RL-174
Bottle locks-5, bottle security-4
Prevent and Reduce Liquor Theft with Bottle Locks
These days it’s hard to watch or read the news without seeing a story about liquor thefts in grocery or liquor stores. While watching several of these stories lately, I started to see a trend. There were videos showing the thefts, and I could clearly see that none of the bottles of alcohol had bottle locks, or any other visible form of bottle security attached to them. For some of these stores, thefts like these are a regular occurrence, so why isn’t it a priority to protect the merchandise from theft? As a business owner or manager, it is important to keep up with new ways to increase your profit, and keep losses to a minimum, and the best way to protect your wine and liquor from theft is by using bottle locks. These devices are an easy to use, affordable solution that can help reduce liquor theft in your store.
I have seen many news stories about these kinds of thefts, but one of the most recent stories I saw was about a guy that walked into a store and walked out of that store with more than one bottle of liquor down his pants. The thief came into the store trying to return a bottle of alcohol that was likely stolen from another store. While he was waiting for his refund, he walks around the store and puts the bottles of liquor down his pants. Of course, he then gets the refund and walks out of the store with the merchandise in his pants. Again, I didn’t see any kind of bottle security measures whatsoever in the video. I just don’t understand why these stores aren’t taking advantage of merchandise protection devices to protect their products.
Another story I viewed recently was especially disturbing. It showed a woman in a liquor store teaching a young child how to steal a bottle of liquor. The woman walked with the child and showed her which bottle of alcohol to steal, and then began distracting the store clerk. While she was distracting the clerk, the child was struggling to get the heavy bottle of liquor that the woman wanted off the shelf. The child finally settles for a smaller bottle that she can lift, and makes her way out of the store while walking backwards, with the liquor hidden behind her back.
After watching this story, I couldn’t help but think of how terrible it is that someone would teach something like this to a child, and unfortunately, I’ve personally witnessed thefts similar to this one in the past. Could this story have had a different outcome if the liquor bottles were protected and locked? Obviously, bottle security doesn’t help with horrible parenting or teaching people right or wrong, so even if this liquor was protected, the theft would more than likely been committed at a different store that didn’t use bottle locks.
Although these two stories were much different in the details, there was a common theme in both of them, which was that the stores being targeted for theft didn’t use any kind of bottle security for their merchandise. If you don’t think this is going to matter to a thief, think again. Shoplifters want to get in and out of a store undetected, and as quickly as possible-with your merchandise. One thing that they don’t want is to go through the trouble of dealing with something that could potentially get them caught in the store, like bottle locks.
For more information about bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
These days it’s hard to watch or read the news without seeing a story about liquor thefts in grocery or liquor stores. While watching several of these stories lately, I started to see a trend. There were videos showing the thefts, and I could clearly see that none of the bottles of alcohol had bottle locks, or any other visible form of bottle security attached to them. For some of these stores, thefts like these are a regular occurrence, so why isn’t it a priority to protect the merchandise from theft? As a business owner or manager, it is important to keep up with new ways to increase your profit, and keep losses to a minimum, and the best way to protect your wine and liquor from theft is by using bottle locks. These devices are an easy to use, affordable solution that can help reduce liquor theft in your store.
I have seen many news stories about these kinds of thefts, but one of the most recent stories I saw was about a guy that walked into a store and walked out of that store with more than one bottle of liquor down his pants. The thief came into the store trying to return a bottle of alcohol that was likely stolen from another store. While he was waiting for his refund, he walks around the store and puts the bottles of liquor down his pants. Of course, he then gets the refund and walks out of the store with the merchandise in his pants. Again, I didn’t see any kind of bottle security measures whatsoever in the video. I just don’t understand why these stores aren’t taking advantage of merchandise protection devices to protect their products.
Another story I viewed recently was especially disturbing. It showed a woman in a liquor store teaching a young child how to steal a bottle of liquor. The woman walked with the child and showed her which bottle of alcohol to steal, and then began distracting the store clerk. While she was distracting the clerk, the child was struggling to get the heavy bottle of liquor that the woman wanted off the shelf. The child finally settles for a smaller bottle that she can lift, and makes her way out of the store while walking backwards, with the liquor hidden behind her back.
