There are many sounds that bring a smile to my face, but in the retail loss prevention world none is quite as sweet as the incessant chirp of an EAS sensor as it passes by a security tower. That high-pitched tone means that money, which would have otherwise been lost, will now remain within the store. What exactly is EAS, you may be asking? The acronym stands for Electronic Article Surveillance, and EAS is an important part of retail loss prevention .
EAS includes hard tags or stickers which are placed on different pieces of merchandise either manually once it gets to your store, or during the packaging stage by the manufacturer. These tags need to be removed or deactivated at the point of sale by your cashiers. If they have not been deactivated they will be picked up by the security tower and an alarm will begin to sound.
This obviously makes them a problem for most shoplifters… exactly what you want. Keep in mind that professional, and more experienced shoplifters, are aware of these devices and will go to great lengths to remove them. Many of them will carry small cutting tools just for this reason. I once watched a shoplifter open and remove the stickers from 40 DVD’s and videogames (a process which took over an hour) before walking out of the door with the unpaid merchandise.
You also have to consider your more brazen crooks; the ‘grab and run’ criminals who don’t care whether they set the alarms off or not. For this reason EAS is obviously not a cure-all. However, most shoplifters don’t want to be detected. Why? Well, because they want to be able to come back and steal from you again. EAS can be a very valuable tool in protecting your merchandise from these types of criminals and should be seriously considered when developing your retail loss prevention plan.
For more information contact us: retail loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547
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