LPportal.com | V12.4 JULY-AUGUST 2013
LOSS PREVENTION
MAGAZINE THE VOICE OF LOSS PREVENTION
Holistic Threat-Assessment Strategies
Mitigating and Managing Threats and Acts of Violence REORGANIZING THE LP AND AP TEAMS AT STAPLES a practical guide to online investigations SPEAK AS WELL AS YOU THINK
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Contents
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6 PUBLISHER’S LETTER How Do You Read the Magazine? By Jack Trlica
Mitigating and Managing Threats and Acts of Violence
8 10
ON THE WEB RETAIL SPONSORS
12 INTERVIEWING General Loss Interviewing—Part Three By David E. Zulawski, CFI, CFE and Shane G. Sturman, CFI, CPP
Holistic threat-assessment strategies for retailers
By Steven C. Millwee, CPP, SecurTest, Inc.
24 ACADEMIC VIEWPOINT National Retail Security Survey: 20-Year Update By Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D.
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36 CERTIFICATION The Secrets to a Successful Career By Gene Smith, LPC
Reorganizing the LP and AP Teams at Staples
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A discussion with Dan Provost and Steve Bacica
CALENDAR
46 MY TURN Why Do Employees Steal? By Fern Abbott
By James Lee, LPC, Executive Editor
55 SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE - American Dynamics 56 EVIDENCE-BASED LP Using Big Data for Precision Prevention Measures By Read Hayes, Ph.D., CPP
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A Practical Guide to Online Investigations
58 INDUSTRY NEWS - Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Arriving in Mainstream Retail? - U.S. Management Buys All-Tag, Expands U.S. Factory - Walmart Changes AP Leadership Team - George Luciano Added to NRF Ring of Excellence By Robert L. DiLonardo
Tactics and resources to use when investigating online fencing and fraud
By Dave DiSilva, eBay
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Speak as Well as You Think
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
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ADVERTISER DIRECTORY
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VENDOR SPONSORS
66 PARTING WORDS The Power to Choose By Jim Lee, LPC
The ability to communicate clearly can differentiate you
By John M. Vautier, Vautier Communications
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11 10 of the top 50 retailers
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Publisher’s LETTER
How Do You Read the Magazine?
O
ne of the members of the magazine’s vendor advisory board, Pedro Ramos from Agilence, sent me a photo of his 11-year-old daughter, Lily, eating breakfast while reading the facial recognition article in our May-June issue. When he asked her what she thought about the article, she said “Cool, Dad.” In the twelve years we’ve been publishing the magazine, we’ve received a great deal of comments from readers about our articles. Sometimes the comments are critical, but the vast majority are positive. That’s a credit primarily to the loss prevention professionals who take the time to write on a subject about which they are passionate or to provide one of our writers their expertise on a subject.
MAGAZINE 700 Matthews Mint Hill Rd, Ste C Matthews, NC 28105 704-365-5226 office, 704-365-1026 fax
Some of you prefer our digital edition (digital.LPportal.com) that you read on your desktop or tablet PC. The digital edition provides an easy way to follow links to advertisers, print or email articles to associates, and access our digital archives. In addition to our six print magazines per year, we also publish articles on our website (LPportal.com) and in our weekly e-newsletter, LP Insider, that goes out every Thursday. A great many of you visit our website often and subscribe to our e-newsletter. We are always looking for ways to get you the information you want in the format and vehicle you prefer. To that end, we have put together a readership survey to give you an opportunity to tell us how you prefer to read the magazine. Please go to our website to find a link to the survey. To encourage you and thank you for your participation, we’ll randomly choose ten people to receive LP Magazine logoed shirts.
Renew Your Subscription
We very much appreciate all of our contributors and ask each of you to consider how you can contribute to a future article in the magazine. If you are interested in writing an article or suggesting a topic for us to cover, always feel free to contact me at editor@LPportal.com.
Readership Survey
Seeing the photo of Lily reading the magazine at breakfast caused me to think about all the ways our readers consume the information we publish. We know that some of you prefer the print edition. You put it in your briefcase and read it at home, on the plane, or in your hotel room.
If you receive the print magazine, you have likely received an email notice or a false cover on your magazine asking you to renew your subscription. We are often asked why we have to have you renew a free subscription. It doesn’t make sense since there’s no money exchanged. The U.S. Postal Service requires that our readers actually request to receive the magazine in writing every three years in order to earn the periodical postage rate, which is less expensive and delivered faster than bulk rate. So if you get an email request from us, please take a few seconds to respond so we can ensure that you continue to get the magazine. You can also renew your subscription or change your address any time at myLPmag.com. Any questions about your subscription or information about putting your entire organization on our mailing list can be sent to circulation@LPportal.com.
Jack Trlica Editor and Publisher
LossPrevention and LP Magazine are service marks owned by the publishers and their use is restricted. All editorial content is copyrighted. No article may be reproduced by any means without expressed, written permission from the publisher. Reprints or PDF versions of articles are available by contacting the publisher. Statements of fact or opinion are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the publishers. Advertising in the publication does not imply endorsement by the publishers. The editor reserves the right to accept or reject any article or advertisement.
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EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Jack Trlica JackT@LPportal.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR James Lee, LPC JimL@LPportal.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Robert L. DiLonardo Walter E. Palmer, CFI, CPP, CFE CONTRIBUTORS Dave DiSilva Read Hayes, Ph.D., CPP Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D. Adam Paul Gene Smith, LPC Shane G. Sturman, CFI, CPP Chris Trlica David E. Zulawski, CFI, CFE DIGITAL EDITOR John Selevitch JohnS@LPportal.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Larry Preslar PROOFREADER Amy Trainor DESIGN & PRODUCTION SPARK Publications info@SPARKpublications.com 704-844-6080 A D V E RT I S I N G
ADVERTISING MANAGER Bonnie Dodson 828-479-7472 office, 704-943-5797 fax BonnieD@LPportal.com WEST COAST REPRESENTATIVE Ben Skidmore 972-587-9064 office, 972-692-8138 fax BenS@LPportal.com S U B S CR I P T I O N S E R V I C E S
NEW OR CHANGE OF ADDRESS www.myLPmag.com POSTMASTER Send change of address forms to Loss Prevention Magazine P.O. Box 1088 Lowell, MA 01853 LossPrevention aka LP Magazine (USPS 000-710) is published bimonthly by Loss Prevention Magazine, Inc., 700 Matthews Mint Hill Rd, Ste C, Matthews, NC 28105. Print subscriptions are available free to qualified loss prevention and associated professionals in the U.S. and Canada at www.myLPmag.com. The publisher reserves the right to determine qualification standards. International print subscriptions are available for $99 per year payable in U.S. funds at www.LPportal.com. For questions about subscriptions, contact circulation@LPportal.com. Periodicals postage paid at Matthews, NC, and additional mailing offices.
© 2013 Loss Prevention Magazine, Inc.
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ON THE WEB
EYEONLP
Editorial Board
Check out the new EyeOnLP.com page for the latest videos of what’s on the mind of LP executives and solutions providers, plus assorted videos we think will interest the industry.
Ken Amos, LPC Divisional Vice President, Loss Prevention, Walgreens
Bob MacLea Senior Vice President, Loss Prevention, TJX
Leo Anguiano, LPC Senior Director, Asset Protection Rite Aid
Chris McDonald Senior Vice President, Loss Prevention, Compass Group NA
Jim Carr, CFI Director, International Loss Prevention, Rent-A-Center
Randy Meadows Senior Vice President, Loss Prevention, Kohl’s
Francis D’Addario Emeritus Faculty Member, Strategic Influence and Innovation, Security Executive Council
Dan Provost, LPC Vice President, Global Loss Prevention, Staples
Charles Delgado Vice President, Asset Protection, Meijer
Debbie Maples, VP of LP at Gap Inc., is passionate about investigations. Are you? She also offers women in LP some passionate advice.
Patti Felz Vice President, Loss Prevention, Polo Ralph Lauren
Tim Shipman, LPC Director, Corporate Investigations and Crisis Management, Delhaize America
Barry Grant Senior Vice President, Operations & Loss Prevention, CPI Corp
Mark Stinde Vice President, Asset Protection, 7-Eleven
Bill Heine Senior Director, Global Security, Brinker International
Paul Stone, LPC Vice President, Loss Prevention and Risk Management, Best Buy
Sonya Hostetler Vice President, Asset Protection & Safety, Walmart Stores U.S.
Charles Delgado talks about safety and threat-assessment teams at BJ’s Wholesale Club. Good stuff!
Frank Johns, LPC Chairman, The Loss Prevention Foundation Gary Johnson Vice President, Loss Prevention, Vitamin Shoppe Paul Jones, LPC Senior Director, Global Asset Protection, eBay Karl F. Langhorst, CPP, CFI Corporate Director, Loss Prevention, The Kroger Co.
Ken Amos and Walgreens are using 25 years of data to not only predict where crime will occur, but have the data answer questions that LP hasn’t yet thought of. Who woulda thunk it?
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Tom Roan Group Vice President, Loss Prevention, Macy’s
LPportal.com
Bill Titus Vice President, Loss Prevention, Sears Holdings Claude Verville, LPC Vice President, Loss Prevention, Safety & Hazmat, Lowe's Stanley E. Welch, LPC Vice President, Director of Loss Prevention, jcpenney Keith White Senior Vice President, Loss Prevention and Corporate Administration Gap Inc.
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Join these great companies as an LP Magazine corporate sponsor. Email JackT@LPportal.com for more information. LP Magazine | july - august 2013
11
interviewing
General Loss Interviewing: Part Three I
n our last two columns we discussed the application of general loss interviewing and some of the preparatory work necessary to make it a successful endeavor. As we mentioned previously, there are a variety of ways to schedule the associates for the interviews. The most successful investigations generally identify those most likely to be involved in theft activity and schedule them for interviews early in the investigation. This can be done using psychological testing or examining the employees’ backgrounds using a data sheet to collate areas of high risk in their background to create a general risk assessment.
The Behavioral Interview
Our first experience with general loss interviewing began as polygraph examiners doing routine periodic polygraph testing of employees for companies in the 1970s. During the ‘70s the polygraph was used by many organizations to identify dishonest associates. The tools we have today to mine data as well as digital cameras with zoom lenses didn’t exist as a resource for loss prevention at the time. Especially in specialty operations, general loss interviewing was used to resolve high shrinkage in target locations. The structure for these general loss interviews varied greatly between companies and interviewers. In some instances the interview was nothing more than a fact-gathering conversation in hopes of identifying the causes of the shortages. In other cases employees were actually interrogated and accused of theft even though there was no basis for the accusation. The first formalized general-loss interview came about when Douglas Wicklander began using a behavioral interview without the polygraph to investigate specific issue losses and high-shrinkage locations in the mid-1970s. The initial strategy he employed was to use a behavioral interview as a screening device to identify truthful employees and eliminate them from the investigation. This allowed him to focus on those employees most likely to be involved in counterproductive behavior at the facility. The behavioral interview was a series of 18 to 20 non-accusatory questions asked of each associate. This interview was essentially a polygraph pretest that
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by David E. Zulawski, CFI, CFE and Shane G. Sturman, CFI, CPP
Zulawski and Sturman are executives in the investigative and training firm of Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates (www.w-z.com). Zulawski is a senior partner and Sturman is president. Sturman is also a member of ASIS International’s Retail Loss Prevention Council. They can be reached at 800-222-7789 or via email at dzulawski@w-z.com and ssturman@w-z.com. © 2013 Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, Inc.
was predictive of how an individual would do on a polygraph when asked if he had stolen from the store. Through thousands of these interviews, examiners were able to determine how truthful people would most likely respond to the questions, and how the untruthful would respond in a different manner. Based on the individual’s verbal/physical behavior and content of the answers, the interviewer could successfully eliminate truthful associates from the investigation while focusing their attention on those most likely to be involved in counterproductive behavior. Wicklander successfully used the behavioral interview as an investigative tool in specific-issue cases where a polygraph either could not be used or was too expensive, as well as in general-loss investigations where there was no information to focus the investigation on the guilty parties. The protocol that he used to conduct these interviews varied somewhat, but generally began with talking to those employees who were the least likely to be involved in dishonest activities. These were the long-tenured, older, and most competent associates at the location. Using information gleaned from their interviews, he was able to identify the employees most likely to be involved in dishonest activities.
