POS ROI

Loss Prevention Systems For The New Year

December 12, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For a loss prevention officer, the holiday season is a hard time to be jolly when the busiest shopping season of the year brings with it its shoplifters, crime, and theft. During the holiday season, the number of incidents involving shoplifting increases considerably, and the losses the store suffers can be devastating to their bottom line.

For any retail store in the United States and across the globe, having a loss prevention system in place or a loss prevention officer in their store can be the difference between having profits or losses during their fiscal year.

According to recent studies, more than half of retail stores in the United States have stopped investing in their loss prevention teams or systems even though their inventory shrink rate has seen an increase in the last year. The inventory shrink rate takes into consideration the following:

Shoplifting
Employee theft
Vendor fraud
Administrative and paperwork errors

Shoplifting theft accounts for almost 40% of the total theft a store experiences, and even though the amount an employee steals can surpass that of the common shoplifter each instance it happens, the shoplifting theft can be considerable every year.

According to many pieces of research, retail stores lose approximately $35 million a day due to shoplifting or $48.9 billion in a year. Those detrimental statistics in the retail industry are worth considering when many stores and businesses decide whether to invest in a loss prevention system or a loss prevention team to combat the shoplifting in their store.

A loss prevention system expense can be recovered within a short period of time, and if your losses are increasing each year, the time you will recoup the money invested in the system shortens considerably.

The introduction of a loss prevention system in the store allows your employees to dedicate more time with the customers entering your store, than attempting to catch the shoplifter. The system also allows your store to be protected and send a message to the shoplifters. Shoplifters know where and which stores to target. If you are a store that doesn’t prosecute shoplifters or doesn’t have a loss prevention team or system, you are vulnerable and can become the target store for many of these shoplifters.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, Background checks, CCTV cameras, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee shoplifting training, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, internal Audit, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention systems, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, preventing shoplifting in your store, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance, vendor fraud

Hiring Well For The Holiday Season

November 19, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For the retail industry and small businesses in general, the holiday season has started, and for them, this season can be a financial boost for their business.

The significant change in sales, profits, and employment take a front seat during the holiday season, and it can be a breaking or making point for many businesses across many industries.

By November, the retail industry has hired many part-time sales personnel to help with the holiday season, expecting those employees will be ready when black Friday sales start. Many of those businesses will let go many of those employees, but some of them will stay with the business well after the season is over.

The benefits associated with keeping those employees on payroll are many, but most importantly, it is the expense associated with hiring new employees every few months that make sense. Many businesses strive to hire quality employees and can see the benefit in training them and keeping them well after the holiday season is over. The expense of hiring new employees regularly makes no financial sense for them considering the rise in costs associated with it.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the cost of hiring a new employee is $4,129. Not only that, but it also takes weeks for those employees to be ready to perform their job well, and if not trained properly, the cost of retraining puts a financial strain in the business and their profits.

When paying for a background check before hiring a new employee, or for proper training the first time around, the costs associated with acquiring quality employees can become minimal if done properly the first time around.

Many businesses now a day hire new employees constantly, never training them well and getting rid of them before their first paycheck arrives. That’s a very costly way of acquiring employees or retaining the ones they have, and acquiring good employees using this method is riddled with problems from the beginning.

A business needs to invest in properly hiring and training their new hires. The financial benefits will follow for the business.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, Black Friday holiday shopping, CCTV cameras, Christmas Security, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee shoplifting training, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Holiday employment, Holiday Security, Holiday shopping, Holiday shopping and security, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention systems, POS ROI, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

It’s getting darker earlier: how to keep customers and employees safe

October 1, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Now that fall is upon us it is getting darker earlier. These hours of darkness can bring unique challenges for retail owners. Have you ever considered that it is your responsibility to help keep customers and employees remain safe while they are on your property? It may make sense that you are responsible for employee safety but you are also obliged to help keep customers safe as well. This includes your parking lot and the exterior areas around the building. How do you do this? What do you have to protect against? Good questions and hopefully we can provide you with answers to those questions and suggestions to make your business safer.

