10 Tips to Beat Shoplifters

Written by Mike Delaney


Studies have shown that, inrepparttar United States, as many as one in twelve customers is a shoplifter, and that shoplifters commit an average of 50 thefts before being caught. That's if they are caught at all; it's estimated that only 10-15% are apprehended.

There are vast numbers of tips circulating regarding how to deter shoplifting. With over 20 years' experience as a shoplifter, I know which are effective, and which are a waste of time. Here are a few battle-tested and inexpensive things you can do to minimize shoplifting in your store.

1. FIX YOUR FIXTURES In most cases, shoplifters require privacy in order to conceal merchandise. This is especially true with small specialty shops thatrepparttar 106635 arrangement ofrepparttar 106636 fixtures creates many areas forrepparttar 106637 shoplifter to be hidden from sight.

Determine where your staff spendsrepparttar 106638 majority of their time. For many small stores this is nearrepparttar 106639 cash register. For others, it might be nearrepparttar 106640 phone, orrepparttar 106641 office.

Arrange you fixtures withrepparttar 106642 goal of minimizing "blind spots" onrepparttar 106643 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 ofrepparttar 106644 layout. Most allow direct visibility ofrepparttar 106645 sales floor to a lone clerk, and mirrors exposerepparttar 106646 remaining areas.

2. 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 ofrepparttar 106647 store into a waiting car, before your staff can react.

A simple way to thwart this is to alternaterepparttar 106648 direction of each hanger onrepparttar 106649 display, especially on those nearrepparttar 106650 store exit. This makes it impossible to take an entire armful of clothing off of a circular rack at once, and makes it difficult on a tree rack. Make it part ofrepparttar 106651 opening or closing duties to have an employee "Setrepparttar 106652 Hangers".

3.REQUIRE A RECEIPT FOR ALL RETURNS Many shoplifters steal withrepparttar 106653 express intent of returningrepparttar 106654 merchandise torepparttar 106655 store,repparttar 106656 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, withrepparttar 106657 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,repparttar 106658 legitimate customer with a defective product, or withrepparttar 106659 wrong size or color, is accommodated, butrepparttar 106660 thief is not.

4.LOCK UP SHOPLIFTER-ATTRACTIVE MERCHANDISE As a general rule,repparttar 106661 smaller and more valuable an item is,repparttar 106662 more attractive it is to a shoplifter; particularly to those who steal with intent to either sellrepparttar 106663 merchandise themselves, or return it for a refund.

Keep small, expensive items behindrepparttar 106664 counter or locked in a display case. Ifrepparttar 106665 display case has a lock, lock it; do not assume thatrepparttar 106666 case alone will dissuade a shoplifter. Legitimate customers will understand this as a necessary evil and won't object, shoplifters will go elsewhere.

5.BE SMART ABOUT E.A.S. 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 whenrepparttar 106667 item is purchased. If not removed or deactivated, it triggers an alarm as it passes sensors nearrepparttar 106668 store exit

EAS systems are expensive, but fairly effective. If you have one in place, affix your alarm tags carefully. Hiderepparttar 106669 tags beneath seams and labels, or on an internal page of books and magazines.

If you can't hiderepparttar 106670 tag, try to make it less noticeable by aligning it with physical aspects of, orrepparttar 106671 graphic design onrepparttar 106672 packaging.

Consider placing two tags onrepparttar 106673 merchandise: one obvious,and one not so obvious. The shoplifter may removerepparttar 106674 obvious tag and not noticerepparttar 106675 other one, thus setting offrepparttar 106676 alarm.

Getting Organized for Success

Written by Elena Fawkner


Getting Organized for Success

© 2002 Elena Fawkner

Email, sales letters, email, phone calls, J.O.B., email, kids, conference calls, mentoring and sponsoring, errands, personal time, email, website updating, writing articles, email, search engine positioning, ezine publishing, advertising, email. Oh, and sleep. And did I mention email? Sounds like your day, right? Yours and everyone else's who runs a business part-time around their REAL life.

There's always so much to do and so little time. Or so it seems. But is that really true? You may be surprised to find what you can really accomplish in a day if you were to take repparttar time to get organized. What do I mean by organized? Simply knowing how many hours a day you have available and allocating that time efficiently.

How many hours a day do you have available to you? Well, let's say you sleep for 8 hours. That leaves 16, right? OK, how do you makerepparttar 106634 best use of those 16 hours? By managing your time effectively. Here's how.

This is your Sunday night activity. Start with a grid (for those of you who are computer nerds, by all means use an Excel spreadsheet). Your grid is eight columns across and 30 rows down. Label your eight columns like this:

TimeMon. Tues. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Then, inrepparttar 106635 rows underrepparttar 106636 "Time" heading, enter half hour blocks of time starting at 6:00 am and ending at 10:00 pm (or whatever your "awake" time is). Your grid should look like this:

TimeMon. Tues. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun.

6:00 - 6:30 am 6:30 - 7:00 am ... 9:00 - 9:30 pm 9:30 - 10:00 pm

Decide on a code for your grid - whether color-coding, letters, whatever, so you can see at a glance where your time is going.

Now, using your code, block off unavailable, non-discretionary time. This isrepparttar 106637 time you spend working at your J.O.B.,repparttar 106638 time you spend getting ready for work inrepparttar 106639 morning, commuting inrepparttar 106640 morning and evening, takingrepparttar 106641 kids to and from school/daycare, participating in conference calls hosted by your network marketing company, etc. This is any time that you have *no choice* about. Although you have to run errands, for example, you do have a choice about when to do them so this doesn't go in here.

Allrepparttar 106642 white space is time that you have available to you for discretionary activities. By "discretionary" I don't necessarily mean stuff you don't have to do at all if you don't want to, I mean stuff that you can schedule for a time of your choosing. For example, we must all shop for groceries and put gas in our cars once a week, but we have a choice when we do so.

Make a list of your discretionary activities. This includes weekly errands and chores,repparttar 106643 time you need to spend keeping your web site up to date, writing articles, search engine positioning, reading and responding to email, mentoring and sponsoring your downline, publishing your ezine, writing ads, etc. And don't forget to schedule recreation/family time and time for yourself to do what you want (even if that's absolutely nothing).

OK, now that you know what you have to do, andrepparttar 106644 time you have available to do it in, when is your peak concentration time? Are you an early morning person or a night owl?

Schedulerepparttar 106645 activities that requirerepparttar 106646 most concentration for these periods. Enter them into your grid. For most people, these will be things like writing articles and salesletters - activities that require thought, concentration and a reasonable amount of *uninterrupted* time.

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