RWHBLOG15
Show the Shoplifter Their Poor Business Case and Use Deterrence to Stop Shoplifting!
Deterrence: This is the real answer if one wants to stop shoplifting. Everyone in my profession loves to catch the shoplifter and bring him or her to justice but the damage is already done by that time. Your merchandise has left the floor and is possibly damaged and not resalable; you have expended resources capturing the thief; your customers have been exposed to an apprehension in your store, giving them pause about how safe it is to shop in your store; and now you have to choose to prosecute and expend more resources. Wouldn’t it be better if the shoplifter decided your store was the wrong place to be shoplifting?
I argue that it would and am sure you will agree that preventing that shoplifting in the first place is the best answer. Shoplifting is a growing crime and now has outgrown internal theft as your number one loss causing threat as a retailer. What can we do to prevent the crime and deter the shoplifter from targeting your store?
Many of you already have one potential solution: strong customer service that makes the shoplifter feel as though he or she can never be alone in your store to do their crime. Combine that with electronic article surveillance (EAS) and consistent policies surrounding how your staff ensures that EAS tags are placed on merchandise and that anti-shoplifting alarms are responded to appropriately, and you have a solid deterrence program as well as a solid anti-shoplifting response program.
Checkpoint systems, a world leader in retail theft prevention offers many strategies and options designed to stop shoplifting in its tracks. You see, the same strategy that catches shoplifters works to deter shoplifters but it is even more important to execute it consistently and purposely. Checkpoint system has a variety of hard and soft tags, specialized packaging, spider-wraps, and EAS antenna configurations to protect a very diverse inventory of merchandise. If you take advantage of the variety of configurations available to you, your Checkpoint systems will do the work. Every time an alarm goes off on your anti-shoplifting system and your staff responds quickly and appropriately to deal with the alarm it reinforces to the potential shoplifter that this store has systems in place to stop shoplifting and takes those systems seriously. When they go to your high dollar merchandise and find spider-wraps or Alpha cases on the merchandise, their frustration increases as they know they have to overcome those anti-shoplifting devices if they are to get their hands on your merchandise. Every time they see you respond to alarms or address tampering with packages by detaining the shoplifter and calling the police it is reinforced in the shoplifter’s mind that there is a cost to doing his kind of business in your business. This is what you want!
Your Checkpoint systems are now not only catching shoplifters, they are working to stop shoplifting altogether in your store. Shoplifters are businessmen too (maybe just not good ones). They have to evaluate their ROI (return on investment) and balance risk against gain. They understand that there is risk in their business but they try to balance that risk with the potential reward of getting their hands on your merchandise and reselling it. When that risk cause by an increased potential for getting caught because they have to take an inordinate amount of time overcoming your Checkpoint systems or have to expose themselves to the eyes of your staff who are approaching them regularly to provide them good customer service, their ROI and risk versus gain does not make a solid business case for shoplifting in your store.
You have now proven the thesis of this blog: Deterrence is the real answer to stop shoplifting! The good news is that we have also shown that it can be done at the same time as you are trying to capture the shoplifters and can easily become part of your business operations. Let’s make shoplifters rethink their business case when it comes to doing business in your business – put your Checkpoint systems to work for you!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
Deterrence: This is the real answer if one wants to stop shoplifting. Everyone in my profession loves to catch the shoplifter and bring him or her to justice but the damage is already done by that time. Your merchandise has left the floor and is possibly damaged and not resalable; you have expended resources capturing the thief; your customers have been exposed to an apprehension in your store, giving them pause about how safe it is to shop in your store; and now you have to choose to prosecute and expend more resources. Wouldn’t it be better if the shoplifter decided your store was the wrong place to be shoplifting?
I argue that it would and am sure you will agree that preventing that shoplifting in the first place is the best answer. Shoplifting is a growing crime and now has outgrown internal theft as your number one loss causing threat as a retailer. What can we do to prevent the crime and deter the shoplifter from targeting your store?
Many of you already have one potential solution: strong customer service that makes the shoplifter feel as though he or she can never be alone in your store to do their crime. Combine that with electronic article surveillance (EAS) and consistent policies surrounding how your staff ensures that EAS tags are placed on merchandise and that anti-shoplifting alarms are responded to appropriately, and you have a solid deterrence program as well as a solid anti-shoplifting response program.
