I have been working in retail loss prevention for several years now. I have stopped people from shoplifting clothing, jewelry, fragrances, tools, TV’s, and all sorts of items. Unfortunately, I have never worked in a location that sells beer, wine, or spirits. Due to this, I have never stopped anyone from shoplifting alcohol, but I was very curious. I decided to do an online video search of “shoplifting liquor,” to see what types of liquor theft are caught on video. You wouldn’t believe some of the crazy videos that came up! There was one thing that all videos had in common. Whether or not the shoplifters were caught by loss prevention or asset protection, in all cases, the shoplifters were stealing bottles of liquor that were not protected with bottle locks.
There was a video of one woman concealing a whole thirty-two ounce bottle of liquor in the front of her pants and under her shirt, a video of two men (one distracting the employee) who stole three bottles of liquor all concealed in one man’s pants, and even a video of a uniformed fire-fighter taking a bottle of liquor from behind the convenient store counter when the clerk walked away! Not one of these bottles was protected with bottle security. They made easy targets for those shoplifters who wanted the “buzz” without the “buy.” In the videos I mentioned above, there was another commonality. All of these thieves made it past the door without being caught. Sure, they were caught on camera but even having their faces on video isn’t enough to get the money or merchandise back.
There were another couple of videos that I saw, that had slightly different outcomes. There were two different videos of shoplifters who got caught trying to steal their liquor. The first one occurred at a grocery store, where the woman concealed the bottle of liquor into a shopping bag. When confronted by security at the door, a huge commotion ensued. The female committing the shoplifting threw tomatoes, avocados, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables at security when they confiscated the liquor, not to mention the many foul words that were said, and heard by the customers and their families.
Another video involved a man stealing liquor bottles from another store with retail loss prevention employees. This man was caught trying to leave with the bottles, and a huge fight ensued between the employee and the shoplifter. They are seen tussling over a charity donation box in the entryway, with bottles of liquor flying through the air, and customers trying to avoid the scary and awkward situation. I can’t imagine that seeing a sight like that would seem inviting to good customers who would like to return for business.
Even these last two videos that I mentioned had the commonality that the bottles of liquor were not protected by any sort of security device. The investment of the bottle locks is well worth saving the many bottles of liquor that could be stolen. One bottle security device, the EASy bottle, is a great way to secure liquor bottles without preventing customers from assessing the merchandise for purchase.
If you want to avoid having surveillance video of liquor thefts from your store on the internet, I would recommend putting locks on bottles that will keep most shoplifters out of your store.
For more information contact us: Bottle Locks or call 1.770.426.0547
I have been working in retail loss prevention for several years now. I have stopped people from shoplifting clothing, jewelry, fragrances, tools, TV’s, and all sorts of items. Unfortunately, I have never worked in a location that sells beer, wine, or spirits. Due to this, I have never stopped anyone from shoplifting alcohol, but I was very curious. I decided to do an online video search of “shoplifting liquor,” to see what types of liquor theft are caught on video. You wouldn’t believe some of the crazy videos that came up! There was one thing that all videos had in common. Whether or not the shoplifters were caught by loss prevention or asset protection, in all cases, the shoplifters were stealing bottles of liquor that were not protected with bottle locks.
There was a video of one woman concealing a whole thirty-two ounce bottle of liquor in the front of her pants and under her shirt, a video of two men (one distracting the employee) who stole three bottles of liquor all concealed in one man’s pants, and even a video of a uniformed fire-fighter taking a bottle of liquor from behind the convenient store counter when the clerk walked away! Not one of these bottles was protected with bottle security. They made easy targets for those shoplifters who wanted the “buzz” without the “buy.” In the videos I mentioned above, there was another commonality. All of these thieves made it past the door without being caught. Sure, they were caught on camera but even having their faces on video isn’t enough to get the money or merchandise back.
There were another couple of videos that I saw, that had slightly different outcomes. There were two different videos of shoplifters who got caught trying to steal their liquor. The first one occurred at a grocery store, where the woman concealed the bottle of liquor into a shopping bag. When confronted by security at the door, a huge commotion ensued. The female committing the shoplifting threw tomatoes, avocados, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables at security when they confiscated the liquor, not to mention the many foul words that were said, and heard by the customers and their families.
Another video involved a man stealing liquor bottles from another store with retail loss prevention employees. This man was caught trying to leave with the bottles, and a huge fight ensued between the employee and the shoplifter. They are seen tussling over a charity donation box in the entryway, with bottles of liquor flying through the air, and customers trying to avoid the scary and awkward situation. I can’t imagine that seeing a sight like that would seem inviting to good customers who would like to return for business.
