FLYING HIGH WITH CHECKPOINT LABELS
I’ve been an LP manager for years and years now. One thing that has evolved over time is the prevalence of social media and how it correlates with theft. Open up a new tab and go to Facebook. It’s ok, I’ll wait. Within a few seconds, you can find “online garage sales” for just about anywhere in the country. While mostly this is great if you want to try and clear out some of that junk in the attic or in the closets, some people are using these pages as an easy and often anonymous way to fence stolen goods. Sometimes it’s not enough to simply stop shoplifting, but you have to stop/shutdown/dismantle the avenues in which the stolen property is being resold. Only then will you truly put a stop to the losses. Sometimes, this can be done with a little research and something as small and simple as a Checkpoint Label.
Just a few weeks ago I was conducting a floor walk and I came to the outdoor game section of the store. This is where we stock yard games, toys, etc. A new and popular category for us is disc golf. The sport is really sweeping the country right now. Chances are if you looked it up in your area, you’d find several courses in your community. I’m also an avid, albeit amateur player, myself. So I’m always drawn to this area of the store. I make it a part of my day to ensure that the shelves are stocked and everything is in its place. It is a new category for my store, so I want to capture as many sales as possible.
I came in one morning a few weeks back and at some point during the day, I walked over to the discs and noticed that the entire aisle was empty. There was not a single disc left. Surely, we had to be re-working the aisle, or perhaps even a large sale had happened over the weekend. After checking with the other managers and looking at the sales over the weekend, it became abundantly clear that they had been stolen. I never thought I’d have to take measures to stop shoplifting on these items!
We reported the theft to local police and corrected our inventory. It was a nearly $5,000 loss. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I had a trick up my sleeve. Well, not really up my sleeve; just a roll of Checkpoint Labels in my office. When we were finally replenished on the stolen goods, I made it a point to tag every single disc with a soft tag. These had my store’s logo and number on it, so I could identify the product should it turn up somewhere it shouldn’t be. I really thought I would stop shoplifting with such a simple solution. I was wrong.
A few more weeks had gone by and again I walk into to my store and see half the aisle of discs missing. Where did they go? How did they beat the Checkpoint Label? I began investigating the most recent theft, but I couldn’t find any video from the store (mainly since we didn’t have a camera over that aisle). So I then began researching online sites, and that’s when I found one of those online garage sale pages.
There they were. I had simply stumbled onto the thieves who were targeting my disc golf product. I could even see the tags with my company logo in the photos! A quick call to a detective friend of mine and a staged purchase lead to 4 felony arrests and the recovery of about $4k in product. All due to a simple, yet effective Checkpoint Label
For more information, contact us: Checkpoint Labels, or call 1.770.426.0547
I’ve been an LP manager for years and years now. One thing that has evolved over time is the prevalence of social media and how it correlates with theft. Open up a new tab and go to Facebook. It’s ok, I’ll wait. Within a few seconds, you can find “online garage sales” for just about anywhere in the country. While mostly this is great if you want to try and clear out some of that junk in the attic or in the closets, some people are using these pages as an easy and often anonymous way to fence stolen goods. Sometimes it’s not enough to simply stop shoplifting, but you have to stop/shutdown/dismantle the avenues in which the stolen property is being resold. Only then will you truly put a stop to the losses. Sometimes, this can be done with a little research and something as small and simple as a Checkpoint Label.
Just a few weeks ago I was conducting a floor walk and I came to the outdoor game section of the store. This is where we stock yard games, toys, etc. A new and popular category for us is disc golf. The sport is really sweeping the country right now. Chances are if you looked it up in your area, you’d find several courses in your community. I’m also an avid, albeit amateur player, myself. So I’m always drawn to this area of the store. I make it a part of my day to ensure that the shelves are stocked and everything is in its place. It is a new category for my store, so I want to capture as many sales as possible.
I came in one morning a few weeks back and at some point during the day, I walked over to the discs and noticed that the entire aisle was empty. There was not a single disc left. Surely, we had to be re-working the aisle, or perhaps even a large sale had happened over the weekend. After checking with the other managers and looking at the sales over the weekend, it became abundantly clear that they had been stolen. I never thought I’d have to take measures to stop shoplifting on these items!
We reported the theft to local police and corrected our inventory. It was a nearly $5,000 loss. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I had a trick up my sleeve. Well, not really up my sleeve; just a roll of Checkpoint Labels in my office. When we were finally replenished on the stolen goods, I made it a point to tag every single disc with a soft tag. These had my store’s logo and number on it, so I could identify the product should it turn up somewhere it shouldn’t be. I really thought I would stop shoplifting with such a simple solution. I was wrong.
A few more weeks had gone by and again I walk into to my store and see half the aisle of discs missing. Where did they go? How did they beat the Checkpoint Label? I began investigating the most recent theft, but I couldn’t find any video from the store (mainly since we didn’t have a camera over that aisle). So I then began researching online sites, and that’s when I found one of those online garage sale pages.
There they were. I had simply stumbled onto the thieves who were targeting my disc golf product. I could even see the tags with my company logo in the photos! A quick call to a detective friend of mine and a staged purchase lead to 4 felony arrests and the recovery of about $4k in product. All due to a simple, yet effective Checkpoint Label
For more information about Checkpoint Labels contact us or call 1.770.426.0547