Checkpoint systems, a world leader in retail theft prevention offers many strategies and options designed to stop shoplifting in its tracks. You see, the same strategy that catches shoplifters works to deter shoplifters but it is even more important to execute it consistently and purposely. Checkpoint system has a variety of hard and soft tags, specialized packaging, spider-wraps, and EAS antenna configurations to protect a very diverse inventory of merchandise. If you take advantage of the variety of configurations available to you, your Checkpoint systems will do the work. Every time an alarm goes off on your anti-shoplifting system and your staff responds quickly and appropriately to deal with the alarm it reinforces to the potential shoplifter that this store has systems in place to stop shoplifting and takes those systems seriously. When they go to your high dollar merchandise and find spider-wraps or Alpha cases on the merchandise, their frustration increases as they know they have to overcome those anti-shoplifting devices if they are to get their hands on your merchandise. Every time they see you respond to alarms or address tampering with packages by detaining the shoplifter and calling the police it is reinforced in the shoplifter’s mind that there is a cost to doing his kind of business in your business. This is what you want!
Your Checkpoint systems are now not only catching shoplifters, they are working to stop shoplifting altogether in your store. Shoplifters are businessmen too (maybe just not good ones). They have to evaluate their ROI (return on investment) and balance risk against gain. They understand that there is risk in their business but they try to balance that risk with the potential reward of getting their hands on your merchandise and reselling it. When that risk cause by an increased potential for getting caught because they have to take an inordinate amount of time overcoming your Checkpoint systems or have to expose themselves to the eyes of your staff who are approaching them regularly to provide them good customer service, their ROI and risk versus gain does not make a solid business case for shoplifting in your store.
You have now proven the thesis of this blog: Deterrence is the real answer to stop shoplifting! The good news is that we have also shown that it can be done at the same time as you are trying to capture the shoplifters and can easily become part of your business operations. Let’s make shoplifters rethink their business case when it comes to doing business in your business – put your Checkpoint systems to work for you!
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
BF015
Stop shoplifting- 3
Auto peg tag- 3
Checkpoint hard tags-3
USE AUTO PEG TAGS TO PREVENT SWEEPING THEFT!
One of the most important means of recognizing ways to stop shoplifting in your store is to identify the types of shoplifters you have matriculating throughout your stores. I personally have come across many different faces in my days of Loss Prevention service. I’ve caught heart surgeons stealing sandwich bags. I’ve caught store managers tapping the store safes and tills. I’ve even apprehended a group of four ladies straight off of a church bus. All of them were seemingly mundane and harmless cases of opportunistic shoplifters.
However there is a different waive of shoplifters that you must know about. The kind who are crafty, desperate and in the know. These are the kind of thieves that don’t really care about loss prevention personnel in the store or the fact that you have cameras all over the ceiling. They’re in it to get ‘bang’ for their ‘buck’ (or lack thereof since they’re stealing) by grabbing as much stuff as possible in one fell swoop. These are the kinds of shoplifters that will go mad when they encounter the Auto peg tag by Checkpoint systems! See, these particular types of Checkpoint hard tags deny the benefit of allowing the thief from ‘sweeping’ your peg displays clean of product. What I mean by ‘sweeping’ is by removing the entire contents of product from a single peg hook display, in order to conceal them for imminent theft.
Shoplifters can certainly still ‘sweep’ the peg hooks with the Auto peg tags affixed to the products in question but there is no doubt that getting that volume of secured product past the EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) systems and out of your store, will prove to be utterly difficult. These wonderful little tags work by affixing to the tops of your smaller blister pack and peg hook products and providing the trigger needed to set off your EAS alarm system. More professional thieves will take arm loads (not just handfuls) of smaller expensive product. If they ‘sweep’ up an arm load of product with these clever Checkpoint hard tags on them, they will certainly find difficulty in moving enough of the tags to circumvent detection by the EAS pedestals at the front of the store. A thief would have to quite literally take the time to remove every single last Checkpoint hard tag from each product swept from the peg hook. A major inconvenience and deterrent! If you want to stop shoplifting and keep product on your displays and into the hands of paying customers, these are the way to go.
