Shoplifting and Illicit Drugs

August 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment

For many years now, police departments and local shop owners have worked together to prevent shoplifting in their communities.  The relationship between drugs, alcohol and shoplifting are problems that they know exist and they intend to face and find solutions for them.

The bureau of Justice Statistics research found that more than half of the women arrested for shoplifting tested positive for illicit drugs, compared to two-thirds of the men. 

Police departments want to help retailers fight the shoplifting problem by being proactive and acknowledging the fact that drug addiction and shoplifting go hand in hand.

For more about this and other stories, follow the links below.

Honey, I Shrunk The Store.

While the “retail apocalypse” narrative is nonsense, it’s clear that we are witnessing a major contraction in traditional retail space. Store closings have tripled year over year and more surely loom on the horizon. The “death of the mall” narrative also tilts to the hyperbolic, but in many ways it is the end of the mall as we know it, as dozens close and even larger number are getting re-invented in ways big and small.

While the shrinking of store fleets gets a lot of attention, another dynamic is becoming important. Increasingly, major retailers are down-sizing the average size of their prototypical store. In some cases, this is a solid growth strategy. Traditional format economics often don’t allow for situating new locations in areas with very high rents or other challenging real estate circumstances. Target’s urban strategy is one good example. In other situations, smaller formats allow for a more targeted offering, as with Sephora’s new studio concept.

Police in Mentor are trying to stop shoplifting before it happens

Mentor police say that, according to the statistics, their shoplifting surveillance program is working, and fewer drug abusers have been arrested shoplifting.

Three years ago, officers in the Mentor Police Department noticed a correlation between drug use and “theft rings.” The department received a grant from the state to start the Retail Crime Theft Deterrence program. Officers who participate in the program keep an eye on retail stores in the city of Mentor looking for suspicious behavior, and for known drug abusers who have a history of shoplifting or other crimes.

The program, now in its third year, points to statistics showing a decline of admitted drug users arrested for shoplifting.

In 2015, police said 62 percent of those arrested for shoplifting were admitted drug addicts. That number went up to 72 percent in 2016, but so far this year, 37 percent of those arrested for shoplifting admit having problems with drugs.

According to information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half of women arrested for theft, and nearly two thirds of men, test positive for illicit drugs when they are arrested.

Mentor police Officer Jim Collier said retailers appreciate the program

Serial shoplifter who bit supermarket worker walks free from court

​A SHOPLIFTER who bit a supermarket worker has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Kerry Gallimore, of Chaucer Grove, Atherton, assaulted an Asda employee causing him actual bodily harm after being caught stealing food to the value of £78 in the town on January 13.

In other shoplifting offences committed in Atherton, the 28-year-old also stole plants to the value of £24 and £15 from Tesco on April 18 and May 25 respectively and £50 worth of make-up from Boots on June 15.

Gallimore was also convicted of dishonestly receiving a stolen 43-inch smart television valued at £600 in Atherton on May 3 and two counts of failing to turn up at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court after being released on police bail.

 

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Can Your Shelving Prevent Shoplifting? Oh Yeah!!!

August 1, 2017 by 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 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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Setting Goals In L.P. Vs. Setting Quotas, What Are The Benefits And Costs?

August 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Police hear it all the time when issuing tickets, “Need to make your quota for the month?” Usually it is a false question with a false premise that has been perpetuated over time. While there may be some police departments that set quotas they are the exception rather than the rule. Loss Prevention departments go through similar problems. Some people think that Loss Prevention staffs are out to rack up numbers any way they can get them. Most L.P. professionals are simply trying to catch shoplifters who are stealing and they want to apprehend dishonest employees to stop theft, prevent shrinkage and it can serve as a notice to other employees that theft won’t be tolerated. For some L.P. personnel there is a perceived pressure to “get more shoplifters” and in other cases it is real. For the retailer that is not able to pay for a Loss Prevention Staff, their concern is simply to drive the bad guys somewhere else and get rid of a crooked employee before they cause too much damage. Sometimes this is done using electronic article surveillance equipment from a company like Checkpoint Systems. They don’t feel the same pressure to “apprehend” but there is a sense of urgency in minimizing theft opportunities (how to do that becomes another matter).

