alpha ink tag

An Odd Encounter With A shoplifter That Could Have Been Avoided By Using Alpha Ink Tags On Clothing

Alpha Ink Tag-3 WC Blog 353

Retail Anti-Theft Devices – 3

An Odd Encounter With A shoplifter That Could Have Been Avoided By Using Alpha Ink Tags On Clothing

Most of the time shoplifters dress, act and look like you and me. There is nothing that necessarily stands out about them except the behaviors they are exhibiting. They may be looking at the ceiling for cameras, they shoot glances at employees who walk nearby or they seem to be overly friendly with staff. There are also shoplifters who dress unseasonably for the weather, they wear multiple layers of clothes or coats and jackets when it is far too warm. Some will wear ball caps and sunglasses into the store to keep from being recognized or to prevent Loss Prevention from catching their face on cameras. In my early days as a Loss Prevention Associate for a department store chain I had two different shoplifting incidents when the perpetrators went in the opposite direction. In the first instance the suspect was ‘shopping’ in our misses department and looking closely at the tags. It was obvious she was trying to locate retail anti-theft devices that would prevent shoplifting. It so happened our store used some soft tags but the only hard tags we used were similar to the Alpha Ink Tags on the market now. At the time this was a brand new protection item on the market. When my thief did not find a tag she would ball an item up and put it in her purse. If she was suspicious that an electronic article surveillance (EAS) soft tag was present she would generally leave the item alone.

To clarify for those who may not be familiar with them. EAS tags come in hard and soft versions and both work with EAS towers, usually located near entrances/exits of stores. Tags operate using a radio frequency signal that transmits from the tag and is detected by the tower. When a tag is carried too close to a tower an alarm in the tower sounds and employees are alerted and respond to conduct receipt checks and recover merchandise. Some tags, like the Alpha Ink Tag have the EAS capability AND dye packs in them. If a shoplifter attempts to pry a dye tag off, the packets of dye break and stain the merchandise rendering it useless. This was one of the retail anti-theft devices our store had started to use on some high theft clothing like ball caps, swimwear and blue jeans.

Back to my story. So the shoplifter was being selective, looking for any retail anti-theft devices and filling her purse with items that were not protected. My supervisor maintained camera surveillance and I went to the salesfloor to be closer and to observe. When the would-be thief was done she walked towards the exit doors. I stopped her and identified who I was and asked a female area supervisor to meet me at the security office where I was taking the suspect. We arrived at the room and entered and I told the woman to take the stolen merchandise out of her purse. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes and trying to deny she had anything she said she had to go to the bathroom. Often shoplifters will try to use this ploy as an excuse to run or dump merchandise in the restroom. When I told her she would have to wait for the police she started to squat over a trash can and threatened to use it. The supervisor I had with me and I were both shocked but I told her I would add additional charges if she did (I’m not sure what I would charge her with but I was flabbergasted at that point). She stood back up (thank goodness) and I finally got her to give me the clothes out of her purse. It was at that point my boss, still in the camera room called over my radio and said he thought she had also put merchandise under her clothes and to make sure I had the police check when they arrived. Well, that set the shoplifter off and she lifted her dress all the way over her head and yelled, “I don’t got nothing else!” Well, she wasn’t lying about that. I told her to put the dress down and sit in a chair. The police did arrive and took her to jail without further incident. She was a known crack addict and had multiple shoplifting charges on her record. Needless to say this was one of the strangest shoplifting incidents I have ever dealt with.

To store managers and owners today, I recommend you use Alpha ink tags on ALL of your clothing items to stop shoplifting. You’ll deter thieves and you will avoid strange and awkward encounters like mine.

Alpha Ink Tags are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.

Most of the time shoplifters dress, act and look like you and me. There is nothing that necessarily stands out about them except the behaviors they are exhibiting. They may be looking at the ceiling for cameras, they shoot glances at employees who walk nearby or they seem to be overly friendly with staff. There are also shoplifters who dress unseasonably for the weather, they wear multiple layers of clothes or coats and jackets when it is far too warm. Some will wear ball caps and sunglasses into the store to keep from being recognized or to prevent Loss Prevention from catching their face on cameras. In my early days as a Loss Prevention Associate for a department store chain I had two different shoplifting incidents when the perpetrators went in the opposite direction. In the first instance the suspect was ‘shopping’ in our misses department and looking closely at the tags. It was obvious she was trying to locate retail anti-theft devices that would prevent shoplifting. It so happened our store used some soft tags but the only hard tags we used were similar to the Alpha Ink Tags on the market now. At the time this was a brand new protection item on the market. When my thief did not find a tag she would ball an item up and put it in her purse. If she was suspicious that an electronic article surveillance (EAS) soft tag was present she would generally leave the item alone.

