No matter what size or type of product you are trying to secure, Checkpoint labels can be placed on virtually any type of merchandise. It’s no secret that the labels have been used to protect all kinds of products for several decades, but some shoplifters still don’t understand the technology. Yes, there are shoplifters that have really done their homework and know what they are doing, but I’ve also witnessed some pretty clueless individuals in action. Some shoplifters will do anything to get around the system and they will get creative…and weird.
I’ve seen shoplifters cut the UPC (Universal Product Code) labels off of packages that didn’t even have any form of merchandise protection, because they thought it was what set off the alarm as they exited the store. In their defense, some anti-shoplifting devices come with a UPC label printed on them, but that wasn’t the case in any of the occasions I am referencing. It’s almost as if they are paranoid that anything could really be a security tag, so they don’t take any chances and just cut off whatever they suspect could be a retail theft prevention device.
One especially strange occurrence I had the pleasure of observing was someone actually pick up a tube of toothpaste and bottle of shampoo. There was nothing strange about that itself, but I knew something was about to happen because of how the person acting and constantly looking around. There wasn’t any kind of merchandise protection attached to these items either. To my disbelief, the shoplifter then removed two sandwich bags from her purse and opened them. She then looked around again before squeezing the tube of toothpaste into one of the bags, and pouring the shampoo into the other bag. Once the bags were filled, she put them in her purse and discarded the empty packages on the shelf.
This was undoubtedly one of the strangest things I have witnessed in my career in retail loss prevention. I continued watching the shoplifter, as she unsuccessfully attempted to remove a couple Checkpoint labels from items in the cosmetics area. She finally succeeded at removing one of the labels several minutes later, but then she ran into another problem. After getting the anti-shoplifting label off of the package, she started waving her arm around in the air quickly and at first I had no idea why she was doing it. I then realized that one of the Checkpoint labels that she took off of the cosmetics package was stuck to her finger. She eventually removed it and stuck it onto the shelf, but she was extremely nervous at the time. If I wasn’t already watching her, that surely would have gotten my attention.
She ultimately left the store with the merchandise hidden in her purse, and we apprehended her for the theft. She was quite proud of herself for the sandwich bag trick even though she knew that she was caught. Not all shoplifters stick to the norm and steal with the same methods, so if you ever find an empty shampoo bottle or tube of toothpaste in your store, or anything similar that you wouldn’t expect to happen, you just might have been visited by a creative shoplifter. Although Checkpoint’s intentions may not have been to make the evidence stick to the shoplifter or confuse them, a paranoid shoplifter is easier to spot, which adds to the list of benefits.
For more information contact us: (Checkpoint Labels) or call 1.770.426.0547
No matter what size or type of product you are trying to secure, Checkpoint Labels can be placed on virtually any type of merchandise. It’s no secret that the labels have been used to protect all kinds of products for several decades, but some shoplifters still don’t understand the technology. Yes, there are shoplifters that have really done their homework and know what they are doing, but I’ve also witnessed some pretty clueless individuals in action. Some shoplifters will do anything to get around the system and they will get creative…and weird.
I’ve seen shoplifters cut the UPC (Universal Product Code) labels off of packages that didn’t even have any form of merchandise protection, because they thought it was what set off the alarm as they exited the store. In their defense, some anti-shoplifting devices come with a UPC label printed on them, but that wasn’t the case in any of the occasions I am referencing. It’s almost as if they are paranoid that anything could really be a security tag, so they don’t take any chances and just cut off whatever they suspect could be a retail theft prevention device.
One especially strange occurrence I had the pleasure of observing was someone actually pick up a tube of toothpaste and bottle of shampoo. There was nothing strange about that itself, but I knew something was about to happen because of how the person acting and constantly looking around. There wasn’t any kind of merchandise protection attached to these items either. To my disbelief, the shoplifter then removed two sandwich bags from her purse and opened them. She then looked around again before squeezing the tube of toothpaste into one of the bags, and pouring the shampoo into the other bag. Once the bags were filled, she put them in her purse and discarded the empty packages on the shelf.
This was undoubtedly one of the strangest things I have witnessed in my career in retail loss prevention. I continued watching the shoplifter, as she unsuccessfully attempted to remove a couple Checkpoint labels from items in the cosmetics area. She finally succeeded at removing one of the labels several minutes later, but then she ran into another problem. After getting the anti-shoplifting label off of the package, she started waving her arm around in the air quickly and at first I had no idea why she was doing it. I then realized that one of the Checkpoint Labels that she took off of the cosmetics package was stuck to her finger. She eventually removed it and stuck it onto the shelf, but she was extremely nervous at the time. If I wasn’t already watching her, that surely would have gotten my attention.
She ultimately left the store with the merchandise hidden in her purse, and we apprehended her for the theft. She was quite proud of herself for the sandwich bag trick even though she knew that she was caught. Not all shoplifters stick to the norm and steal with the same methods, so if you ever find an empty shampoo bottle or tube of toothpaste in your store, or anything similar that you wouldn’t expect to happen, you just might have been visited by a creative shoplifter. Although Checkpoint’s intentions may not have been to make the evidence stick to the shoplifter or confuse them, a paranoid shoplifter is easier to spot, which adds to the list of benefits.
For more information contact us: Checkpoint Labels or call 1.770.426.0547