     There are stores with a Loss Prevention hierarchy that sets “expectations” or “goals” for the apprehension of dishonest employees or shoplifters. The message that seems to get down to the store level is that there is always theft in a building, all the time. I have seen this lead to a requirement that stores have a minimum number of open internal investigations at all times. No pressure there, right? Wrong, the words may not be spoken but the message that is heard (correctly or incorrectly) is that cases will be successfully closed. And that implies that not doing so will impact an annual review. For most people, integrity will ensure they do not try to manipulate a case or make a shaky apprehension say for a single incident of grazing or snacking but do such cases exist? I suspected such activity was taking place at other stores but could not prove it.

     The same type of pressure can be felt by Loss Prevention Officers. They get on a cold streak and can’t seem to make an apprehension and the L.P. Manager starts to get questioned about low shoplifter numbers. No one says a specific number have to be caught but “guidelines” are established that say on average, x number of shoplifters should be apprehended for every x number of hours an Officer works. The Associate then begins taking more risks, focusing attention on high theft areas that carry more risk for making stops like in cosmetics and costume jewelry. The theft is taking place there but following all of the apprehension steps for such small pieces of merchandise can be very difficult. A suspect puts down an item without the Officer seeing it and a bad stop is made. Yes, it can happen with almost any piece of merchandise but those types of merchandise are extremely risky to make stops on. But, harder still is that the same L.P. Associate while told that apprehensions should be higher is also told to avoid risky stops on items like cosmetics or jewelry unless it is stolen along with other merchandise. This sends a mixed message to the Associate.

     None of this is to say that goals should not be set. Working without a goal is like running a race with no clear finish line. Goals can be set based on historical data or on the season of the year. Allowing an L.P. Associate to be part of the goal setting is also important. It is up to the Manager to make sure the goal is reasonable. A goal set too high can frustrate an Associate if they don’t achieve it. Setting reasonable goals also gives a boost to one’s self-esteem if they achieve it. A good Associate will also want to beat their last achievement but not at the risk of a bad stop.

     For L.P. Managers, setting internal apprehension goals is fine, but the bigger picture should be on achieving improved shortage results. Identifying and focusing on the core issues for the store, whether they are operational or theft related. An L.P. Manager engaged with the store team will be able to educate and train while picking up on suspicious employees who may need to be investigated. Don’t assume that low shortage results means no theft, it may mean L.P. knows where and when to focus its’ time and energy.

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Social Media and Shoplifting

July 25, 2017 by 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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Safety And Shoplifting

July 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment

As a retail business, shoplifting, employee theft and lawsuits come hand in hand.  Preventing shoplifting and employee theft are somewhat under control by you or the management of the store, while  lawsuits are-although preventable-not under strict control. 

A shoplifting incident can become something of a life or death situation very quickly. Here, the rules and regulations set by the owner or management of the store and that employees must abide by become too important to ignore. 

As an owner or manager of a store, safety must be your number one priority.  Safety not only for your employees, but for your customers as well. An employee chasing after a shoplifter when they have left the premises is dangerous and should never be encouraged. Lawsuits and deaths lost due to chasing after a shoplifter have been numerous.  The resulting death of a shoplifter have landed people  in jail and in the courthouse. Safety should be your number one priority at all times.

Family of slain Chicago area Uber driver sues Walmart

CHICAGO — Relatives of a suburban Chicago Uber driver who was fatally attacked while on the job has sued Walmart, where authorities say the driver’s teenage attacker stole weapons just before the killing.

The family of Grant Nelson filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday in Cook County against the retailer and two other companies overseeing its security.

Authorities have charged 16-year-old Eliza Wasni in Nelson’s death, saying she stole a machete and knife from Walmart early on May 30 and then got into Nelson’s car and brutally attacked him.

The lawsuit claims two Walmart employees or contractors stood near the door as Wasni exited. The lawsuit alleges they were negligent because they failed to stop the teen and ask her any questions.

Guard at CVS Pharmacy chases down, kills shoplifter in Dallas, police say

A loss-prevention staffer at a CVS Pharmacy store shot and killed a suspected shoplifter after chasing down his getaway car Sunday afternoon in southeast Dallas, police say. 

Police arrested 36-year-old Julio Ruvalcaba Monday on a murder charge.

Officers were dispatched to the shooting about 3 p.m. Sunday and found 31-year-old Christopher Geddes lying on the curb on the eastbound C.F. Hawn Freeway service road and Elam Road, police said.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Surveillance video showed Geddes shoplifting from the CVS on South Buckner Boulevard and running to a Toyota Camry in the parking lot, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Footage from several minutes later shows another person leaving the store and getting into a Chevy Camaro parked outside. CVS employees identified that person as Ruvalcaba, a loss-prevention staffer tasked with reducing shoplifting.