To clarify for those who may not be familiar with them. EAS tags come in hard and soft versions and both work with EAS towers, usually located near entrances/exits of stores. Tags operate using a radio frequency signal that transmits from the tag and is detected by the tower. When a tag is carried too close to a tower an alarm in the tower sounds and employees are alerted and respond to conduct receipt checks and recover merchandise. Some tags, like the Alpha Ink Tag have the EAS capability AND dye packs in them. If a shoplifter attempts to pry a dye tag off, the packets of dye break and stain the merchandise rendering it useless. This was one of the retail anti-theft devices our store had started to use on some high theft clothing like ball caps, swimwear and blue jeans.

Back to my story. So the shoplifter was being selective, looking for any retail anti-theft devices and filling her purse with items that were not protected. My supervisor maintained camera surveillance and I went to the salesfloor to be closer and to observe. When the would-be thief was done she walked towards the exit doors. I stopped her and identified who I was and asked a female area supervisor to meet me at the security office where I was taking the suspect. We arrived at the room and entered and I told the woman to take the stolen merchandise out of her purse. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes and trying to deny she had anything she said she had to go to the bathroom. Often shoplifters will try to use this ploy as an excuse to run or dump merchandise in the restroom. When I told her she would have to wait for the police she started to squat over a trash can and threatened to use it. The supervisor I had with me and I were both shocked but I told her I would add additional charges if she did (I’m not sure what I would charge her with but I was flabbergasted at that point). She stood back up (thank goodness) and I finally got her to give me the clothes out of her purse. It was at that point my boss, still in the camera room, called over my radio and said he thought she had also put merchandise under her clothes and to make sure I had the police check when they arrived. Well, that set the shoplifter off and she lifted her dress all the way over her head and yelled, “I don’t got nothing else!” Well, she wasn’t lying about that. I told her to put the dress down and sit in a chair. The police did arrive and took her to jail without further incident. She was a known crack addict and had multiple shoplifting charges on her record. Needless to say this was one of the strangest shoplifting incidents I have ever dealt with.

To store managers and owners today, I recommend you use Alpha ink tags on ALL of your clothing items to stop shoplifting. You’ll deter thieves and you will avoid strange and awkward encounters like mine.

Alpha Ink Tags are important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.

in General

PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN TO THEFT WITH ALPHA INK TAGS

It’s my job to prevent shoplifting; No, it’s my calling. I wake up every day of the week, get dressed and walk in the absolute best job I’ve ever had. I get to catch criminals, I get to weed out dishonest employees and I get to help my company see measurable success as reducing losses and improving profits. There’s no other job that I would ever want to do. Often, it requires some really “out of the box” type thinking. I always need to stay one step ahead of the thieves.

Not long ago, I was assigned a project to reduce external theft losses of our 5 highest shrinking styles of footwear. These 5 styles accounted for nearly 45% of all footwear losses. From our research, we were able to determine that the vast majority of this loss came from external theft. While we did have dishonest employees and vendor issues, it was evident that it I was going to reduce shrink, I needed to first prevent shoplifting.

Footwear is pretty tricky. First, you have to work in an “open sell” environment. I don’t have limitless payroll, so the stock needs to be out and accessible to the customer. I have to display every shoe, even the ones that are shrinking more than they are selling. I also need to incorporate a security device that does not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the product on before they buy it (incredibly important when selling a shoe). I was left with very little choices in hard tags. I needed something that was going to not only stop a career thief, but would serve as a deterrent for those opportunistic thieves. Cue the Alpha Ink Tag.

There are two EAS tags that I couldn’t live without; spider wraps and of course Alpha Ink Tags. After trying out about a dozen other hard tags, I settled on the ink tags; here’s why. For starters, I was able to prominently display the tag on the tongue of the shoe. This made it quite clear to any potential thief that there was one heck of a tag on the shoe. Second, it did not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the shoe on, nor did it negatively impact my ability to effectively merchandise the shoe on my wall. Finally, it was a show-stopper for the thief. They knew that if they tried to tamper with the tag, it would ruin their newly stolen product, and who wants to walk around with ink stained shoes?

Once in place, the results were pretty dramatic. This simple tool had single handedly allowed me to prevent shoplifting on my highest shrinking shoes. While normally associated with apparel items, I found that this seemed to be a unique way of using the Alpha Ink Tag. After reaching out to several industry peers, I found out that I was the only one using them in this way; but that soon changed. When I tell you that my shrink virtually stopped, I’m not exaggerating. I went from losing 20-30 pairs of shoes a day between my 10 stores to losing no more than 10 combined in a month’s time.

