Checkpoint tags-4 WC blog 243
clothing security tags-3
Clothing security-4
Security tags on clothes-3
Employee Theft Of Clothes Can Be Curtailed With Checkpoint Tags
Apparel store owners and managers, where do you think the majority of your store shrinkage is occurring? Your first reaction may be shoplifters and that would be a good guess. It would also be the wrong guess. According to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer, North American Apparel Specialist Retailers experienced 44% of their losses from dishonest employees (pg. 54). Shoplifting did follow at a close 41% as a cause of shrinkage with vendor/supplier fraud and administrative and non-crime losses accounting for the remaining 16% of losses. Total shortage for Apparel Retailers during this time frame equaled 1.98% so if your store is trending with the national average, how are you addressing the almost 45% of losses in your store taking place due to employee theft? What steps are you taking to address clothing security and protect your bottom line? If you aren’t using Checkpoint tags on apparel you are doing a disservice to your business.
What are Checkpoint tags for clothing? Clothing security tags by Checkpoint are radio frequency sensitive devices that are clipped to garments. When a protected item is carried near a door with a Checkpoint antenna the tag causes the antenna alarm to activate. Lights flash and a loud noise will draw the attention of employees. An employee who responds to an alarm determines the cause of the alarm and can recover merchandise that has not been paid for by the customer/thief. Clothing security tags are a visible deterrent to anyone who may consider trying to steal an item. Most people are familiar with security tags on clothes and will try to find an unprotected item rather than take a chance with setting off the antenna when they are ready to leave. One other advantage of clothing security devices is that they require a special detachment tool to remove them. If someone forcibly removes a tag it damages the garment. If damaged, the merchandise loses its appeal to the thief.
Returning to the point I made at the beginning of the article, can Checkpoint tags prevent that 45% of the losses employee theft may be costing your business? The answer is yes, they can. There are several things to keep in mind to ensure that clothing security is not compromised when it comes to preventing employee theft. One thing I saw during a few of my internal employee investigation cases was that electronic article surveillance antenna alarm activations by an employee were often shrugged off. All alarm activations should be treated with the same response. There is a tendency for co-workers to bond and in doing so there is an inherent trust that forms. Dishonest employees will use this trust to engage in dishonest activity. All employees should understand how to respond to respond to an alarm and how to look for security tags on clothes that may set off that alarm. The same level of response applies to customers and employees with thorough bag checks and receipt inspections.
Clothing security detachment tools must also be properly controlled and accounted for daily. The easiest method is to use the detachment tool that can be secured to the counter and make a check of it part of the daily opening tasks. If you have portable detachers for your employees who stock freight and attach tags to new merchandise, require them to sign their device in and out and a supervisor or manager locks them away. Dishonest employees may try to steal a detachment tool and use it to remove Checkpoint tags and then the clothes they were protecting.
Finally, a daily check of the Checkpoint system should be documented. This inspection does not take long, but it verifies that deactivation units are working, as are the antennas. If an employee knows the antennas are not working the dishonest one will use this knowledge as an opportunity to get merchandise with clothing security tags on them out of the store without creating an alarm.
Security tags on clothes are an effective method of significantly reducing shortage due to employee theft. If you haven’t invested in Checkpoint tags yet, check out what you may be costing yourself.
Clothing Security is important and we can help you with that. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
Apparel store owners and managers, where do you think the majority of your store shrinkage is occurring? Your first reaction may be shoplifters and that would be a good guess. It would also be the wrong guess. According to the 2014-2015 Global Retail Theft Barometer, North American Apparel Specialist Retailers experienced 44% of their losses from dishonest employees (pg. 54). Shoplifting did follow at a close 41% as a cause of shrinkage with vendor/supplier fraud and administrative and non-crime losses accounting for the remaining 16% of losses. Total shortage for Apparel Retailers during this time frame equaled 1.98% so if your store is trending with the national average, how are you addressing the almost 45% of losses in your store taking place due to employee theft? What steps are you taking to address clothing security and protect your bottom line? If you aren’t using Checkpoint tags on apparel you are doing a disservice to your business.
What are Checkpoint tags for clothing? Clothing security tags by Checkpoint are radio frequency sensitive devices that are clipped to garments. When a protected item is carried near a door with a Checkpoint antenna the tag causes the antenna alarm to activate. Lights flash and a loud noise will draw the attention of employees. An employee who responds to an alarm determines the cause of the alarm and can recover merchandise that has not been paid for by the customer/thief. Clothing security tags are a visible deterrent to anyone who may consider trying to steal an item. Most people are familiar with security tags on clothes and will try to find an unprotected item rather than take a chance with setting off the antenna when they are ready to leave. One other advantage of clothing security devices is that they require a special detachment tool to remove them. If someone forcibly removes a tag it damages the garment. If damaged, the merchandise loses its appeal to the thief.
Returning to the point I made at the beginning of the article, can Checkpoint tags prevent that 45% of the losses employee theft may be costing your business? The answer is yes, they can. There are several things to keep in mind to ensure that clothing security is not compromised when it comes to preventing employee theft. One thing I saw during a few of my internal employee investigation cases was that electronic article surveillance antenna alarm activations by an employee were often shrugged off. All alarm activations should be treated with the same response. There is a tendency for co-workers to bond and in doing so there is an inherent trust that forms. Dishonest employees will use this trust to engage in dishonest activity. All employees should understand how to respond to an alarm and how to look for security tags on clothes that may set off that alarm. The same level of response applies to customers and employees with thorough bag checks and receipt inspections.
Clothing security detachment tools must also be properly controlled and accounted for daily. The easiest method is to use the detachment tool that can be secured to the counter and make a check of it part of the daily opening tasks. If you have portable detachers for your employees who stock freight and attach tags to new merchandise, require them to sign their device in and out and a supervisor or manager locks them away. Dishonest employees may try to steal a detachment tool and use it to remove Checkpoint tags and then the clothes they were protecting.
Finally, a daily check of the Checkpoint system should be documented. This inspection does not take long, but it verifies that deactivation units are working, as are the antennas. If an employee knows the antennas are not working the dishonest one will use this knowledge as an opportunity to get merchandise with clothing security tags on them out of the store without creating an alarm.
Security tags on clothes are an effective method of significantly reducing shortage due to employee theft. If you haven’t invested in Checkpoint tags yet, check out what you may be costing yourself.
Clothing Security is important and we can help you with that. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