 

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“I Can Out Sell My Theft & Inventory Shortage”….. Yeah Right

June 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

If you believe that you can outsell your cash or inventory losses due to theft, you probably won’t be in business for long. Or if you do survive, you are no way living up to the margins you deserve. In my 35+ years of loss prevention particularly helping medium to small retailers, I have heard this more times than I can believe.

Consider this, as an example, if you have a net 2% profit over all. In other words after taxes, rent, payroll, merchandise cost, insurance…. you clear 2 cents on the dollar. Then a $100 dollar loss will cost you $5000 (100÷.02). Yes, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. You will have to purchase, ship, receive, stock and sell another $5K just to BREAK EVEN on a $100 loss. I doubt even a drug dealer would make money that way.

Don’t delude yourself. 

Now on the flip side. I do not advocate that you turn your store into a six sided steel box to protect yourself from shoplifting, employee theft, vendor fraud and paperwork errors. Exactly the opposite. I want you to have an open, friendly and inviting environment for your legitimate customers and employees. What you can’t be is naive to your shrinkage and loss problems.

First, realize that you must do inventories at a minimum quarterly, more often if things are seriously out of whack. Cycle counts for individual SKU’s that seem to be loss problems are also important. Do not wait until the end of a quarter or heaven forbid end of year to find out you have a problem. You have to go on offense not defense. Theft and shrink are business problems. Nothing more, nothing less. We can easily show you how to do this. You do not have a retail LP issue that has not been seen and dealt with before.

In regard to employee theft what are your hiring practices. As an LP professional that has personally conducted over 2300 investigations and interrogations of employees involved in theft, I started looking up the drain pipe to see where it is all coming from.  It starts with the application and employment interviewing.

For shoplifting; Do you and your staff know really know how shoplifters act. Probably not. Shoplifters are easy to spot. You just need to know what to look for. Stopping them is incredibly easy. Again, you just need to apply the correct tools and training.

But all of this is for nothing, if your retail attitude is not straight.

Another problem is business apathy. The “oh I am so busy I do not have time”. You don’t have time to keep your profits on your bottom line and not the thief’s? Then why are you doing all this? Making a living for you, your family and employees is all what it is about.

I have had people steal from me. It doesn’t feel good and it makes me angry.  I work really hard and try to work smart to provide my family’s income and the income for my employees. But the thought of simply covering it up in my own mind is unthinkable. It should be for you also.

Go on the attack. Fix your loss problems before they happen. Remember, we can help you with that. We are simply an email or phone call away.

Have a super retail day!

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The Costs Associated With Poor Hiring Decisions

June 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

We make decisions each and every day that have consequences. We set our alarm clocks and when they go off we choose to do the right thing and get up so we have time to prepare for work properly, showering, grabbing a bite to eat, sipping a cup of coffee or two and saying good-byes to our family. It is possible we may choose to do the wrong thing, hit the snooze button and get that 5 extra minutes of sleep but there is a cost associated with it. That five minutes easily turns to fifteen minutes, showers go by the wayside, we grab the first thing we can find in the closet (or hamper), our socks wind up not matching and if we are fortunate we grab a cup of coffee in a travel cup and hope it doesn’t spill on us as we jog/stumble to the car.

Employers can make poor decisions too when they don’t take the time to hire the right person. Some of you may be familiar with a cost/benefit analysis. You probably use it when you are deciding how to run your store(s). Do you allow your inventory shortage numbers to sit at 1.5% or do you invest in a Checkpoint Security System, spending money now but reaping the benefits later in significantly reduced shrink due to theft?

Do you keep investing all of your money into one store hoping to find the formula that will increase your foot traffic or do you take the risk and open a second store in a new market and try to attract a new batch of loyal customers? Is the cost of the investment going to benefit you over time with increased sales? The same thing holds true for your hiring decisions.

When you hire the right person, all kinds of good things can happen. You may bring on a future department supervisor or assistant store manager. You might be adding that person who seems to make everyone around them smile co-workers and customers alike. Sometimes your hiring decisions result in a home run and that new employee is just a self-motivated go-getter who learns quickly and doesn’t wait around to be told what to do next. The right person offers new ideas and suggestions to help a business get better and wants to see the company succeed. Those people exist it’s just a matter of finding them by not rushing to fill positions and hiring the first person you interview.

