Shoplifters Va and MD

[JCHollaway]

:angry: There is a terrible problem with shoplifters in our store in Mclean, VA. HUGE PROBLEM!!! There is a group of professional that will come in and rip off 2-40 thousand dollars worth of merchandise in just a couple minutes. We are doing all that we can to help prevent it, but it is not enough. Any suggestions? Anyone else having the same problems in Northern VA? or Maryland?

[RGC_man]

About 15 years ago there was a Vietnamese gang going around stripping stores of all their designer frames. They were finally caught in the act with a car-full of frames, but were let off with a slapped wrist after giving the judge a story about it being the first time etc. Do you keep your top end frames in a locked display case?

[chip anderson]

Do you have security cameras? Is there a monitor in full view of the display area that makes "customers" aware that they are on camera through out the display area?
Have you bothered to read Optiboards when this has been discussed over and over in the past?

Chip

[OpticLabRat]

We had the same problem in Florida a few years ago. A group would come in and some of them would distract you while the others would swipe their fingers up the frame boards taking 20 pairs in one motion. Within two minutes they would have 200 frames and be long gone.
When we called another store to warn them they had already been hit as well.
Best Advice:

Security cameras going in and out and in the parking lot
Lock High end frames in showcases
Get frame boards that impead this action.You can tie every third or forth frames temples together with a rubberband to stop the swiping of a whole row. You could also rearrange the store so there are always employees near the front doors.
Prevention is the best weapon:cool:

[chip anderson]

Hate to disagree with LabRat but the in and out and the parking lot are not where you need the security cameras. They should cover the merchandise the screen should be split or alternating and in view of the "customers" they should know they are on camera!
You don't want to be bothered with prosecuting (especially in our useless court system) you want them to not steal in in your store.

Chip

[OpticLabRat]

Chip,

I said cameras watching faces coming in and exiting the store. Also in the parking lot entrance. We were able to get face shots and a tag from a rental car and the police found the renter of the car the next day and with a search warrant found about 1000 frames from several companys and other stolen merchandise including Jewelery, electronics, and other small high dollar items.

Dont be cheap with the cameras, you want high resolution equipment!!!

Of course Chip is right about covering the merchandise, The only problem is you usually get the back of the head during the theft. With a face shot upon entering the store, you kniow who was there at the time of the theft.

[rbaker]

I have always been mystified by the careless manner that the majority of retail shops display their merchandise. I guess that we are creatures of habit. Back in the early days, when most eyewear was sold in jewelry stores, frames were kept in display cases and customers did not have access to them. With the advent of the inexpensive “plastic” frames some retailers displayed them on peg boards and allowed customers free access to the merchandise. Being creatures of habit, this display method has become the norm.

What with the high cost of frames these days you might just want to revisit the use of display cases, especially in high walkthrough areas like malls. It would take a thief a lot of effort to purloin of with any merchandise. He would not bother with your shop, rather he would go down the street to your competitor who still invites his customers to help themselves by displaying hundreds of dollars worth of highly desirable merchandise on golf tees. Stop in at your local jeweler in the mall and look around.

Till then, cameras, guard dogs, armed security guards, and constant vigilance will have to do. Stop living in the problem and start living in the solution!


...

[JCHollaway]

Our store is equiped with cameras (1 forcused on the doorway and the others on the merchandise) We are located in a mall, so no access to parking lot ... but great idea OpticLabRat! We also have all of our high end merchandise (and merchandise located near the exit) in locking cases and towers. The thieves apparently can break the locks or have keys to others. I am changing all the locks this week, by the way. But these guys have guts... you can be standing right beside them and staring straight at them and they can still rip you off... I don't know how else to stop them. I have personally chased 3 sets of shoplifters to attempt to get merchandise back or at least get tag #s to give to police. But I value my own safety also, so I don't want to make this a habit. Prevention is the key... I keep all my associates at the front of the store... I actually disabled two computer terminals located in the back of the store to encourage it and even put alarms on the cases to alert us if they are opened... but still they rip us off!!! I am just frustrated and hoping for some encouraging words I guess.

