Who else has alot of items locked up in your store?

[Flow Warrior]

I guess I am wanting to know are you just unlocking the item and letting the guest go on their way? Our store is slowly becoming if its not nailed down the wall its locked up. We are starting to see upset guests because they can't be trusted with the item. Idk maybe its me....

Unfortunately, guests can't be trusted with the item. That's WHY its locked up. We walked them to a register or in electronics ring them up there.

 

[Flow Warrior]

I'm not walking a fucking vacuum or perfume or pet flea care up to the register so I just give it to them

We do. Or you get a discussion with ETL-AP. We always need a cart pusher or cashier so TMs discover this quickly. We also have the lowest shrink in the region because of this.

 

[busyzoningtoys]

If it's on a locking peg hook or in a locked case, then it's walked to guest service/the checklanes/electronics. If guests complain I just tell them it's policy that all locked items be checked out immediately or held for them at electronics or guest service.

 

[wiredharpoon]

If you use the blister tags the items shouldent be ripped off of locking pegs. If they are it leaves the blister tag so AP can research it and watch for whoever stole the item the next time they come in.

 

[Kompa]

If you use the blister tags the items shouldent be ripped off of locking pegs. If they are it leaves the blister tag so AP can research it and watch for whoever stole the item the next time they come in.

What if they didn't steal it. What if they just cut if off and payed for it? I do that in other stores because the electronic section is totally empty after like 9 in a lot of places

 

[Bosch]

If we hand out a dyson, we just let AP know so they can keep an eye. Everything else we give to the guest, minus electronics which is sold right then and there.

Nope they are spiderwrapped and teathered down. They get walked up front. We have had so many stolen(doesn't help some jackass put them next to a fire exit.). They don't get to the guest until its paid for.

 

[HardlinesKing]

OMG my store does. I guess we are considered a "high risk" store or whatever so we recently started locking up eyelashes/certain nail care products, razors, electric toothbrushes, and those expensive face/eye creams. Not to mention before that we already have so many things locked up in appliances such as vacuums and coffee machines. Electronics is just as bad we don't even keep Apple products on the floor anymore...if somebody wants to buy one we have to go to the backroom lockup to get it. Its super annoying to have call buttons go off all the time for simple things guests complain about it all the time. Ive gone to other stores where very few things are locked up besides the obvious and I'm kind of jealous.

 

[TeamRed]

Honestly I'm not surprised they don't put tide pods under lock and key where I live they lock up tide pods dollar general but to be fair we also have a ton of flea markets in the area sell it dirt cheap so who knows..

 

[sito]

we have a couple of different things locked. we have eyelashes, electric toothbrush heads, razors, and some electronics items on yellow security tags: these , electric toothbrushes, white strips, cologne and women's perfumes and game consoles and anything else that's super expensive locked up. iphone cases, fitbits, etc on those white locks in electronics; vacuums and anything else that can't fit into locked up spots on spider wraps, blu-rays, video games etc in those clear lock up cases... lets see what else???? we're just always extra careful.

 

[NPC]

Curious, has locking up merchandise had a negative impact on sales? Does that really outweigh the risk of theft? I mean, there's a lot of shit in HBA I don't need, but would still buy if I could get to it. But I'm otherwise not going to wait for an employee to come unlock something for me if I don't really need it. I'd probably just rip it off the peg too.

 

[SquishySquishy]

Curious, has locking up merchandise had a negative impact on sales? Does that really outweigh the risk of theft? I mean, there's a lot of shit in HBA I don't need, but would still buy if I could get to it. But I'm otherwise not going to wait for an employee to come unlock something for me if I don't really need it. I'd probably just rip it off the peg too.

It could stop a booster from filling a cart with $2k and pushing out daily for a week.

 

[Flow Warrior]

What if they didn't steal it. What if they just cut if off and payed for it? I do that in other stores because the electronic section is totally empty after like 9 in a lot of places

Well then you get monitored alot. I knew a walmart ap person who kept a file of people who did what you described and still bought it. He said its because they have a potential to destroy merch. he was very anal. However, he has a point.
We know AP watchs electronics in any big box chain, and defeating locked pegs even if you buy it asks for walker to appear.

I habitually tell people that if you open something on a shelf, even if you buy it is the quickest way to attract attention from security. Most have shocked looks.

 

[Flow Warrior]

Curious, has locking up merchandise had a negative impact on sales? Does that really outweigh the risk of theft? I mean, there's a lot of shit in HBA I don't need, but would still buy if I could get to it. But I'm otherwise not going to wait for an employee to come unlock something for me if I don't really need it. I'd probably just rip it off the peg too.

Not really. Look at it this way, ripping off the peg says:

1. I don't give a fuck about this store .
2. I think more about me than you.
3. I don't want to spend the time finding someone because fuck it my time is important.

Is it really, though? If you are in a hurry, that is one thing. However, mostly its apathy, laziness and I special mentality.

Me if I find something locked up and I really want it, I will go to the effort to find someone. When I lived in Tulsa, even after I quit Wal-mart, I had no issue going in the back to find someone.
However, if I am just browsing, killing time or simply bored, then no, I will go elsewhere. I respect the job of the others, the shop and the fact that this causes prices to rise.