But did you know there are hidden costs to making a bad hiring decision? Suppose the applicant doesn’t work out for you for one reason or another and you have to end his or her employment, now you have to go through the hiring process again. What does it cost to advertise the job? How much time will you spend reviewing applications, making phone calls to check on references and setting up interviews? Let’s not forget the time it takes to conduct the interviews. Once you make a hiring decision, guess what? Now you have to train your employee, investing more time and pay for the time training is taking place. Oh, and did I mention that there is a chance that the person you fired will file for unemployment? You may have grounds for termination but even if you do, you need to spend time at the unemployment office fighting the claim. The larger retailers often have a Human Resources Manager to take care of this, unfortunately smaller business owners don’t have this person and so the owner or store manager has to go to the hearing.

What are some of the other costs associated with making a bad hiring decision? A poor performer can have a negative impact on the morale of other team members. Who wants to pick up the slack for someone else? You may have hired a thief and then your cost is amplified in the shortage they are causing in stolen money or merchandise. You may find you pay for a poor hiring choice in terms of spending time on disciplinary action and all the steps you have to take to get rid of the employee.

What’s the answer for a small retailer? We can help you with pre-employment screening as a background check company who can thoroughly investigate a prospective employee doing the legwork of checking out who the applicant really is. Next, take your time in reviewing applications. It’s better to be short-handed for a while and get a quality candidate than just filling a spot out of desperation. Building a strong, reliable team may feel like it takes longer but it will pay for itself in the long run. 

     

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Employee Theft and Shrinking

June 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

It is not surprising that employee theft and shoplifting increases every year.  With online “chat rooms” where shoplifters share their “methods” and the many ways they can get away with shoplifting, it is not surprising the losses across the globe are reaching staggering amounts. 

In 2013, the losses due to shoplifting amounted close to $16 billion globally, a 34% increased over the previous year.  The National Retail Security Survey revealed that in 2015 retail lost an approximate $45 billion due to shrinking, up by more than a billion from the previous year.

What are the expectations for 2016, and 2017? What will the losses amount to this year?

For more about this and other informational topics, follow the links below.

Employee Theft on the Rise According to Latest Retail Survey

Major retailers lost over $44 billion in thefts by customers and employees according to Jack L. Hayes International’s annual Retail Theft Survey.

Wesley Chapel, Fla. — Jack L. Hayes International, a leading loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm, has released its 29th Annual Retail Theft Survey.

According to the survey, 438,000 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2016 by 23 large retailers who were able to recover over $120 million from the thieves.

“In 2016, dishonest employee apprehensions increased almost 10%, with the dollars recovered from these dishonest employees up nearly the same amount (9.3%). While shoplifting apprehensions and the dollars recovered from these shoplifters decreased ever so slightly, 0.2% and 0.9% respectively”, says Mark R. Doyle, president of Jack L. Hayes International.

According to the survey, one out of every 27 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer in 2016. The total number, 53,786, is an almost 10% increase compared to last year.

Over $42 million was recovered from dishonest employees in 2016, up 9.3% from 2015.

Survey participants apprehended 384,296 shoplifters in 2016, a slight decrease of 0.2% from the prior year. The average shoplifting case value in 2016 was $203.18, a slight decrease from 2015 when the value was $204.57.

Exclusive Retailer Survey: Tackling Shrink 2017

C-stores may suffer from a bundle of cash-related issues, but tech-driven solutions are on the way.

One of the show-stopping numbers from the musical “Cabaret” includes the famous refrain, “Money makes the world go ’round.”

But money also makes the world of convenience retailing complicated. And problems such as cash miscounts, sticky-fingered employees and lack of data around dollars can stop the show for eager-to-perform operators who have to devote valuable time and resources to solving these snags.

To help shine a spotlight on the currency concerns c-store retailers face, CSP and Technomic conducted their seventh-annual cash-management report, commissioned by FireKing Security Group (complete results below). Finalized in March, the study surveyed 175 convenience operators who make or influence choices related to cash flow, banking and cash management in their stores. Thirty-seven percent of respondents operate one store, while 63% operate two or more locations.

Results from this year’s study reveal big concerns—and opportunities—for retailers’ cash-handling practices.

The Amazon Approach to Groceries Won’t Replace Stores

It’s a model that could thrive in dense, affluent areas. Most areas are neither dense nor affluent.

​For a certain kind of urban professional, Amazon and Whole Foods are brands that define the consumption of staple goods: the weekly trip to pick up cheese, produce, maybe some pasture-raised organic beef; and the nice UPS man dropping off everything else, from toilet paper to truffle oil. On Friday, those folks learned that they are facing a future of truly one-stop shopping: Amazon.com Inc. plans to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion.

