Archived New Merch Protection

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Makeshift TPS

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So the new spider wraps and non disposable blister tags are rolling out and i'm not entirely digging it. Allow me to explain.

The Spider Wrap, with the protruding section to twist rather than the flip up twist knob is meh at best. While the new knob design eliminates the old problem of the twist knob snapping off, it creates several more.

1. For one, the front unit sticks out too far, which is an issue for zoning as you cant fit as many items on the shelf due to the knob and unlocking cylinder sticking out an extra 1" from the already large front unit.

2. You can no longer fit it around larger items as you could with the old ones due to it all being connected. It would have been nice to see them keep the old design where you could pop out the latch and run the wire around the merchandise.

3. Though you can twist them tighter once the red switch is armed, I haven't ever been able to make them anywhere close to as tight as the old spider wrap. For some reason, as soon as the wrap meets resistance, it seems to disallow for further twisting, often leaving the spider wrap relatively easy to slip off with minimal manipulation.

4. My final complaint with them is that they coil poorly. I'm not quite sure why this is, but more than half in the shipment my location got were near impossible to separate with force. I was eventually able to figure out that I could alternate pulling on the opposite cords, two at a time, to slowly uncoil them, but it is a remedy for a problem that really shouldn't exist.

As for the new yellow non-disposable blister tags. These weren't as bad, in fact I actually see quite a bit of potential with these. While we're only using them on pet medication for now, I've been told that these are supposed to be largely replacing blister tags eventually, so there are a few things i'd like to address.

1. The largest problem I've noticed with them is their incompatibility with most items. While they fit pet meds fine, I haven't been able to fit them on much else. The size of the inner locking cylinder prevents them from being applied to Fitbits because the Fitbit hanger hole is too narrow, while the slim area around the lock itself prevents items with larger hangers, such as Vivosmart watches, from fitting into the tag.

2. If the cashiers company wide are anything like the cashiers at my store: no matter how much you tell them, they will dispose of these with a frequency that will not make them cost effective to utilize. I understand that this is more hypothetical, but I can almost guarantee this happening.

3. The plastic housing around the lock hangs down too low. This is no problem with item's where the tags hang relatively high from the item itself; however this becomes a problem when the hanger hole is close to the box, as it prevents the tag from getting close enough to the hole to lock in place because the housing is colliding with the box.



Anyway, this is my take on it. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with innovation, I just hope that these problems are addressed. Hopefully a corporate TM scours these threads looking for feedback and comes across these.

What do you all think about these?
 
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I don't consider it innovation, I just see it as cost reducing efforts. My store still uses razor cases and the razor boosters don't even try to hit us up. The new BoxGuards are just a cheap, poorly made knockoff so Target can save more money in the AP department.

The yellow blister tabs are used at every other store around us, and they keep getting boosted on razors. I see TCM cases from the same group adding up to $5k+...
 
I've seen these yellow blister tags from 2 months and no one from AP or higher ups told me anything regarding what they do, how to use it, how to remove them. Not even electronics know what it is. I wouldn't be surprise at all to seem them in the trash.
 
The yellow blister tabs are used at every other store around us, and they keep getting boosted on razors. I see TCM cases from the same group adding up to $5k+...

This is odd to me. These tabs, as far as I understand, are simply to replace blister tags, not cases, spider wrap, or locking peg hooks. As far as I've been instructed, they're only to be used in conjunction with locking peg hooks. It would be pointless to use them otherwise, they may as well just be super expensive EAS stickers.

I've seen these yellow blister tags from 2 months and no one from AP or higher ups told me anything regarding what they do, how to use it, how to remove them. Not even electronics know what it is. I wouldn't be surprise at all to seem them in the trash.

That's a bit of a problem. Typically placing the S3 key magnet over the lock picture on them released the locking cylinder.
 
Odd. Our district was given those yellow tags as a pilot for shave cartridge refills. Maybe other districts were instructed to pilot them on different products? It wasn't communicated to us that they would be replacing the clear blister tags. We are still able to order those and use them everywhere else (pet, electronics, ect.). The biggest issues we have with the yellow tags are about one out of three end up breaking in someway. The other issue is not all cashiers know to take them off.

As for the BoxGuards we aren't even using them. We have more than enough of the Alpha wraps to last us years.
 
We were specifically instructed by both our APBP and APML to use only the yellow clips on our razors and to return the old razor keepers. Same with every store in our district, so far as I know. Now you're telling me that it's not Corporate wide?

WTF????????????

Why do we have to be the guinea pigs? Our shortage in razors is unbelievable now, people are simply cuttung around the yellow clips, pulling them off, or cutting out the bottom of the package and leaving the husk.
WTF?

As for cashiers not getting them, I showed all our GSTL's how to disarm them and they've trained all the cashiers how to by now, so that hasn't been a problem. They do break a lot, however.
We also haven't ordered any BoxGuards yet, but we're running low on the mini-spider-wraps, so we're going to have to order some soon. :(
 
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Let them cut around the yellow clips. It will be 100% easier to catch who is doing it and get everyone involved. As for razor keepers and box keepers lol. For some reason the only merchpro we can have are spiderwraps and locked peg hooks.
 
We got the yellow tags about a year ago and the Redwire indicated we were a pilot store for it. We even had surveys to indicate the effectiveness of them. Maybe they're being rolled out company wide now?

As for razor keepers, those are for limited stores based on risk level. My old store didn't get them. My current store we are allocated pretty much every type of merch protection. We even have fragrance and nicotine lockup cases.
 
You missed my two MAJOR complaints about the box guards, nobody apart from AP knows how to work them (especially front end) and now we need to carry an S3 key and box guard magnet.
 
We were specifically instructed by both our APBP and APML to use only the yellow clips on our razors and to return the old razor keepers. Same with every store in our district, so far as I know. Now you're telling me that it's not Corporate wide?

WTF????????????

Why do we have to be the guinea pigs? Our shortage in razors is unbelievable now, people are simply cuttung around the yellow clips, pulling them off, or cutting out the bottom of the package and leaving the husk.
WTF?

As for cashiers not getting them, I showed all our GSTL's how to disarm them and they've trained all the cashiers how to by now, so that hasn't been a problem. They do break a lot, however.
We also haven't ordered any BoxGuards yet, but we're running low on the mini-spider-wraps, so we're going to have to order some soon. :(
I think the guide explicitly states to continue use of the keepers and to only use the autopegs for the men's wet shave. Your store sounds high priority if you're getting that much theft in razors...they were bragging about how these things are doing really well and have seen reduced theft in their use.
 
Positive, I ordered a few of them offa sap. Should be able to find it if you look up s3
You mean the ones that get installed at the checklanes? I was under the impression that some stores would get those that didn't already have the alpha ones at all lanes. But I didn't think they were "portable" to be carried around.
 
You mean the ones that get installed at the checklanes? I was under the impression that some stores would get those that didn't already have the alpha ones at all lanes. But I didn't think they were "portable" to be carried around.
Something to consider if you can't find it, is the new key can just attach to the s3 with how small it is.
 
Something to consider if you can't find it, is the new key can just attach to the s3 with how small it is.
I tried out those new keys when we first got the box guards in. Honestly they suck. The mounted checklane ones work pretty good but the little key chain magnets wouldn't unlock the box guards 90% of the time.
 
I tried out those new keys when we first got the box guards in. Honestly they suck. The mounted checklane ones work pretty good but the little key chain magnets wouldn't unlock the box guards 90% of the time.
The combo key won't be much better. I haven't attempted just using the s3 key though.
 
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