What is it that you need to protect against as the daylight hours become shorter?

The potential for robberies increases in the hours of darkness.
Slip/trip/fall accidents in the parking lot can increase when it is dark as hazards are more difficult to see.
Car break-ins can increase.
Working at night can have an impact on your employees.
The risk of violence can increase.

Planning for operating a store during extended hours of darkness can help prevent problems that could arise. According to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) power point presentation, “Recommendations for Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in Late-Night Retail Establishments” one of the panels states”; “Late-night retail businesses such as convenient stores, liquor stores, and gasoline stations have experienced high homicides and assault rates”. The same power point on panel 5 goes on to mention the following as risk factors for late-night retail workers:

Exchange of money
Solo work and isolated work sites
Sale of alcohol
Poorly lit stores and parking lots
Lack of staff training in recognizing and managing escalating hostile and aggressive behavior

There are things store owners can do to mitigate the risks to their employees and patrons.

Inspect parking lots and sidewalks now for potential trip hazards. Have curbs painted yellow to make them fire lanes as well as making them brighter to reduce the chance someone trips on them. Paint parking stops or blocks a reflective white or yellow again to lower the risk of tripping.
Cracked or raised sidewalks should be repaired or reported to a landlord.
Check the parking lot light timers to ensure they turn on as it becomes dusk.
Inspect all parking lot lights and have burned out lamps replaced.
Add extra exterior building security lights.
If you have not installed them, have night vision security cameras set up to monitor the parking lot, sidewalks, entrances, and corners that may be out of view.
Install interior cameras and Public View monitors. These cameras should be at the front entrance and exits, cameras that capture activity at and around cash registers and a camera in a cash office that can see the safe and as much of the office as possible.
Have a cash drop at each register for $50 and $100 bills.
Keep register positioned away from customers so they cannot reach over the counter into the till.
Always have at least two people working in a store and never allow one person to close or open alone.
If you have two people working consider having an employee offer to watch a patron walk to their car when they leave. Patrons will appreciate it and it will make them feel safer.
If your credit machine accepts debit cards think about refusing cash back transactions after 6 pm. You won’t have to make as many trips to the safe to refill the register after dark.
Use a counterfeit bill detector for all $20, $50 and $100 bills.
Train each employee on how to recognize and de-escalate aggressive situations. This is also a good reason to have a second person working.
If you can only afford one employee at a time and your business is in a strip mall partner with a neighboring business to work together to provide mutual security/support at opening and closing.
Employees may get tired more easily as the daylight decreases. Be aware that it can lower their alertness while working and when they drive home. Encourage workers to be careful so they don’t hurt themselves or others.

Operating stores can be different when darkness comes along earlier. Taking the right precautions, being aware of potential issues and planning ahead can make that transition easier. Don’t take hours of darkness lightly.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, Background checks, CCTV cameras, EAS Devices, employee background checks, employee safety, Employee shoplifting training, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, interior cameras, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, mobile POS loss prevention, OSHA, POS ROI, pre-employment background check, Prevent Shoplifting, Prevention Programs, Public View monitors, Seasonal employees, shoplifting violence, surveillance, Workplace Violence

RFID Technology

September 17, 2018 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

For a small business owner, bringing sales to their business is not an easy feat. It requires lots of hard work and diligence. For an owner or manager of a retail store, it requires a lot of hard work to be profitable and to prevent shrink and losses in their stores.

For them, the acquisition of affordable technology and software to help them prevent losses due to shoplifting, shrinkage, clerical or merchant errors is instrumental in having a successful and profitable business.

For many years now, the increased use of technology and the benefits associated with it has been self-evident in many industries, and the retail industry is no exception.