Before long, as a company we were using Alpha Ink Tags on all of our shoes that retail over $79. This lead to a 84% reduction in footwear shrink all thanks to a little outside thinking and use of a tag not really intended for shoes. If you are a seller of shoes and you find that too many are simply walking out of the door, give the Alpha Ink Tag a shot at helping you to keep those sales. I guarantee that this shoe will fit.

Alpha Hard Tags important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.

It’s my job to prevent shoplifting; No, it’s my calling. I wake up every day of the week, get dressed and walk in the absolute best job I’ve ever had. I get to catch criminals, I get to weed out dishonest employees and I get to help my company see measurable success as reducing losses and improving profits. There’s no other job that I would ever want to do. Often, it requires some really “out of the box” type thinking. I always need to stay one step ahead of the thieves.

Not long ago, I was assigned a project to reduce external theft losses of our 5 highest shrinking styles of footwear. These 5 styles accounted for nearly 45% of all footwear losses. From our research, we were able to determine that the vast majority of this loss came from external theft. While we did have dishonest employees and vendor issues, it was evident that it I was going to reduce shrink, I needed to first prevent shoplifting.

Footwear is pretty tricky. First, you have to work in an “open sell” environment. I don’t have limitless payroll, so the stock needs to be out and accessible to the customer. I have to display every shoe, even the ones that are shrinking more than they are selling. I also need to incorporate a security device that does not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the product on before they buy it (incredibly important when selling a shoe). I was left with very little choices in hard tags. I needed something that was going to not only stop a career thief, but would serve as a deterrent for those opportunistic thieves. Cue the Alpha Ink Tag.

There are two EAS tags that I couldn’t live without; spider wraps and of course Alpha Ink Tags. After trying out about a dozen other hard tags, I settled on the ink tags; here’s why. For starters, I was able to prominently display the tag on the tongue of the shoe. This made it quite clear to any potential thief that there was one heck of a tag on the shoe. Second, it did not interfere with the customer’s ability to try the shoe on, nor did it negatively impact my ability to effectively merchandise the shoe on my wall. Finally, it was a show-stopper for the thief. They knew that if they tried to tamper with the tag, it would ruin their newly stolen product, and who wants to walk around with ink stained shoes?

Once in place, the results were pretty dramatic. This simple tool had single handedly allowed me to prevent shoplifting on my highest shrinking shoes. While normally associated with apparel items, I found that this seemed to be a unique way of using the Alpha Ink Tag. After reaching out to several industry peers, I found out that I was the only one using them in this way; but that soon changed. When I tell you that my shrink virtually stopped, I’m not exaggerating. I went from losing 20-30 pairs of shoes a day between my 10 stores to losing no more than 10 combined in a month’s time.

Before long, as a company we were using Alpha Ink Tags on all of our shoes that retail over $79. This lead to a 84% reduction in footwear shrink all thanks to a little outside thinking and use of a tag not really intended for shoes. If you are a seller of shoes and you find that too many are simply walking out of the door, give the Alpha Ink Tag a shot at helping you to keep those sales. I guarantee that this shoe will fit.

Alpha Hard Tags important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.

in General

An Alpha Ink Tag Can Provide Your Business With Deterrence And Detection At An Affordable Cost

Retail anti-theft device: 4

Alpha Ink Tag: 3

Prevent shoplifting: 3

An Alpha Ink Tag Can Provide Your Business With Deterrence And Detection At An Affordable Cost

Being in loss prevention you tend to see a lot of interesting things; people will try and steel anything they can get their hands on. In one of the stores I worked in, we had plain clothes loss prevention (LP) staff walking throughout the store watching people and LP monitoring store cameras, in order to prevent shoplifting. On one occasion we had a lady in the apparel department who was acting suspiciously. This behavior was identified via camera system, at which time the floor LP was contacted to check into it. This lady was looking around and pushing her bag into the clothing racks as if she was trying to conceal her bag. The camera would not allow a good enough visual to determine if she was concealing store property in her bag. The floor LP arrived and was watching her from a distance as he pretended to shop, but he also was unable to confirm if a theft had occurred. He watched her for approximately ten minutes before she noticed him and departed the area. She continued to shop and purchased a couple of items before leaving the store. As she left the EAS system went off and alerted store staff. Our floor LP, that had been watching her earlier, made contact with her. They reviewed her purchases against her receipt and did not identify anything unusual. Upon further investigation, the LP staff located several items in her bag that she had taken from the apparel department. She became very upset to learn that she had mistakenly taken an item that had a retail anti-theft device attached. She was so upset that she had made that mistake that she was yelling and was extremely angry towards the staff. It was apparent that this wasn’t her first shoplifting, and that she was very familiar with retail anti-theft devices, and how to avoid that type of detection. Fortunately for us, in her covert attempt to steal our property, she mistakenly took a product that had an Alpha ink tag attached to it.

