Prevent Shoplifting with Clothing Security

August 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Can you prevent shoplifting with security tags on clothes?

The professional shoplifter is only 3% of the total number of shoplifters and accounts for 10% of dollar losses.

The casual shoplifter accounts for 70% of the shoplifting population but 5% of the dollars lost.

The Habitual, non-professional shoplifters accounts for 27% of shoplifting but is responsible for 85% of the dollars stolen.

Studies conducted show that when a habitual shoplifter encounters a clothing security device like a Checkpoint tag, 76% will not attempt to steal that item.

A simple calculation of losses will most likely reflect that even a 40% reduction in shoplifting loss will result in a large amount of money to the bottom line. Take clothing security seriously by preventing shoplifting in the first place.

Put Checkpoint security tags on clothes, prevent shoplifting and increase your profits by reducing your losses.

The effort to prevent shoplifting represents a minor investment.

Loss Prevention Systems is your solution to prevent shoplifting.

For more information: prevent shoplifting or 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Proactive Theft Prevention

August 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Retail loss prevention experts agree, and endless studies and industry surveys confirm, that a large portion of shrink – unexplained inventory losses – as well as cash shortages are caused by employee theft.

The question retailers suffering from employee theft might ask themselves is this: Did I employ a thief or did my policies and procedures encourage a formerly honest person to steal?

An employer can’t know what is in the mind of a potential employee.  But he is able to check into the employee’s past to determine if there is a history of involvement in property crimes like theft, or crimes of violence such as assault and/or battery through a thorough background investigation.  The past of an applicant can be revealed by a criminal history check in the jurisdiction where the applicant lives through an examination of public records relating to arrests, convictions, and sentences handed down by the local courts.  Although a past record is not an absolute indicator of future behavior, it can be argued that a person with several arrests for similar crimes can be expected to revert to that behavior at some time.

A person’s history of drug or alcohol abuse might also be revealed and considered.

If your employees have access to your property and cash, or have contact with the public, a background investigation can reduce your losses as well as your liability for an employee’s actions.

It makes sense to start with an honest employee.

For more information, go to:  Background Screening

Filed Under: Employee Theft, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Use a Background Check Company To Reduce Your Losses

August 5, 2010 by

Many retail loss prevention experts agree, and numerous studies confirm, that the largest percentage of shrink – unexplained inventory losses – and cash shortages are caused by employee theft, which is why so many use a background check company for pre hire screening.

The question retailers having a problem with employee theft might ask themselves is: Did I hire a thief or did my policies and procedures encourage an honest person to steal?

An employer can’t know for certain what is in the mind of his potential employee. But he can check into the employee’s past to determine if there is a propensity for property crimes like theft, or crimes of violence such as assault and/or battery through a search conducted by a background check company.

The past of an applicant can be revealed by a criminal history check in the jurisdiction where the applicant resides by an examination of public records relating to arrests, convictions, and sentences handed down by the courts. Although a past record is not an absolute indicator of future actions, it can be argued that a person with multiple arrests for similar types of crimes might be expected to revert to that behavior at some point.

A person’s history of drug or alcohol abuse might also be revealed.

If your employees have access to your property and cash, or have contact with the public, a background investigation can reduce a business owner’s losses as well as his possible liability for an employee’s actions.

It makes sense to start with an honest employee.

Go to Background Screening to learn more about incorporating a background check company into your pre hire screening.

Filed Under: Background Screening, Criminal Histories, Pre-employment screening, Preventing Theft Tagged With: , ,

What Is The Effect Of Inventory Shrinkage?

August 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Most companies do not truly understand the impact of inventory shrinkage or loss on their profits. For example: If your company’s inventory shrinkage this year is $50,000, that’s $147 in shrinkage every day.

Is that the total impact on the bottom line?

Keep this in mind: For your organization with a 2% profit margin to simply recover or break even on a $50,000 inventory shrinkage, theft or loss, you would have to sell an additional $7,350 every day! ($147 divided by .02% profit margin) This is on top of your normal sales.

