Loss Prevention Calculator-3 WC Blog 573
Can Loss Prevention Be Free?-3
Rethinking Loss Prevention With The Loss Prevention Calculator
In the Retail Loss Prevention field we are constantly looking at return on investment. We look at equipment costs, the investment of time to do certain tasks and investment in people. We analyze information and I think how convenient it would be to have a Loss Prevention Calculator that could do all the number crunching for us. While we look at the information with the thought, “What will this investment save us in the long term?” rarely do we think in terms of can Loss Prevention Be Free? We just aren’t trained to think like that. We talk about shortage reduction but it is almost unheard of to speak in absolutes in Loss Prevention like talking about shortage elimination. Sometimes the problem is not with what we are discussing it is how we are asking the questions. We have to rethink how we are problem solving. I will give you a perfect example. Bill Bregar, the CEO of Loss Prevention Systems Inc. comes from an extensive background in the Retail Loss Prevention field. He has dealt with the same issues the rest of us have dealt with and many of us have years and years of Loss Prevention experience like Bill does. What Bill has done is rephrased a question we all ask but the answer reveals a better way of thinking about a problem. That problem is the cost of a Loss Prevention System for a store.
Before I go on it is a good time to remember that there are some readers who are not as familiar with what a Loss Prevention System is. A system is an electronic article surveillance package consisting of towers, tags, specialty detachment keys and/or deactivation pads. The system works by deterrence and recovery of merchandise through receipt checks initiated due to alarm activations. Tags are constantly transmitting radio frequency waves and when a crook tries to leave with a tagged item the towers sense that wave and alarms are triggered in the towers. Store associates quickly respond, check the “customer’s” receipt and recover the unpaid goods. Frequently those persons who intend to shoplift have a change of heart when they see the towers at the doors to the store or when they find they cannot get a tag off of an item. The value of the system is clear to store owners when they see the shelves remaining full and the number of count adjustments greatly reduced.
Returning to my original point about how the rephrasing of a question changes the way we evaluate something. When I was a Loss Prevention Manager, if I asked for an additional closed circuit camera I might get a question in response. Like, “How many internals will you get with it?” Of course there really was no real answer I could give. I couldn’t guarantee how many people I would catch with the new camera. In hindsight it might have been better if we would have changed the nature of the questions. Like turning the idea of a Loss Prevention System from a liability and asking, “How much will it cost and will it really reduce theft?” to asking, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” The question implies there will be a tangible payoff. I should have said I could promise a new camera would give a return of investment in less merchandise shrinkage.
The Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool that Loss Prevention Systems Inc. has developed to help managers see in real numbers how much a Checkpoint System can save them in reduced theft. After a few numbers are plugged in a result give the estimated number of months it will take for the system to pay for itself through the reduced amount of shortage it will save. The question, “How much will a retail anti-theft system cost me?” now becomes, “How many months will a new Checkpoint System take to pay for itself” What if we looked at ALL Loss Prevention purchases in this manner? It is certainly a new spin on things.
“Can Loss Prevention be free?” it absolutely can be. Certainly a purchase will have to be made and tagging will have to be done but after that it is a matter of maintenance and an ongoing tagging program. Keep in mind that once a Checkpoint system has paid for itself the continued savings are able to be reinvested or added to the bottom line. No matter how you slice it a system can be free and the Loss Prevention Calculator is the vehicle to show you how.
Get more information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
You’ve heard the term “you should invest in your people” but have you ever considered that there can be a
In the Retail Loss Prevention field we are constantly looking at return on investment. We look at equipment costs, the investment of time to do certain tasks and investment in people. We analyze information and I think how convenient it would be to have a Loss Prevention Calculator that could do all the number crunching for us. While we look at the information with the thought, “What will this investment save us in the long term?” rarely do we think in terms of can Loss Prevention Be Free? We just aren’t trained to think like that. We talk about shortage reduction but it is almost unheard of to speak in absolutes in Loss Prevention like talking about shortage elimination. Sometimes the problem is not with what we are discussing it is how we are asking the questions. We have to rethink how we are problem solving. I will give you a perfect example. Bill Bregar, the CEO of Loss Prevention Systems Inc. comes from an extensive background in the Retail Loss Prevention field. He has dealt with the same issues the rest of us have dealt with and many of us have years and years of Loss Prevention experience like Bill does. What Bill has done is rephrased a question we all ask but the answer reveals a better way of thinking about a problem. That problem is the cost of a Loss Prevention System for a store.
Before I go on it is a good time to remember that there are some readers who are not as familiar with what a Loss Prevention System is. A system is an electronic article surveillance package consisting of towers, tags, specialty detachment keys and/or deactivation pads. The system works by deterrence and recovery of merchandise through receipt checks initiated due to alarm activations. Tags are constantly transmitting radio frequency waves and when a crook tries to leave with a tagged item the towers sense that wave and alarms are triggered in the towers. Store associates quickly respond, check the “customer’s” receipt and recover the unpaid goods. Frequently those persons who intend to shoplift have a change of heart when they see the towers at the doors to the store or when they find they cannot get a tag off of an item. The value of the system is clear to store owners when they see the shelves remaining full and the number of count adjustments greatly reduced.
Returning to my original point about how the rephrasing of a question changes the way we evaluate something. When I was a Loss Prevention Manager, if I asked for an additional closed circuit camera I might get a question in response. Like, “How many internals will you get with it?” Of course there really was no real answer I could give. I couldn’t guarantee how many people I would catch with the new camera. In hindsight it might have been better if we would have changed the nature of the questions. Like turning the idea of a Loss Prevention System from a liability and asking, “How much will it cost and will it really reduce theft?” to asking, “Can Loss Prevention Be Free?” The question implies there will be a tangible payoff. I should have said I could promise a new camera would give a return of investment in less merchandise shrinkage.
The Loss Prevention Calculator is a tool that Loss Prevention Systems Inc. has developed to help managers see in real numbers how much an EAS System can save them in reduced theft. After a few numbers are plugged in a result give the estimated number of months it will take for the system to pay for itself through the reduced amount of shortage it will save. The question, “How much will a retail anti-theft system cost me?” now becomes, “How many months will a new EAS System take to pay for itself” What if we looked at ALL Loss Prevention purchases in this manner? It is certainly a new spin on things.
“Can Loss Prevention be free?” it absolutely can be. Certainly a purchase will have to be made and tagging will have to be done but after that it is a matter of maintenance and an ongoing tagging program. Keep in mind that once an EAS system has paid for itself the continued savings are able to be reinvested or added to the bottom line. No matter how you slice it a system can be free and the Loss Prevention Calculator is the vehicle to show you how.
Get more information on the Free Loss Prevention Calculator, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.
