You have clothing security tags? Never mind…I will steal from someone else

October 22, 2010 by

Let’s say that I am a shoplifter scouting out your business’s clothing security measures.  I’m looking for some clothing to steal.  I don’t care about your profits, or about the fact that stealing is money directly out of your pocket.  I steal because I want something for free, and I do not want to pay for it.

I may want it to sell for a 100% profit, or I may want it for my own use.  Regardless, I look at the clothing security in your business to decide how I am going to take your things, hopefully without getting caught.

When I’m looking around in a business, with my empty purse just waiting to be filled, I look for clothing security tags.  Are there  security tags on clothes in your business?  Or are they just displayed unprotected and free for the taking, for people like me?

Having a clothing alarm is a deterrent.  If I come into your business, and I see that you have clothing security , I will move on to the next business that does not.  The last thing I want is a clothing alarm sending out its desperate cry…telling everyone that yes I’m here, and yes I am trying to steal.  I am a shoplifter and I do not want attention. Security tags on clothes would bring attention to me if I try to steal them.

Never mind, I will move on to the next business without clothing security .

For more information about clothing security , security tags on clothes or clothing alarm contact us at clothing security tags or call 1.770.426.0547.

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Loss Prevention Consultants, experts in boosting profits – Atlanta Georgia

October 22, 2010 by

Loss prevention consultants offer a variety of services, but most importantly they provide a piece of mind.

A business in the southwest was experiencing numerous problems hitting their bottom line. Shoplifters had taken over the store, employees were stealing, and accidents were on the rise. The management felt helpless and the corporate office was uninformed. They were on the brink of collapse.
The company decided they needed help and looked into loss prevention consultants . Over the next few weeks, the loss prevention consultants reviewed the business. Identifying the main areas of concern and executing their plan of action, the outcome looked hopeful.

First, they worked internal investigations and identified several dishonest employees at multiple locations. Interviews of these dishonest employees lead to the recovery of several thousands of dollars in merchandise. While the investigations continued, the consultants recommended the hiring and placement of a loss prevention agent. The loss prevention agent worked different hours and spent most of his time in hardest hit parts of the store. Over the next several weeks, he made several apprehensions. An additional loss prevention agent was hired and the apprehensions of shoplifters continued.

Over the next few weeks the team of loss prevention professionals working the stores were able to significantly impact losses and provide the business with what it had been lacking over the last few months and years,  ATTENTION.

The loss prevention consultants also looked at the rate of accidents in stores. Seeing a dramatic increase in employee injury cases and customer slip/trip and falls, the store was hurting. Quickly implementing new safety recommendations and training, the stores saw improvement. Workers compensation claims were down and positive employee attitudes were up.

Today, this chain of supermarkets has grown from 5 to 25 in the last 10 years and has a very positive outlook.

For more information about loss prevention agent or loss prevention investigator visit us at loss prevention consultants or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

 

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Examples of Employee Fraud – Atlanta

October 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

A report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners published in 2008 stated that $994 billion were lost to employee fraud . Anything from filing a claim for false injury, embezzling funds to falsifying experience on an employment application are examples of this kind of fraud. An employee for Quest Diagnostics stole $1.2 million by filing false expense reports. He set up dummy companies and filed fake invoices for payments he had allegedly made on behalf of his employer. Of course most cases aren’t so extensive. All businesses, large or small, can be susceptible.

In 2007 I came across an appliance salesman for a major retailer. This individual would sell an appliance to a legitimate customer and record the sales transaction. Several weeks later he would ring in a return for the appliance and return the money to the customer. The only problem was there was no customer. The return portion of the transaction was completely false and he would simply pocket the money he should have returned to the customer. When we finally caught him (only because the computers showed that we had a great deal of merchandise on hand that wasn’t actually in the store) he had racked up over $70K in fraudulent returns. A sizable jail sentence followed for the individual, but the company never saw a dime of that money back.

This is the type of employee fraud that most small businesses deal with. People use their particular occupation to misappropriate assets and steal or fraudulently disburse funds. As an employer you want to be able to trust your employees, but as a smart employer you need to be aware of, and look for, red flags. Individuals living beyond their means or experiencing financial difficulties; these are the people most likely to commit employee fraud .

For more information contact us about employee fraud or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta

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Checkpoint Systems Academy The New Retail On-line Training

October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Checkpoint Systems has released a new on-line training program. This program is designed for retail end users. Now store management can train employees in a consistent manner. Training is designed for you to get more out of your checkpoint systems systems.

When you sign up for this program your employees will log on from any computer 24/7 and progress through the course as work commitments permit. The training can be completed all at once or in stages. What ever suits your needs.

The program trains you and your employees on:

  • What EAS is and why it is so important to the health of the business and bottom line
  • The impact shoplifting has on everyone in the store, and in the community.
  • Which components make up an EAS anti shoplifting program.
  • Best practices for handling Checkpoint tags , Checkpoint labels , and product protection solutions at the checkout.
  • How to effectively deal with EAS activations to deter shoplifting and increase sales opportunities.