Problems with the Early Protocol
Each of his interviews began with obtaining biographical information from the employee, which established a behavioral norm for comparison against the individual’s responses when asked about theft activity at the location. Initially, the employee was told there was an investigation relating to shortage at the facility and then a direct question was asked whether or not the associate had stolen money or merchandise from the store. This was followed by questions relating to knowledge and/or suspicions the individual may have about other employees stealing from the organization. The remaining questions of the behavioral interview were asked and then the interviewer made a determination whether the person could be eliminated from the investigation. If the individual was determined to be deceptive, the interviewer would attempt to obtain an admission of continued on page 14 |
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continued from page 12
theft of money or merchandise or some form of policy violation. The interviewer then developed the admission and obtained a written statement to substantiate the loss. This was the general practice we used in general-loss investigations until the early 1990s, when we began to focus on an entirely different structure to the interview. We had noticed several consistent problems with organizing the interview as it was first conceived by Wicklander. First, the interviewer was often left knowing the individual was deceptive, but not specifically knowing whether the employee had stolen money or merchandise or whether it was some other policy violation. Second, using the interview first seemed to indicate to the associate that the investigation had not identified those involved, and the investigator was merely looking for leads as to which employees were stealing. Finally, the level of denials was often difficult to overcome because the interviewer was uncertain of the individual’s actual guilt.
The general-loss interview can be a productive tool in resolving high-shrinkage problems, but it requires planning, preparation, and excellent interviewing skills to be most effective. Recognizing these difficulties led to rethinking the general-loss interview and overall structure of the approach. It was apparent that using the behavioral interview first gave the individual the impression that the investigation was a fishing expedition. From our conversations with people who had confessed, we knew that the primary reason a person made admissions was because he believed he was caught. So it was apparent using the interview first was counterproductive. The second issue that needed to be addressed was the lack of information about the ways in which the employee was stealing from the store. That led us to the use of the non-confrontational introductory statement which could help the interviewer resolve how the associate was stealing.
A New Approach
The new organizational structure begins with the use of either a psychological test to assess risk of dishonesty or identifying likely dishonest associates through the use of the data sheet to organize the employees into a hierarchy of most to least likely to be dishonest. Then we begin the interviews with those most likely to be involved in dishonesty, based either on their psychological assessment or the high-risk categories identified by the data sheet. This change allows the interviewer to act as though the employee’s guilt is certain because the person is interviewed early on in the investigation.
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Next the interviewer obtains biographical information to establish the individual’s behavioral norm and does a short rapport-building conversation before moving on to the introductory statement. The introductory statement is about a five-minute monologue that addresses what loss prevention is and does, identifies how losses commonly occur, and finally discusses how investigations are conducted by investigators. The short statement says two different things to the innocent and guilty. First, the innocent associate looks interested and comfortable during the discussion because he has not involved himself in counterproductive behavior. On the other hand the guilty employee hears the same words and has an elevated fear of detection because of his theft activity and now his belief is that he may have been caught. Second, the discussion of how losses commonly occur allows the interviewer to assess the behavior of the associate as each of the methods are presented. Often, the guilty associate will respond behaviorally to the methods he has used to steal from the organization. This gives the interviewer potential intelligence information to assist in the discussion of the methods used to investigate internal problems. If the behavior associated with the introductory statement is deceptive, the interviewer then adds rationalizations to show understanding for an individual’s mistakes and to minimize the seriousness of what has been done. This builds to a test for submission followed by an assumptive question, such as, “Mark, let me ask you this. What would you say is the most amount of money you took in any single day?” If the employee hesitates, the interviewer offers a follow-up question, such as, “I mean it wasn’t as much as $5,000 at one time was it?” A denial here is the first admission the employee has stolen from the organization, just not $5,000. The interviewer now moves to development of the admission to identify the full scope of the associate’s involvement in theft activity and to substantiate these admissions. If the employee makes a strong, adamant denial of involvement, the interviewer then finishes the behavioral interview asking about associate’s knowledge or suspicions of others stealing from the company. The interviewer simply completes the rest of the behavioral interview to confirm his original suspicions or correct his assessment. While he did not obtain an admission, he now has two tools that separately confirm his belief that the individual was involved—the introductory statement and the behavioral interview. Effectively, the introductory statement takes the place of the behavioral interview, allowing the interviewer to assess the individual’s concern and potential methods of theft while reserving the behavioral interview as a means of backing out of the conversation. The general-loss interview can be a productive tool in resolving high-shrinkage problems, but it requires planning, preparation, and excellent interviewing skills to be most effective. |
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Cover Feature
Holistic Threat-Assessment Strategies
Mitigating and Managing Threats and Acts of Violence By Steven C. Millwee, CPP
Managing Threats and Acts of Violence
L
oss prevention and retail executives’ careers are dramatically altered when violent crime impacts their business. The loss of human life, coupled with the loss of trust by coworkers and senior executives, puts careers in jeopardy when on-the-job murder or violence strikes. Whether the homicide or acts of violence are the result of an armed robbery, a loss prevention agent attempting to make a shoplifting stop, or a disgruntled employee going “postal,” the financial and emotional fallout impacts the entire enterprise. Implementing a multidisciplinary or holistic approach to help mitigate the risk of violence allows every stakeholder to be part of your proactive policies, procedures, hiring practices, and threat-assessment strategies. Though human resources, security, and loss prevention have learned to team together in many areas, collaboration over workplace violence threat assessments remains an area for improvement. Learning how to leverage the skills of internal and external experts is essential to a sound violence-mitigation approach, as many crimes are reasonably foreseeable. Where violence is foreseeable, plaintiff’s experts will argue it was preventable. The past is the best predictor of future behavior.
discuss with you what can be done and, if I can, keep the information private. If I can’t, I’ll explain why I cannot. I am confident that we can find the solution together.” You will find the employee will still tell you what is impacting her life.
The Threat-Assessment Team
Forming a threat-assessment team long before acts of workplace violence occur has a return on investment; as threats and acts of violence are eliminated, risks are
Whether the homicide or acts of violence are the result of an armed robbery, a loss prevention agent attempting to make a shoplifting stop, or a disgruntled employee going “postal,” the financial and emotional fallout impacts the entire enterprise. Implementing a multidisciplinary or holistic approach to help mitigate the risk of violence allows every stakeholder to be part of your proactive policies, procedures, hiring practices, and threat assessment strategies.
A Proactive Strategy
Most organizations wait for legal counsel to retain expert witnesses only after lawsuits for negligent hiring, security, supervision, premises liability, false arrests, and failure to warn are upon them. Yet enterprising retailers do not wait for tragedy and subsequent litigation to strike, as they have experts already in place. Integrating experts into the retailer’s culture, policies, procedures, and practices forms a proactive strategy that prevents workplace violence. Following is an example of changing management behavior to proactively prevent violence incidents. Mary, a 15-year, trusted associate, arrives at work with two black eyes. She is wearing clothing to cover her arms, though that is not her summer style. Her female manager finds her in the restroom…in tears. Mary pleads, “I need to tell you something, but you must promise to keep it a secret. No one can know. It’s very personal.” One skill set we expect of our managers is their empathy and approachability. Yet, agreeing to keep Mary’s secret without knowing the context or content should never be promised. Often the request for secrecy finds its genesis in an employee’s embarrassment. Yet, the employee is looking to a trusted manager as a cry for help. A proper response is, “Mary, you know that I care about you. You know that I am a person of integrity and committed to always trying to do the right thing. Tell me what’s happening, and I will commit to you that I will
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mitigated, and employee morale and trust in management helps reduce turnover and increase productivity. Every employee expects to be safe at work, and the law demands it. Retailers, large and small, should consider the following individuals and roles and responsibilities when forming or updating their threat-assessment teams. Rule #1—Avoid the “brain-drain syndrome” by rotating employees without professional training off the threat-assessment team. Mentor each new member for a year or two through several events so that the rules |
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Managing Threats and Acts of Violence of the road, policies, procedures, and best practices are integrated in a cohesive manner. Every employee must receive workplace violence prevention training, as they are the eyes and ears of the organization. An employee who does not know what to look for, report, and to whom to report longstanding warning signs deprives the retailer of the most important early-warning device. In a negligence lawsuit, the employer cannot rely on a “we didn’t know” defense strategy, as employees reveal the history of threats, violence, and other aberrant behavior to law enforcement, through depositions, and to today’s 24/7 news cycles. Rule #2—Use a multidisciplinary approach in forming the team. One prominent retailer stacks their team with senior executives from loss prevention, HR, legal, operations, and employee assistance (EAP), along with two outside experts. Rule #3—The first expert is the workplace violence threat-assessment and intervention consultant. The organization must select an expert who knows how to perform threat assessments and evaluate the propensity for violence. They should have the ability to interview employees to maximize content and compose evidence-laded interviews, and be able to perform the formal threat assessment and intervention interview of the subject and employees.