After watching this story, I couldn’t help but think of how terrible it is that someone would teach something like this to a child, and unfortunately, I’ve personally witnessed thefts similar to this one in the past. Could this story have had a different outcome if the liquor bottles were protected and locked? Obviously, bottle security doesn’t help with horrible parenting or teaching people right or wrong, so even if this liquor was protected, the theft would more than likely been committed at a different store that didn’t use bottle locks.
Although these two stories were much different in the details, there was a common theme in both of them, which was that the stores being targeted for theft didn’t use any kind of bottle security for their merchandise. If you don’t think this is going to matter to a thief, think again. Shoplifters want to get in and out of a store undetected, and as quickly as possible-with your merchandise. One thing that they don’t want is to go through the trouble of dealing with something that could potentially get them caught in the store, like bottle locks.
For more information about bottle locks, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
Clothing Security-4 , Security Tags on Clothes- 1, Checkpoint Tags-3 , Clothing Alarm-2
Can You Spot The Thief?
I was scrolling through the news feed on a social media sight, and the caption read: “Can You Spot the Thief?” Of course, I could see her plain as day. The scene is an outdoor seating area of a restaurant and there are lots of people hanging around. One woman in particular has a very obvious clothing security tag on the back of her shirt. This lady obviously just wanted a nice classy shirt to wear for her lunch that day and just didn’t feel the need to pay for it. The question is how did she get it out the door. We can only speculate on how she was able to accomplish this dishonest act:
Perhaps she is a dishonest employee of the store where she got the garment. In that case, she would be completely aware of the clothing security measures they have in place there. She could have worked her shift alone, saw an opportunity, and took the shirt. It’s possible she is only intending to borrow the item since she failed to remove the clothing alarm device. I can’t imagine that shirt can be comfortable though considering the placement of the Checkpoint Tags. If she was on duty with a fellow employee, I wonder what happened when she exited. Did the alarm sound or not? Maybe she has a tin-foil lined bag to hide her stolen merchandise. If that is the case, it’s a shame her coworker did not conduct a thorough bag check. It’s also quite possible that she turned off the EAS system. (On a side note, if the owner or manager had the Evolve Store App for their phone or tablet, they would have been made aware of this!)
The next possibility is that she was a customer. Maybe she is such a good regular shopper there, when she walked through the door and the clothing alarm sounded, the cashier looked up and said “you’re good” and waved her on through. A huge percentage of theft comes from normal every day customers that see the chance to steal. They spy something they like and want, but they know they don’t need it or can’t really afford it. So they look around, see the coast is clear, and conceal it until they can get out the door, hopefully undetected. The thing is, if your store is going to go to the trouble of investing in the tools, and the time it takes to attach the security tags on clothes, you may as well invest in some good training for the staff as well. Either way, this lady got out the door of a business with this shirt, and it still has a clothing security tag attached right there on it.
In the spirit of goodwill, I will admit to the small possibility that this woman is completely innocent. She may have purchased the item and the cashier just forgot to take the Checkpoint Tags off of it. The world may never know. I just don’t buy that since she decided to go ahead and wear it. I believe if she had payed for it, she would have noticed the tag was still attached. She more than likely stole the shirt, put it on, and never even noticed that big hard tag attached to the back of the neckline.
My suggestion to the store she got it from would be to move those Checkpoint Tags to the front sides of their clothing items. Then they would be more visible to the clerk and any potential thieves.
For more information on clothing security, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Clothingsecurity.net
I was scrolling through the news feed on a social media sight, and the caption read: “Can You Spot the Thief?” Of course, I could see her plain as day. The scene is an outdoor seating area of a restaurant and there are lots of people hanging around. One woman in particular has a very obvious clothing security tag on the back of her shirt. This lady obviously just wanted a nice classy shirt to wear for her lunch that day and just didn’t feel the need to pay for it. The question is how did she get it out the door. We can only speculate on how she was able to accomplish this dishonest act:
Perhaps she is a dishonest employee of the store where she got the garment. In that case, she would be completely aware of the clothing security measures they have in place there. She could have worked her shift alone, saw an opportunity, and took the shirt. It’s possible she is only intending to borrow the item since she failed to remove the clothing alarm device. I can’t imagine that shirt can be comfortable though considering the placement of the Checkpoint Tags. If she was on duty with a fellow employee, I wonder what happened when she exited. Did the alarm sound or not? Maybe she has a tin-foil lined bag to hide her stolen merchandise. If that is the case, it’s a shame her coworker did not conduct a thorough bag check. It’s also quite possible that she turned off the EAS system. (On a side note, if the owner or manager had the Evolve Store App for their phone or tablet, they would have been made aware of this!)