The value and transformation technology has brought to retailers, merchants and customers have been invaluable to them and to their bottom line. Technology usage has allowed them to decreased costs while maintaining better data and solutions that allow them to target specific areas within their business.

RFID systems and software have been around for many years now, but the adoption rates have increased considerably over the last few years due the lower cost and ease of use. Still, small retailers that are struggling financially will be less inclined to invest in an RFID system or any other type of loss prevention system despite needing it most.

The cost associated with acquiring a system that will help prevent losses, and help you target issues in your retail store can help you recover the cost associated with the system within a year in many cases.

Loss prevention systems and the costs associated with them can vary considerably, but businesses have many options depending on what they want the system to accomplish. Here is a technology linked with the retail industry that may be gaining ground with many benefits associated with its adoption.

RFID technology

RFIDs systems usage has provided many merchants great ROI and revenue increase within the first year of usage. The capabilities of this system to provide accurate inventory to the store owner or manager of the stores has seen an increase in their revenues while providing customers the merchandise they need and want.

RFID technology will allow businesses across industries up to the minute data and reliable inventory data.

RFID technology will save expenses where inventory related labor is concerned while achieving better and more accurate inventory data.

Acquiring a loss prevention system can be daunting in the beginning due to the financial expense the business has to go through, but it is necessary if the business wants to stay competitive and profitable.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, Background checks, CCTV cameras, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Training, mobile POS loss prevention, Perpetual Inventory, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, preventing shoplifting in your store, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, RFID ROI, RFID software, RFID technology, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

The Importance Of Expressing Your Thanks For The Staff You Have

September 29, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought it would be an appropriate time for me to ask the employers out there how thankful are you for the staff you have? I don’t mean are you just thankful you have people who work for you in a general sense but how thankful are you for what they bring to the workplace every day? Maybe you have never thought about it like that. I’m certain you are thankful that Bobby showed up on time today or Mary Jane rang up customers without a customer complaint. But have you ever looked at how you express your thanks to your team? Maybe your attitude is that you pay them and that should be enough. Perhaps you give your employees a birthday card when their birthday rolls around each year. But is that really sufficient? Is it fair for your employees to expect more from you in terms of recognition?

In an article in forbes.com titled, “66% Of Employees Would Quit if They Feel Unappreciated”, by Victor Lipman, April 15, 2017, the author references, “…a study from Office Team examining the impact of appreciation, or lack thereof, in the workplace.” Quoting the study Mr. Lipman points out two startling findings:

66% of employees say they would “likely leave their job of (sic) they didn’t feel appreciated.”
Among millennials, the number of employees who’d leave if unappreciated jumps to 76%.

The author states, “So what does all this mean? I’d call it a short message with a powerful takeaway: Appreciation matters.”I agree with the author’s sentiments. People need to feel like their efforts are appreciated by the supervisors/managers.

What are some of the ways managers can express their appreciation towards their employees? Below are some ideas that can be easy and meaningful:

Greet your employees when they arrive to work and say goodbye when they leave. I don’t mean you should say, “Glad you’re here, it’s been a crazy day” or “Oh, you made it on time, what a pleasant surprise!” Be genuine, say hello, hi or it’s good to see you when they come in and have a good afternoon or a great weekend when they leave.
Some large retailers have recognition cards they hand out to employees for performance and then have a monthly drawing for a gift card or monetary prize. It may not be practical for a smaller retailer but you can give a Thank-You card out from time to time
I work for a business where my superiors have expressed their appreciation with a company travel coffee mug, candy, greeting cards and a gift card at various times on top of emails expressing appreciation for my contributions. All of these make my efforts feel like they are worth the effort. Sometimes it’s the little things that mean a lot.
Appreciation may be demonstrated with the assignment of a special project or task that shows trust or gives more responsibility. With that assignment, there must be a verbal acknowledgment by the manager of how the employee’s work performance has merited the responsibility. It would be appropriate to also give some additional incentive if the assignment would merit it.

