Childhood Antics Can Lead To Young Adult Shoplifters; Clamp Down On The Crime Of Shoplifting With Alpha 3 Alarm Tags

Alpha 3 Alarm-3                                                                                                            WC Blog 333
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Childhood Antics Can Lead To Young Adult Shoplifters; Clamp Down On The Crime Of Shoplifting With Alpha 3 Alarm Tags
     I was reflecting on some of my oddest encounters with shoplifters and one came to mind that bothers me and I wasn’t even working that day. It involved an encounter with a young man about 10 years old in a grocery store. I wasn’t working there, and had no affiliation with the store, I just happened to be shopping with my wife. We were in the fruits and vegetables department and the boy was standing near his mother. He looked at a bunch of grapes and pulled one off and ate it. He then looked at me and grinned and grabbed another one. I wasn’t grinning, I gave the young man a stern look and shook my head. He smiled and reached for more. I continued to glare at him but he wasn’t bothered, he plucked some more and continued to eat even though he knew it was wrong. How do you prevent shoplifting when kids at that age are not afraid of adults or apparently their own parents? Often when children are able to get away with taking little things they go on to other theft. I have dealt with the children that became little monsters. I would catch the child stealing toys, cd’s or videogames and call the parent who would come to the store and tell me the kid was just a child and didn’t understand. I would have to remind the parent their precious little angel understood enough to remove the wrap or hide the item under their clothes. Need reasons to use retail anti-theft devices in your store? There you go. Grapes may not be able to be protected by Alpha Security products, but other things can be.
     As these young people grow up into teenagers one of the popular categories of merchandise I have caught many of these “youths” stealing are clothes. This has included everything from underwear to pants, shirts and accessories like hats, scarves and purses. Today there are outstanding tools to deter the theft of these products from Alpha Security. Alpha 3 alarm hard tags can be attached to any garment or accessory making the item nearly impossible to steal. The tags are attached in an easy to notice location, alerting the would-be thief that protection is in place. If a shoplifter decides to try to steal the merchandise anyways there are several barriers they have to get past. First, a special detachment tool is needed to remove the tags and those are controlled by the store. If the bad guy tries to force a tag off they damage the merchandise, rendering it useless. There is also a tamper alarm that is activated when an attempt is made to forcibly remove these retail anti-theft devices. Stores that use the Alpha 3 alarm tags also have electronic article surveillance (EAS) pedestals at the front doors and these sound an audible alert and flash lights if someone tries to walk out with tagged product. Finally, for the Pièce de résistance, should a shoplifter ignore the alarm from the EAS towers, a self-alarm sounds in the device as the culprit exits, screeching even in the parking lot.
     You may be thinking that I am a exaggerating a bit, that grazing on a few pieces of fruit does not equate to someone eventually shoplifting clothing. You may be correct since I don’t have empirical data to back up my claim. What I do have is experience in dealing with shoplifting youth. I have caught teenagers stealing bathing suits, jeans, and other clothing items. I have responded to EAS pedestal alarm activations and recovered merchandise that was tagged with a retail anti-theft device. I have caught pre-teen boys trying to wear a new pair of sneakers out of the store without paying for them. I can’t begin to count the number of times I heard the excuses, “I thought I put it back”, “I didn’t know” (of course I didn’t know what it was they didn’t know) or “My friends made me do it”. Then there was the best non-excuse excuse, “I’ll just pay for it”, how was that going to work if they had gotten away? Alpha Security products work at deterring and preventing shoplifting but there are always those who are going to try anyways. I do believe in many cases properly addressing even the smallest incidents of theft and making children aware there are penalties can prevent the behavior when they grow into young adults.
     Enjoy the fruits of your labor. There’s no need for sour grapes over merchandise shortage. Regardless of their age; prevent shoplifters from stealing from you by using Alpha 3 Alarm tags on all of your clothing goods and protect your profits.
Get more information on Alpha 3 Alarm, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.     
      
     

I was reflecting on some of my oddest encounters with shoplifters and one came to mind that bothers me and I wasn’t even working that day. It involved an encounter with a young man about 10 years old in a grocery store. I wasn’t working there, and had no affiliation with the store, I just happened to be shopping with my wife. We were in the fruits and vegetables department and the boy was standing near his mother. He looked at a bunch of grapes and pulled one off and ate it. He then looked at me and grinned and grabbed another one. I wasn’t grinning, I gave the young man a stern look and shook my head. He smiled and reached for more. I continued to glare at him but he wasn’t bothered, he plucked some more and continued to eat even though he knew it was wrong. How do you prevent shoplifting when kids at that age are not afraid of adults or apparently their own parents? Often when children are able to get away with taking little things they go on to other theft. I have dealt with the children that became little monsters. I would catch the child stealing toys, cd’s or videogames and call the parent who would come to the store and tell me the kid was just a child and didn’t understand. I would have to remind the parent their precious little angel understood enough to remove the wrap or hide the item under their clothes. Need reasons to use retail anti-theft devices in your store? There you go. Grapes may not be able to be protected by Alpha Security products, but other things can be.
     

As these young people grow up into teenagers one of the popular categories of merchandise I have caught many of these “youths” stealing are clothes. This has included everything from underwear to pants, shirts and accessories like hats, scarves and purses. Today there are outstanding tools to deter the theft of these products from Alpha Security. Alpha 3 alarm hard tags can be attached to any garment or accessory making the item nearly impossible to steal. The tags are attached in an easy to notice location, alerting the would-be thief that protection is in place. If a shoplifter decides to try to steal the merchandise anyways there are several barriers they have to get past. First, a special detachment tool is needed to remove the tags and those are controlled by the store. If the bad guy tries to force a tag off they damage the merchandise, rendering it useless. There is also a tamper alarm that is activated when an attempt is made to forcibly remove these retail anti-theft devices. Stores that use the Alpha 3 alarm tags also have electronic article surveillance (EAS) pedestals at the front doors and these sound an audible alert and flash lights if someone tries to walk out with tagged product. Finally, for the Pièce de résistance, should a shoplifter ignore the alarm from the EAS towers, a self-alarm sounds in the device as the culprit exits, screeching even in the parking lot.
     

You may be thinking that I am a exaggerating a bit, that grazing on a few pieces of fruit does not equate to someone eventually shoplifting clothing. You may be correct since I don’t have empirical data to back up my claim. What I do have is experience in dealing with shoplifting youth. I have caught teenagers stealing bathing suits, jeans, and other clothing items. I have responded to EAS pedestal alarm activations and recovered merchandise that was tagged with a retail anti-theft device. I have caught pre-teen boys trying to wear a new pair of sneakers out of the store without paying for them. I can’t begin to count the number of times I heard the excuses, “I thought I put it back”, “I didn’t know” (of course I didn’t know what it was they didn’t know) or “My friends made me do it”. Then there was the best non-excuse excuse, “I’ll just pay for it”, how was that going to work if they had gotten away? Alpha Security products work at deterring and preventing shoplifting but there are always those who are going to try anyways. I do believe in many cases properly addressing even the smallest incidents of theft and making children aware there are penalties can prevent the behavior when they grow into young adults.
     

Enjoy the fruits of your labor. There’s no need for sour grapes over merchandise shortage. Regardless of their age; prevent shoplifters from stealing from you by using Alpha 3 Alarm tags on all of your clothing goods and protect your profits.

 

Get more information on Alpha 3 Alarm, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 today.