Some retailers will interview the suspect, which typically results in denials, half truths (which are whole lies), and answers filled with faulty memories or attempts to blame the victim, all of which are counterproductive. Skilled threat-assessment experts with experience in hostage negotiation and violent-crime interviews are able to develop a rapport that results in admissions and confessions. Often this expert interviews employees and the victim of the threats or violence, as their experience and skills will identify additional facts that employees may be reluctant to admit to a manager. Though many LP and HR professionals have the skills and experience, using an outside expert transfers the subject’s violent ideation away from the retailer and management. Rule #4—The second expert is the operational psychologist. This person applies psychological theories and models by viewing the threats or acts through the eyes of the operator, often threat-assessment and intervention experts and trained investigators. According to clinical psychologist Russell Palarea, Ph.D., “The focus of operational psychology is to provide psychological knowledge, skills, and abilities to the operational mission.” An indirect psychological assessment leverages the intervention and interviewing resources to better understand the motivations and pathologies. Assessments should be focused on collecting more
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LP Magazine | july - august 2013
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Managing Threats and Acts of Violence facts that lend to defusing the threat. It is ill-advised to use clinicians or academia-based psychologists versus operational psychologists. Clinical tools fail because the mental illness may be unknown or nonexistent, and clinical techniques, such as interviews and psychological tests, may provide partial, inaccurate, or irrelevant information related to the potential act of violence. Absent written consent from the subject or court order, clinicians have HIPPA medical privacy restriction and are limited by various laws based on the imminent threat the individual poses to others and himself. Organizations must also be careful how they implement employee assistance programs (EAP), as the unintended consequence could result in Americans
Although human resources, security, and loss prevention have learned to team together in many areas, collaboration over workplace violence threat assessments remains an area for improvement. Learning how to leverage the skills of internal and external experts is essential to a sound violence-mitigation approach, as many crimes are reasonably foreseeable. with Disability Act and privacy claims. Operational psychologists are adjunct experts that can provide important insight into life stressors, non-verbal cues, tone, inflection, and mood communication. Content and context of words used helps the intervention team assess the subject’s logic and decision skills, if any. Rule #5—The threat-assessment team must be empowered to act. Assessments are time-sensitive. Risk mitigation and intervention plans cannot wait for a senior executive briefing and delayed decision cycle. Some teams use a consensus style, while others appoint a
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senior member or another member of the team to become the final authority, usually based on availability of team members and areas of expertise. However, the team should never ignore threats or an act of violence, as allowing the offender to remain on the job exposes employees and the public to violence, particularly if the offender fails to comply with the teams’ mandates. The team takes on tremendous responsibility, and as such, can never use plausible deniability and testify they were outside the loop. Rule #6—Preserve all evidence, records, and reports. The retail environment generally has multiple security video recordings that must be immediately preserved. One recent workplace violence case that resulted in litigation revealed through depositions and documents that several security and non-security managers viewed the video of the attack, but failed to download the recordings. The defendant claimed that they attempted to download too large a file, had not updated their software since installing their CCTV system, and then allowed the system to record over the date in question. Imagine a jury’s suspicion over the integrity of the company’s witnesses in this scenario, as preserving evidence is a founding principle of any investigation. Juries often view the lack of documentation as definitive proof that the employer destroyed or hid critical evidence. Documentation and preservation is your salvation. Moreover, always archive every workplace violence investigation, threat assessment, report, and all evidence. Whether you will need such in defending your enterprise in litigation cannot be known, but you have a greater probability of needing the files if the person acts out violently and law enforcement arrives needing your institutional memory to help defuse a hostage crisis or solve a violent crime. Rule #7—Voluntary separation over involuntary termination is an essential long-term risk mitigation strategy. The natural reaction in the face of threats or acts of violence is to immediately fire the offending employee before an investigation and threat assessment is performed. Firing the worker ensures there is a loss of contact and loss of opportunity for rapport with the offender. On the contrary, skilled threat-assessment intervention negotiators know how to obtain admissions and lead the offender to a voluntary resignation. This allows the employee to leave with dignity, appreciation for work contributions, and creates a mind-set of unmerited mercy. Unmerited mercy is giving compassion that the offender does not expect and rarely deserves because of their disruption to the workplace. Yet, leaving voluntarily with |
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Managing Threats and Acts of Violence a sense of being treated with fairness and respect leads to a restoration of self-worth and allows the employee to reflect on personal accountability. Rule #8—Pre-employment and periodic employee background checks are industry standards. Some retailers elect to perform background checks for select positions, such as management, finance, and loss prevention. However, workplace-violence offenders cannot be categorized by job title. When workplace violence strikes, after-the-fact police investigation often finds the proverbial smoking gun through an employee background investigation. As of January 1, 2013, employers who use consumer agencies or background screening providers to conduct background checks on their applicants and employees must use updated versions of the FCRA’s Summary of Consumer Rights form. The updated version complies with changes implemented by the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The updated model form is available at Appendix K of 12 C.F.R. § 1022 and can be accessed on the CFPB’s website, consumerfinance.gov. When you use background or consumer reports to make employment decisions, such as hiring, promotion, or termination, they must comply with the FCRA. The term “consumer report” is defined broadly by the FCRA and includes criminal background reports, credit history
reports and other background checks. Under the FCRA, the Summary of Consumer Rights form must be provided to an applicant or employee when, among other things, a pre-adverse action notice is sent. Treating the subject of the background check with dignity and transparency is essential to avoid the growing class-action background screening lawsuit trend. Always obtain written consent from the applicant or employee before performing a background check. A growing number of government agencies and employers are adopting a new de facto compliance standard, as it closely mirrors the new FCRA and EEOC mandates. Ensure that your Consumer Authorization executed by applicants and employees allows you to periodically perform background checks without further notice or consent before the check. An essential step in a threat assessment is updating the background check. In this investigation, you want to look for potential landslide motivations for the behavior. Recent divorce petitions, restraining orders, violation of such orders, bankruptcies, and police reports are additional resources for a threat-assessment background check. Counsel can guide you on jurisdictions that may restrict post-employment background checks. In some cases, counsel may instruct you or your provider to perform the check and have the report returned to their
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LP Magazine | july - august 2013
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Managing Threats and Acts of Violence law firm. Counsel may restrict this report to the outside threat-assessment professionals, where the content and context is necessary for their evaluations. Counsel may label the threat-assessment background report as “attorney-client work product” and instruct you to not send the results to the employee or subject. However, the skilled threat-assessment professional can often use the report during the interview or intervention phase. The report, FCRA rights, and adverse action letters, if any, can be given during these phases. In instances in which the subject has paranoid thoughts or delusions about your company, employing this approach will mitigate risk when you are required to send them their background report in compliance with the FCRA. In more serious instances, law enforcement may perform the background check as part of their investigation. Law enforcement background checks are not covered under the FCRA unless you ask that the report be prepared or given to you, which may have the unintended consequence of it becoming a consumer report as defined by the FCRA. Loss prevention and their HR team should work together to update background investigation policies and procedures. ASIS International and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), along with the input from multidisciplinary experts, have published several important standards, including workplace violence prevention and background screening best practices. Careful review of these standards will help you mitigate risks and ensure compliance with best practices. Rule #9: Future-focused prevention is essential. Few employers reinvestigate the criminal histories of existing employees, except during misconduct, threat, workplace violence, or harassment investigations. Portions of the U.S. military have adopted a unique program for future-focused crime prevention. Employees and vendors seeking ongoing access to military bases must pass a background investigation not just once, but every year and every three months. “[The military] realizes that a person may be convicted of a crime after initially being approved for access, which can only be detected through ongoing re-investigations,” says Jim Robell, innovator of the program. This forward-thinking company and companies like it pave the way for the future of risk management and security. “Knowing who we hire and allow access to, while ensuring transparency and accuracy, is the new standard in hiring and risk avoidance,” says Raymond Humphrey, CPP, past president of ASIS International. “The latest tool to ensure compliance with the FCRA and EEOC
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mandates helps mitigate the growing number of federal and class-action lawsuits.” Rule #10—Avoid the failure to warn and no-trespass agreement landmines. Many employers conduct a threat assessment that leads to the voluntary separation or firing of an employee over acts or threats of violence, but fail to communicate to employees that the offender is no longer welcome in stores or on corporate property. Many ask, “Are we setting ourselves up for defamation, slander, or liable claims as only select employees, such as managers, may have a need to know?” Others ask, “What about employee privacy?” A well-crafted severance agreement incorporates a consent by the employee or subject giving you or
Employees look to their leadership to provide a safe and secure workplace. Hotlines, website reporting, avoiding whistleblower retaliation, and using longstanding threat-assessment strategies are essential to a loss prevention program. Making every employee part of the solution empowers everyone to be part of the workplace violence prevention team.
your experts written permission to communicate with their former coworkers. Remember, if the matter involved instilled fear or criminal acts or threats of violence and stalking, you have potential long-term exposure to future violent retaliation. Following is language often used by this author in voluntary separation and severance agreements: To ensure the safety and security of the company and our employees, you agree to not return to any corporate offices of our company without the written consent of continued on page 22 |
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Managing Threats and Acts of Violence factors that brought him to a moment of clarity. He takes personal responsibility and chose to resign his employment to make you feel safe. He wanted us to communicate that he is not angry and has no intention of harming you or anyone. He wants to leave with dignity, and as such, has asked that you not contact him or ask him about his reasons for leaving. Doing so would only make him feel bad and violate his desire for privacy and respect. Joe has no intention of calling, texting, communicating, or emailing you in any form unless you personally wish to continue your friendship in writing. However, the company restricts Joe from talking to you about this matter and he intends to abide by his agreement. Joe did the right thing and should be commended and remembered for the many good things he did while with the company. He stood tall and took personal responsibility, has apologized, and is moving forward in a positive direction. Please only say good things to others about Joe, as speaking badly only creates opportunities for future avoidable problems. Lastly, you should be very proud of your company for their willingness to communicate Joe’s message, as most employers never talk this openly about such a sensitive subject. Your company treated Joe with respect and dignity. He has written a personal apology to the company, as he wants everyone to be safe, secure, and able to move forward in a positive way. He commented during this difficult time how he appreciated the company and his managers and coworkers, as he was not cast out but allowed to leave with respect and dignity.’”
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Steven C. Millwee, our consultant. You further agree to not telephone, email, text, or communicate with any of our employees in a manner that would be considered harassment, unwelcome contact, threatening, or in violation of any law. You agree that where any employee of our company communicates his or her desire to have no contact of any kind with you, that you will cease all attempts to have contact or communication with said employee. You further agree that the company or its agents, such as our consultant, may communicate with any employee or other party about you as it relates to your agreement to not trespass on company properties, including all retail stores of the company or its franchises. You agree that a violation of your agreement to not trespass on company or employee properties (where they have communicated instructions to have no contact with them) may lead to you being subject to arrest for Trespass after Warning in violation of applicable state, federal, or municipal laws. You agree that this entire agreement may be used by law enforcement as evidence that you received proper legal notices regarding violation of the no contact or trespass provisions. The threat-assessment professional is trained in explaining the severance agreement and specifically the reasons for a no-contact or trespass warning. A common example may be as follows: “Joe, I appreciate you having taken responsibility for your statements and, as you have asked me to tell your coworkers that you would never harm them and want me to apologize to them for causing them to be afraid of you, there is a special way that I can do this. The steps I’m about to explain help hold you accountable to your agreement to never bother, harass, or harm our employees or others related to the company, but it allows you to see how I communicate this with the same sense of compassion and unmerited mercy concept we have been talking about. “Joe, what I generally say to the employees in meetings or written communications is something like this—‘Joe voluntarily resigned his employment and wanted us to communicate this very personal message in his behalf. He asked that you forgive him for his misspoken words or inappropriate acts, as he has had time to reflect on many
Proactive versus Reactive
These proactive steps, along with using a formal threat-assessment tool, such as SecurThreat, are resources every retailer should consider. The purpose of threat-assessment teams is workplace-violence prevention. The absence of a team, planning, and on-going training leaves your enterprise vulnerable. Employees look to their leadership to provide a safe and secure workplace. Hotlines, website reporting, avoiding whistleblower retaliation, and using longstanding threat-assessment strategies are essential to a loss prevention program. Making every employee part of the solution empowers everyone to be part of the workplace violence prevention team.
