
Sensormatic Safers give security and flexibility to retailers and freedom to the shopper. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that merchandise protection does not have to be an impediment to driving sales. A Sensormatic security system allows retailers the ability to enjoy the best of both worlds and that makes customers happy and store owners happy.
Sensormatic Safers are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Perhaps the title of this article should be, “Don’t irritate ME with Poor Merchandise Protection – Use Sensormatic Safers Part 2”. I started Part 1 of this series discussing several aspects of retail which have recently irritated ME as a customer in some stores. I will say though that I am very certain that what I get perturbed about also perturbs other customers and some of them even more so. In my list of grievances I mentioned several that had to do with the merchandise protection strategies or lack of strategies that need to be improved upon. While most of the issues took place when I was shopping in big box retail stores I know they will not heed my pleas to address the concerns. On the other hand owners of the smaller, independent stores may be open to the wisdom of someone with over 28 years of retail experience and 17 of those in Retail Loss Prevention.
I am frustrated at store management dependence on locking showcases and locking peghooks in lieu of other retail anti-theft devices on the market that are much better alternatives. Lock-up display cases sound like a cure all for theft. Lock it behind a glass door and it can’t be stolen right? Put it on a locking peghook and customers can still look at the item but shoplifters are thwarted in trying to steal the product. Let’s say I agree with you (which I can tell you from personal experience is not necessarily the case, no pun intended) and these are effective at stopping criminals I know of another method of protection that surpasses these methods. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI), a company with over 30 years of experience in theft prevention and shortage improvement, suggests the Sensormatic Safers to their clients as a way to drive sales and prevent shoplifting. A product is placed in a Safer and locked inside of it. Since the protective device works with electronic article surveillance towers a customer or shoplifter who gets too close to Sensormatic pedestals at the front doors will trip the alarm. The merchandise is only removed at the point of sale by the cashier.
I prefer the use of these retail anti-theft devices over the traditional lock-up case or locking peghook and here is why. If I am a customer and I want to just look at something that is locked up I have to seek assistance. It may be through a call button or it could be I have to search for an employee who is able to assist me but regardless of the method I have to get help. I don’t even know that I am going to make a purchase I simply want to look at merchandise. I should also mention that if the employee I do find doesn’t have the keys to the case and has to get someone who does, I am either going to get more frustrated or I am going to walk out. From the store manager perspective I know you are on a tight payroll budget so you may not have anyone immediately assigned to open display cases. You are working hard to balance a schedule out to cover all of your hours and get tasks done. I am going to sidetrack just for a minute. LPSI can help you improve your scheduling effectiveness based on foot traffic and it will also improve your sales. Contact them about the benefits of a door counting sensor for your business. Back to what I was saying, the Safer allows customers to pick up and view items without the necessity of associates unlocking retail anti-theft devices. The customer can choose to carry the item through the store while shopping and the item is removed at the point of sale. The customer AND the store manager benefits from the use of Sensormatic Safers.
I will make one other observation about display cases and locking peghooks from my personal experiences. I have seen thieves break into display cases from the backside, cutting through pegboard. I have also seen them manipulate doors and I have seen them work in teams to confuse an employee and steal merchandise. I have observed merchandise removed from security peghooks when the hang tab was cut through. These are not perfect solutions in terms of retail anti-theft devices.
Sensormatic Safers give security and flexibility to retailers and freedom to the shopper. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that merchandise protection does not have to be an impediment to driving sales. A Sensormatic security system allows retailers the ability to enjoy the best of both worlds and that makes customers happy and store owners happy.
