Let’s face it, shoplifting is an extremely big problem in retail stores, and it’s not showing any signs of ending anytime soon. Thieves are always going to steal from somewhere no matter what if they want something bad enough, and that’s something you can’t control. What you can control is the likelihood that they are going to steal from your store. Denying the issue isn’t going to help anything. If you want to stop shoplifting in your store, you need to take action to protect the merchandise in your store. Installing Checkpoint Systems in your store gives you the advantage over your competitors who may not have them installed in their businesses.
In addition to shoplifting cases, I’ve initiated several internal theft investigations that started out by employees exiting the store with merchandise that had Checkpoint Security Tags attached to the merchandise. One of those cases began with one of my own staff walking out the door when they left the store at the end of their shift. When they exited the store, the alarm sounded and other employees took notice. The next day when I arrived to work, the other employees expressed their concern to me about what had occurred the previous night. They said that they saw the employee exit with nothing in their hands, and the Checkpoint Systems EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) alarm sounded at the door. On top of that, the employee didn’t stop, but walked faster after the alarm sounded.
After I reviewed video, I confirmed the story and found it to be true. Further investigation showed that the employee was stealing almost daily, and the thefts had occurred several times prior to this event. In fact, the employee in question was not only stealing when I wasn’t in the store, but while I was there as well. They would take small items throughout the day and conceal them in their clothing, and then stage the items in a hiding spot for later, which they would retrieve at the end of their shift and take it all out of the store at one time. This way it would minimize the chances that they would take by brining merchandise out of the store several times a day. I’m not sure if the employee forgot to remove the security devices from some of the items they were taking from the store, or they just didn’t think anything was going to happen when they exited, but I am very glad they made that mistake.
If I didn’t catch them when I did, the amount of loss from this case had the potential to be much greater because of the value associated with the thefts that they were committing on a regular basis. Most people look at the Checkpoint Systems EAS alarm towers at the exit doors as a way to help stop shoplifting in the store, but in this case and several others, it served as a very important tool with regard to internal theft investigations. In this case, the EAS system was an invaluable tool in identifying the theft and actually initiated the investigation itself, and there is no way to tell how long it would have taken to catch the subject without it being in place.
For more information contact us: Loss Prevention Systems or call 1.770.426.0547