Even these last two videos that I mentioned had the commonality that the bottles of liquor were not protected by any sort of security device. The investment of the bottle locks is well worth saving the many bottles of liquor that could be stolen. One bottle security device, the EASy bottle, is a great way to secure liquor bottles without preventing customers from assessing the merchandise for purchase.
If you want to avoid having surveillance video of liquor thefts from your store on the internet, I would recommend putting locks on bottles that will keep most shoplifters out of your store.
For more information contact us: Bottle Locks or call 1.770.426.0547
Chances are, when you hear the words “bottle lock”, you immediately think of liquor stores. They are probably the largest user of those devices, and for good reason. Liquor is shoplifted at an alarming rate, and whatever you can do to prevent those losses is probably a good idea. Have you ever stopped to think if there were other, commonly shoplifted items that you sell that are completely unsecured? Maybe they are unsecured because you have never really thought about the amount of loss in an item? Maybe, it’s due to the items relatively cheap price that the shrink is overlooked?
Ask anyone who works for a dollar store, or corner pharmacy and they’ll tell you that some of the most prolific shoplifters target basic household items. Items such as dish and hand soap, shampoo, and over the counter pain relievers. These items are small, concealable and very inexpensive. They’re a far cry from the large electronics, but the rate of shoplifting on these items have caused many retailers to take protective measure on items they never thought twice about protecting in the past. These items are very quickly sold on the street, flea markets and dishonest family stores. So how exactly do bottle locks fit into this puzzle?
Not too long ago, I was having lunch with an industry contact of mine. We are both district loss prevention managers, but for two very different companies. I come from a mass retailer, and he, a chain pharmacy. We were swapping stories about theft cases and he began to tell me about a massive organized retail crime bust he was recently involved with. For months, his stores were targeted by a group of individuals who were targeting a particular brand of pain reliever. These were over the counter items and the stores would have upwards of 50-100 easily accessible at any given time. Within the course of a two month period, this group had stolen nearly one hundred thousand individual bottles of this pain reliever. Someone had a serious headache.
There wasn’t much his company could do. It would be unreasonable to lock up such a common and inexpensive item. It was also difficult to limit the stock on the shelf since this was a very commonly sold item. The company did not want to take the chance of missing sales. It was a difficult situation, however a solution was found with bottle locks. I was surprised to hear this. I had never thought about using that type of lock for anything other than liquor. There was a particular Alpha Security device that was designed for pain reliever type bottles. They were implemented in his stores and it dried up the theft very quickly. It stopped the theft long enough for him to be able to track where the product was going.
After a few weeks of having the bottle locks in place, he was able to make several detentions of individuals who were attempting the defeat the devices. Through his interviews with the street level boosters, he was able to begin his investigation into the fence. With the assistance of state law enforcement officials, a large warehouse was eventually discovered that contained tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of pain relievers, all from his stores. This operation was shipping the product overseas and making millions in this illicit operation. Not only were they targeting the pain relievers, but also razors, shampoos, detergent and other household items.
For more information, contact us: Bottle Lock, or call 1.770.426.0547
Chances are, when you hear the words “bottle lock”, you immediately think of liquor stores. They are probably the largest user of those devices, and for good reason. Liquor is shoplifted at an alarming rate, and whatever you can do to prevent those losses is probably a good idea. Have you ever stopped to think if there were other, commonly shoplifted items that you sell that are completely unsecured? Maybe they are unsecured because you have never really thought about the amount of loss in an item? Maybe, it’s due to the items relatively cheap price that the shrink is overlooked?
Ask anyone who works for a dollar store, or corner pharmacy and they’ll tell you that some of the most prolific shoplifters target basic household items. Items such as dish and hand soap, shampoo, and over the counter pain relievers. These items are small, concealable and very inexpensive. They’re a far cry from the large electronics, but the rate of shoplifting on these items have caused many retailers to take protective measures on items they never thought twice about protecting in the past. These items are very quickly sold on the street, flea markets and dishonest family stores. So how exactly do bottle locks fit into this puzzle?
Not too long ago, I was having lunch with an industry contact of mine. We are both district loss prevention managers, but for two very different companies. I come from a mass retailer, and he, a chain pharmacy. We were swapping stories about theft cases and he began to tell me about a massive organized retail crime bust he was recently involved with. For months, his stores were targeted by a group of individuals who were targeting a particular brand of pain reliever. These were over the counter items and the stores would have upwards of 50-100 easily accessible at any given time. Within the course of a two month period, this group had stolen nearly one hundred thousand individual bottles of this pain reliever. Someone had a serious headache.
There wasn’t much his company could do. It would be unreasonable to lock up such a common and inexpensive item. It was also difficult to limit the stock on the shelf since this was a very commonly sold item. The company did not want to take the chance of missing sales. It was a difficult situation, however a solution was found with Alpha Rx Cap. I was surprised to hear this. I had never thought about using that type of lock. There was a particular Alpha Security cap that was designed for pain reliever type bottles. They were implemented in his stores and it dried up the theft very quickly. It stopped the theft long enough for him to be able to track where the product was going.