Think about it…how much more merchandise will you have to order, receive, count, mark, prepare paperwork for, stock, and finally sell just to produce these extra sales to just break even?
The fact is that inventory shrinkage really cannot be recovered. This is a major factor in why one third of US business failures are blamed on corporate theft.
The obvious solution is to prevent the causes of inventory shrinkage and loss in the first place.

For more information contact LPSI or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Internal Theft, Inventory Shrinkage

Employment Screening and Credit Reports

August 5, 2010 by

There are many employers that obtain an individual’s credit report as part of the employment screening process, while many others do not.

There have been several attempts at both the state and national levels to prohibit an employer from using the credit report of an applicant or employee for employment purposes. The most recent is HR 3149, the Equal Employment for All Act, sponsored by Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN).

As of today, the FCRA allows the procurement of a consumer report, including a credit report, as permissible for employment purposes.

Employers and businesses generally maintain that a credit report is useful in screening applicants for certain sensitive positions, those that have responsibility for cash or assets. The report is considered only as part of a comprehensive background screening process that includes verification of employment, education, criminal history, identity, reference checks, and interviews, among other factors. Employers feel that they can legitimately use this information to make the best possible choice among candidates.

What is the value of an individual’s credit report for an employer?

Since there is no lending involved, a credit score is not provided on an report for employment purposes, and therefore has no effect on the decision to hire. What is included may determine if the applicant has excessive debt, pays bill responsibly, has debts in collection, or has an extravagant lifestyle based on overuse of credit cards. The employer may consider the amount of pressure that may be put on a potential employer by collectors as a factor, or whether the applicant has shown good judgment in his own financial dealings.

The wise employer will consider extenuating circumstances in assessing the credit report of an applicant. Certainly today’s economy and unexpected job loss are factors to consider, as well as unavoidable medical bills which can have a tendency to pile up, even on those who have medical insurance.

For more information go to: Employment Screening

Filed Under: Credit Histories, Pre-employment screening Tagged With: ,

Suspect White Collar Crime? Call a Loss Prevention Investigator

August 5, 2010 by

If you suspect your business is victim of corporate fraud/ white collar crime, you should consider consulting a loss prevention investigator.

Wikipedia defines white-collar crime as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation”. We have found that this kind crime is not just reserved for the Senior Management of a business or retail establishment. People frequently involved in white-collar crime include Department Heads, Assistant Managers and Managers.

Employees at this level of management have access to inventory, cash, bookkeeping records and deposits. They can make changes to inventory and records and are in fact expected to do so in a genuine business situation.  Because of this access and trust there are employees that end up committing white collar crime by voiding sales, modifying the accounting records, stealing inventory and depositing checks to their own account.
How can an employer protect it self from white collar crime? To begin with the hiring process must be designed to screen out candidates that have high-risk backgrounds. Some of these include:

  • Termination from a previous job for theft.
  • Poor credit history. If a person cannot manage their own money do you really want them managing yours? There are some exceptions such as a severe medical problem. But beyond those types of issues a poor credit record tells you how they manage their life.
  • Traffic tickets beyond the occasional speeding ticket. Drunk driving, reckless or careless driving and frequent accidents tell you yet again more about how the person conducts themselves.
  • Criminal histories also give us a window into a person’s mindset. I am not talking about the check they bounced in college for dry cleaning. Domestic violence, assaults, drunk and disorderly type incidents show that a person is not in control of themselves. And of course convictions for serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape not only show us that the person is out of control but is a high-risk liability for an employer. If you hire someone like this and they commit any crime against your employees or customers and you will most likely be held liable.
  • Employment testing with one of the many employment-screening tools that sort out people that are prone to the issues above are very effective.
  • Drug testing
  • Companies should conduct multiple interviews by more than one management team member skilled in pre-employment interviewing.
  • Check references. This tends to get down played but clearly has merit. Require references with teacher’s previous supervisors, co-workers, etc beyond the ones that they list on their resume.

Protect your self by being proactive. Remember, white-collar crime is never, ever going away.