Sensormatic Safers are important and we can help you with them. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Clothing Security -4 WC Blog 734
Sensormatic Tags -3
Make Good Decisions And Use Sensormatic Tags To Avoid Bad Stops
If you own a store that sells softlines merchandise clothing security has to be a concern for you. Theft is going to happen and you need to be prepared to address it but how you do so can be a tricky proposition. When I started out in Retail Loss Prevention my first job was in a department store and the majority of the merchandise we carried was softlines products such as men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories. What you have to be careful of is protecting merchandise from theft and also not making false accusations against customers. I thought about this after watching a “live” police show on television the other night (although it was a previously recorded episode). I also read a news story about a teenager allegedly falsely accused of shoplifting after having been forcibly stopped by a store Loss Prevention Agent. I will tell you more about each incident in a moment but first I want to say that I have made a couple of “bad” stops during my own 17 years in Loss Prevention. It is uncomfortable and embarrassing to the accused and as the officer making the stop it is embarrassing and sticks with you a LONG time (as I attest to writing this more than 17 years after my own first “bad” stop). The other issue is that a bad stop can result in a lawsuit against the business. Sensormatic tags on clothing can greatly reduce the risk of ever having to deal with bad stops and the potential for being sued.
The purpose of clothing security is to prevent theft through deterrence. Plain and simply those who shoplift do so for any number of reasons but they are usually dissuaded when the risk of being caught is too great. Bill Bregar who is the founder and owner of Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. was a National Director of Loss Prevention for several major retailers. He has experience with electronic article system tags working and deterring shoplifting. He recommends his customers invest in Sensormatic systems and tags to reduce shrink. Crooks know that tags are going to set off alarms if they get near the pedestals in an effort to sneak clothes out. Sensormatic tags will also damage clothes if a shoplifter attempts to force them off in order to steal merchandise. Either way, the use of these devices will stop shoplifting. If a store isn’t using electronic article surveillance that business is going to have high shortage rates there is no getting around that fact.
This brings me to the two cases that turned out to be bad stops. In the television show a suspect was stopped by police, handcuffed and told that he was a suspect in a shoplifting incident at a hardware store. The Loss Prevention Officer came out, showed video from her phone of the incident and it was determined the suspect was not the same person. The man was released. Then in an article from wsvn.com on December 13, 2018, by Nicole Linsalata and Andrew Dymburt, they report about a family suing a major retailer after a “security officer” stopped a 13-year old girl for shoplifting. The report says that video of the arrest shows the security officer pushing the girl to the ground. To make matters worse the police found all four of the bathing suits the girl was suspected of taking were still in the fitting room. I don’t know if the stores in question use Sensormatic tags or not but obviously they do have security officers. Large retailers can afford these officers but they can and do make mistakes. Unfortunately these officers sometimes have poor training or can be too aggressive. Sometimes they get so focused on a case they fail to err on the side of caution and when that happens, things can spiral out of control. This can lead to a very costly lawsuit for the store.
Small store owners with no Loss Prevention can avoid worrying about any of this if they use Clothing security tags to protect their merchandise. If tags are used there will be few attempts at shoplifting and those that do happen can often be prevented with great customer service. To help owners with electronic article alarm response and theft prevention, Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. offers free training with the purchase of a Sensormatic system.
Don’t make bad choices or bad stops. Use clothing security tags to stop theft from taking place. Train employees on the proper methods of tagging products and alarm response and you will find you can greatly reduce theft and significantly improve profits.
Get more information on clothing security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
If you own a store that sells softlines merchandise clothing security has to be a concern for you. Theft is going to happen and you need to be prepared to address it but how you do so can be a tricky proposition. When I started out in Retail Loss Prevention my first job was in a department store and the majority of the merchandise we carried was softlines products such as men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories. What you have to be careful of is protecting merchandise from theft and also not making false accusations against customers. I thought about this after watching a “live” police show on television the other night (although it was a previously recorded episode). I also read a news story about a teenager allegedly falsely accused of shoplifting after having been forcibly stopped by a store Loss Prevention Agent. I will tell you more about each incident in a moment but first I want to say that I have made a couple of “bad” stops during my own 17 years in Loss Prevention. It is uncomfortable and embarrassing to the accused and as the officer making the stop it is embarrassing and sticks with you a LONG time (as I attest to writing this more than 17 years after my own first “bad” stop). The other issue is that a bad stop can result in a lawsuit against the business. Sensormatic tags on clothing can greatly reduce the risk of ever having to deal with bad stops and the potential for being sued.
