Checkpoint Systems And Other Theft Prevention Tools Are Only Effective When Employees Use Them Every Day

Checkpoint Systems-4                                                                                                         WC Blog 427
Checkpoint Tags-3
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Checkpoint Systems And Other Theft Prevention Tools Are Only Effective When Employees Use Them Every Day
     My daughter has been working for a clothing retailer for about three years now as a sales associate. She is trained to do some Manager on Duty functions and has made her interest known that she wants to move up in management. Recently she has been asked to help fill in as an opening and closing manager for two stores in her area. During one of her shifts one of the cashiers working with her took two counterfeit bills. She did not learn of it until closing time and then had to get the store recovered and get the team out of the building. When I picked her up she was telling me about the incident and how she came across the bills and they felt and looked fake. She said their stores have counterfeit bill readers and so she asked the cashier if he had used it before accepting the money. He acknowledged he had not and told her he rarely does use it. My daughter had taken pictures of the bills on her phone and showed them to me. There was no excuse for these to have been accepted under any circumstance, bill reader or not. Because I used to be a Loss Prevention Manager for quite a number of years I asked if she had contacted her District Loss Prevention Manager. I told her that he would probably want the employee written up at a minimum or possibly even fired. Being new to managing a store she said she had not contacted him. I urged her to text him and send the pictures. She did so and he did tell her to write up the employee. Often we have the tools at our disposal to stop shoplifting and theft in our stores but we fail to properly use those tools. For example we may have Checkpoint Systems installed but we don’t conduct receipt checks when the system alarms. Failing to use these systems leads to increased theft and shortage in the long run.
     The Checkpoint Systems have several key components that make the system work properly. The Checkpoint pedestals are set up at entrance and exit points and have receivers in them that pick up radio frequency waves emitted by Checkpoint tags. Hard tags are supposed to be removed at the point of sale when an item is purchased and soft tags are to be de-tuned or de-activated by a de-activation pad installed at the point of sale. If people are being trained properly and equipment is functioning as it should the only alarms that sound will be when shoplifters attempt to steal merchandise. Portable scanners can be used to test de-activation pads to make sure they are working as they are supposed to. Test cards are used to ensure pedestals are detecting tagged merchandise properly. When one part of the system is not working correctly it can cause issues for customers and employees alike.
     As I pointed out in my daughter’s situation the employee was not using equipment that was provided to them to prevent fraud. Several fraudulent bills were accepted and this caused a financial loss to the store. Similarly when Checkpoint Systems are being used in a store to stop shoplifting and they are not being used properly or maintained they are costing money in terms of unchecked theft. I have done observations in stores to monitor employee behaviors related to Loss Prevention training they have undergone. During some of those observations I have watched associates ignore alarms set off by Checkpoint tags that were not properly de-tuned at the register. I have seen associates fail to remove hard tags from clothing and customers get frustrated at having to walk back to a register to have a tag removed. I have done covert surveillances and watched supervisors who were supposed to test pedestals and deactivation pads in the absence of Loss Prevention fail to do so. Had the pedestals not been working and no Loss Prevention Personnel in the building, it would have taken additional time to determine there was a problem and a service call to be placed. It would have also hindered efforts to stop shoplifting.
     Whatever tools your store has in place to prevent theft, whether they are counterfeit bill readers or Checkpoint tags, they have to be used in order to be effective. It also takes everyone to be on board with the program. One person not testing bills or failing to do regular system checks on Checkpoint Systems and the effectiveness of a theft prevention strategy is greatly impaired. Make sure your store remains profitable get ALL of your associates involved in your theft prevention program.
Need information on Checkpoint Systems? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now. 

My daughter has been working for a clothing retailer for about three years now as a sales associate. She is trained to do some Manager on Duty functions and has made her interest known that she wants to move up in management. Recently she has been asked to help fill in as an opening and closing manager for two stores in her area. During one of her shifts one of the cashiers working with her took two counterfeit bills. She did not learn of it until closing time and then had to get the store recovered and get the team out of the building. When I picked her up she was telling me about the incident and how she came across the bills and they felt and looked fake. She said their stores have counterfeit bill readers and so she asked the cashier if he had used it before accepting the money. He acknowledged he had not and told her he rarely does use it. My daughter had taken pictures of the bills on her phone and showed them to me. There was no excuse for these to have been accepted under any circumstance, bill reader or not. Because I used to be a Loss Prevention Manager for quite a number of years I asked if she had contacted her District Loss Prevention Manager. I told her that he would probably want the employee written up at a minimum or possibly even fired. Being new to managing a store she said she had not contacted him. I urged her to text him and send the pictures. She did so and he did tell her to write up the employee. Often we have the tools at our disposal to stop shoplifting and theft in our stores but we fail to properly use those tools. For example we may have Checkpoint Systems installed but we don’t conduct receipt checks when the system alarms. Failing to use these systems leads to increased theft and shortage in the long run.
     

The Checkpoint Systems have several key components that make the system work properly. The Checkpoint pedestals are set up at entrance and exit points and have receivers in them that pick up radio frequency waves emitted by Checkpoint tags. Hard tags are supposed to be removed at the point of sale when an item is purchased and soft tags are to be de-tuned or de-activated by a de-activation pad installed at the point of sale. If people are being trained properly and equipment is functioning as it should the only alarms that sound will be when shoplifters attempt to steal merchandise. Portable scanners can be used to test de-activation pads to make sure they are working as they are supposed to. Test cards are used to ensure pedestals are detecting tagged merchandise properly. When one part of the system is not working correctly it can cause issues for customers and employees alike.
     

As I pointed out in my daughter’s situation the employee was not using equipment that was provided to them to prevent fraud. Several fraudulent bills were accepted and this caused a financial loss to the store. Similarly when Checkpoint Systems are being used in a store to stop shoplifting and they are not being used properly or maintained they are costing money in terms of unchecked theft. I have done observations in stores to monitor employee behaviors related to Loss Prevention training they have undergone. During some of those observations I have watched associates ignore alarms set off by Checkpoint tags that were not properly de-tuned at the register. I have seen associates fail to remove hard tags from clothing and customers get frustrated at having to walk back to a register to have a tag removed. I have done covert surveillances and watched supervisors who were supposed to test pedestals and deactivation pads in the absence of Loss Prevention fail to do so. Had the pedestals not been working and no Loss Prevention Personnel in the building, it would have taken additional time to determine there was a problem and a service call to be placed. It would have also hindered efforts to stop shoplifting.
     

Whatever tools your store has in place to prevent theft, whether they are counterfeit bill readers or Checkpoint tags, they have to be used in order to be effective. It also takes everyone to be on board with the program. One person not testing bills or failing to do regular system checks on Checkpoint Systems and the effectiveness of a theft prevention strategy is greatly impaired. Make sure your store remains profitable get ALL of your associates involved in your theft prevention program.

 

Need information on Checkpoint Systems? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.