“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