The purpose of clothing security is to prevent theft through deterrence. Plain and simply those who shoplift do so for any number of reasons but they are usually dissuaded when the risk of being caught is too great. Bill Bregar who is the founder and owner of Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. was a National Director of Loss Prevention for several major retailers. He has experience with electronic article system tags working and deterring shoplifting. He recommends his customers invest in Sensormatic systems and tags to reduce shrink. Crooks know that tags are going to set off alarms if they get near the pedestals in an effort to sneak clothes out. Sensormatic tags will also damage clothes if a shoplifter attempts to force them off in order to steal merchandise. Either way, the use of these devices will stop shoplifting. If a store isn’t using electronic article surveillance that business is going to have high shortage rates there is no getting around that fact.
This brings me to the two cases that turned out to be bad stops. In the television show a suspect was stopped by police, handcuffed and told that he was a suspect in a shoplifting incident at a hardware store. The Loss Prevention Officer came out, showed video from her phone of the incident and it was determined the suspect was not the same person. The man was released. Then in an article from wsvn.com on December 13, 2018, by Nicole Linsalata and Andrew Dymburt, they report about a family suing a major retailer after a “security officer” stopped a 13-year old girl for shoplifting. The report says that video of the arrest shows the security officer pushing the girl to the ground. To make matters worse the police found all four of the bathing suits the girl was suspected of taking were still in the fitting room. I don’t know if the stores in question use Sensormatic tags or not but obviously they do have security officers. Large retailers can afford these officers but they can and do make mistakes. Unfortunately these officers sometimes have poor training or can be too aggressive. Sometimes they get so focused on a case they fail to err on the side of caution and when that happens, things can spiral out of control. This can lead to a very costly lawsuit for the store.
Small store owners with no Loss Prevention can avoid worrying about any of this if they use Clothing security tags to protect their merchandise. If tags are used there will be few attempts at shoplifting and those that do happen can often be prevented with great customer service. To help owners with electronic article alarm response and theft prevention, Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. offers free training with the purchase of a Sensormatic system.
Don’t make bad choices or bad stops. Use clothing security tags to stop theft from taking place. Train employees on the proper methods of tagging products and alarm response and you will find you can greatly reduce theft and significantly improve profits.
Get more information on clothing security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
Applicant Management Process-3 WC Blog 638
Applicant Tracking System-3
Manage Your Hiring Pool With An Applicant Tracking System
Having been both a retail manager and a library supervisor I have been involved with more than one applicant management process. I have always seen some type of online application but often there has been paper documentation that went with it. Even today when the library I work for is interviewing people we conduct interviews with pre-written interview questions (in addition to the online questions the candidate has already answered). The purpose for the interviews is for the hiring committee to meet the candidate, ask questions that are consistent for each prospective employee and try to determine who will be the best fit for the job. Often the questions posed are situational (“what if” type questions or “what would you do in such and such a case”). Other questions are about the experiences the candidates have gone through that would relate to the position they are applying for with the library. However, the questions you would think would be asked during a job interview aren’t always as normal as you might assume they should be. In an article from businessinsider.com, “The 25 Most Bizarre Interview Questions” by Vivian Giang, Jan. 17, 2014, the writer gives us examples of questions that have really been asked. Here are five of those odd interview questions shared by job candidates:
• “If you could throw a parade of any caliber through the Zappos office, what type of parade would it be?
• “How lucky are you and why?”
• “If you were a pizza delivery man how would you benefit from scissors?
• “You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?
• “How does the internet work?
The questions are truly bizarre and I guess they are designed to see how a candidate can function under stress. If the questions are designed to whittle down a field of candidates there is a better way to do it in an applicant tracking system.
The process for filling job openings can be complicated. Position descriptions must be written and job ads posted to the best internet job sites or possibly even listed with state employment agencies. This is no easy feat and can be extremely time consuming, especially the combing through of job applications. Once an employer has narrowed the applicant field there are interviews to conduct. How can the applicant management process be made more efficient and less time consuming? Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) has the answer that store owners and Human Resources Managers are seeking to improve the way they fill openings. With LPSI’s applicant tracking system, managers can have screening questions added to an application. These qualifying questions require a candidate to answer in a specific way and if they aren’t those applications are flagged so the manager does not waste time going through them. The amount of time saved can be extraordinary if you have ever had to sift through piles of applications that were from unqualified persons.