STEVEN C. MILLWEE, CPP, is a highly-regarded expert witness with more than 34 years of experience testifying in high-profile cases. He has performed thousands of threat assessments and has been an intervention expert responsible for negotiating with threatening or violent offenders for both small and large retailers, Fortune 500 corporations, and various federal and state government agencies. A frequent trainer, Millwee invented and patented iReviewNow, which is designed to protect employers from EEOC and FCRA litigation. Formerly with the FBI and a past unsolved-murder detective, he is the current president and CEO of SecurTest, Inc., a leading background screening provider. In 2002 Millwee served as president of ASIS International and was on the founding editorial board of LP Magazine. He is the coauthor with labor attorney John-Edward Alley of The Threat from Within: Workplace Violence (1995). He can be reached at smillwee@securtest.com or 800-445-8001. Jacob K. Javits Center - New York City
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ACADEMIC VIEWPOINT by Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D. Dr. Hollinger is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is also director of the Security Research Project, which annually conducts the National Retail Security Survey. Dr. Hollinger can be reached at rhollin@ufl.edu or 352-294-7175. © 2013 Richard C. Hollinger
National Retail Security Survey: 20-Year Update
T
wenty years ago there was no reliable industry-wide information on retail shrinkage. Not only did we not know how big the problem was, we knew very little about the various sources, causes, and effective solutions to preventing shrinkage. This empirical vacuum convinced Read Hayes, Professor Bart Weitz, and me to begin conducting the first National Retail Security Survey (NRSS). The basic concept was to collect data on the scope and causes of retail loss, including the various countermeasures that were being routinely used across the industry to fight the problem. The first report released in 1991 was only two pages long, but it was an important first step in assessing a problem that all retailers experienced, but few knew very much about. Prior to the first NRSS there were studies available on the problem. However, they all were conducted by accounting firms that clearly were not unbiased. Furthermore, the results were being used to sell various services to their clients in the retail industry. After consulting with key retail loss prevention executives, it was clear that there was a need for an empirical study on the shrinkage problem that was conducted by an unbiased entity that had no vested interest in the findings. The University of Florida seemed like a perfect institution that could conduct this unbiased research. On the faculty we had criminologists who specialized in occupational crime, a nationally recognized Retail Center in the Business School, and a few experienced individuals who knew enough about the problem to develop a useful survey.
However, it was agreed that no raw data or participant identities would be shared with the “solution providers.” For the past twenty years we at the University of Florida have held to these principles in order to provide unbiased data on the shrinkage problem without compromising the names of the participants. Given this firm anonymity and confidentiality pledge, we can safely say that most all major retailers annually participate in the National Retail Security Survey.
After consulting with key retail loss prevention executives, it was clear that there was a need for an empirical study on the shrinkage problem that was conducted by an unbiased entity that had no vested interest in the findings. The University of Florida seemed like a perfect institution that could conduct this unbiased research.
Anonymous and Confidential
The first issue to be resolved was the question of anonymity and confidentiality of the data. After discussing the survey with senior retail LP executives, most of them thought the results would be valuable, but all indicated that they could not identify the name of their firm when participating in the survey. Any data provided would have to be confidential and participation would be anonymous. This was not a negotiable point. Second was the question of how the project would be funded. It was suggested that security vendors would be an ideal source of funding as a “goodwill” gesture, indicating their support of decreasing retail losses.
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However, not enough retailers in the smaller vertical markets participate each year to give us the robust statistics that we would like to have. Some of this is due to lack of enthusiasm about the research, and some of the declining participation is due to the decreasing numbers of retailers that remain in business during the economic hard times that our nation is currently experiencing. Unfortunately, this is something over which we have no control. Nevertheless, it does put an increasingly higher burden on the viable retail chains to redouble their continued on page 26 |
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levels of participation to keep the findings of the NRSS meaningful and valuable as an annual LP benchmark for the industry.
20-Year Trends
What do we know about shrinkage and loss from our twenty years of research? While I do not have the space to summarize all the findings, I think that it is safe to make the following generalizations that we did not know two decades ago. Scope of Loss. The level of economic loss that occurs in retail stores is far larger than any other form of property crime in the United States; larger than auto theft, bank robbery, burglary, and personal robbery. The $35 billion in loss due to retail crime is the single largest category of property crime each and every year. Retailers are the most victimized by property crime according to our results. Most people would not expect that this is the case. Retailers need to do a better job of communicating this message, since ultimately the cost of retail loss either causes businesses to fail or is passed along to the consumer. Neither of these is good for the economy of our country. Impact of Internal Theft. Despite what most citizens and some naïve retailers would believe, the greatest economic damage is caused by dishonest employees, not shoplifters. In the store the most visible countermeasures are directed at shoplifting, including EAS tags, cameras, and security personnel. However, since the very beginning of this survey, retailers have reported that between one-third and two-fifths of their losses are believed to be the result of dishonest employees stealing from the firm or by letting others steal from the store through behaviors like sweethearting. Clearly organized retail crime and amateur shoplifting remain a significant problem, however, each and every year major retailers report that their levels of internal theft are bigger problems than external theft. This means that, as the comic strip character Pogo once so clearly stated, “We have seen the enemy and he is us.” Despite the major efforts at screening and monitoring our employees, they still find a way to “bite the hand that feeds them.” This is a sad commentary on the nature of the relationship been the retail store and its employees. A significant number of retail employees still do not feel equitably rewarded and compensated for the work that they provide. As such, they obviously feel quite justified in taking from their employers to alleviate this perceived inequity. I have seen this phenomenon in retail stores, manufacturing plants, food service, and manufacturing. It is not just a retail problem. This is probably why the two best predictors of a store’s shrinkage level have been employee “turnover” and “job dissatisfaction.” This fact has been true for
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my entire thirty-year academic career studying the phenomenon of employee theft and pilferage. Virtually every other academic researcher who has studied this problem has come to the same conclusion. In short, while we occasionally hire “bad people” who are inevitably going to steal from us despite what we do to prevent it, our own employees whom we have screened, trained, and worked alongside of for years, in reality remain the greatest theft and shrinkage threats. Until we solve the problem of employee dissatisfaction and perceptions of marginality, the retail industry will continue to suffer multi-billion dollar loss levels and suffer shrinkage levels that negatively affect the profitability of the entire industry. No Silver-Bullet Solution. I wish I could report the invention of a single new technology or “silver bullet” that will eliminate shrinkage and loss; but, as we have seen, this is always going to be an elusive search. Each time a new technology or loss prevention system is introduced, there are always problems and deficiencies that prevent optimal implementation until the “bugs” are worked out. In my opinion, however, the most effective solution to eliminating employee dishonesty and deterring shoplifting is in convincing our own staff that protecting the property of the store from theft is in the best interests of both the employees and the owners of the retail corporation. In short, people “do not steal from themselves.” Sales associates must recognize that protecting the assets and merchandise from losses of all types will not only benefit the company, but will benefit the employees as well.
Your Participation Is Critical
There are a number of retail firms that I could name that have adopted many of the lessons from the NRSS and other academic research on internal and external losses, but confidentiality promises prevent me from doing so. Suffice it to say that my past twenty to thirty years of research on retail crime allows me to conclude that solutions to this problem are available and effective. In fact, this past year’s 2011 NRSS report indicates that retail shrinkage is at an all-time low—around 1.42 percent. Clearly, something must be working. No doubt, we can achieve even lower shrinkage. But more research is necessary to confirm whether we are winning or losing the war on retail loss. If you are a senior retail loss prevention executive and would like to participate in this year’s 2012 National Retail Security Survey, it is not too late if you act quickly. If you have not received a link via email, just send me an email (rhollin@ufl.edu) requesting a personal link to the online survey. I will make sure you and your company can contribute. It is critical that as many retailers as possible participate in the NRSS to ensure that the results are as reliable, useable, and valuable as possible.
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INterview
Reorganizing the LP and AP Teams at Staples A discussion with Dan Provost and Steve Bacica By James Lee, LPC, Executive Editor
INTERVIEW
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dan Provost, LPC, is vice president of global loss prevention for Staples. His career in retail began more than twenty-five years ago as a store manager in a small-box retailer. Provost has served in various roles and positions since that time with Toys“R”Us and is currently approaching his fifteenth year of service at Staples. He is also a charter member of The Loss Prevention Foundation where he serves on the board of directors as well as a member of the editorial board for LP Magazine. EDITOR: How did you get started in loss prevention at Staples? PROVOST: I started off here in 1999 running store operations, and not too long after, I was asked to lead the retail loss prevention team. To be honest, until they approached me about it, I had never really considered working in LP. But once I got into it, I realized that for an operator like me it was a natural fit. I think the Staples leadership took a very bold chance giving me loss prevention, and I will always be grateful for that. They obviously saw something that I didn’t. Since then I’ve moved back and forth a few times between operations, store systems, and LP, but I always come back to LP. It’s hard for me to believe this, but I’ve been with Staples for almost fifteen years now, so I guess you can say that I bleed Staples red. EDITOR: How have your jobs and functions outside of LP prepared you for your current role? PROVOST: I actually have a pretty diverse background outside of LP. I’ve been in merchandising, supply chain, logistics, distribution, store systems, and, of course, store operations. That may seem a bit strange, but the truth is that each and every one of these experiences prepared me to be an LP professional in some way. Because I had an understanding of a number of different retail disciplines, it was far easier for me to understand the LP aspects of each. I always highly recommend that people explore
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Dan Provost, LPC
The thing that I love the most about loss prevention is the ability to be strategic. In store operations, it can be really difficult to plan a five-year strategy and see it through, but in LP, you really can create a solid five-year plan, execute it, and witness the results. It’s very rewarding. We’ve had a lot of success over the years as an organization. July - August 2013
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different parts of the business for career opportunities. You can always come back to LP if that’s really your calling, but the knowledge you pick up along the way can truly set you apart from other LP professionals. EDITOR: What do you like about working in loss prevention that’s different from some of the other functions you’ve experienced? PROVOST: The thing that I love the most about LP is the ability to be strategic. In store operations, it can be really difficult to plan a five-year strategy and see it through, but in LP, you really can create a solid five-year plan, execute it, and witness the results. It’s very rewarding. We’ve had a lot of success over the years as an organization. I know some LP industry professionals may disagree with me, but my belief is that our success has been a result of one simple principle— Control what we can control, and contain what we can’t control. In practice this means we end up focusing primarily on internal loss. We keep tabs on external theft, but we’ve got
INTERVIEW
programs to contain that. My team’s focus is and always will be all about controlling internal loss. Remember, it’s all about need and opportunity. Our job is to make people believe that the opportunity to commit internal theft just isn’t there. EDITOR: When did you take the helm as VP of global loss prevention? PROVOST: It was December of 2012 when I took on the responsibility for all of the various LP teams as part of our overall company reinvention strategy. Since then we’ve worked very hard to find synergies between the teams, and we’ve done some intense cross-training of our associates. Prior to assuming the global role, I was responsible for LP for all Staples U.S. retail stores and distribution centers, which was in itself a pretty big job. We put up some amazing results in those years, and I’m extremely proud of the things we accomplished.