For more information what a loss prevention investigator can do for your potential issue, go here: White-Collar Crime or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Investigator, White-Collar Crime Tagged With:

True Story Illustrates Why You Should Use An Expert For Background Checks

August 5, 2010 by

Here is a story that illustrates why using an expert for your pre hire background checks is a wise practice.

We were recently contacted by one of our clients and asked to conduct an investigation into a suspected embezzlement/theft by one of their employees.  During the course of the investigation, we discovered that the person of interest had been arrested and charged with seven counts of Credit Card Fraud, had been fined and served probation.

The individual had been hired as a temp-to-perm through a staffing agency that conducts employee background checks using a commercial database provider which is very unreliable. This commercial database provider returned “No Record Found”, not only missing the Credit Card Fraud, but also two separate instances of bad checks.

The employee admitted misappropriating more than $10,000 of the company’s money by manipulating the accounting.

It is always a good idea to conduct new employee background checks when an employee comes on board. Do not depend on a staffing company to do a thorough job.

Go here to learn more about incorporating background checks into your pre hire screening or call 1.770.426.0547 x102

Filed Under: Background checks Tagged With: , , , ,

Why Get A Criminal Background Check On Potential Hires

August 4, 2010 by

What results can an employer expect to find in a pre-employment criminal background check?

The first decision an employer must make in requesting a criminal background check is to determine how broad the search should be: national, statewide, or at the county level.  There is currently no national criminal record search available, except in very limited situations when an FBI fingerprint check is required.  The results of such a check take from 4 to 6 weeks to be returned to the inquirer.

A statewide search is broad, but can miss some crimes, as the statewide repository information is made up of arrests and dispositions reported by the various courts in the state, some of which may not report regularly if at all.  A county check is thorough and detailed, but will not uncover crimes committed in other counties or jurisdictions.  Not all statewide repositories are equal: some are limited as to years reported, severity of the crimes reported, and whether there has been a conviction or not.  Some do not report pending cases.  It pays to be aware of the limitations of the repositories that are used for the criminal check.

The FCRA, the agency that regulates the background industry, allows background screening companies to report all convictions revealed by the check; arrests with dispositions other than convictions may only be reported back seven years.

For further information, go to: criminal background check

Filed Under: Background checks, Background Screening, Criminal Histories, Pre-employment screening Tagged With: , ,

Internal Theft Of Your Company Information

August 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It can happen to any company.

A dishonest employee decides to take a job with a competitor or start their own business. What makes them dishonest is that they download and take with them your customer and confidential information. This is clearly internal theft. But what do you do? In does depend on your states law. However, there is also the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

But before this happens you should first take preventive actions. Internal theft of a companies information must be prohibited in your employee handbook. The employee signs for this book when they come to work for you. Their access to your data is only for the furtherance of your business only and ends when they terminate. Even if you forget to remove them from your computer systems.

Finally, make sure that you get back laptop computers and immediately remove their access to the companies building and alarm system. Delete remote access passwords. The courts cannot help your company until you get your house in order and prevent internal theft.

Loss Prevention Systems specializes in Internal Theft Investigations. For more information: Internal Theft Information or 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Employee Theft

Target your anti shoplifting during known peak times

August 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It’s not hard to figure out. Here are a few anti shoplifting schedule considerations:

· First thing in the morning, right after opening because what are you focused on? Getting the store open, putting cash into the drawer, dealing with the previous days problems and most important, that cup of coffee #1.

· Busy days because shoplifters like to blend into a crowd. Shoplifters do not want to stand out. They will dress and act like your normal customer.

· When a sales floor is unattended. What else can you say to this except “duh” do not leave the sales floor without coverage. Your anti shoplifting protection stops without employees.

· At closing time. Like at opening we are focused on finishing up the day, counting the drawers, cleaning up for tomorrow, securing the store and of course getting home.

In other words shoplifters steal whenever WE give them opportunity. Any companies anti shoplifting program will fail without a planning and common sense.

For more information: anti shoplifting or 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: ,
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