In this case we were lucky enough to stop a frequent shoplifter with the use of an Alpha ink tag. Although, we learned the hard way how easy it is for someone to steal from us if we are only partially protected. We did not use retail anti-theft devices on all of our property; instead we only tagged those items of high value or those with higher theft rates. In our attempt to save cost on security, we ultimately made ourselves more vulnerable to the professional shoplifters. Alpha ink tags are a cost efficient way to add protection to all of your merchandise and prevent shoplifting in your stores. These tags are extremely strong and durable and are equipped with EAS technology. The EAS technology works to notify you in the event a person tries to leave the store with the merchandise, but also works as a deterrent. These tags are designed so that ink is expelled when a person tries to remove the tag from the garment, thus rendering the merchandise un-useable. They also are available in standard or super lock strengths, depending on your needs. These tags are re-useable and provide an unobtrusive way to protect your property from theft.

I know I was thankful that day that our retail anti-theft device was able to identify the shoplifter. Hopefully this will deter her from coming back to our store to shoplift, and will force her to choose other retail options in the future. We did learn a valuable lesson that day; always do your best to protect all of your property, not just some of it. The best way to truly prevent shoplifting is to utilize an Alpha ink tag. They are a cost-efficient way to deter and detect theft, and provide EAS alerting capability, to enhance your existing loss prevention program.

For more information about Alpha ink tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.

Being in loss prevention you tend to see a lot of interesting things; people will try and steel anything they can get their hands on. In one of the stores I worked in, we had plain clothes loss prevention (LP) staff walking throughout the store watching people and LP monitoring store cameras, in order to prevent shoplifting. On one occasion we had a lady in the apparel department who was acting suspiciously. This behavior was identified via camera system, at which time the floor LP was contacted to check into it. This lady was looking around and pushing her bag into the clothing racks as if she was trying to conceal her bag. The camera would not allow a good enough visual to determine if she was concealing store property in her bag. The floor LP arrived and was watching her from a distance as he pretended to shop, but he also was unable to confirm if a theft had occurred. He watched her for approximately ten minutes before she noticed him and departed the area. She continued to shop and purchased a couple of items before leaving the store. As she left the EAS system went off and alerted store staff. Our floor LP, that had been watching her earlier, made contact with her. They reviewed her purchases against her receipt and did not identify anything unusual. Upon further investigation, the LP staff located several items in her bag that she had taken from the apparel department. She became very upset to learn that she had mistakenly taken an item that had a retail anti-theft device attached. She was so upset that she had made that mistake that she was yelling and was extremely angry towards the staff. It was apparent that this wasn’t her first shoplifting, and that she was very familiar with retail anti-theft devices, and how to avoid that type of detection. Fortunately for us, in her covert attempt to steal our property, she mistakenly took a product that had an Alpha ink tag attached to it.

In this case we were lucky enough to stop a frequent shoplifter with the use of an Alpha ink tag. Although, we learned the hard way how easy it is for someone to steal from us if we are only partially protected. We did not use retail anti-theft devices on all of our property; instead we only tagged those items of high value or those with higher theft rates. In our attempt to save cost on security, we ultimately made ourselves more vulnerable to the professional shoplifters. Alpha ink tags are a cost efficient way to add protection to all of your merchandise and prevent shoplifting in your stores. These tags are extremely strong and durable and are equipped with EAS technology. The EAS technology works to notify you in the event a person tries to leave the store with the merchandise, but also works as a deterrent. These tags are designed so that ink is expelled when a person tries to remove the tag from the garment, thus rendering the merchandise un-useable. They also are available in standard or super lock strengths, depending on your needs. These tags are re-useable and provide an unobtrusive way to protect your property from theft.

I know I was thankful that day that our retail anti-theft device was able to identify the shoplifter. Hopefully this will deter her from coming back to our store to shoplift, and will force her to choose other retail options in the future. We did learn a valuable lesson that day; always do your best to protect all of your property, not just some of it. The best way to truly prevent shoplifting is to utilize an Alpha ink tag. They are a cost-efficient way to deter and detect theft, and provide EAS alerting capability, to enhance your existing loss prevention program.

For more information about Alpha ink tags, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.

in General