Secure Merchandise With Alpha 3 Alarm Devices

Alpha 3 Alarm -4                                                                                                                        WC Blog 439
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Secure Merchandise With Alpha 3 Alarm Devices

      How secure is your store from theft? Not just from shoplifters but also from dishonest employees? I’m always concerned with merchandise protection to prevent shoplifting by using retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha 3 Alarm devices. But I am also thinking of shortage caused by dishonest employees who have access to supposedly secure areas of a store. As a Loss Prevention Manager I would visit other stores in my company from time to time. I would go to fill in helping with an inventory or assist with a suspected investigation and I would be told how that store had strong internal theft controls. They would show me how keys were signed out and in. They made sure doors were never propped open. Office areas would never have unsecured purses or bags. Often I would find compactors unlocked (a potential internal theft concern). Prepping a secure electronics cage for inventory and I would find hidden packages or retail anti-theft devices. I would find a purse in a file drawer in someone’s unlocked desk. This was not the case in every trip I would make there were visits when controls appeared to be good. Unfortunately there were management teams that did not believe their staff would steal and wouldn’t take the time to thoroughly audit their own stores.

     I do think it would be beneficial to mention what Alpha 3 Alarm retail anti-theft devices are since there may be some reading that are not familiar with them. The devices are electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags that come in a number of forms from wraps to hard tags that pin on clothes. Each carries built in technology that sends out a radio wave that will activate an EAS tower alarm when it is carried in the vicinity of a tower. These devices also have tamper alarms that screech when a shoplifter attempts to pry the unit off a product. Finally, if a shoplifter gets out the doors past EAS towers, the third alarm (an internal alarm in the tag) activates and goes where the shoplifter goes. As a tool to prevent shoplifting the Alpha 3 Alarm series of devices are top notch.

     So what is my point in discussing retail anti-theft devices that are designed to prevent shoplifting when I am writing about internal security controls? Anti-theft tags aren’t for stopping shoplifting alone. There are dishonest employees who will try to walk out of a building with stolen merchandise and the tags will alarm on them the same as they do on a shoplifter. What your store personnel can do that shoplifters can’t do is get access to ‘secure’ areas giving them more places to commit their crimes. It is often in the locations that I would find empty packages or discarded EAS devices. I am not being critical only of the stores where I went for support. I had my share of internal theft cases, some more difficult than others to close and a few I did not successfully close before my suspect quit. For example, I had an employee once who would leave her purse in an unlocked desk drawer in an employee’s only area. Despite our policies against this and my warnings to her she persisted in the activity and one day claimed someone had stolen $20 from her purse. I had no cameras in the area and could never validate her claim. Nor did I have much sympathy since I had warned her on multiple occasions against this. 

     I also had an electronics lock-up which required a key to get into and I once found EAS tags we placed on CD’s hidden behind merchandise. At that time I had a single camera in the room. I never resolved the case despite doing live surveillances and video reviews. On the other hand I was very strict in our store about key control and made a point to address any violations of key control or door security to my store manager. Fortunately I had a store manager that respected my efforts and was as fanatical about stock shortage as I was. Over 13 years as L.P. Manager I had shortage under 1% 11 of those years. In large part that was due to ensuring secure areas were secure, monitoring activity in those areas and getting managers to understand the importance of security.

     It was difficult to visit other stores and have the same influence on those managers. Hopefully as you read this article you see how crucial it is to keep tight security from showcases to stockrooms. Lock your doors and secure merchandise with Alpha 3 Alarm devices, you’ll see profits soar!
For more information about Alpha 3 Alarm contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

 

How secure is your store from theft? Not just from shoplifters but also from dishonest employees? I’m always concerned with merchandise protection to prevent shoplifting by using retail anti-theft devices such as Alpha 3 Alarm devices. But I am also thinking of shortage caused by dishonest employees who have access to supposedly secure areas of a store. As a Loss Prevention Manager I would visit other stores in my company from time to time. I would go to fill in helping with an inventory or assist with a suspected investigation and I would be told how that store had strong internal theft controls. They would show me how keys were signed out and in. They made sure doors were never propped open. Office areas would never have unsecured purses or bags. Often I would find compactors unlocked (a potential internal theft concern). Prepping a secure electronics cage for inventory and I would find hidden packages or retail anti-theft devices. I would find a purse in a file drawer in someone’s unlocked desk. This was not the case in every trip I would make there were visits when controls appeared to be good. Unfortunately there were management teams that did not believe their staff would steal and wouldn’t take the time to thoroughly audit their own stores.
     

I do think it would be beneficial to mention what Alpha 3 Alarm retail anti-theft devices are since there may be some reading that are not familiar with them. The devices are electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags that come in a number of forms from wraps to hard tags that pin on clothes. Each carries built in technology that sends out a radio wave that will activate an EAS tower alarm when it is carried in the vicinity of a tower. These devices also have tamper alarms that screech when a shoplifter attempts to pry the unit off a product. Finally, if a shoplifter gets out the doors past EAS towers, the third alarm (an internal alarm in the tag) activates and goes where the shoplifter goes. As a tool to prevent shoplifting the Alpha 3 Alarm series of devices are top notch.
     

So what is my point in discussing retail anti-theft devices that are designed to prevent shoplifting when I am writing about internal security controls? Anti-theft tags aren’t for stopping shoplifting alone. There are dishonest employees who will try to walk out of a building with stolen merchandise and the tags will alarm on them the same as they do on a shoplifter. What your store personnel can do that shoplifters can’t do is get access to ‘secure’ areas giving them more places to commit their crimes. It is often in the locations that I would find empty packages or discarded EAS devices. I am not being critical only of the stores where I went for support. I had my share of internal theft cases, some more difficult than others to close and a few I did not successfully close before my suspect quit. For example, I had an employee once who would leave her purse in an unlocked desk drawer in an employee’s only area. Despite our policies against this and my warnings to her she persisted in the activity and one day claimed someone had stolen $20 from her purse. I had no cameras in the area and could never validate her claim. Nor did I have much sympathy since I had warned her on multiple occasions against this. 
     

I also had an electronics lock-up which required a key to get into and I once found EAS tags we placed on CD’s hidden behind merchandise. At that time I had a single camera in the room. I never resolved the case despite doing live surveillances and video reviews. On the other hand I was very strict in our store about key control and made a point to address any violations of key control or door security to my store manager. Fortunately I had a store manager that respected my efforts and was as fanatical about stock shortage as I was. Over 13 years as L.P. Manager I had shortage under 1% 11 of those years. In large part that was due to ensuring secure areas were secure, monitoring activity in those areas and getting managers to understand the importance of security.
     

It was difficult to visit other stores and have the same influence on those managers. Hopefully as you read this article you see how crucial it is to keep tight security from showcases to stockrooms. Lock your doors and secure merchandise with Alpha 3 Alarm devices, you’ll see profits soar!

 

For more information about Alpha 3 Alarm contact us or call 1.770.426.0547