EDITOR: What changes did you make from the global perspective? PROVOST: From day one, we had some really big decisions to make with regards to our team structure. I was very fortunate to be working with very high-performing teams that had achieved terrific results over the years. As I mentioned previously, Staples kicked off the reinvention of the entire company back in the fall of 2012, and at that time we had a loss prevention team and an asset protection team focused on different parts of the business. The skill bases of these teams were really similar, so the big question was, “Should we leave things as they are or should we create one integrated team made up of multi-talented LP professionals?” Ultimately we decided that we could support our company’s growth initiatives far better if we were able to create one integrated team, so that’s what we’ve been working on since February of this year. Creating the plan to restructure this team would
LP Magazine | July - August 2013
not have been possible without the guidance and support of Steve Bacica [see sidebar page 33] and my business partners Lynn Shibley, Hank Tarbi, and Todd Fischer. They were instrumental in helping us think about structure, roles and responsibilities, and, probably most importantly, leading and living through change. We started by creating a set of guiding principles for the reorganization, and then we used that as a foundation to structure the department in a way that we think will have the most payoff long-term. EDITOR: What were your guiding principles? PROVOST: We followed five guiding principles. One, no sacred-cow programs. Two, protect every LP critical function, and dovetail with the reinvention of Staples. Three, create a career path for every single LP associate. Four, provide cross-training and development for all team members. And five, assume innocence. While
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INTERVIEW
EDITOR: What do the changes mean for the people in the field? PROVOST: Under the old structure, a field LP manager would have had responsibility for stores or distribution centers or fulfillment centers, and they were mutually exclusive. In the new structure a field LP manager has responsibility for a geographic area. If there are stores in that area, they own them. If there are distribution centers or fulfillment centers, they own those as well. It’s actually a very cool way to structure the team because everyone has an opportunity to grow and learn new things. The team will continue to become more and more highly multi-talented. Short-term this was definitely the hard way, but long-term this structure will pay huge dividends for the business.
these might seem very simplistic, in reality they’re very hard to do in a massive restructuring like this. EDITOR: How did you restructure the organization? PROVOST: We could have organized the group in a number of different ways and done just fine, but we chose to structure the team completely in a way that would support the future business needs. We looked at everything. Every program, every policy and procedure, literally everything we spent money on. There was quite a bit of nervousness when it was announced that we would combine the teams, and that’s to be expected, but Steve and I really went out of our way to assure everyone that our true goal was to combine great teams. In the end we eliminated a ton of duplicity and a significant amount of extraneous cost. During reorgs like this it’s not uncommon for people to let their fears get the best of them and seek alternate employment. We didn’t want that to happen with this group, and I guess our message was compelling. I’m very pleased that everyone trusted us enough to work through it.
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We followed five guiding principles. One, no sacred-cow programs. Two, protect every LP critical function, and dovetail with the reinvention of Staples. Three, create a career path for every single LP associate. Four, provide cross-training and development for all team members. And five, assume innocence. While these might seem very simplistic, in reality they’re very hard to do in a massive restructuring like this. July - August 2013
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EDITOR: What are you responsible for outside of the field? PROVOST: I’ve got a number of great teams based here in Framingham, including inventory and shortage control, claims and recovery, e-commerce fraud, internal fraud and investigations, wireless fraud, physical security, LP operations, and environmental health, safety, and regulatory. Sounds like a much bigger group than it really is. In reality it’s a pretty small team made up of extremely high-performing leaders and associates. EDITOR: Do you have any special programs or initiatives at Staples to enhance the LP function? PROVOST: Every year we host an in-house conference to exchange ideas, make sure everyone’s on the same page, and really define the focus of our strategy for the next year. It’s really far less of a traditional LP conference than you might imagine. It’s actually more of a business meeting. My goal with every conference over the past ten-plus years has always been the same. The business presents their strategies, needs, goals, and objectives to us. We determine how best to support those strategies, needs, goals, and objectives.
INTERVIEW
And we deliver training and personal and professional development to the team to enable them to achieve those goals. I cannot emphasize strongly enough just how important our annual conference has been over the years in terms of getting the team on the same page and in making sure that we’re completely aligned with the business needs. We even have a day dedicated to suppliers showcasing new technologies. EDITOR: So, within the annual conference, you have a mini-expo dedicated to technology? PROVOST: Dedicated to technology, yes, but also dedicated to our suppliers. Without our suppliers we’d be far less successful. That’s simply a fact. That’s why we make such a big deal out of our supplier day at every conference. We dedicate a full day to our supplier hall and relationship building. We also bring as many of our non-LP senior executives to the event as possible. We ask our suppliers to showcase not just
I know some LP industry professionals may disagree with me, but my belief is that our success has been a result of one simple principle—Control what we can control, and contain what we can’t control. In practice this means we end up focusing primarily on internal loss. We keep tabs on external theft, but we’ve got programs to contain that. My team’s focus is and always will be all about controlling internal loss.
LP Magazine | July - August 2013
what we currently buy from them, but also products and services they offer that we don’t buy, or haven’t yet. It’s always amazing to see the reactions of the non-LP senior execs when we show them the cutting-edge technology that is available to support their goals. As a result, every year they launch new product pilots, tests, and proofs of concept after the supplier show. In fact this year’s conference launched five new pilots for our suppliers. That’s a pretty incredible hit rate in my opinion. On a separate note I’m also extremely proud to say that our Staples LP associates and our suppliers raised almost $4,000 for charity at this year’s conference, including $1,500 for the LP Foundation benevolence hardship fund. EDITOR: What is a typical day in the life of Dan Provost like? PROVOST: I’m an early riser, so my day generally starts around 4:30 a.m. My wife Leslie and I hang out and have coffee, watch the news, and chat.
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INTERVIEW
I get to work between 7:00 and 7:30. From there the fun begins, and I have meetings and numerous phone calls with my team. I have always seen my role as the person that ensures that the team gets what they need to do the job and succeed. I am adamant that we have a seat at the table on every single initiative and decision that the organization makes. We advise and consult, but we never say “No.” Our job is to present the risks and offer alternatives to the business; not to mandate the outcome. EDITOR: How do you ensure a good balance between work and a quality of life outside of work? PROVOST: One of the best answers I’ve ever heard to that question was this—“I think that my first wife would tell you that I wasn’t very good at balancing.” It’s a great answer because it’s honest. Getting ahead and climbing the corporate ladder is all well and good, but at the end of the day it’s about spending time with the people you love. I’ve gotten far better at that in the last five years, and I’m pretty sure that getting it right, striking the right balance, has made me a better leader.
The LP Foundation is the only industry organization that focuses solely on the personal and professional development of the individual. Once I understood that, I was hooked. I am a true believer in the mission and goals of the Foundation. I am extremely proud to be a member of the board of directors, and I preach the word everywhere I go.
EDITOR: You are a member of the board of directors of the LP Foundation. What do you think of the Foundation and other industry organizations and educational initiatives? PROVOST: To be honest, for many years I was completely unaffiliated with any of the industry organizations. It wasn’t because they aren’t all great groups with great people; I just never really felt a compelling reason to join. Then I was introduced to Gene Smith and the LP Foundation. It’s hard not to get inspired when you listen to Gene, but it was his message that resonated with me. The LP Foundation is the only industry organization that focuses solely on the personal and professional development of the individual. Once I understood that, I was hooked. I am a true believer in the mission and goals of the Foundation. I am
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extremely proud to be a member of the board of directors, and I preach the word everywhere I go. We actually were the first retailer in the history of the Foundation to offer tuition reimbursement to our associates. EDITOR: When did you start doing that? PROVOST: We started in 2009. It became apparent when I was pitching certification internally that people didn’t always have the cash necessary for a LPC or LPQ certificate just laying around, so I organized for the company to reimburse tuition for people who wanted to take the courses and get certified. And I’m very proud that we were the first retailer on the planet to do it. EDITOR: Obviously, you take pride in developing your people. Along your career, were there mentors who helped push you along? PROVOST: When I first took over the Staples LP team back in 2001, I was getting lots of advice from just about everyone, and quite honestly it
INTERVIEW
was a bit overwhelming. Then I was introduced to Dave Gorman. Dave had recently retired from Walmart after twenty or more years and was starting a consulting business. To this day I will never know exactly why Dave took me under his wing, made me his project, but he did. He helped me to hone the focus and the strategy for the Staples LP team. And as I said earlier, our strategy remains the same to this day. I can’t tell you how many times Dave came out to visit with me, walk stores, and just generally make sure that everything was working as planned. We had weekly, sometime daily, calls, and we developed a very strong friendship. Even though Dave was consulting for a living by this time, he would never take a dime from me. Everything that Dave Gorman did to launch my LP career, he did at his own expense. That’s the kind of guy Dave was; just an amazing, true gentleman in every sense of the word. I miss him very much. [Dave Gorman died in May 2012.]
The View of Loss Prevention from the Corporate Controller EDITOR’S NOTE: Stephen Bacica is senior vice president and corporate controller for Staples. EDITOR: What did you do before you came to Staples? BACICA: Before Staples I was the EVP, CFO, and treasurer of MCG Capital Corporation, a business development company (BDC) based out of Arlington, Virginia. A BDC functions similarly to a private equity firm. We had investments across thirty different industries, which gave me both an investor’s perspective and an operator’s perspective when taking on new challenges and looking at business opportunities. Prior to MCG, I was with Marriott International in corporate accounting and transaction support roles, and I
Stephen Bacica
started my career in accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers. I also spent three years with the Securities and
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LP Magazine | July - August 2013
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INTERVIEW
Exchange Commission as a financial regulator. EDITOR: How do you like your first adventure in overseeing LP function? BACICA: I really enjoy overseeing loss prevention. It gets me closer to the core operations of the company, and it has accelerated my on-boarding into the industry. It is incredibly exciting being part of the LP team during the reinvention of Staples. EDITOR: What LP-relevant assets does a financial background bring to the table? BACICA: A financial background provides a great analytical backdrop when tackling LP challenges. I spent four years evaluating scores of business plans during the financial crisis and recession with MCG’s middle-market investments. I saw what worked and what didn’t
The financial backdrop of the controllership function helps to highlight the business equation when deciding on resources to employ in the LP mission. Also, risk mitigation and the performance emphasis in the control environment are key principles both in LP and with the controllership function. There are more similarities than first meet the eye.
work. That broad background really helped me to be a “quick study” on operating models. EDITOR: What do you find most difficult about the new role? BACICA: I think the toughest part of the role is getting ahead of e-commerce challenges in the dot-com world. Although I was responsible for information technology at MCG, the scale related to LP is much greater at Staples, and there are many more moving parts. EDITOR: What are your views on the people you’ve met in LP? BACICA: I greatly admire my LP team. They are incredibly engaged with their work, they’re very loyal to each other, and there’s a special bond across the LP team. It’s similar to the bonds that you see with first responders and other close, disciplined groups. The Staples team is really amazing; a very tight-knit group of professionals. I think our group is successful because they are viewed as business partners on the broader operational front. The Staples LP team is very well-respected throughout the global Staples organization. EDITOR: How do you, as the corporate controller, contribute to the LP function? BACICA: The financial backdrop of the controllership function helps to highlight the business equation when deciding on resources to employ in the LP mission. Also, risk mitigation and the performance emphasis in the control environment are key principles both in LP and with the controllership function. There are more similarities than first meet the eye.
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Certification by Gene Smith, LPC
The Secrets to a Successful Career
W
hat are the things aspiring loss prevention professionals can do to increase their chances of reaching their true potential? What are the career secrets that our most successful industry leaders all have in common? These are a couple of questions that all of us ask ourselves sometime during our careers. I have been asked these questions many times and, most recently, by someone who suggested I write an article on my thoughts addressing these questions. With over 25 years of my LP career focused on personal, professional, and career development, I have been fortunate to discuss the career success topic with many successful retail executives, not just LP and asset protection professionals. Here is what they say.
