Preventing Store Loses

Ideally a large store with many cameras would implement a software system that would have cameras directed in such a way as to gain live feed from every location of the retail store with the exception of restroom facilities and other such arias. Software could then model everything that moves with dots on a screen that move throughout the maze of the store layout to correspond to objects as they move throughout the store. One worker could then see the displays for multiple stores all from one corporate office room, and that one worker ideally would only need to click on a dot that moves throughout the store layout to focus with the camera on the person or thing that the dot represents.

With this model, the corporate worker would need only contact the store manager or the in store loss prevention team in order to report a potential problem that needs evaluation. Unfortunately most quality loss prevention efforts happen through loss prevention workers action as human intelligence operatives, and the most dedicated loss prevention teams will listen carefully to the word on the street, perform psychological profiling from a walk by observation, and use in store psychological criminal deterrent methods to frighten thieves into suspecting that security is on to them. Overall, loss prevention technology can either be really advanced cutting edge science for some stores, or loss prevention technology could just simply involve simple psychological deterrents for other stores like a door that buzzes when customers exit.

Many car dealerships for example will let most anyone that has a job take a new car home over the weekend for a test drive, and the car dealership will do this often without even knowing the person that they are loaning the car to. A car dealership would thus be likely to implement a tracking device onto a new car that operates with a similar transmission signal to that of a cell phone. From what I understand even cell phones have a unique signal that is produced through the chip set (or Programmable Read Only Memory chips) in the cell phone that produces a unique signal, and this for example is why a person would not loose their phone number when changing the battery on their phone. Thus a new car dealer would have no hesitations in loaning out a new car to a potential new car buyer for the weekend.

A large retail store however will protect key high price small items under glass cases as one form of loss prevention. A retail store will monitor inventory levels of products often that have a high loss rate as another form of loss prevention. Lastly a retail store will be most likely to have retail workers engage customers at every turn as another form of loss prevention as this can deter customer theft by using psychological tactics, but for the most part loss prevention devices are usually mainly only limited to providing psychological deterrents unless stores encounter big problems with shrinkage and thus need to upgrade to a high tech solution.

The most fundamental loss prevention device that it high teach and common is the magnetic strip, and the magnetic strip can be deeply hidden inside of merchandise. The magnetic strip combined with none removable extra heavy duty cable ties can work wonders for preventing theft, but the downfall is that if workers at cash registers do not desensitize magnetic strips then customers may have to encounter employees at the door and not only that but also when the customers get home they will need a pair of tin snips to cut the extra heavy duty cable ties. Overall, the point thus in all loss prevention technology and labor is not to offend the majority of customers to the extent that honest people care not to shop at your store, and the other point of loss prevention it not to make a high cost solution out of a low cost problem.