After a few weeks of having the Alpha Rx Caps in place, he was able to make several detentions of individuals who were attempting the defeat the devices. Through his interviews with the street level boosters, he was able to begin his investigation into the fence. With the assistance of state law enforcement officials, a large warehouse was eventually discovered that contained tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of pain relievers, all from his stores. This operation was shipping the product overseas and making millions in this illicit operation. Not only were they targeting the pain relievers, but also razors, shampoos, detergent and other household items.
For more information, contact us: Anti Shoplifting, or call 1.770.426.0547
As I’m browsing in my local grocery store earlier, I could not help but notice that there were different methods of product protection in place. First of all, this small independent store had Checkpoint pedestals at the front entrance. I also spotted Alpha Keepers being utilized. There was a variety of body washes, lotions, and facial products sitting on shelves safely enclosed. Even the razor section had a chime that sounded as I walked past. I had to wonder, however, why there seemed to be little or none of that same effort put into the protection of their high retail food items, especially in the meat department, when there was a clear issue in the health and beauty section of the store. If people are regularly stealing from one aisle, what would deter them from choosing another section. Since this small town grocer had the Checkpoint System in place already, it made me curious why they would not add Security Tags to the mix.
There was a recent article online about a man caught stealing bags of shrimp from a grocery store. The store owners knew it was not the first time he had ripped them off. After police interrogation, the man admitted to stealing meats on a regular basis. He admitted to being part of a group that sold the stolen products to food trucks in the city. This was the man’s primary means of employment; steal from one business to sell to another. There was yet another separate story about a man that was caught rolling a cart full of briskets out the door, of course without paying for any of them. He had done it more than once, but had gotten away with it because he claimed to have paid at a register further away from the door. This particular thief was then taking these down to a local barbeque restaurant and selling them the stolen meat. If those packages had Checkpoint Security Tags attached, the store likely would have put a stop to his grand scheme the first time he tried it. He possibly would have been deterred from trying it in the first place.
Considering the cost of almost all varieties of meats has risen exponentially, this is a big area of opportunity in a lot of grocery stores. Shoplifters can conceal and get out the door with a large amount of meats, specialty cheeses, and other high end items, and they face little or no threat of being caught unless an employee happens to witness the crime in action. This type of retailer does not usually employ a dedicated on-site loss prevention employee. One way to change the rampant misconception that stealing food is an acceptable practice is to add Checkpoint Security Tags to select targeted packages. The tags easily adhere to almost any surface, and serve as an excellent deterrent to shoplifting.
For more information contact us at: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
As I’m browsing in my local grocery store earlier, I could not help but notice that there were different methods of product protection in place. First of all, this small independent store had Checkpoint pedestals at the front entrance. I also spotted Alpha Keepers being utilized. There was a variety of body washes, lotions, and facial products sitting on shelves safely enclosed. Even the razor section had a chime that sounded as I walked past. I had to wonder, however, why there seemed to be little or none of that same effort put into the protection of their high retail food items, especially in the meat department, when there was a clear issue in the health and beauty section of the store. If people are regularly stealing from one aisle, what would deter them from choosing another section. Since this small town grocer had the Checkpoint System in place already, it made me curious why they would not add Security Labels to the mix.
There was a recent article online about a man caught stealing bags of shrimp from a grocery store. The store owners knew it was not the first time he had ripped them off. After police interrogation, the man admitted to stealing meats on a regular basis. He admitted to being part of a group that sold the stolen products to food trucks in the city. This was the man’s primary means of employment; steal from one business to sell to another.
There was yet another separate story about a man that was caught rolling a cart full of briskets out the door, of course without paying for any of them. He had done it more than once, but had gotten away with it because he claimed to have paid at a register further away from the door. This particular thief was then taking these down to a local barbeque restaurant and selling them the stolen meat. If those packages had Checkpoint Labels attached, the store likely would have put a stop to his grand scheme the first time he tried it. He possibly would have been deterred from trying it in the first place.
Considering the cost of almost all varieties of meats has risen exponentially, this is a big area of opportunity in a lot of grocery stores. Shoplifters can conceal and get out the door with a large amount of meats, specialty cheeses, and other high end items, and they face little or no threat of being caught unless an employee happens to witness the crime in action. This type of retailer does not usually employ a dedicated on-site loss prevention employee. One way to change the rampant misconception that stealing food is an acceptable practice is to add Checkpoint Security Labels to select targeted packages. The tags easily adhere to almost any surface, and serve as an excellent deterrent to shoplifting.
For more information contact us at: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
