I have learned so much about retail theft that it both fascinates me and freaks me out at the same time.
Let me first admit something that many people don’t know. When I was in junior high, I shoplifted with a friend of mine. We stole some make-up from a large department store. We got caught, of course, and I landed in juvenile court. This action was so uncharacteristic for me, and I felt incredibly guilty for a very long time. Thankfully, I was in my early teens and nothing appeared on my permanent record.
My “punishment” was to talk to my peers about what I had done, and why I did it. And I never did it again. Ever. Lesson definitely learned.
Fast-forward 21 years to the present day. Technology has become so incredible that the clothes we sell in the store are now embedded with a sensor tag sewn inside the garment. When a client purchases something, we “de-sensor” it by swiping it over a magnetic-type surface at the register. This way, the client doesn’t set off the alarm when she leaves the store.
Here are a few things I’ve learned about theft in Retail World:
1.) It is still VERY easy to steal clothes.
2.) If you carry a bag lined with aluminum foil (again, who does that?!?) and place your stolen garments in the bag, it decodes the sensors.
3.) If you notice someone closely hunched over a stack of shirts/pants/sweaters, it is quite likely she is in the process of cutting/ripping off the sensors and placing the stolen merchandise in her getaway bag.
Quite often, we’ll find sensor tags lying on the floor, under a rack of clothes. Just last week, I found several ripped/cut sensor tags within a pile of folded jeans.
Here’s the craziest thing, though – WE DON’T PROSECUTE!! We can’t ever prove that a client stole the merchandise, even though we may catch them in the act.
It’s so disturbing to me, even though I was guilty of this same act when I was a kid. Now that I’m an adult, I expect other adults to not take items for which they have not paid. It’s not fair and it’s not right.
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4 years ago
2 comments:
Wow. I am totally enlightened. Never thought about half of those things, but it must be very frustrating and disheartening to work in retail and find those tags that have been removed. Come on, people.
Court
once, in my father's store, a lady with a large coat actually put 4 men's suits between her legs and marched out of the store. that's what i call chutzpah. another time, after we had attached sensor tags, and they were something new, we forgot to desensitize one and a gentleman walked out of the store, with his paid item, and the buzzer went off. he sued us because he said he felt like he was back in the concentration camp and he was frightened to death. unfortunately, my father settled because it was too expensive to fight it in court. people are really unbelieveable. makes you wonder who raised them, and what kind of ethics there are out there. unfortunately, with the hard economic times, there is bound to be a rise in merchandise thefts. the reason they are not prosecuted is the expense. it's easier to right off the shrinkage (a retail word for you.)
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