Aside from the possibility of employees quitting due to feeling unappreciated, it is also possible their performance is tied to how appreciated they feel working for you. According to an article in apa.org (American Psychological Association) from March 8, 2013, titled, “APA Survey Finds Feeling Valued at Work Linked to Well-Being and Performance”; “Almost all employees (93 percent) who reported feeling valued said they are motivated to do their best work and 88 percent reported feeling engaged.” Clearly, it is in your best interest to find ways to express appreciation to your employees for the work they do for your business. Happy employees will want to make the company they work for successful and that means YOU will be successful.

This holiday season as you consider all the things you are thankful for, don’t forget those who make your business the success it is. Express your thanks and find ways to recognize them, now and all throughout the year. You won’t regret it.

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Policies and Procedures Concerning Shoplifting

September 19, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shoplifting crimes increase every year. Mall security, loss prevention personnel and police departments across the nation work together to prevent shoplifting. But, that is not enough. The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention states that the United States loses billions of dollars every year due to shoplifting, and those statistics are not getting better. Police departments across the nation are constantly called to these retail store due to a shoplifting incident that they have to take care of. By knowing what the response to a shoplifting is, your employees can readily take care of the problem without jeopardizing their safety.

For more about this and othe r topics, follow the links below.

Winnipeg mom carrying diaper bag refused entry to Canadian Tire

What was supposed to be a quick pit stop at a local Canadian Tire has left a Winnipeg mom angry and speaking out.

On Friday, Stephanie Stachowich was trying to go shopping at the Regent Avenue location to buy a few items.

She had her two daughters, 3-years-old and 7-months-old, with her and was carrying a diaper bag filled with necessities along with her keys and wallet.

“As I walked in I saw a staff member spot me right away,” Stachowich told Global News. “She simply told me straight out I could not bring my diaper bag into the store.”

Stachowich said there were no signs regarding bag policies posted and she wasn’t given a choice to have her bag searched or checked. She was simply told the diaper bag was not allowed in the store.

Theft and drugs having affects on Retail business

A panel of retail and law enforcement representatives discussed recent trends related to drug laws, sentencing reform and retail theft at the Council of State Retail Association’s (CSRA) Annual Meeting in Portland earlier this month.

The topic resonated with the audience for several reasons. The link between drug addiction and property crimes is well-known and drives many policy discussions related to criminal justice reform. And retailers have a front row seat to witness the effects of both addiction and changes in sentencing guidelines.

After voters passed Proposition 47 in 2014, California implemented some of the nation’s sharpest reductions in penalties, reducing many drug-related and theft crimes to misdemeanors. Property crimes in many counties have increased more than 25% since the ballot measure passed and made all thefts of less than $950 a misdemeanor.

Another factor driving up thefts has been the opioid crisis, said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. Some California counties had more opioid prescriptions than people in 2016, she said, citing a Sacramento Bee article. (To read the article, click here.)

Convenience store manager fires gun after shoplifting incident

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – An E. Washington St. convenience store manager is under investigation for firing his gun at a shoplifter.

It happened Monday night at Sam’s Food Mart & Tobacco Store.

Eyewitness News spoke with one of the store clerks about why the manager decided to fire his weapon.

The clerk said the shooting happened after his co-worker chased a customer through the front door and into the parking lot. The shoplifter left with a couple of items without paying for them.

Someone flagged down an IMPD officer to report the incident.

Eyewitness News has learned the shoplifter stole a bag of Planters peanuts and a package of Hostess Zingers.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, mobile POS loss prevention, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, store policies, store shoplifting procedures, surveillance

Can Your Shelving Prevent Shoplifting? Oh Yeah!!!

August 1, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Retail shelving along with store design has a huge impact on shoplifting losses. Typically a shoplifter likes and needs privacy even if only for a moment. So why not keep that in mind when designing or remodeling your store. Your shelving and isles can work for you by simply considering several factors.