The anti shoplifting program consists of audio and visual aids that make the training come alive. It is easy to follow in simple and relevant terms. The interactive and informative content ensures that users are fully engaged. The scored training (SCORM compliant) helps store management and Human Resources identify areas for improvement.

What we like about this program is that there is consistency in the training. It also insures that all of your employees become Checkpoint systems knowledgeable to make your EAS program successful. This in turn reduces shoplifting and increases customer service. All of which contributes to a better bottom line.

You invest a lot of labor and expense in your checkpoint systems , applying checkpoint labels and checkpoint tags . Do not waste your investment or bottom line because of a lack of training.

By the way the pricing for Checkpoint Systems Academy by Loss Prevention Systems, Inc is astonishingly reasonable!

For more information about Checkpoint Systems Academy, anti shoplifting programs, checkpoint labels , checkpoint tags or retail theft contact us at Checkpoint Systems or call 1.770.426.0547

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Catching the bad guy – A Loss Prevention Agent at Work – Atlanta

October 21, 2010 by

Employing a loss prevention agent reduces loss from shoplifters in your business.  We would like to think that the individuals that choose to shop in our business would be honest, hardworking folks looking to spend their money on our quality products.  But, unfortunately, there are those that would prefer to have the “five finger discount” on items they’d like to own but do not want to pay for – your items.

A loss prevention agent is an employee that can be trained to survey your sales floor, watching for shoplifters.  Your business should have a reliable loss prevention policy in place before creating this type of program.  A loss prevention agent can dress like your average shopper, but can watch for any type of suspicious activity, so that activity can be reported to management.  Or, in the case of a shoplifter within your business, the loss prevention agent can make a shoplifter apprehension and seek prosecution of the thief.

Loss prevention consultants can be brought into your business to help you create a good loss prevention/asset protection policy.  These experts are invaluable, and years of experience as well as in depth knowledge can work for a business, in order to implement a viable and worthwhile program.

A business owner may notice that his or her business is experiencing a significant loss of profit due to lost merchandise.  This is a wake-up call to the business owner – a loss prevention program needs to be implemented.  Loss prevention consultants or a loss prevention agent can do the job.

For more information about loss prevention agent contact us at: loss prevention consultants or call 1.770.426.0547.

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Saving the Profit – Security and Loss Prevention within your business – Atlanta

October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Security and loss prevention are important to businesses.  A business owner shouldn’t have to go to extreme measures to protect their own assets, but in today’s world it is a necessary factor in operating a business.  Especially if you hope to make a profit.

Retail loss prevention is very important for a business to be successful and maximize profits.  Shoplifters are extremely bold, and can take more merchandise at one time than a business may profit in one day.  I have apprehended a shoplifter that was in the process of stealing $1100 worth of merchandise at one time.  Imagine what several of those thefts could do to your bottom line.

Worse yet, it has been proven that employee theft can cost a business more than an external, or customer theft.  This is why a good retail loss prevention program must also include procedures that prevent and deter employee theft.  I personally investigated a case that involved eight employees, and a roughly $8000 loss of merchandise.  While it was good to shut down the employee theft operation, it is frightening to consider the extent of the loss.

Security and loss prevention can be as simple as having good controls in place to protect your merchandise.  Proper training of your employees is also part of a good program. Security and loss prevention have to be a part of your business plan if a business wants to succeed in today’s market.

For more information on security and loss prevention contact us at: retail loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta

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Shoplifting Is Out Of Control…In your Store? – Atlanta

October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

With the volume of shoplifting at tens of millions of dollars every day Retailers are always under attack. In my 30 plus years of loss prevention I have never found a retailer that is immune to shoplifting. Prevention is the key. If you wait until the shoplifter steals and then apprehend you are losing money and time. You will not be able to stop them all. The only way to prevent shoplifting is have a two-fold process.

First, you must know who and what you are dealing with. Many retailers I have spoke with think they know what a shoplifter looks like. The fact is that shoplifters for the most part look exactly like the rest of your customers. Just because you have caught a few shoplifters and they look a certain way only means that this is the type of person YOU are looking for. You cannot focus on a persons “look”. Not that I have anything against profiling. But to solve the problem you need to know what a shoplifter thinks and does. The only way to accomplish this is training from experts for you and your employees.

Next, You must have a store environment that speaks a message to the shoplifter of “deterrence”. Many retailers think that methods to prevent shoplifting with discourage their good customers, far from it. In fact most good customers do not see your theft prevention programs in place. They look past them because they do not apply to them and they are simply not there to steal.

So what is this prevention program? It consists of several key elements. These include: Your real commitment to stopping shoplifting, strong pre-established policy and procedure, employees trained in customer service, an EAS system such as Checkpoint Systems and possibly CCTV.