The types of product these tags help secure are some of the most commonly targeted products by shoplifters. These include but are not limited to batteries, cosmetics, razor blades, condoms, ink cartridges, allergy medicines, diabetic testing strips, weight loss supplements, electronic toothbrushes and some cell phones. All of these items (and more) are often ‘swept’ from peg hooks by the arms loads and stolen from stores every day. At this very moment even, someone is cleaning off a peg full of batteries from a display and dumping them into bag or the bottom of an infant stroller. The benefit to thief is the ability to take a mass quantity of the same product at one time, then turn around and sell them on the black market for half price. All of the above named items command a decent retail price and beneficial targets for shoplifters looking to make a clean sweep and maximize their ‘take’. Imagine what someone who ‘sweeps’ two dozen packs of batteries from a single peg hook would make? At an average of $6.00 per pack, the crook could make just shy of $75 (street price) for a half dozen. Pop a Checkpoint brand Auto peg tag on these items and that easy money dream is all over for the shoplifter. The thief would literally have to destroy the visual appeal of the product in order to remove the tags from them, rendering them virtually useless on the black market for resale!
For more information about the Auto peg tag, contact us or call 1-770-426-0547.
One of the most important means of recognizing ways to stop shoplifting in your store is to identify the types of shoplifters you have matriculating throughout your stores. I personally have come across many different faces in my days of Loss Prevention service. I’ve caught heart surgeons stealing sandwich bags. I’ve caught store managers tapping the store safes and tills. I’ve even apprehended a group of four ladies straight off of a church bus. All of them were seemingly mundane and harmless cases of opportunistic shoplifters.
However there is a different waive of shoplifters that you must know about. The kind who are crafty, desperate and in the know. These are the kind of thieves that don’t really care about loss prevention personnel in the store or the fact that you have cameras all over the ceiling. They’re in it to get ‘bang’ for their ‘buck’ (or lack thereof since they’re stealing) by grabbing as much stuff as possible in one fell swoop. These are the kinds of shoplifters that will go mad when they encounter the Auto peg tag by Checkpoint systems! See, these particular types of Checkpoint hard tags deny the benefit of allowing the thief from ‘sweeping’ your peg displays clean of product. What I mean by ‘sweeping’ is by removing the entire contents of product from a single peg hook display, in order to conceal them for imminent theft.
Shoplifters can certainly still ‘sweep’ the peg hooks with the Auto peg tags affixed to the products in question but there is no doubt that getting that volume of secured product past the EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) systems and out of your store, will prove to be utterly difficult. These wonderful little tags work by affixing to the tops of your smaller blister pack and peg hook products and providing the trigger needed to set off your EAS alarm system. More professional thieves will take arm loads (not just handfuls) of smaller expensive product. If they ‘sweep’ up an arm load of product with these clever Checkpoint hard tags on them, they will certainly find difficulty in moving enough of the tags to circumvent detection by the EAS pedestals at the front of the store. A thief would have to quite literally take the time to remove every single last Checkpoint hard tag from each product swept from the peg hook. A major inconvenience and deterrent! If you want to stop shoplifting and keep product on your displays and into the hands of paying customers, these are the way to go.
The types of product these tags help secure are some of the most commonly targeted products by shoplifters. These include but are not limited to batteries, cosmetics, razor blades, condoms, ink cartridges, allergy medicines, diabetic testing strips, weight loss supplements, electronic toothbrushes and some cell phones. All of these items (and more) are often ‘swept’ from peg hooks by the arms loads and stolen from stores every day. At this very moment even, someone is cleaning off a peg full of batteries from a display and dumping them into a bag or the bottom of an infant stroller. The benefit to thief is the ability to take a mass quantity of the same product at one time, then turn around and sell them on the black market for half price. All of the above named items command a decent retail price and beneficial targets for shoplifters looking to make a clean sweep and maximize their ‘take’. Imagine what someone who ‘sweeps’ two dozen packs of batteries from a single peg hook would make? At an average of $6.00 per pack, the crook could make just shy of $75 (street price) for a half dozen. Pop a Checkpoint brand Auto peg tag on these items and that easy money dream is all over for the shoplifter. The thief would literally have to destroy the visual appeal of the product in order to remove the tags from them, rendering them virtually useless on the black market for resale!
For more information about the Auto peg tag, contact us or call 1-770-426-0547.