 

[NPC]

Not really. Look at it this way, ripping off the peg says:

1. I don't give a fuck about this store .
2. I think more about me than you.
3. I don't want to spend the time finding someone because fuck it my time is important.

Is it really, though? If you are in a hurry, that is one thing. However, mostly its apathy, laziness and I special mentality.

Me if I find something locked up and I really want it, I will go to the effort to find someone. When I lived in Tulsa, even after I quit Wal-mart, I had no issue going in the back to find someone.
However, if I am just browsing, killing time or simply bored, then no, I will go elsewhere. I respect the job of the others, the shop and the fact that this causes prices to rise.

Doesn't answer my question at all, but thanks for the story. Anyway, I'm genuinely curious to know the actual numbers.

 

[wiredharpoon]

Curious, has locking up merchandise had a negative impact on sales?

It does. Look at sales of stores that have every single jewelry item in a locked showcase. I worked at one and it was bad... then again we would have people clear entire shelves of stuff and just walk out with it. Gotta look at theft vs sales.

 

[redcardroy]

Doesn't answer my question at all, but thanks for the story. Anyway, I'm genuinely curious to know the actual numbers.

It's a tough compromise. But I think anyone who's had a shelf cleared in seconds by a booster is willing to make that compromise.

 

[NPC]

It's a tough compromise. But I think anyone who's had a shelf cleared in seconds by a booster is willing to make that compromise.

True, emotionally speaking. Does it count as a loss twice if they return the items at GS?

 

[redcardroy]

True, emotionally speaking. Does it count as a loss twice if they return the items at GS?

That's a good question. Im trying to visualize it from an accounting perspective. When they make the return...

Sales Returns is debited
Cash is credited
Inventory is debited
Cost of Goods Sold is credited

So therefore inventory becomes overstated which results in shrink. But when the balance is put on a gift card, I think the balances of cash and sales returns balance out. Logically the effect of a fraudulent return should only impact the loss on the inventory being overstated since we got the inventory back, we just exchanged it for a gift card. So technically it's a cash loss (even worse) but I don't think companies can differentiate between the two in a case like this. It would just be considered shrink from the overstatement of inventory. I could be wrong. It's a good question to ask a CPA.

 

[redcardroy]

I just asked my accounting professor about this. The gift card is considered a liability, not cash.
inventory is overstated
COGS is understated
sales returns overstated
liabilities overstated

Once the thief uses the gift card, the revenue becomes overstated which means the overstatement of revenue and the overstatement of sales returns will net out and won't affect revenue. Liabilities will become zero. When the inventory count is made, COGS will be corrected and the difference will go down as shrink.

So short answer is the shrink is only counted once.

 

[tgtJose]

If we hand out a dyson, we just let AP know so they can keep an eye. Everything else we give to the guest, minus electronics which is sold right then and there.

Nope they are spiderwrapped and teathered down. They get walked up front. We have had so many stolen(doesn't help some jackass put them next to a fire exit.). They don't get to the guest until its paid for.

surprisingly, we've never had anyone try to take them out that exit.

 

[DavidorJared]

Someone at our store spiderwrapped a 200 lb (ok probably not but it was damn heavy) ac unit, the thing doesn't fit in a cart and needs to be flat bedded out, i ca't see the purpose of that at all.

 

[redeye58]

AP: So who was it that tried to steal that AC unit?
TM: The hunched-over guy limping up to the entrance. Pretty sure you can catch him.
AP: Nah, I'll take my break then catch up to him in the parking lot. Dude ain't goin' anywhere real fast.

 

[Bosch]

View attachment 3340

surprisingly, we've never had anyone try to take them out that exit.

You are lucky, we have a couple other reasons outside of the store that make my store a hot spot for boosters so we tie that shit down tight. Cause if not they walk out on it seems on the daily.

 

[Badjedidude]

surprisingly, we've never had anyone try to take them out that exit.

That actually is surprising, especially if those aren't also tethered to the shelves.

 

[RandomGeek]

Our entire electronics dept is locked down or spider wrapped except for the computer accessories and ink weirdly enough. They've special ordered all shapes and sizes of lock boxes for game controllers, CD's are all in keepers. Anything that's locked has to be checked out back in electronics, its coachable to just hand it off if its locked up (not that this stops the idiots back there, who no one can figure out how they still have jobs).

My store was given the honor of being number one in shrink on the last inventory in our area, the only good side is they gave us more than one COMPLETELY ineffective AP-ETL and a TPM that couldn't give a crap about theft. The new ETL locked it all down and installed, yes INSTALLED, cameras to actually cover the floor, not just entrances.

Back to the main topic... All the locked pegs and lock boxes have actually not impacted sales apparently. I think the reason is simply because so much was being stolen, that it is counting as a positive, even if some guests are annoyed and walk away while waiting on the idjit to come over with keys. Plus, the cell phone case wall is actually 80% zoned right since its all locked down. Woo.