EAS Labels-4
Stop Shoplifting With EAS Labels
At our manager’s meeting last week, we went around the room and everyone took a moment to tell about the external theft issues they had experienced lately. There were stories of fraudulent refunds, fraudulent coupons, and boosters wiping out whole sections of merchandise. Every store in our area has had issues, no matter the demographics. My question to many of these managers was “What are you going to do to stop it from happening again?” Some were going to limit the number of items on the shelf, some are going to walk down that aisle more often, but the smart ones said they were going to add EAS labels to the packages.
If you have an instance of external theft, it is usually not going to be an isolated event. Once they have been successful, they will likely come back. If they get away with it and have no problems the first time, they think your store is a sucker. So you need to take the initiative, and get ahead of it, so it doesn’t happen again. Adding EAS labels is one super simple and very effective method to take your store off the sucker list. Put the labels in plain sight, and you let them know that you are aware of the problem, and you are doing something about it. Hide them inside the packages as well, and the would be thief gets the scare of a lifetime when the Checkpoint System goes berserk on them when they get too close. That’s how you send the message that you are in charge of your inventory.
Take my latest adventure for example. I had a lady that came into my store with some body fragrance sprays. They retail for about $12 each, and she has four of them. And she wants a refund. She tells me she is okay with just getting a store credit. I smiled, and thought “I’ll bet you would.” The funny thing is that she “beeped” when she came in the door, and I see there are EAS labels on the bottoms of the bottles. I picked up one of them, walked over to the door, and sure enough…ding, ding, ding. I silently came back over to the register , and she started stuttering and explaining that we must have forgotten to deactivate those. I told her she must be right, and asked for her driver’s license. She figured that was a sure sign she was getting the refund, so she happily handed it over. I picked up a pen and piece of paper, and jotted down her information. After I got her name, license number, and address I handed it back and told her I was not giving her the refund. I also told her she was not getting those body sprays back either, and if she had a problem with that, I would call the police and let them help settle it. Her mouth fell open, and all she could get out of her mouth was “Why did you want my license information?” I told her it was so I could share her name and number with all the other stores in the area, so she would not be able to take merchandise and try to return it any more. She turned around and walked out the door.
I didn’t see her steal those sprays, so I definitely took a gamble with that, but it turned out I was right. I trusted my gut, but I also trusted my EAS labels. I am going to stop shoplifting in my store if it kills me, or at least put a major dent in it.
For more information on EAS labels, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
At our manager’s meeting last week, we went around the room and everyone took a moment to tell about the external theft issues they had experienced lately. There were stories of fraudulent refunds, fraudulent coupons, and boosters wiping out whole sections of merchandise. Every store in our area has had issues, no matter the demographics. My question to many of these managers was “What are you going to do to stop it from happening again?” Some were going to limit the number of items on the shelf, some are going to walk down that aisle more often, but the smart ones said they were going to add EAS labels to the packages.
If you have an instance of external theft, it is usually not going to be an isolated event. Once they have been successful, they will likely come back. If they get away with it and have no problems the first time, they think your store is a sucker. So you need to take the initiative, and get ahead of it, so it doesn’t happen again. Adding EAS labels is one super simple and very effective method to take your store off the sucker list. Put the labels in plain sight, and you let them know that you are aware of the problem, and you are doing something about it. Hide them inside the packages as well, and the would be thief gets the scare of a lifetime when the Checkpoint System goes berserk on them when they get too close. That’s how you send the message that you are in charge of your inventory.
Take my latest adventure for example. I had a lady that came into my store with some body fragrance sprays. They retail for about $12 each, and she has four of them. And she wants a refund. She tells me she is okay with just getting a store credit. I smiled, and thought “I’ll bet you would.” The funny thing is that she “beeped” when she came in the door, and I see there are EAS labels on the bottoms of the bottles. I picked up one of them, walked over to the door, and sure enough…ding, ding, ding. I silently came back over to the register , and she started stuttering and explaining that we must have forgotten to deactivate those. I told her she must be right, and asked for her driver’s license. She figured that was a sure sign she was getting the refund, so she happily handed it over. I picked up a pen and piece of paper, and jotted down her information. After I got her name, license number, and address I handed it back and told her I was not giving her the refund. I also told her she was not getting those body sprays back either, and if she had a problem with that, I would call the police and let them help settle it. Her mouth fell open, and all she could get out of her mouth was “Why did you want my license information?” I told her it was so I could share her name and number with all the other stores in the area, so she would not be able to take merchandise and try to return it any more. She turned around and walked out the door.
I didn’t see her steal those sprays, so I definitely took a gamble with that, but it turned out I was right. I trusted my gut, but I also trusted my EAS labels. I am going to stop shoplifting in my store if it kills me, or at least put a major dent in it.
For more information on EAS labels, contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