Shelving height can be critical. It may be tempting to have shelves go all the way to the ceiling. However, this creates cover for shoplifters. They feel more secure when they cannot be seen. Shelving that allows your staff to see over and keep track of customers make a shoplifter uncomfortable.

Do not create dead sports. Shoplifters will pick up your merchandise and head for “dark areas” of your store. Areas when they can remove packaging, pricing… and have time to conceal it.

Speaking of lighting. Make sure that you align lighting with your isles. Not only will that encourage sales but again, adequate lighting will not allow shoplifters to get comfortable.

You should also put some thought into your end cap displays. Move small or high value merchandise to end caps that are easily seen by your staff. Likewise place merchandise that is larger and lesser value on end caps that face away from staff.

When designing your stores’ layout consider the foot traffic of staff, customers and shoplifters. We want retail staff and even back office personnel to routinely visit all areas of the store. It may be tempting to have a single direct path but that could leave a number of areas rarely visited by staff throughout the day. That is a gold mine for shoplifters. They watch staff traffic and will naturally migrate to areas less traveled.

Likewise you want your good customers to assist you with shoplifting prevention. They can do this in two ways. If your store is laid out in such a way that keeps legitimate customers spread out and in all areas of the store not just focused in one or two places, then they help you with removing privacy from the shoplifter.

Another technique to shut off shoplifters is to make your legitimate customers into your store security, without the customer even knowing it. You can use a PA system or even radios that can be heard by the public (not on a headset) for this.

To do this make a “ghost call”. If you suspect that shoplifters are in the store then on the PA system say “security to section 3…,” then watch what happens! Legitimate customers will not care, they are not in the mindset to steal. They are focused on what they are looking at. At most they may look up and around, then simply go back to what they were doing. Shoplifters on the other hand will react differently. By calling security to an “area” that is not marked or corresponds to anything such as isle number… the shoplifter does not know what is going on. And that legitimate customer that then happens to come into the isle or area they are in now becomes an undercover store detective regardless of age, gender…. You can even assign ghost calls to staff as a responsibility to be made randomly every hour or so.

All of this because of a little forethought on your part and shelving design help.

Bill Bregar is a 30+ year loss prevention expert. Bill was the Director of Loss Prevention for several major retailers and is now the President of Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. LPSI specializes in Checkpoint Systems anti-shoplifting equipment. He has personally apprehended many shoplifters and over 2300 employees stealing from their employers. Bill can be reached at: [email protected] or at 770-426-0547

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Didn’t Your Momma Teach You Better? Inside The Mind Of A Shoplifter

August 1, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Growing up did you ever do something dumb and your mom or your dad would ask you, “What were you thinking?” Having lived in south for the past 32 years I have learned of the local colloquialism when someone does something stupid, “Didn’t your momma teach you better?” Unfortunately, as a young boy I did a lot of dumb things making me wonder if my brain developed a lot later in life than most people. For example, I had a propensity for walking behind batters warming up to go to the plate for my father’s teen baseball teams. I ended up with more than one fat lip from my stupidity…obviously not learning the lesson the first time. I had a fascination with electrical outlets and wires and old rotary dial telephones…I won’t go into details but no they didn’t work when the wires were pushed into the outlet, I was not injured but I had one very busy guardian angel. What goes on inside of the mind of a child? I have NO idea and my wife and I have raised THREE of them! The same can be said for shoplifters I have no idea what goes on inside their heads. I can speculate on it, having caught hundreds of them but I am not convinced they have developed their brains yet.