The next possibility is that she was a customer. Maybe she is such a good regular shopper there, when she walked through the door and the clothing alarm sounded, the cashier looked up and said “you’re good” and waved her on through. A huge percentage of theft comes from normal every day customers that see the chance to steal. They spy something they like and want, but they know they don’t need it or can’t really afford it. So they look around, see the coast is clear, and conceal it until they can get out the door, hopefully undetected. The thing is, if your store is going to go to the trouble of investing in the tools, and the time it takes to attach the security tags on clothes, you may as well invest in some good training for the staff as well. Either way, this lady got out the door of a business with this shirt, and it still has a clothing security tag attached right there on it.
In the spirit of goodwill, I will admit to the small possibility that this woman is completely innocent. She may have purchased the item and the cashier just forgot to take the Checkpoint Tags off of it. The world may never know. I just don’t buy that since she decided to go ahead and wear it. I believe if she had payed for it, she would have noticed the tag was still attached. She more than likely stole the shirt, put it on, and never even noticed that big hard tag attached to the back of the neckline.
My suggestion to the store she got it from would be to move those Checkpoint Tags to the front sides of their clothing items. Then they would be more visible to the clerk and any potential thieves.
For more information on clothing security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or Clothingsecurity.net
SOMETIMES, A CHEKCPOINT TAG IS ALL IT TAKES
As I sit here in my hotel room this evening, I’m replaying today over in my head. I’m out training a new LP associate at one of our hottest markets. My new associate has a ton of experience in this field, but I could see he was getting very frustrated today. His job, his sole purpose on my team is to stop shoplifting. Just like any great LP associate, I want him to make apprehensions and throw people in jail. That’s the only way the criminals will learn. Kicking them out and getting your product back just doesn’t work. A few nights in jail every time they come to my stores and you can bet that they’re going to move on to a softer target.
As my new associate and I are walking the floor, I try to impart some of my wisdom to him. Little tricks that I’ve picked up over the years to help me identify shoplifters and pointing out all the different items that are secured with Checkpoint hard tags. He knows most of these, so I’m just making small talk as we await a thief. I think this is one of the only jobs on the planet where, in order to fully train someone, someone else has to break the law. Hours are passing and the store is just plain slow. I’m getting bored; so is he. Then, bingo.
As we walk past the shoe department, we noticed a female suspect with a box of infant shoes in her hands. She’s walking towards the front of the aisle and without trying to conceal her actions, she is very visibly attempting to pry off the Checkpoint hard tag that is securing the shoe. I point this out to him, but he’s already on top of it. He picks up surveillance and we watch as this suspect, for several minutes, attempts to defeat the tag. After 20 or so minutes, she gives up, sets the shoes down and leaves the store. The tag did its job and stopped shoplifting, but we were left without an apprehension.
As a few more hours sail by, it is becoming quite evident that today just isn’t our day. There are several more potential shoplifters, but for some reason, they either “dump” the merchandise, or lose their nerves. As we were starting to give up hope that we’d make a stop, we see a very obvious user of methamphetamine enter the store. This has to be a go!
We start surveillance and she the suspect immediately grab 5 shirts, toss them into her shopping cart and begin walking towards the back of the store. She paid no mind to size so I was definitely confident we’d make our first apprehension. Once in a secluded corner of the store, she begins to stuff the shirts into her purse, but quickly realizes that the shirts are secured with a Checkpoint hard tag. We watch again as the shoplifter tries ever so desperately to remove the tags. She can’t. She gets frustrated. She leaves without stealing.