Training must be on going. Simply doing it once and thinking you have solved the problem is wrong. You have to reinforce it several times a year. You must insure that all new employees are trained. Another issue is to really have your employees on board with your on-going attack on shoplifting. They have to support it.

For more information contact us at prevent shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta

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Background Checks and Employee Promotions or Retention

October 20, 2010 by

Background Checks and Employee Promotions or Retention

If your company conducts employee screening, including criminal background checks on all your potential new hires, you might not see the value in duplicating the process for an employee you are considering for promotion.  But if you think about it, there may be several reasons to consider doing just that.

Some of the reasons:

  • An increase or change in the scope of responsibility.  Perhaps the new position exposes the employee to more sensitive information, larger amounts of cash, or interaction with more or higher level clientele.  Think about whether a credit check is now more important than before.  You promote a warehouse worker to delivery driver.  Did you check his driving record previously?
  • The employee had a clean criminal record when he was hired a year ago.  Is that still the case, or has he since had trouble with the law?  And if so, would it be enough for the employer to have second thoughts about promoting or even retaining the employee?
  • Is the new position one that requires a certain level of education?  This may have been overlooked or left unverified at the time of hire, but could cause a loss of confidence on the part of your clients in the new position.  Verifying education is not difficult to do.
  • If the new position requires licensure or certification by a state or local agency, this can be verified through a fresh background check as well.
  • As another example, a driver’s route has changed so that he now delivers to a school or day care facility.  Checking the State Sex Offender Database might now be called for, or even required by the facility.

At the time that you consider promoting your next employee, you might want to think about the new responsibilities and liabilities associated with the position and conduct a new background check.

It is important to be fair and consistent with all employees and applicants who are subject to employee screening and background checks and develop the depth of the investigation based on the relevance of the position.

To discuss these and other background related issues go to Background Checks or call 770-426-0547.

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Clothing security : Keep it out of the hands of thieves

October 20, 2010 by

Security tags on clothes are a good idea if you operate a business that sells these items. Clothing security is important to maximize profits and reduce loss associated with theft.

One common way that a shoplifter will steal is by using your fitting room to conceal your merchandise.  A shoplifter is well aware that there are no cameras in there, and that no one can see them.  To prevent this, a business must have policies and procedures in place…and be willing to enforce them!  Make sure your fitting rooms are locked at all times, and only unlocked by one of your employees when a customer is requesting to try something on.  Also, make sure that your employees physically handle the clothing that the customer is taking into the room, and that the employee stays in the area to make sure what goes in comes out.  If the shoplifter makes it inside the fitting room with what he or she wants to take…say goodbye to the profit on that merchandise.

Some shoplifters are content to conceal merchandise out on your sales floor, when they believe that none of your employees are looking. Clothing security needs to be a consideration when setting up your business.  Clothing is easy to steal – what measures are you going to take to prevent it from walking out your doors?

Many businesses choose security tags on clothes to help prevent theft.  A shoplifter who realizes that you have this type of clothing security will move on to the next business that does not.

For more information contact us about clothing security or security tags on clothes or call 1.770.426.0547.

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Retail Loss Prevention and the benefits to your business

October 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Retail loss prevention should be dedicated to providing a safe environment for customers to shop and employees to work.

Many companies forget about how customer and employee accidents and injuries can negatively impact their profits. Several times have I visited stores where the owners or management aren’t really concerned with safety issues or don’t truly understand the impact of a customer accident or an employee injury.

Retail loss prevention has a big responsibility when it comes to safety. These professionals have the task of ensuring potential safety issues are identified and corrected as soon as possible. Issues such as merchandise in the stockroom and some areas of the salesfloor stacked closer than 18 inches to the fire sprinkler systems. In some locations, there are electrical paneling, and electrical related equipment stationed or stored in the backrooms. Merchandise should never be stored or placed any closer than 36 inches to these areas. Loss prevention should be concerned with correcting these potential safety risks.

I experienced an instance at a company I worked for where a number of violations lead to the injury of one employee and ended up costing the business hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills and fines. The store refused to make simple changes to policies pertaining to the use of trash compactors.

In this instance, an employee was sent into the compactor to dislodge an item. In a rush, the operator and employee did not enact the safety feature, and failed to notify others of what had happened. As a result, the employee in the compactor suffered a serious leg injury when the compactor was accidently restarted. Loss prevention responded to the incident and conducted an accident investigation.

Indeed, the employees were negligent and admitted that they were never properly trained on the use of this equipment, nor were they encouraged by members of management to be safe.

Retail loss prevention provides a great service to any retailer or business, whether it’s conducting investigations involving theft, or conducting accident investigations, retail loss prevention must always be focused on the goal of profitability.

For more information on loss prevention visit us at retail loss prevention  or call 1.770.426.0547

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