Where I live is a tourist area. In order to get to the beaches and hotels you have to cross over one of any number of bridges. We have a saying around here that tourists leave their brains on the other side of the waterway before crossing the bridge…because they do DUMB things. It may well be that shoplifters leave their brains at home before venturing out. Here are some of examples of what I mean:

You have a criminal history for shoplifting and are currently on probation. You walk into a store and decide it is a good idea to steal some clothing. Then, when you are caught you ask if you can be let go and you won’t come in again. “Have you lost your mind?”
You shoplift and get chased and have the audacity to stop and put your hand in your purse and suggest you have a gun. Police draw down on you and put you on the ground to arrest you. Oh that’s right you also had a prior arrest for involuntary manslaughter on your record as well as multiple shoplifting violations. “What were you thinking?”
You make a decision to shoplift, get away with it and come back later that night and steal again. You are stopped and run but the Loss Prevention Officer grabs your purse as you flee. Yes, you get away but wait a minute, what did you have in your purse? Oh, a butcher knife and your prison I.D. card since you happen to be on parole. “Didn’t your momma teach you better?”
You have a station wagon loaded with television sets you’ve been stealing from hotels. What do you do since you obviously have plenty of time on your hands? You park out front of a store in the fire lane by the front doors, go into the store, steal a video player and walk out the door. Not only do you set off the Checkpoint EAS tower, Loss Prevention has been watching you. You are approached by L.P. and run. It just so happens that about 8 police officers have been outside following you from the hotels. Why it only makes sense you would run from them too, and try to jump in your station wagon, start it and nearly run into a police car. You are surprised by the fact you are physically dragged out of your car and face-planted in the pavement? Don’t forget to pick up your brain from the other side of the bridge when you do get released from jail.
You shoplift from a store, Loss Prevention chases you and you pull out pepper spray. You decide to try to use it but the L.P. person is smart enough to keep their distance. A police officer arrives on scene, is about to arrest you and in a moment of shear and total stupidity, you elect to pepper spray HIM! That’s a special kind of STUPID!

What’s in the mind of a shoplifter? I don’t know. The question always elicits the usual responses of, “They can’t help it,” “They didn’t understand what they were doing,,” , etc. I say someone didn’t ask them, “Didn’t your momma teach you better?” then give them a good swat on the posterior when they were younger. And yes, all of those things really happened.

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Social Media and Shoplifting

July 25, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Social media has brought many changes to businesses around the world. One of the biggest changes that many businesses take advantage of with social media platforms, is the ability to market their business without spending thousands of dollars doing so. Marketing is not only for the big 500 companies, now the small mom and pop shop can and does market their business using social media as well.

It is no wonder then, that business owners are using social media to protect themselves, and warn other businesses of potential shoplifters. By posting video and written posts using Facebook and other mediums, businesses are taking security in their own hands.

Home Depot responds after firing Pearland employee who chased shoplifters

A former Pearland Home Depot employee who tried to stop three shoplifters was fired because his actions could have endangered employees or the general public, a Home Depot spokesman said Monday.

According to an interview given by former employee Jim Tinney to KTRK, Tinney saw three men attempting to leave the store in June, with tool sets they had not paid for. Tinney attempted to stop them by throwing an object at their feet.

Tinney did not immediately return calls to the Chronicle for information.

Home Depot’s policy prevents employees from attempting to stop shoplifters, said Stephen Holmes, director of corporate communications

Washington’s New Biometric Privacy Law: What Businesses Need to Know

With the rise in hackings and data breaches, companies and government agencies are looking for ways to protect their data that offer more security than passwords. Because passwords are easily lost, stolen, guessed, and cracked by hackers, companies are shifting to the use of biological characteristics that uniquely identify you, called biometric identifiers. For example, financial institutions and online retailers are developing ways to authenticate a purchase by requiring a user to take a selfie and smile, wink, or make another gesture. A stolen password could be easily reused, but faking a user’s arbitrary facial expression is more complicated.

But along with the strength of biometric identifiers comes new risks. When hackers steal your password, you change it. But when hackers acquire your fingerprint or facial scan, you can’t change either. Indeed, biometric identifiers are often selected for their permanence. For example, many companies are investing in scanners that identify a person based on the pattern of veins in their fingertip, rather than their fingerprint. A person’s vascular identity is harder to forge than a fingerprint and it changes less over time.