While I was frustrated and a bit disappointed in our first day of training, I was however, pleased to see that our physical security measures were working to stop shoplifting in the store. Still, a shoplifter arrest would’ve been fantastic. Tomorrow is another day and with it will bring another stream of shoplifters into my store. Hopefully we will have a bit more luck and get the great pleasure of throwing someone in the county jail tomorrow.
For more information, contact us: KW, or call 1.770.426.0547
As I sit here in my hotel room this evening, I’m replaying today over in my head. I’m out training a new LP associate at one of our hottest markets. My new associate has a ton of experience in this field, but I could see he was getting very frustrated today. His job, his sole purpose on my team is to stop shoplifting. Just like any great LP associate, I want him to make apprehensions and throw people in jail. That’s the only way the criminals will learn. Kicking them out and getting your product back just doesn’t work. A few nights in jail every time they come to my stores and you can bet that they’re going to move on to a softer target.
As my new associate and I are walking the floor, I try to impart some of my wisdom to him. Little tricks that I’ve picked up over the years to help me identify shoplifters and pointing out all the different items that are secured with Checkpoint hard tags. He knows most of these, so I’m just making small talk as we await a thief. I think this is one of the only jobs on the planet where, in order to fully train someone, someone else has to break the law. Hours are passing and the store is just plain slow. I’m getting bored; so is he. Then, bingo.
As we walk past the shoe department, we noticed a female suspect with a box of infant shoes in her hands. She’s walking towards the front of the aisle and without trying to conceal her actions, she is very visibly attempting to pry off the Checkpoint hard tag that is securing the shoe. I point this out to him, but he’s already on top of it. He picks up surveillance and we watch as this suspect, for several minutes, attempts to defeat the tag. After 20 or so minutes, she gives up, sets the shoes down and leaves the store. The tag did its job and stopped shoplifting, but we were left without an apprehension.
As a few more hours sail by, it is becoming quite evident that today just isn’t our day. There are several more potential shoplifters, but for some reason, they either “dump” the merchandise, or lose their nerves. As we were starting to give up hope that we’d make a stop, we see a very obvious user of methamphetamine enter the store. This has to be a go!
We start surveillance and she the suspect immediately grabs 5 shirts, toss them into her shopping cart and begin walking towards the back of the store. She paid no mind to size so I was definitely confident we’d make our first apprehension. Once in a secluded corner of the store, she begins to stuff the shirts into her purse, but quickly realizes that the shirts are secured with Checkpoint hard tags. We watch again as the shoplifter tries ever so desperately to remove the tags. She can’t. She gets frustrated. She leaves without stealing.
While I was frustrated and a bit disappointed in our first day of training, I was however, pleased to see that our physical security measures were working to stop shoplifting in the store. Still, a shoplifter arrest would’ve been fantastic. Tomorrow is another day and with it will bring another stream of shoplifters into my store. Hopefully we will have a bit more luck and get the great pleasure of throwing someone in the county jail tomorrow.
For more information about Checkpoint Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
SEE MORE CLEARLY WITH ALPHA EYEWEAR TAGS
What’s the first thing you reach for when you start driving each morning? For me, it’s my pair of sunglasses. Not because I want to look cool (which I do, anyway), but they serve a very essential role in maintaining a healthy eye. Prolonged sun exposure is not a good thing when you’re talking about long term vision health. That’s why I spent a few extra dollars to make sure my vision is protected. I also got a really great discount, since my stores carry an enormous selection of sunglasses. This is why we also use the Alpha eyewear tag.
First lesson in retail is this; if you want to sell something, you need to let your customers touch it, feel it and try it on. This is especially true if that customer is going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $300-$700 on a pair of sunglasses. There are plenty of you out there that run/manage stores that sell the same product, so you know what I’m talking about. There’s a huge market for these specialized lenses and frames, which also makes them a prime target for sticky fingers. So can you balance a store display with the need to prevent shoplifting?
I’ve said it once and I’ll go ahead and say it again. Just because it’s expensive, doesn’t mean you should lock it up in a case. I get so frustrated when I go to a store and find the product I want is locked and in-accessible to me, the paying customer. I want to be in and out of the store. Like most people out there, I really don’t want to wait on an associate, as that can sometimes take what seems to be hours. If your store is in the designer sunglass business, you should know how important each customer and each sale is to your bottom line.