[chip anderson]

You could try the brown stain on the carpet with a sign :"Our last shoplifter."

[Cindy K]

I'll never forget this one.

Several years back I was alone in the office for a short time, and had a couple regular clients in as well as a VERY pregnant young lady I hadn't seen before. She was very well dressed, bejewelled, well groomed, and HUGELY pregnant to the extent I was expecting her to commence labour any moment.. As I worked with other clients, she browsed the frame bars and occasionally asked me a question, or conversed with me as I dealt with matters at hand. She left after telling me she'd be back when I had more time.

Well, one of my regular clients, upon leaving, found a magnetic clip on the floor by the door and brought it to me as he thought it was something another client may have dropped on his way out. I immediately recognised it as a clip from one of the frames the pregnant young lady had asked me about (it still had one of the cling tags on a lens). On going to investigate, I found gaping holes all over the frame boards, including the mate for the clip I now held in my hand. I'd estimate she walked out with at least a dozen, if not more, frames. I mentioned this to the client i was working with and he indicated there was NO WAY she could have pocketed them all, as she only carried a small wallet, no purse.

A good few months later I was at the local mall and who should I see but this STILL VERY PREGNANT YOUNG LADY! I realized then she wasn't pregnant at all but concealing who knows what treasures she was picking up from the stores in that veritable sac below her bosum.

You just never can tell...

[ziggy]

If you just shoot one, then word will get around to leave your frames alone. Use a .380 cal it will knock them down and you can still send them to jail.

[rsandr]

I saw the subject and thought it was about shoplifters visual acuity and macular degeneration.

[JCHollaway]

Maybe if they had poor VA or MD then we wouldn't have such a problem!!!! :-)

[Ory]

Perhaps they need special magnifiers and bioptic telescopes to help them shoplift?

[HarryChiling]

My wife was working at a toys "r" us in college when a team of shoplifters came into the store and stole $80,000 worth of toys and video games. They had a uhaul truck outside with a wooden ramp going up the back of it and about 10 or so of the shoplifters just pushed the carts right out of the door and up the ramp into the truck which speed away. The police said that they had been doing this all over MD.

[Ory]

I worked at a Canadian Tire store while in high school. For those not familiar, this was The hardware, automotive, and general other stuff store in Canada before Home Depot came along.

One day a guy walked into the store, picked up a 20' extension ladder, and just walked out the front of the store. He looked like he knew what he was doing so no one questioned him. While he was in the parking lot tying the ladder onto the roof of his car, the store owner arrived and helped him! It was only after he was gone that anyone realized he hadn't paid for it.

[C-10]

Shoplifters are away going to be a problem they are petty thefts and they know it. The ones I hate are those who come in and purchase their eyewear and pay with check that bounce here is a person in my books are worse than the shoplifter you know who these people are and there is no way you can really go after them. Hence the no check policy. Or the person who come in with their insurance card purchase their eyewear an they are not covered. So you spent the greater part of a year trying to collect from them if you can.

[ziggy]

I saw the subject and thought it was about shoplifters visual acuity and macular degeneration.
I cant remember the last time I laughed so hard,, thanks!

[HarryChiling]

I saw the subject and thought it was about shoplifters visual acuity and macular degeneration.

That is funny. :bbg:

[k12311997]

Shoplifters are away going to be a problem they are petty thefts and they know it. The ones I hate are those who come in and purchase their eyewear and pay with check that bounce here is a person in my books are worse than the shoplifter you know who these people are and there is no way you can really go after them. Hence the no check policy. Or the person who come in with their insurance card purchase their eyewear an they are not covered. So you spent the greater part of a year trying to collect from them if you can.

I know nothing about Canadian law. Around here you can file a bounced check with the local magistrate. first send a registered letter to let pt. know check bounced and associated costs. if the patient shows up in court they are ordered to pay plus court costs. if they don't pay they get a warrant for theft by deception.

[sph]

Dont be cheap with the cameras, you want high resolution equipment!!!


Any recommendations? We are ready to install a system after some small-time theft.

Thanks,