I have seen many average people accomplish some extraordinary things because they believed in themselves and made a plan, worked the plan, readjusted the plan, and reached for the stars. Able and Willing. Each person must have the basic skills, knowledge, and desire to be successful. Skills and knowledge are different, and you must have both. Learn the difference. If you have the necessary skills for LP and gain the knowledge, you still need to have the desire to apply it. That means putting in the time to do what it takes to achieve each step in the career ladder. Look for extra assignments to do so you do a little more than your peers. “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.” Peter F. Drucker Attitude toward Continued Learning. You must accept that you and only you are responsible for your own personal development and not your company. Look for opportunities to learn on your own, whether
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Smith is president of The Loss Prevention Foundation, the not-for-profit organization charged with the responsibility of managing certification. He was formerly president of the industry’s largest executive search and consulting firm. During the past fifteen-plus years, Smith has provided career counseling for thousands of industry professionals nationwide. He can be reached at 704-837-2521 or via email at gene.smith@losspreventionfoundation.org.
it is college courses, professional certifications, industry conferences, seminars, or company-sponsored training. Some great sources include the LPQ and LPC courses. “The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past....We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude....I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.” Charles Swindoll Commitment to Improvement. You must be open to identifying areas in which to improve and seek out resources to help you. Routinely “check your own oil and take your temperature.” Look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. Pick one or two things to work on every six months—not six or eight—just one or two. Career Plan. It is amazing when I ask someone about their plan to reduce shrink or improve the P&L, they know exactly what needs to be done. But when I ask what their career plan is, they don’t really know. Ladies and gentlemen, please sit down and outline where you want to be and how you want to get there. Establish a formal career plan. Mentorship. Seek out a mentor who has a sincere desire to help you grow and develop. Not everyone makes a good mentor. Find one who you synergize with and copy their style, their philosophies, and apply them. Learn how to give back and become a mentor yourself because it can really serve as a great reinforcement. Be a Risk Taker. Take calculated career risks with the philosophy that the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Those who keep waiting for the perfect opportunity are the ones who get left in the dust. Taking on an internal project that no one else wants to take on can often impress the right people. Asking to be assigned to the most challenging stores will separate you from your peers in a good way. Understand Your Customer. Know what your business customer expects from you and deliver that plus a little more. Understand what your superior expects and deliver that plus a little more. Learn what your retail partners need and deliver that plus a little more. |
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Calendar Read, Read, and Read Some More. Those who are always reading and staying current on industry trends acquire knowledge and information that support success. Do you really take time to read LP Magazine cover to cover each issue? Do you subscribe to the weekly LP Insider e-newsletter sent from the magazine? Network. Connect with other professionals and use them as resources. Do not try to do everything on your own. Don’t wait to network when you need to find a new job. Ask for help and be willing to give back in return. The Loss Prevention Foundation LinkedIn Group, one of the largest networking groups, can assist you in this area. Intelligence Is Overrated. You do not have to be an Ivy League graduate to reach the top of your career if you master the above points. Mastering these points can allow average people to do extraordinary things. Believe me, I know. Personal Responsibility. It has amused me how some really intelligent, gifted executives fall short of their true potentials. Invariably, when I have asked them for their thoughts on why they have fallen short, they have a list of excuses a mile long. The reality is they have failed to follow the blueprint above and failed to accept personal accountability for their own success or failures. They always want to blame something or someone for their lack of progression. Ladies and gentlemen, we are responsible ourselves for our successes and failures—no one else. If you want to reach your true potential, then make a plan. I have seen many average people accomplish some extraordinary things because they believed in themselves and made a plan, worked the plan, readjusted the plan, and reached for the stars.
Newly Certified
Following are individuals who recently earned their LPC and LPQ certifications.
Recent LPC Recipients
Deanna Bandru, LPC, Rite Aid Tim Bartkowiak, LPC, Spartan Stores Andrew Beno, LPC Brian Brewer, LPC, Sobeys Byron Burnett, LPC, Harris Teeter Supermarkets Joe Camp, LPC, Walgreens John Davis, LPC, Walgreens Ken Fiori, LPC, Office Depot Amber Gerendash, LPC, Walgreens Michelle Goodrich, LPC, Ocean State Job Lot Robert Hough, LPC, CFI, Dunham’s Sports Patricia Johnson, LPC, Office Depot Naomi Maharaj, LPC, Bell Canada Remi Maillet, LPC, Sobeys Garett Mayer, LPC, Best Buy Canada Paul McGinley, LPC, Dollar Financial Group Warren Najarian, LPC, CFI, Rush Enterprises Rich Pitts, LPC, Rite Aid Richard Reid, LPC, Ollies Bargain Outlet Michael St. Clair, LPC, Staples David Ternus, LPC, Walgreens Kevin Winters, LPC, Walmart
Recent LPQ Recipients
Anson Aflague, LPQ, Genesco Russell Brewer, LPQ, HomeGoods Russell Brockett, LPQ Sarah Cable, LPQ, Redbox Automated Retail Zuzana Crawford, LPQ, eBay Julio Cuba, LPQ, TJX Allyse Dempsey, LPQ, Publix Super Markets Paulo Drebeque, LPQ, HomeGoods John Flynn, LPQ, Publix Super Markets Ronald Gillenberg, LPQ, CFI, NEXCOM Rikki Graham, LPQ, HomeGoods Gary Grudzielanek, LPQ, Genesco Keith Landschoot, LPQ, Genesco Dennis LeTendre, LPQ Jackson Luna, LPQ, American Eagle Outfitters Jeffrey Mauricio, LPQ Curtis Mitchell, LPQ, Michaels Stores Donnell Murphy, LPQ, Home Depot Michael Parson, LPQ, Walmart Kenneth Richardson, LPQ, Lowe’s Charles Salazar, LPQ, IKEA North America Services Hunter Shaw, LPQ, Universal Orlando Resort Elijah Smalls, LPQ, Goodwill Industries of Seattle Holly Urfer, LPQ, Publix Super Markets Andrew Vantassel, LPQ LP Magazine | July - August 2013
August 4 – 7, 2013 National Food Service Security Council 34th Annual Conference M Resort Spa and Casino, Las Vegas, NV www.nfssc.com September 10 – 11, 2013 Retail Council of Canada Loss Prevention Conference Toronto (ON) Congress Centre www.retailcouncil.org September 19, 2013 New England ORC Symposium & Trade Show 7th Annual Loss Prevention Conference DCU Center, Worcester, MA www.retailersma.org September 23 – 25, 2013 Consumer Returns Hilton Dallas (TX) Lincoln Centre www.consumerreturnsusa.com September 24 – 27, 2013 ASIS International 59th Annual Seminar and Exhibits McCormick Place, Chicago, IL www.asisonline.org October 15 – 17, 2013 Loss Prevention Research Council 9th Annual Impact Workshop University of Florida, Gainesville www.lpresearch.org November 4 – 7, 2013 Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR) 4th Annual Training Conference The Weston Buckhead, Atlanta, GA www.clearusa.org November 20 – 21, 2013 ISC East 2013 Javits Center North, New York City www.isceast.com January 12 – 15, 2014 National Retail Federation 103rd Annual Convention & Expo Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City www.bigshow14.com March 9 – 12, 2014 Food Marketing Institute 2014 Asset Protection Conference Hyatt Regency Riverfront Hotel, Jacksonville, FL www.fmi.org
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Feature
A practical guide to
online investigations By Dave DiSilva
ONLINE investigations
C
riminals use many online venues to sell stolen merchandise. eBay strives to be the Internet industry leader in the effort to combat it through our Global Asset Protection team that effectively partners with over 300 retailers to proactively identify and remove stolen property listed on our site. Our collaboration with retailers and law enforcement is committed to flushing out online criminal activities, whether it is on Amazon, Craigslist, or eBay. Our experience has shown that many criminal sellers are not site loyal and will sell across many sites. To achieve our commitment, we work to educate our retail partners from an insider’s perspective on the effective methods to search for stolen product online. By sharing effective methods to investigate online crime, it helps eBay maintain a safe and secure shopping experience. Continuing with our partnership principals, we developed this instructional guide to demonstrate best practices when conducting online investigations. The experience acquired during my retail career, coupled with my eBay experience, has provided me with a unique perspective on addressing the issue. Many of the things retailers do to develop effective asset protection programs are the same things that can be done to create an effective online investigation program. While not 100 percent inclusive, this article outlines many of the items necessary to develop an effective online investigation program.
losses and cost information. The information housed here may be harnessed to provide meaningful reporting to help your searches. ■ Identify your historical high-shrink items at a description and SKU level. ■ Work with your shortage-control team to focus on merchandise loss minus paper-shrink issues. ■ Know where your high-loss stores are located and what merchandise contributes the most to overall loss in those locations. ■ Partner with your inventory- and shortage-control teams to understand the product life cycle from purchase order through the clearance process to jobbers. ■ Review cycle-count results and known-theft losses for trends in product type and location. This info can be used to focus searches on trouble areas. Merchants, Planners, and Buyers. The activities of this department directly impact acquisition pricing and landed cost. This product knowledge helps an investigator focus on implausible listings and sellers. ■ Know your clearance, BOGO (buy-one, get-one free), and loss-leader items to develop an understanding of the pricing and life cycle of your merchandise. ■ Identify private-label merchandise. This merchandise is ideal to review as the product is only sold by
Combatting stolen property online starts with your company’s information. Partner with the appropriate departments within your company to develop an understanding of the factors that affect pricing and inventory cycles. This preparation will help determine the lowest acquisition price and reasonable quantities available. An investigator armed with this knowledge may calculate accurate thresholds to highlight outliers in price, volume, and the many ways your product is obtained for resale.
Step 1: Know Your Merchandise and the Factors That Affect Pricing
Combatting stolen property online starts with your company’s information. Partner with the appropriate departments within your company to develop an understanding of the factors that affect pricing and inventory cycles. This preparation will help determine the lowest acquisition price and reasonable quantities available. An investigator armed with this knowledge may calculate accurate thresholds to highlight outliers in price, volume, and the many ways your product is obtained for resale. Shortage and Inventory Control. Most retail loss prevention professionals understand that the shortage and inventory control departments are the primary source of your historical shrink
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Online Investigations
Perhaps the most productive area to understand is logistics and supply chain. This area is responsible for moving your merchandise through its entire lifecycle. While moving the product, exceptions occur on a daily basis. Creating actionable reporting for these exceptions will provide a better understanding of the avenues of loss and a potential source of the product you see online. your company, which limits the acquisition methods and pricing. ■ Partner with merchandise buyers and planners to get early notification of new hot products and their launch dates. ■ Check to see if your company is an Amazon or eBay seller as many retailers use online as another channel to reach their customers to sell clearance product. However, retailers often use seller names other than the company name when selling online. In some instances, retailers hire a dedicated third-party seller. Therefore, find out what names are legitimate sellers of your merchandise. ■ Review your policy on how samples, displays, and vendor SWAG (stuff we all get) are expected to be handled and documented. ■ Review how your company monitors manufacturers and suppliers focusing on product overruns and cancelled orders. Marketing. The marketing team can provide details on all of the past and planned promotions. ■ Be aware of new and grand reopening stores’ product giveaways and door-buster items. ■ Your marketing department can also help you understand your loyalty and award programs and the implications of the benefits on product pricing for members. ■ Obtain the launch dates of upcoming coupons and BOGOs.