Checkpoint Systems-3
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Checkpoint Systems Deter Theft
When I hire a new employee, whether a cashier or a supervisor, part of their initial training involves how to handle shoplifters. Most of the time, they look at me in disbelief when I tell them about the theft issues we battle in our small retail pharmacy. All I have to do is show them the pages of detail sheets where I have scanned empty packages into our pilferage file. Or , depending on the day of the week, I can show them the basket of empty packages under my desk waiting to be scanned. After we go through our apprehension rules, we walk the store and I show them our antishoplifting tools, like our Checkpoint Systems, all the different size Alpha keepers, spider wraps, etc. We go over each tool, how it is applied, how it is removed, and what items are more likely to be used with the tools because they are commonly targeted.
Shoplifting is one of the most common crimes in the country. People generally don’t look at it as a “big deal.” Most incidents of theft can be chalked up as simple greed. They want something and they don’t want to pay for it. Many retailers are trending away from apprehension and going with lenient policies. Their employees are paid more per hour than the item that was stolen is even worth, so they don’t see prosecution as worth the trouble. The justice system is flawed in how it handles shoplifters. There’s no denying that. I see it over and over; we call the police, have them cuffed and stuffed, go to court five or more times, and then the thief gets a slap on the wrist. I have had the officer not show up, or even worse, I forgot the court date and didn’t show up, and the charges get dismissed. This is all really frustrating for any retailer. But I still want to stop shoplifting. I don’t give up, and I don’t ever let my guard down. I abide by my companies policies, but I also educate my staff.
Statistically speaking, one in eleven people will steal something today. Those people are caught less than half of the times they do it, and will be prosecuted even less than half of those times. This just perpetuates the problem.
I am a store manager, not a baby sitter. I don’t have time to monitor every single person that walks through the store in order to keep them from stealing. Loss prevention is not so much about catching thieves and putting them behind bars. That’s where a lot of stores get confused. They want to put up threatening signs, hassle every person coming through their front door, and inconvenience their customers. You can’t keep honest cash paying customers loyal to your store by treating them like criminals. Loss prevention is about truly preventing the loss from happening in the first place. Deterrence is the key to loss prevention. That’s why I rely on my antishoplifting tools. In my store, Checkpoint Systems are always ready and on patrol. My staff knows our mandatory list of items that must have an EAS label adhered before being put out for sale. There are items that must be encased in Alpha keepers and or wrapped in an Alpha spider wrap as well. Honestly, the empty packages add up, and those probably only reflect a quarter or what is really stolen. However, I do know that the tools we utilize are making a difference. With the addition of these valuable security measures, our shrink results have been cut in half. Fraudulent refunds have gone down dramatically since they can’t steal the stuff in the first place. Word has gotten out in the community, and incidents of theft have dropped off considerably. The numbers don’t lie; we are winning the battle and we have our Checkpoint Systems and all the gadgets that work with it to thank for that.
For more information on Checkpoint Systems, contact us or call: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
When I hire a new employee, whether a cashier or a supervisor, part of their initial training involves how to handle shoplifters. Most of the time, they look at me in disbelief when I tell them about the theft issues we battle in our small retail pharmacy. All I have to do is show them the pages of detail sheets where I have scanned empty packages into our pilferage file. Or, depending on the day of the week, I can show them the basket of empty packages under my desk waiting to be scanned. After we go through our apprehension rules, we walk the store and I show them our antishoplifting tools, like our Checkpoint Systems, all the different size Alpha keepers, spider wraps, etc. We go over each tool, how it is applied, how it is removed, and what items are more likely to be used with the tools because they are commonly targeted.
Shoplifting is one of the most common crimes in the country. People generally don’t look at it as a “big deal.” Most incidents of theft can be chalked up as simple greed. They want something and they don’t want to pay for it. Many retailers are trending away from apprehension and going with lenient policies. Their employees are paid more per hour than the item that was stolen is even worth, so they don’t see prosecution as worth the trouble. The justice system is flawed in how it handles shoplifters. There’s no denying that. I see it over and over; we call the police, have them cuffed and stuffed, go to court five or more times, and then the thief gets a slap on the wrist. I have had the officer not show up, or even worse, I forgot the court date and didn’t show up, and the charges get dismissed. This is all really frustrating for any retailer. But I still want to stop shoplifting. I don’t give up, and I don’t ever let my guard down. I abide by my companies policies, but I also educate my staff. Statistically speaking, one in eleven people will steal something today. Those people are caught less than half of the times they do it, and will be prosecuted even less than half of those times. This just perpetuates the problem.
