LOSS PREVENTION

More than 750,000 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended last year by just 27 US retail companies, according to the 17th Annual Retail Theft Survey from Jack L. Hayes International. While both shoplifting and employee theft recovery and apprehensions were up, these same retailers still lost over $4.7 billion to shrink We are here to serve and protect your companies assets by providing total quality service with ensuring all our operatives are highly trained investigators in the retail environment.

We realize that this type of situation is difficult for not only the employees involved, but the entire organization. Therefore, our highly trained investigators evaluate every situation differently and proceed accordingly with the forethought that his particular situation might become hostile.

Let our experts assist with your delicate situation.

PDA MODEL FOR SUCCESSFUL LOSS PREVENTION INVESTIGATIONS

Determine where your staff spends the majority of their time. For many small stores this is near the cash register. For others, it might he near the phone, or the office. Arrange your fixtures with the goal of minimizing “blind spots” on the sales floor. From their usual vantage point, your staff should be able to look down almost every aisle. Once you have maximized visibility by arranging fixtures, consider installing a large convex mirror to view any unavoidable hiding places.

Next time you are in a convenience store, take note of the layout. Most allow direct visibility of the sales floor to a lone clerk and mirrors expose the remaining areas.

ALTERNATE CLOTHING HANGER DIRECTIONS


One way shoplifters can steal a tremendous amount of clothing is to quickly grab as much clothing from a display as they can carry and run out of the store into a waiting car before your staff can react.

A simple way to thwart this is to alternate the direction of each hanger on the display, especially on those near the store exit. This makes it impossible to take an entire armful of clothing off of a circular rack at one, and makes it difficult on a tree track. Make it part of the opening or closing duties to have an employee “Set the Hangers.”

REQUIRE A RECEIPT FOR ALL RETURN


Many shoplifters steal with the express intent of returning the merchandise to the store, the same or another branch, for a cash refund.

This can be addressed by requiring a purchase receipt for all returns. This creates some conflict, however, with the interest in delivering quality customer service. A compromise policy is to require a receipt for cash refunds and general store credits, and to allow same-item-only exchanges without one. This way, the legitimate customer with a defective product or with the wrong size or color is accommodated, but the thief is not.

RETAIL LOSS PREVENTION IDEAS

LOCK UP SHOPLIFTER-ATTRACTIVE MERCHANDISE

As a general rule, the smaller and more valuable an item is, the more attractive it is to a shoplifter; particularly to those who steal with intent to either sell the merchandise themselves, or return it for a refund. Keep small, expensive items behind the counter or locked in a display case. If the display case has a lock, lock it; do not assume that the case alone will dissuade a shoplifter. Legitimate customers will understand this as a necessary evil and won’t object, shoplifters will go elsewhere.
BE SMART ABOUT EACH TAG PLACEMENT

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) is a system in which merchandise has a small “tag” affixed to it which is either removed or deactivated when the item is purchased if not removed or deactivated, it triggers an alarm as it passes sensors near the store exit.

Maya Loss Prevention Tip: Even if you don’t have an EAS system, consider buying some tags anyway. There are suppliers who sell recycled tags inexpensively. Shoplifters will recognize the tags, but since they don’t see any sensor gates at the exit, they may think you are using a new system that they aren’t yet aware of. It might just be enough to deter the theft.

MONITOR YOUR FITTING ROOMS

Do not let customers enter and exit your fitting rooms without encountering your staff. A fitting room is an ideal place to conceal merchandise: if shoplifters can get merchandise into the fitting room, they have complete privacy, and even a mirror to gauge how nicely the merchandise is concealed. A favorite shoplifting method is to place several items of clothing on a single hander. This relies upon the inattentive employee counting the number of hangers. Not the number of clothing items. Or worse, barely lifting their eyes as they ask “How many?” Shoplifters then enter the fitting room and conceal the extra merchandise brought in on the single hanger. Generally, it will be extra clothing brought into fitting rooms, but I have brought 35mm cameras in with a pair of jeans draped over my arm (and the cameras). Make sure your fitting rooms do not have anyplace to discard labels and price tags.

SIGNAGE


Posting the correct signs around your store can deter many shoplifters, even (possibly especially) experienced shoplifters.

Maya Loss Prevention Tip: Shoplifters are dishonest people, so don’t feel guilty about stretching the truth a little on your signage, for effect. For example, you might post the classic sign that says simply, “Smile, You’re on Candid Camera”, whether you use cameras or not. Or a sign with changeable numerals on J-hooks that say “## Shoplifters Prosecuted This Year. Are you next?” Be creative. All the retail greats were creative people. And remember your primary goal is to coerce shoplifters into taking their craft elsewhere.

PROSECUTE ALL THEIVES

Call the police on every shoplifter you catch. No exceptions. In the shoplifters’ minds, if you don’t call the police, they win, and they will continue to hit your store over and over. Do not release juvenile shoplifters to their parents; prosecute them. The only time I was every caught, I was thirteen years old. The police were not called, and I continued shoplifting another 15 years – including from the store in which I was caught.

Prosecute all thieves. Period.