But what about the rest of America? Well, if you happen to work for rival grocery chains, the news is not good. Competitors from Costco to Kroger to Dollar General saw significant chunks knocked off their market capitalization. Other casualties may include Walmart, the $15-an-hour minimum wage (Amazon is aggressively experimenting with cashierless stores), and the rather unique corporate culture that drives Whole Foods.

 

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Tips To Counter Website Advice For Potential Shoplifters

June 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment

There seems to be an advice website or YouTube video for nearly everything these days. Want to know who to call for home repairs? Need information about a car before you buy it? Looking for someone to date? Yes, it’s all on the internet, I’ve even completed some plumbing repairs and small vehicle repairs with the aid of online videos. Unfortunately, while there is a lot of help and good information on the world wide web, there are also sites that purport to be “informational” only but the information they provide supposedly tells people how to shoplift. What I find even more irritating is that some of these theft websites allegedly are written by former Loss Prevention personnel. The information they give is sometimes too accurate and could cause problems for a retailer who isn’t informed themselves on how to prevent thieves from stealing from them.

     Here is some ‘information’ that is published on the web and our advice can help you fight back against these shoplifter websites.

  • Website: Carry money with you, no money makes it hard to say it was spontaneous.
    Loss Prevention Systems Inc. (LPSI) Advice: It makes no difference if the shoplifter has or does not have money. Treat all shoplifters the same and be consistent in prosecuting within whatever your policies say.
  • Website: Carry a bag but don’t place anything in it. It may get you off the hook if they can’t find anything in it.
    LPSI Advice: Store Loss Prevention or Managers should never be stopping a suspect if they don’t know where the concealment took place and what was concealed. If you don’t know and didn’t see it, smother them with extensive customer service.
  • Website: Security does not go looking for poorly dressed people. They may pick on you out of boredom but they anticipate professional shoplifters will dress up a bit. Wear whatever you want.
    LPSI Advice: Loss Prevention professionals who do the job right look for signals that may indicate someone is going to shoplift and the types of clothes worn. Are the clothes unseasonable? Is the person wearing a bulky coat when it’s warm outside? Is the person in a known high theft area? Does the person avoid customer service from employees?
  • Website: If you get caught don’t act tough or be a smart “arse” (sic), cry, bawl, beg them not to call the cops, that your kids will be taken by CSV (child services).
    LPSI Advice: Always be consistent. Don’t play favorites and don’t do “favors”. Not applying the rules equally to everyone can actually get you into legal hot water. If there are children with the shoplifter there is nothing wrong with allowing them to call a family member or close, trusted friend to pick up the children. Often shoplifters who have no record of shoplifting have been caught before they were just released and not prosecuted. See how that works?
  • Website: Look for younger, or less ‘affluent’ associates who may turn a blind eye if they see you shoplifting.
    LPSI Advice: Train ALL of your associates on the importance of customer service and the necessity to report all suspicious activity. Perhaps initiate a reward program for employees who can demonstrate they have prevented a theft. This may be done if they can show clothes with torn off tags or an anti-theft device that was being tampered with and the associate walked up and disrupted the thief. Maybe it’s a fitting room attendant who finds merchandise hidden that a shoplifter was going to try to take into the fitting room. Age of an employee should never be a factor.
  • Website: Most employees at places with EAS (electronic article surveillance) door alarms (towers) view them as an annoyance instead of as an asset. If someone does respond to an alarm they are usually only allowed to ask you if you “forgot to pay for something”. They cannot threaten to call the police. There was no evidence.
    LPSI Advice: Ensure all associates are trained on appropriate EAS alarm response. Waving goodbye or saying, “It’s okay” is not appropriate. Employees should be asking politely for receipts and then looking for dates, time stamps, and verifying the items on the receipt are the items being carried out. If a discrepancy is found a manager should be called over. If nothing is found in bags or in the shopping cart, there are additional steps to take in order to determine the cause of an alarm.

     Loss Prevention Systems provides training for managers and staff on preventing shoplifting. You can contact LPSI for information on how to approach an EAS/Checkpoint system alarm. These are simply a few tips on how to overcome the tips from these “informational” websites. Don’t be a victim to shoplifters. You can prevent theft, reduce your shortage and increase profits. Proper training for you and your managers can pay big dividends regardless of what criminals may read on the world wide web.

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