I am a store manager, not a baby sitter. I don’t have time to monitor every single person that walks through the store in order to keep them from stealing. Loss prevention is not so much about catching thieves and putting them behind bars. That’s where a lot of stores get confused. They want to put up threatening signs, hassle every person coming through their front door, and inconvenience their customers. You can’t keep honest cash paying customers loyal to your store by treating them like criminals. Loss prevention is about truly preventing the loss from happening in the first place. Deterrence is the key to loss prevention. That’s why I rely on my antishoplifting tools. In my store, Checkpoint Systems are always ready and on patrol. My staff knows our mandatory list of items that must have an EAS label adhered before being put out for sale. There are items that must be encased in Alpha keepers and or wrapped in an Alpha spider wrap as well. Honestly, the empty packages add up, and those probably only reflect a quarter or what is really stolen. However, I do know that the tools we utilize are making a difference. With the addition of these valuable security measures, our shrink results have been cut in half. Fraudulent refunds have gone down dramatically since they can’t steal the stuff in the first place. Word has gotten out in the community, and incidents of theft have dropped off considerably. The numbers don’t lie; we are winning the battle and we have our Checkpoint Systems and all the gadgets that work with it to thank for that.
For more information on Checkpoint Systems, contact us or call: 1.770.426.0547 or Antishoplifting.net
Return Fraud-4 , CP Labels-2, Stop Shoplifting-1
It’s Always That Time Of Year
I work for a small retail pharmacy, and I used to be surprised at what people would try to return to my store. Almost fifteen years later, I think I have seen it all. Many people have developed the mindset that it is okay to steal if you’re going to bring the item back and to get a refund. That sounds maniacal but it’s true. These folks have justified to themselves that stealing merchandise may be wrong, but that companies can absolutely afford to lose some money. Return fraud is becoming a bigger and much costlier issue for retailers because of this concept.
I had a lady come into my store yesterday, and she asked if we sold gift cards. I showed her where they were and she shopped the rack for a bit. Then she came up to the counter with several of them and tried to pay for them with one a store credit. I told her she couldn’t buy gift cards with store credit and she got really upset with me about it. These cards usually only have a few dollars on them anyway, but when I scanned it, it said there was $130 on it. I asked her which location had issued this card to her and she wouldn’t tell me. She said she had returned some fragrance sets she had received as gifts and the store gave her this huge credit. The whole thing screamed return fraud to me, and I simply couldn’t believe she had gotten away with it. When someone tries to bring back expensive items to my store to return, I hate to admit it, but I put them through the ringer. If they don’t have a receipt, they better have some way to prove they bought the items or I’ll send them back out the door. It’s hard enough to stop shoplifting, and you don’t want to encourage theft with a too lenient return policy. It doesn’t stop there though.
I volunteer with an organization that collects toys for children during the holidays. I help pack the boxes and bags based on the list their parents have provided. As part of the process, we black out the bar codes on all the packages that are given to these children. There was such rampant return fraud attributed to these toy giveaways, we had to do something. Basically, the parents would come pick up the toys, take them straight to a big box store to return them all, and pocket the money. This year I added another touch to help stop the problem. I donated several rolls of Checkpoint Labels to the toy drive. As we unpacked all the boxes and sorted them, we went through and attached labels to every single toy. We put them on the fronts of the packages and we concealed them inside others. That way, if a parent decided to try and take the free toys back to the store, the active Checkpoint Labels would cause the alarm to sound when they came in the door. I called the area stores that were usually hit with this appalling type of return fraud and alerted them to watch and listen for the labels as well.
Return fraud can be a year round problem. Swiftly dealing with it can also help stop shoplifting in your stores too, though. If the criminal knows you won’t take the merchandise back and give them the money for it, then there’s no need to take the chance of getting caught stealing it in the first place. It just makes sense.
For more information on how to stop return fraud, contact us or call: 1.770.426.0547
I work for a small retail pharmacy, and I used to be surprised at what people would try to return to my store. Almost fifteen years later, I think I have seen it all. Many people have developed the mindset that it is okay to steal if you’re going to bring the item back and to get a refund. That sounds maniacal but it’s true. These folks have justified to themselves that stealing merchandise may be wrong, but that companies can absolutely afford to lose some money. Return fraud is becoming a bigger and much costlier issue for retailers because of this concept.