Accounting and Sales Audit. Information regarding credit card chargebacks is directed to this department for research. The reports received from credit-card-issuing banks and consumers may contain useful information to help identify credit-fraud rings. These rings may use many stolen credit cards to purchase your merchandise and list it for sale through online sites. ■ Review chargebacks because they are the perfect exception report. Each reported chargeback is nothing more than a report that a crime and a financial loss has occurred. ■ Chargeback merchandise does not add to your shrink loss on a balance sheet, but could be the suspicious product you see listed on Amazon, eBay, and Craigslist. ■ Chargebacks that occur on your e-commerce site, from catalog sells, or sent from a store may be able to provide a ship-to address, tracking information, an IP address, mac ID, or email address. Check with your IT group to see what information is captured and how long it is maintained. ■ Develop a process to track and research chargebacks in order to identify the product purchased, where it was sent, and if there is a pattern to the loss. Supply Chain, Distribution Centers, and Logistics. Perhaps the most productive area to understand is logistics and supply chain. This area is responsible for moving your merchandise through its entire lifecycle. While moving the product, exceptions occur on a daily basis. Creating actionable reporting for these exceptions will provide a better understanding of the avenues of loss and a potential source of the product you see online. ■ Shipments or cartons reported lost in transit to your stores may provide a creative seller a legal opportunity to obtain your product cheaply and in bulk. Some carriers are permitted to sell your product that was part of shipment claim. For example, carrier XYZ loses a pallet of 200 cartons, and they reimburse your company through a claim. Later they locate the pallet, which they have now purchased from your company. What do they do with the product? Many carriers have private auctions where a savvy buyer can purchase your missing product for pennies on the dollar and
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resell it on online sites. Check your carrier agreement to learn how they are expected to dispose of lost and then found product. The U.S. Postal Service holds auctions for packages when they cannot determine who the owner is. At these auctions pallets of mixed product are sold cheaply to the highest bidder. ■ Identify your jobbers, the products they handle, and the requirements of how and where they are permitted to dispose of damaged or clearance product. ■ Review your records of the merchandise sent to jobbers and compare it against the product you see online. ■ Determine if your return-to-vendor (RTV) products are resold online. RTV products that are sent back to the supplying vendor in sellable condition may be another source of bulk product you see online. E-commerce. Evaluate your ecommerce site, determine what buyer information is captured during a transaction, and evaluate the ability to detect and respond to criminal activity. Some of the attributes to capture include IP address, machine ID, shipment-tracking information (address fields 1 and 2), and the email address used to place the order in addition to the relevant credit-card account information. Work with your ecommerce team to develop a repository that you may access to research past transactions and chargebacks as this will help you identify and differentiate patterns of abuse from one-time issues. It is critical to be able to link the credit-card number to the ship-to address and the shipment tracking information, as criminals often change the ship-to address and divert merchandise once it is in transit.
Step 2: Locating Merchandise Listings Outliers
Now that you have developed a thorough understanding of the legal ways to acquire your merchandise, the pricing cycle of your merchandise, and true cost, you are ready to locate listing outliers. There are several tools that can help accomplish this. We don’t endorse these tools, but offer them as options to be considered as you conduct a search. The eBay Advance Search. Located on the eBay site, the advanced search (ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch/?rt=nc,) filters through current and recently completed listings by eBay user ID, merchandise description, category type, and zip code. You are able to limit your search by price range, so you can set the lowest acquisition price at the top price and pull back all results that are below it. You can review feedback history for items sold and the selling prices, which can help you understand the seller’s entire profile. The search feature provides the ability to conduct focused searches by state or city. Be sure to review a sellers ID history to determine what other IDs may have been used. You may request instructions on
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how to use eBay’s advanced search module by emailing PROACT@ebay.com. Amazon. Amazon.com provides a site for individuals to list new and used merchandise on its platform. Small individual sellers of used and new goods go to Amazon Marketplace to sell goods at a fixed price or Amazon Auctions to sell merchandise to the highest bidder. Following are the steps for locating merchandise on the Amazon site: ■ Sign in to your account, ■ Enter the product you are searching (be specific), ■ Select the item condition (new or used), and ■ Select the brand. At this stage you will be provided with listings and price ranges for the search item. Now you can compare your actual cost information to the selling price to locate those listings that are significantly below your cost and promotions. ■ Select the seller and you are provided the reviews regarding the seller. ■ Select the “Detailed Seller Information” link and you are provided with information on the seller. From this page you may contact the seller using the contact page. Using the third-party tools described in Step 3, you may identify merchandise of concern and evaluate the business plan to determine if you have a potential issue. Craigslist. Craigslist is a classified-ad website divided into several sections. Sellers may list merchandise for sale as well as housing, items wanted, services, and discussion forums. |
LPportal.com
Online Investigations
Use the Craigslist search tool in the following way: Select the region you wish to search. ■ Enter a product description into the search bar. ■ The current listings matching your search are returned. Many of the listings returned include a phone number to contact the seller. This information may be used to identify the seller. Third-Party Tools. There are a number of third-party applications that can aid your research. ■ ThePriceGeek.com is a free site that provides searches by product for any currently and completed listed item that sells for over $75. It searches Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States. The search returns the current average list pricing and recently ended auctions average of price and listing duration, which provides an effective online exception point. The outliers of current listings are plotted on a scatter graph (see example below for a search of the iPhone 4). The graph is interactive and allows the user to click on the outlier, which directs you to the listing on Amazon, Craigslist, or eBay. The user may limit the results to top sellers and listing type. The site provides an email alert feature to notify the user of exceptions based on the criteria entered. ■
Contact Information and Other Resources Amazon To notify Amazon of concerns regarding suspected stolen merchandise, use the following link: amazon.com/gp/help/ reports. You are asked to provide your email, the name of the seller, the order number, and listing ID. There is also an area to provide your comments and concerns. Craigslist To notify Craigslist of concerns use the link: craigslist.org/feedback. Complete the form that will be forwarded to customer service. Be specific regarding your concerns. You may also email directly at abuse@craigslist.org. You may also notify someone at Craigslist of concerns by using the feedback feature or by emailing abuse@craigslist.com. Be specific about your concerns. eBay To notify eBay’s PROACT team of suspected criminal activity, email PROACT@ebay.com. Retail loss prevention departments in North America seeking assistance with an investigation relating to eBay or PayPal may also use that same email address. For European issues, email PROACT-EU@ebay.com. Other useful information is available in the Law Enforcement Center under the More Resources tab in eBay’s Security Center: ebay.com/securitycenter. Other Online Tools Following are some additional helpful free or low-cost online search tools.
■
Terapeak.com is a subscription-based search tool that provides the investigator total sales volume dollars and units, and average pricing for programmable time ranges. The site searches Amazon and eBay in Canada, United Kingdom, and United States. Amazon historic reporting was added in June 2013. Completed listings may be searched by selling type, product, average price, seller ID, and category going back one year. It has a reporting feature that provides the top sellers of specific merchandise, and the ability to create basic exception reporting that is emailed to you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
■ blackbookonline.info
and virtualgumshoe.com Both provide free public-record searches and directs you to free public-record sites based on your input.
■
■
pipl.com—Provides free public-record searches by name, email, user name, or phone.
spokeo.com—Searches on email, phone, username, and address. Requires an annual fee of about $50.
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ONLINE investigations
Terapeak provides free training videos to walk the subscriber through each function of the tool.
■
ORC Workbench is a subscription-based site that provides a site search and case-management tool in one (see above). The tool searches only eBay U.S. and can be accessed at orc-solutions.com. It provides the capability to search seller listings by city, state, or zip code with built-in links to social media sites. You can build your online case and import your findings with the listing description and photos as originally listed. The tool will search listings as well as the description
for specific words, such as brand or retailer, and return just those results. Reviewed sellers can be white-listed to remove them from future searches. The zip code search is able to locate merchandise listings within one-half mile of a zip code or town. ■ adhuntr.com is a free search tool that provides the capability to search many different sites by selecting from a drop-down menu and entering the merchandise description. Sites available for search include Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay as well as classified sites, such as Kijiji Canada, Backpage, Oodle, and Gumtree. A helpful feature is the “All of Craigslist” search, which returns results from all Craigslist sites in one search. It returns current listings and completed listings going back 60 days. While there is no summary available, the listings often contain information on how to reach the seller.
Step 3: Review the Seller’s Business Plan
Now that you have identified a seller that is potentially involved in criminal activity, calculate the profitability of the seller. Try using one of the free pricing and profit calculators from ecommercebytes.com, such as the Amazon fee calculator shown below left. It will help you develop a better understanding of the selling price points that are necessary for the seller to achieve a profit. The Amazon fee calculator requires the following data: ■ Item Price, which would be the price listed. ■ Cost to Acquire. Using your cost of an item and knowledge of lowest markdown price, BOGO history, and coupons available, calculate the lowest price a seller could obtain the product. ■ Shipping Weight. Estimate the actual weight of the product plus shipping materials. ■ Cost to Ship. Determine the approximate shipping cost by carrier minus shipping charged by the seller. The calculator returns an amount of profit or loss based on your entries and includes the approximate fees charged by Amazon. Based on this calculation, you can determine if the volume and price of the merchandise is realistic and represents a sustainable plan.
DAVE DiSILVA is manager, global asset protection, with eBay Inc. He joined the eBay Global Asset Protection leadership team in June 2010 to partner with retailers to help deter, detect, and resolve potential criminal issues across the platforms of eBay Marketplace, PayPal, and GSI Commerce. DiSilva has 25 years of LP experience in analytics, investigations, corporate LP operations, shortage control, e-commerce, and supply chain with multiple retailers. He is an active member of the Loss Prevention Research Council serving as co-chair for the predictive analytics group. DiSilva is a member of the Loss Prevention Foundation and contributing member of the LPC content review committee. Since 2011 he has been a contributor to LP Magazine. DiSilva can be reached at dadisilva@ebay.com or 408-332-8666.
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My Turn By Fern Abbott Abbott is a licensed private detective, certified polygraphist, and certified SORA (NJ Security Officer Register Act) instructor who has been in the security field for over thirty years. She is currently a site security manager in Northern New Jersey as well as the director and chief instructor at AFI Security Training Institute in Metuchen, New Jersey, where she trains security officers for SORA certification (AFItraining.com). She has authored numerous articles on security management. Abbott can be reached at 732-321-3700 or fabbott@afitraining.com.
Why Do Employees Steal?
M
any, many years ago, when I worked as a loss prevention investigator for Lerner Stores, most of my work was focused on store operations audits, ranging from how the store was opened, to how to make change properly, to counting out the register or cash drawer, to how trash was disposed of, to how refunds and exchanges were handled. Of course we also investigated internal theft, which included not just out and out theft, but such variations as “sweetheart” deals (trading discounts with employees of other stores), false returns, buying something on discount and having a friend return it for a full refund (without the receipt, of course), to playing with the layaway system, as well as shoplifting rings and other major causes of loss.
An Eye-Opening Response
Whenever we caught an employee stealing, no matter what the method, there would be the inevitable interview phase with the errant employee. Once, dealing with a tearful adolescent, I asked in frustration, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to steal?” I was amazed when she answered, “But, I wasn’t shoplifting.” Did she think that only shoplifting counted as stealing? Apparently, yes,
Why do employees steal? Forget the demographics—age, gender, social or economic status, whatever. In many cases, it’s because nobody told them they can’t. and as I came to find out, she wasn’t the only one. In all my future employee-theft interviews, I never ceased to be amazed when I got that answer or a variation thereof, whereupon I’d have to explain that “[blank]” certainly was considered stealing. After about a dozen or so of these interviews in various stores in my Northeast territory, during my audits I asked the store managers what house rules regarding loss prevention they reviewed with new hires, and was repeatedly told, “None.” So gee, why was it such a surprise when an employee thought it was okay to steal? On my next new store opening, I gathered all the newly-hired store staff, cashiers, salespeople, and managers, where I reviewed what constituted theft, as well as the consequences of stealing or
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of not reporting a theft that one witnessed or became aware of. I also illustrated the problem using one $5 per day theft by one person, 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year. That figure came to $1,250 ($5 x 5 days x 50 weeks), which was a healthy sum back in the 1970s. Further, multiply that amount by the number of employees in that store and the dollar loss was really high. I then explained that in order to make up for those losses, the store would have to cut back on employee discounts, not give raises, not hire extra people when needed, plus other ramifications. It gave them a different perspective.