Recent rash of shoplifting infuriates business owners

Juneau store owners turn to social media to ID suspects

A recent rash of shoplifters has caused local business owners to take to social media, posting surveillance video screenshots in the hopes of identifying the perpetrators and warning other storekeepers.

In one suspect’s case, she was quickly identified as having hit two different businesses in one week — and the same woman has been charged in a shoplifting at downtown store Shoefly a little more than a month ago.

With the exception of the woman charged in connection with the shoplifting incident at Shoefly, the Empire is not printing the names of the suspects as identified on social media, because they have not been arrested or charged.

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Smaller Retailers Retaining Talented Employees In An Improving Economy

June 30, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

I remember the days when I needed to fill a position on my Loss Prevention Team and we could post an advertisement and I could easily get a dozen applications or more. Some of these applicants were talented and had extensive Loss Prevention experience and some had very little work experience at all but were looking for a job. The same thing happened when our Human Resources Manager would post job ads for cashiers, flow team or just about any position in the store, people needed work and took the time to sit at our application kiosks and apply on the spot. I’m not implying it was easy to conduct all of the interviews and sometimes the pool of prospective employees did not seem very appealing but they wanted the work and we could be somewhat choosey. The upside to this was that from a disciplinary and retention perspective, if an employee was not doing the job expected of them or they had attendance issues it was easy to go through the corrective action process and correct them right out the door. We knew we had people chomping at the bit for those positions.

Another benefit for the store in a struggling economy was that good employees were fairly easy to retain. There wasn’t a lot of competition looking to hire new area or department managers. Talented employees also knew that they were probably going to get the maximum available hours and were sure of their position within the store. Going to another business had risk associated with it since there was no guarantee they would be getting the same hours or enjoy the management. While the employee may not have cared for all of the managers in our store, the managers’ styles were a known quality to the employee.

Today the economy is improving and it is getting harder to hire and retain talented staff. Many national retail chains are now starting their employees out at $9 and $10 an hour. It is difficult to compete with these kinds of wages for entry level positions and for a small retailer, the choice could be hire at the rate but the cost of doing so is a reduction in the total number of employees you can keep on your team. If you are successful at bringing on an employee at minimum wage, how do you retain the talented employee who may be drawn to greener pastures on the other side of the fence? What can the small, independent store owner do? Let us offer some tips that can help you keep the great employees you can’t afford to lose:

Show your appreciation. It may seem silly but people want to know they are pleasing their manager/boss. Your store may be too small to have an employee of the month, it doesn’t work well when you only have a small number of people working for you. That recognition loses its value fairly quickly. Buying a drink for someone from a soft drink machine or bringing in pizza or snacks is always well received. It shows you’re thinking of them.
Get to know your employees and even learn something about their family. If something happens with their family member that they are proud of, like a child graduating from high school, give them an opportunity to tell you about it. If they have a sick family member or even a pet express your sympathy, maybe even suggest they take a day or two off to care for that person or pet.
Consider buying a small gift card of $10 or $20 every once in a while to a fast food place or a movie theater. Don’t necessarily make it in conjunction with any specific activity the employee did for you or any special sale they made. Do it at randomly and maybe place it in a “thank you” card with a note letting them know you appreciate their hard work.
Speaking of “Thank You” cards, there aren’t a whole lot of things that mean more than a hand written note mailed to someone’s home expressing gratitude for the service they provide to a company.

If a monetary bonus is in the budget following a successful inventory or prior to a holiday, like a Christmas bonus, it can go a long way to employee retention. A small bonus for someone making minimum wage can make a big difference for them.

It is hard for a small retailer to compete against the big companies, especially in retaining talent. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Demonstrate loyalty and appreciation for the people who make your company successful and they will return the favor.

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