We first dabbled into the eyewear business years ago. Like so many others, we thought we needed to keep these in a glass showcase. That was our method to prevent shoplifting. The first couple of years, our sales were terrible. We found some floor displays and moved the majority of our sunglasses to the sales floor. We quickly learned the value of Alpha eyewear tags. At first, we did nothing to prevent shoplifting. That was a costly mistake. It was quite simple for a thief to walk right out with a brand new pair of sunglasses.
Using the Alpha eyewear tag, I found that we could find that balance that is oh, so important. The tags applied very smoothly and did not obstruct the wearer at all as they were trying them on. They also wear a great deterrent to any would-be thief. We should have used these tags from the very start. Dare I say, I could see clearly now, the thieves are gone! I could now put those sunglasses in the hands of my customers, and out of the hands of my thieves.
For more information, contact us: Alpha Hard Tags, or call 1.770.426.0547
What’s the first thing you reach for when you start driving each morning? For me, it’s my pair of sunglasses. Not because I want to look cool (which I do, anyway), but they serve a very essential role in maintaining a healthy eye. Prolonged sun exposure is not a good thing when you’re talking about long term vision health. That’s why I spent a few extra dollars to make sure my vision is protected. I also got a really great discount, since my stores carry an enormous selection of sunglasses. This is why we also use the Alpha eyewear tag.
First lesson in retail is this; if you want to sell something, you need to let your customers touch it, feel it and try it on. This is especially true if that customer is going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $300-$700 on a pair of sunglasses. There are plenty of you out there that run/manage stores that sell the same product, so you know what I’m talking about. There’s a huge market for these specialized lenses and frames, which also makes them a prime target for sticky fingers. So can you balance a store display with the need to prevent shoplifting?
I’ve said it once and I’ll go ahead and say it again. Just because it’s expensive, doesn’t mean you should lock it up in a case. I get so frustrated when I go to a store and find the product I want is locked and in-accessible to me, the paying customer. I want to be in and out of the store. Like most people out there, I really don’t want to wait on an associate, as that can sometimes take what seems to be hours. If your store is in the designer sunglass business, you should know how important each customer and each sale is to your bottom line.
We first dabbled into the eyewear business years ago. Like so many others, we thought we needed to keep these in a glass showcase. That was our method to prevent shoplifting. The first couple of years, our sales were terrible. We found some floor displays and moved the majority of our sunglasses to the sales floor. We quickly learned the value of Alpha eyewear tags. At first, we did nothing to prevent shoplifting. That was a costly mistake. It was quite simple for a thief to walk right out with a brand new pair of sunglasses.
Using the Alpha eyewear tag, I found that we could find that balance that is oh, so important. The tags applied very smoothly and did not obstruct the wearer at all as they were trying them on. They also were a great deterrent to any would-be thief. We should have used these tags from the very start. Dare I say, I could see clearly now, the thieves are gone! I could now put those sunglasses in the hands of my customers, and out of the hands of my thieves.
For more information about Alpha Hard Tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
“Oh yeah, that’s Moose” says the nice police officer. Finally, a name. Those four words were some sweet music to my ears. When you are in retail and you are experiencing theft over and over again, it can really start to wear you down. You have tested your Checkpoint System, tagged everything that is being targeted. You know that you and your whole staff are doing everything possible to protect your assets, and it is still walking right out the door. It is obviously frustrating, and it can make you watch everybody that walks in the door, waiting and daring them to steal something. I, for one, can become quite unpleasant to work with, and find myself being referred to as the LP Nazi, when I am in a slump like this.
I thought I was the only one falling victim to this little group of boosters that had been hitting us regularly. They have got us for hair regrowth formulas and expensive electric toothbrushes. The good thing is I know they fear getting caught, because they have worked hard at and managed to remove the Alpha Spider Wraps from these items, plus they made sure the Checkpoint labels got removed and discarded as well. Several times it was the same woman, but everything else has varied. She wore her hair different, carried another colored purse, came in a car once and a truck another time, and the last time she brought a guy with her. But then I got word that the group had hit another one of our locations. I had made reports each time, and a deputy called from a neighboring county to ask questions about my incidents.