Other benefits of the applicant management process offered by LPSI are the ability to keep the paperwork trail in an electronic format and minimizing the risk of losing track of paper files. You can also keep in email contact with your top candidates from one easy to access location. You may want to include a background check, credit check or pre-employment drug screening of your top potential candidates. LPSI can conduct those pre-employment checks for your business and makes it easy to use online consent forms. To save the back and forth of mailing forms, your candidates can open up the documents to provide electronic signatures necessary for initiating those checks.
Whittle down your field of job applicants in a streamlined fashion. When combined, pre-screening questions, drug screening and background checks are the best method of getting down to your top prospects. Loss Prevention Systems Inc. has the applicant tracking system that can do all of this and free up your time to focus elsewhere on your business. By the way, the best question I have asked an applicant: “Who is or was the best Batman EVER? (The obvious answer is Adam West). The candidate got the answer right. I should mention he had already answered all of the legitimate questions so I threw this one in to end the interview on a lighter note. The candidate also got the job.
For more information about an applicant tracking system, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Having been both a retail manager and a library supervisor I have been involved with more than one applicant management process. I have always seen some type of online application but often there has been paper documentation that went with it. Even today when the library I work for is interviewing people we conduct interviews with pre-written interview questions (in addition to the online questions the candidate has already answered). The purpose for the interviews is for the hiring committee to meet the candidate, ask questions that are consistent for each prospective employee and try to determine who will be the best fit for the job. Often the questions posed are situational (“what if” type questions or “what would you do in such and such a case”). Other questions are about the experiences the candidates have gone through that would relate to the position they are applying for with the library. However, the questions you would think would be asked during a job interview aren’t always as normal as you might assume they should be. In an article from businessinsider.com, “The 25 Most Bizarre Interview Questions” by Vivian Giang, Jan. 17, 2014, the writer gives us examples of questions that have really been asked. Here are five of those odd interview questions shared by job candidates:
• “If you could throw a parade of any caliber through the Zappos office, what type of parade would it be?
• “How lucky are you and why?”
• “If you were a pizza delivery man how would you benefit from scissors?
• “You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?
• “How does the internet work?The questions are truly bizarre and I guess they are designed to see how a candidate can function under stress. If the questions are designed to whittle down a field of candidates there is a better way to do it in an applicant tracking system.
The process for filling job openings can be complicated. Position descriptions must be written and job ads posted to the best internet job sites or possibly even listed with state employment agencies. This is no easy feat and can be extremely time consuming, especially the combing through of job applications. Once an employer has narrowed the applicant field there are interviews to conduct. How can the applicant management process be made more efficient and less time consuming? Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) has the answer that store owners and Human Resources Managers are seeking to improve the way they fill openings. With LPSI’s applicant tracking system, managers can have screening questions added to an application. These qualifying questions require a candidate to answer in a specific way and if they aren’t those applications are flagged so the manager does not waste time going through them. The amount of time saved can be extraordinary if you have ever had to sift through piles of applications that were from unqualified persons.
Other benefits of the applicant management process offered by LPSI are the ability to keep the paperwork trail in an electronic format and minimizing the risk of losing track of paper files. You can also keep in email contact with your top candidates from one easy to access location. You may want to include a background check, credit check or pre-employment drug screening of your top potential candidates. LPSI can conduct those pre-employment checks for your business and makes it easy to use online consent forms. To save the back and forth of mailing forms, your candidates can open up the documents to provide electronic signatures necessary for initiating those checks.
Whittle down your field of job applicants in a streamlined fashion. When combined, pre-screening questions, drug screening and background checks are the best method of getting down to your top prospects. Loss Prevention Systems Inc. has the applicant tracking system that can do all of this and free up your time to focus elsewhere on your business. By the way, the best question I have asked an applicant: “Who is or was the best Batman EVER? (The obvious answer is Adam West). The candidate got the answer right. I should mention he had already answered all of the legitimate questions so I threw this one in to end the interview on a lighter note. The candidate also got the job.
For more information about an applicant tracking system, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