I had a lady come into my store yesterday, and she asked if we sold gift cards. I showed her where they were and she shopped the rack for a bit. Then she came up to the counter with several of them and tried to pay for them with one a store credit. I told her she couldn’t buy gift cards with store credit and she got really upset with me about it. These cards usually only have a few dollars on them anyway, but when I scanned it, it said there was $130 on it. I asked her which location had issued this card to her and she wouldn’t tell me. She said she had returned some fragrance sets she had received as gifts and the store gave her this huge credit. The whole thing screamed return fraud to me, and I simply couldn’t believe she had gotten away with it. When someone tries to bring back expensive items to my store to return, I hate to admit it, but I put them through the ringer. If they don’t have a receipt, they better have some way to prove they bought the items or I’ll send them back out the door. It’s hard enough to stop shoplifting, and you don’t want to encourage theft with a too lenient return policy. It doesn’t stop there though.
I volunteer with an organization that collects toys for children during the holidays. I help pack the boxes and bags based on the list their parents have provided. As part of the process, we black out the bar codes on all the packages that are given to these children. There was such rampant return fraud attributed to these toy giveaways, we had to do something. Basically, the parents would come pick up the toys, take them straight to a big box store to return them all, and pocket the money. This year I added another touch to help stop the problem. I donated several rolls of Checkpoint Labels to the toy drive. As we unpacked all the boxes and sorted them, we went through and attached labels to every single toy. We put them on the fronts of the packages and we concealed them inside others. That way, if a parent decided to try and take the free toys back to the store, the active Checkpoint Labels would cause the alarm to sound when they came in the door. I called the area stores that were usually hit with this appalling type of return fraud and alerted them to watch and listen for the labels as well.
Return fraud can be a year round problem. Swiftly dealing with it can also help stop shoplifting in your stores too, though. If the criminal knows you won’t take the merchandise back and give them the money for it, then there’s no need to take the chance of getting caught stealing it in the first place. It just makes sense.
For more information on how to stop return fraud, contact us or call: 1.770.426.0547
RWHBLOG17
EAS Labels: Shoplifters Can Just Remove Them. Let Them Try With Layered Protection!
“What stops them from just removing it?” That is a question I get all the time from associates and customers alike in regard to the effectiveness of electronic article surveillance or EAS labels. After all the labels are only placed on the product with a strong adhesive. The EAS label can be removed with a little effort very quickly and the product is then defenseless against the shoplifter leaving undetected with the product concealed on his or her person. In some cases, if that is the only retail anti-theft devices that you are using in your store to prevent shoplifting the answer might be that nothing stops them from removing the EAS label and walking out of your store with the product.
However, based on the value of the product, using just one EAS label is not the best way to prevent shoplifting of your merchandise. Maybe a couple of examples from my experiences will help illustrate this a little better. In one case, a shoplifter brought in his own cable-cutters into the store to cut the cables on the leather jackets and cut off the EAS hard tag. It was a great plan and he had some quality side-cutters to do the job; however, he did not count on us just placing some inexpensive EAS labels inside the pockets and inside the lining of the jacket. When he went to leave with a nice smug look on his face (that was quickly replaced with wide-eyes and open-mouthed surprise) he was stopped at the door, detained and turned over to the police for shoplifting. Those inexpensive hidden Checkpoint labels activated by door alarms saved the loss of a very expensive garment.
In a second example, a professional shoplifter had figured out how to remove our laptops from our heavily secured and alarmed display brackets without activating the alarm. He had stolen 4 laptops previously undetected except through CCTV (closed-circuit television) tape reviews. His undoing the next time he tried his very-thought out criminal endeavor was Checkpoint labels had been placed inside the battery compartments of the laptops. His combined endeavors earned him a felony arrest and conviction. You have probably figured out the key to protecting high-dollar merchandise by now: layered protection.
The layered protection I have discussed so far has actually only consisted of multiple EAS labels to be detected by your electronic article surveillance. There are many more options in ways to stop shoplifting through EAS. Checkpoint Security Systems also offers hard tags, specialty tags and then products from the Alpha Division as well. The high-risk product protection devices include spider wraps, which are alarmed wired cables and that surround the merchandise making it impossible to break into the box or packaging and remove the package without setting off the alarm on the spider wrap or should the shoplifter decide to try to leave with the spider wrap intact they will be detected by the electronic article surveillance anyway. There is also Alpha keepers that add to the Checkpoint label by placing the entire product inside a hardened polycarbonate box that is alarmed and requires a special magnetic key to open.