It turned out they had been actively stealing from four other stores that he knew of, and the great news was they got less from me than any other place. They have gotten a total of about $200 or so from us,on their multiple visits, but got over $600 in one place this past weekend alone, in less than ten minutes. This other store sells similar merchandise, but they do not utilize the same tools that we do. They don’t have a Checkpoint System in place, so nothing is tagged, and nothing is off limits to the boosters.
The thieves got teeth whitening strip kits, expensive facial care items, and more. The thing that connected our theft reports was the getaway truck though. I made sure I watched the video and got every detail possible, and included it all in my report. The paint fading on the hood, the geometrical designs painted on the top of the cab, the handicap placard hanging in the window… I watched it back and forth and in slow motion until I got every identifying mark on that vehicle.
So the officer called me today, and he came and reviewed my videos I had made and saved after making my incident reports. He said that the truck looked vaguely familiar, and then he had the “eureka” moment when he watched the man walked in a few seconds after the woman did that last time. “Oh yeah, that’s Moose.” He told me the man’s real name, and said he would go get the warrants prepared for his arrest. He also said that he had been caught and jailed many times for theft, and he would likely talk to save his own skin. When I showed the deputy how they removed the anti-shoplifting tools from the merchandise before attempting to leave, he said he wasn’t surprised. He said Moose can’t really run due to an old injury, so he cannot take any chances on being detected as he makes his exit.
I hope to update this story with the awesome and exciting sequel about how we shut down the next big ORC group. Truthfully though, I will be content if Moose does roll over on the other members, and they all just go to jail for a while. I can at least sleep a little better knowing my Checkpoint System is doing it’s job, which is deterring as much theft as possible. Knowing my competition is lacking this extremely important anti-shoplifting device, and knowing they are losing a whole lot more than my store, is pretty good too I guess.
For more information on Checkpoint Systems, anti-shoplifting and retail theft prevention contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
In any retail store, you have to have a good plan in place to help prevent shoplifting if you want to stay profitable. When you place items on display for customers to be able to look at before making a purchase, there is always a risk that someone will take one of those products without paying for it. With this in mind, of course you have to do something to prevent shoplifting from occurring in your store. Your plan should obviously include the use of retail anti-theft devices, like the Alpha Spider Wrap, but you also have to ensure your team is properly trained on the proper use of these devices if you want to see a return on your investment. If your employees aren’t all on board with the program you have place, it may all be for nothing.
If the training for the use of retail anti-theft devices isn’t kept up, your new hire employees will likely not understand how to use them as they were intended. For example, if you put five of an item on the same shelf, and ensure that they are all protected, that’s great, but the challenge is with keeping all of the product protected. When the next employee comes along to restock the product without placing retail anti-theft devices on all of the items, which one do you think the shoplifter is going to steal? Of course, the shoplifter will go for the unprotected item because it will be so much easier for them to get the merchandise and get out of the store unnoticed. It’s very simple, if there are two items next to each other and one has an Alpha Spider Wrap attached, and the other doesn’t, the one without it is getting stolen. You have to be consistent if you want your plan to have any chance of being successful.
I can remember several shoplifting cases in which merchandise protection consistency would have saved the store a lot of money and stress. At a store I previously worked for, we were using several different types of merchandise protection devices in the store as a way to help prevent shoplifting in the store, but we were still experiencing quite a bit of theft. There was on shoplifter I recall that would come into the store looking to steal merchandise like electric shavers and electric toothbrushes. He would go into the department and look for merchandise that could be easily resold, and wasn’t protected. One more occasions than one, he found items that should have had protection devices on them, but unfortunately for the store, did not.
The day we finally caught him was no exception. The guy came into the store and headed straight for the electric shavers. Once he entered the aisle, he selected one that didn’t have an Alpha Spider Wrap attached to it, but this time I was waiting for him to come into the store. I saw him take the shaver out of its package, put it into the front of his pants, and pull down his shirt. He was definitely surprised to see us when we finally caught him leaving the store with our products, because he had gotten away with it in the past. We were lucky enough to be there and actually see the theft happen that day, but it could have been a much different outcome. The lesson here is that if you are going to use retail anti-theft devices, be consistent and do it right.
For more information about retail anti-theft devices contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