Defense-in-layers is a key axiom in physical security and applies to efforts to stop shoplifting as well. Should one layer of your system be compromised another layer will activate to detect a breach of your system. When you plan out your retail theft prevention strategies you need to think in term of layers. Your first layer in mind should be your merchandise inventorying and display policies, ensuring that you have strong policies and compliance as to what merchandise is to be protected by EAS labels and how they are protected, be it by multiple layers of Checkpoint labels, spider-wraps, or Alpha cases. Your next layer is your sales associates, making sure that they are providing good customer service that makes the would-be shoplifter feel very uncomfortable and your final layer is the electronic article surveillance antennae at the door. If you think in terms of layers, the next time someone asks that question about removing the tag, you can say “Let them try; layered protection has them covered.”
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us: 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
“What stops them from just removing it?” That is a question I get all the time from associates and customers alike in regard to the effectiveness of electronic article surveillance or EAS labels. After all the labels are only placed on the product with a strong adhesive. The EAS label can be removed with a little effort very quickly and the product is then defenseless against the shoplifter leaving undetected with the product concealed on his or her person. In some cases, if that is the only retail anti-theft devices that you are using in your store to prevent shoplifting the answer might be that nothing stops them from removing the EAS label and walking out of your store with the product.
However, based on the value of the product, using just one EAS label is not the best way to prevent shoplifting of your merchandise. Maybe a couple of examples from my experiences will help illustrate this a little better. In one case, a shoplifter brought in his own cable-cutters into the store to cut the cables on the leather jackets and cut off the EAS hard tag. It was a great plan and he had some quality side-cutters to do the job; however, he did not count on us just placing some inexpensive EAS labels inside the pockets and inside the lining of the jacket. When he went to leave with a nice smug look on his face (that was quickly replaced with wide-eyes and open-mouthed surprise) he was stopped at the door, detained and turned over to the police for shoplifting. Those inexpensive hidden Checkpoint labels activated by door alarms saved the loss of a very expensive garment.
In a second example, a professional shoplifter had figured out how to remove our laptops from our heavily secured and alarmed display brackets without activating the alarm. He had stolen 4 laptops previously undetected except through CCTV (closed-circuit television) tape reviews. His undoing the next time he tried his very-thought out criminal endeavor was Checkpoint labels had been placed inside the battery compartments of the laptops. His combined endeavors earned him a felony arrest and conviction. You have probably figured out the key to protecting high-dollar merchandise by now: layered protection.
The layered protection I have discussed so far has actually only consisted of multiple EAS labels to be detected by your electronic article surveillance. There are many more options in ways to stop shoplifting through EAS. Checkpoint Security Systems also offers hard tags, specialty tags and then products from the Alpha Division as well. The high-risk product protection devices include spider wraps, which are alarmed wired cables and that surround the merchandise making it impossible to break into the box or packaging and remove the package without setting off the alarm on the spider wrap or should the shoplifter decide to try to leave with the spider wrap intact they will be detected by the electronic article surveillance anyway. There is also Alpha keepers that add to the Checkpoint label by placing the entire product inside a hardened polycarbonate box that is alarmed and requires a special magnetic key to open.
Defense-in-layers is a key axiom in physical security and applies to efforts to stop shoplifting as well. Should one layer of your system be compromised another layer will activate to detect a breach of your system. When you plan out your retail theft prevention strategies you need to think in term of layers. Your first layer in mind should be your merchandise inventorying and display policies, ensuring that you have strong policies and compliance as to what merchandise is to be protected by EAS labels and how they are protected, be it by multiple layers of Checkpoint labels, spider-wraps, or Alpha cases. Your next layer is your sales associates, making sure that they are providing good customer service that makes the would-be shoplifter feel very uncomfortable and your final layer is the electronic article surveillance antennae at the door. If you think in terms of layers, the next time someone asks that question about removing the tag, you can say “Let them try; layered protection has them covered.”
For more information on Checkpoint Systems contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 or www.antishoplifting.net.