My “Three Commandments”
Years later, I was hired by the human resources manager of Mr. Goodbuys, a chain of stores specializing in home-improvement supplies (the pre-cursor to Home Depot and Lowe’s) to conduct pre-employment security interviews. If they got past HR, they came to me; if they got past me, they were hired. Once we got through the interview phase, we discussed security and loss prevention, including what constituted stealing. That’s when I gave forth my “Three Commandments:” 1. Thou shalt not steal. 2. If you do steal, when (not if, but when) you are caught, you will be fired; you might also be prosecuted. 3. If you see (or find out about) another employee stealing and do not report it, you are just as guilty as the thief, and you will be fired as well. After a few months of conducting the security screening interviews, I received a call from the HR director. They’d caught an employee stealing. My stomach was all a-flitter. I asked if it was someone I had approved. It hadn’t been, but the employee who reported him was.
Don’t Assume Employees Know
So, why do employees steal? Forget the demographics—age, gender, social or economic status, whatever. In many cases, it’s because nobody told them they can’t. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? There’s at least one person reading this who’s rolling his eyes and thinking, “Well, duh!” But think about it. When new employees are hired and someone from the company goes over the rules and policies, does anyone ever tell the new hire, “Thou shalt not steal” or the other of my “Three Commandments?” Of course, there will be some employees who take it with a grain of salt and disregard it. But if you can prevent even one employee from stealing or encourage even one employee to report a theft, isn’t it worth the time? |
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Feature
speak as well as you think By John M. Vautier
speak as well as you think
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hat we say, how we say it, and what we’re doing when we say it combine to create great messages or messages that are long forgotten in the next moment. When you can “speak as well as you think,” you can drive your business results, whether you are addressing shrinkage issues with store management or discussing profit-enhancement strategies with corporate executives. Beyond that, the ability to communicate clearly, confidently, and comfortably is a key talent differentiator that will enhance your career. When you’re speaking to your staff, your management, or your customers, first impressions are critical and you need to speak as well as you think. You need to focus on the four quadrants of communication, shown in the chart below.
Executive Presence How you deliver your message and what we see you doing when you speak
Delivery
These are options to deliver your messages from formal to informal
Message Organization
The organized content and flow of your message
Q&A/Facilitation Answer questions directly and interact with your audience
Executive Presence
Executive presence is “what we see” and “what we hear” as you communicate. The specifics include the following: Eyes—Where you are looking when you speak. Hands—What you are doing with your hands when you use them (gestures) and when they are at rest. Posture—How you stand, sit, and move. Volume—Your “speaker’s voice” for those times when you are “on” should be at the 7 to 8 level, where 1 is a whisper and 10 is a shout. Inflection—These are the peaks and valleys that the voice has. It’s how your listeners know what’s more important from what’s less important. Non-Words—The four most common non-words in American English are “umm,” “ahh,” “like,” and “you know.” You sound smarter when those words don’t land in every pause. They take away from your executive presence.
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Executive presence is essential to winning the business or selling a project to the capital committee? Here’s what you need to do physically: Speak one thought to one person and pause between thoughts and people. Use your speaking voice. Inflect your key words and phrases. Balance your stance or sit up straight. Gesture above the waist and outside your body lines with hands open. Reset or drop your hands to your sides between thoughts. Here’s why these skills are important. Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, cites a research study done by psychologist Nalini Ambadi, who studied how effectively a professor taught a college class. There were four test groups: The first group was shown three 10-second silent videotapes of the professor teaching the class. The second group was shown three 5-second silent videotapes of the professor teaching the class. The third group was shown three 2-second silent videotapes of the professor teaching the class. The fourth group was the students who sat through that professor’s class for the entire semester. Those who watched a silent 2-second video clip of a teacher they never met reached conclusions about the teacher that were very similar to those who attended the teacher’s class all semester.
Message Organization
One of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to “start with the end in mind.” To that end, there are two critical questions to ask yourself when you organize your message: Who are my listeners, and W hen I’m done speaking, what do I want them to know or do? Who Are Your Listeners? Consider your staff, your team, or your audience. Who are they? How many people will you speak to? What time of day will you speak? What do you know about them? In what ways might they be predisposed to you or your topic? If you’re familiar with them, and you’re there to influence them, think about how they might have influenced you previously. Do they have a “story-telling” culture? Do they like statistics and facts? Do they often quote key thought leaders? When you tailor your message to your listeners, you come across as customer-oriented, focused, connected, and aligned with them. I once attended a dinner where the keynote speaker was Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy. Coach Dungy didn’t sit at a head table; he sat with nine other people, next to a 10-year-old boy and his father. When he was introduced at 7:30 p.m., he began by saying, “I sat next to Tommy Jones tonight. I want to share with all of you why Tommy is the most important person with us at |
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speak as well as you think
What we say, how we say it, and what we’re doing when we say it combine to create great messages or messages that are long forgotten in the next moment. When you can “speak as well as you think,” you can drive your business results, whether you are addressing shrinkage issues with store management or discussing profit-enhancement strategies with corporate executives. dinner. The reason I say that is I asked Tommy what time his mother was expecting him to be home from tonight’s banquet. Tommy said she wanted him home by 9 o’clock. I told Tommy that I’d be done and he’d be home before 9 o’clock when his mother is expecting him.” The crowd enjoyed the embedded message that Coach Dungy wasn’t going to bore them with a long speech, and he made Tommy and his dad feel very special that evening.
What Do I Want Them to Know and Do? The following are the three key messages we deliver when we speak to a group and the reasons why we deliver them: “Know this” means we want to inform, update, or educate. “Do this” means we want to recommend, propose, persuade, or influence. “Believe this” means we want to inspire.
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speak as well as you think
The ability to communicate clearly, confidently, and comfortably is a key talent differentiator that will enhance your career. When you’re speaking to your staff, your management, or your customers, first impressions are critical and you need to speak as well as you think. When you’ve answered the question, “What do you want your listeners to know, do, or believe?,” build your message so that when you’re done speaking, that’s where you finish. If my outcome is to have my audience “do something,” how will I influence them? How Will I Influence Them? Six forms of influence are used to move listeners to action. The first five form the acronym S-P-E-A-K. The sixth is “the demonstration.” Let’s look first at S-P-E-A-K: S = Statistics and facts. P = Personal experience, meaning something I have experienced and can talk about passionately. E = Examples are something someone else has experienced personally. A = Analogies are those descriptive phrases that convey a thought, such as “the perfect storm,” “the domino effect,” or “kick the can down the road.” K = Killer quotes can come from authors, speakers, business leaders, and team members. Finally, there’s the demonstration. The great demonstration of our era was at the O.J. Simpson trial when the prosecution had him try on the bloody glove. As Simpson tried to slip his hand into the glove, he was clearly heard saying, “It doesn’t fit. The glove doesn’t fit.” When a demonstration goes well, it’s very compelling…and the opposite is also true as in this case. Story Telling. Speakers in a business setting often lament, “Oh, I don’t want to tell a story. It’s a business presentation.” But stories are synonymous with case studies, examples,
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personal experiences, even jokes. They all follow the same B-A-R pattern. Here’s an example that illustrates the pattern. (Background) The year is 1974. The country is Bangladesh. There were 42 female bamboo stool weavers who needed money for raw materials. They were poor and had no collateral. They had been borrowing from a local moneylender at usurious interest rates. (Action) Muhammad Yunus loaned these women the equivalent of $27 U.S. dollars. He required no collateral. His idea was simple. Given the chance, poor people could be just as creditworthy as the rich. He depended on peer pressure of the group to repay the loans. (Result) Yunus established a practice called microlending, and he founded Grameen Bank, which since 1974 has lent more than $5.7 billion to more than 6.6 million poor people around the world. Others have imitated microlending. Recently, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Any time you tell a story, tie it back to the point you’re using it to make. Many presenters expect their listeners to make the connection. Make it for them. Use words such as, “Now the reason I tell you this story is to…” and reaffirm your point. Remember what the French philosopher Voltaire said: “The secret to being a bore is to tell everything.” Transitions. Transitions are how one part of the message hangs together with the next part of the message. When we transition well, listeners describe the message as organized, flowing well, hanging together, making sense, and logical. |
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speak as well as you think How do we transition? If you’re using PowerPoint or notes, embed your transitions in the headers. You have two options for transitional statements. You can say them in the declarative—“So let me explain transitions”—or the rhetorical—“How do we transition?” When I coached Ford Motor Co. President Red Poling in the late 1980s, he told me he gave just six speeches a year, which I thought was a small number. Poling explained that I was confusing the number of times he speaks with the number of talks he gives. “I have six talks,” he said. “They are a finance talk, a quality talk, a product-development talk, and three others. Now I give each of those talks 20 to 30 times a year. What makes it easier for me is that each is formatted in a similar way. Eighty percent of the product development talk I give in Seattle tomorrow will be the same 80 percent I give in Cleveland next week. The other 20 percent are the Seattle details or the Cleveland details.”
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speak as well as you think
One of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to “start with the end in mind.” To that end, there are two critical questions to ask yourself when you organize your message—Who are my listeners, and when I’m done speaking, what do I want them to know or do? continued from page 51
Make this approach work for you. Find a format. You need a “know this” format and a “do this” format. The chart below is a sample “do this” format. However you develop your own format, make it your own, and the majority of the messages you deliver during your career will be accomplished far more easily than if every presentation is a unique-unto-itself message.
Delivery
When you deliver, you marry your physical skills with your message. When it matters most, get up on your feet. If you’re only presenting to two or three clients, it’s overkill to stand to deliver your entire message. But do look for an opportunity to get up on your feet. When you are on your feet, you take an ordinary presentation and make it an event. Every message can be delivered by speaking one thought to one person. It will work best if you organize your message in bullets, thoughts, or packages. Don’t write your message out in script or longhand. It makes it too hard to deliver. Speak or deliver thought to thought rather than word to word. The three main adult learning styles are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. When you tell your audience something (auditory), show them a PowerPoint presentation and/or give them a handout (visual), and have them interact with that handout (kinesthetic), they will retain that information much longer. For example, when you deliver from PowerPoint or handouts, follow the approach that great sports announcers, such as Al Michaels and John Madden, use. Michaels always speaks as he calls the play, meaning he tells you what you see. Then, after the play is run,
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Madden steps in and adds the color by telling you what it means. As a presenter, you need to know that the audience will look first and listen second. This means that if you’re delivering with visuals or presenting from a handout, you need to tell your listeners first what they see, then what it means. It’s critical that the spoken message and the visual message be identical. So often we hear the presenter adding color first while listeners are looking at the pitch book to find some visual cue of what the presenter is saying. The rule of thumb is to write what you’re going to say, then stay very close to what you’ve written.
Q&A Facilitation
You work very hard to organize a logical, compelling presentation and it’s absolutely sensational, but the audience hammers you during the question-and-answer period, and that’s all anybody remembers. Always “meet the listener where the listener is.” This means, if the listener wants to ask a question in the middle of your presentation, take it when it’s asked. What’s important to the listener is what should be most important to you. The ultimate credible answer to a question is when the answer is stated up front first, and then you develop the answer. Here’s an example: (Question) “Isn’t the discipline of a watch list an exact science?” (Direct Answer) “We believe it’s both a science and an art.” (Develop the Answer) “The quantitative analysis is the science. Applying decision-making discipline to the analysis is the art. Let me give you an example of that…” |
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LossPreventionAd_Layout 1 5/7/13 12:35 PM Page 1
speak as well as you think Another option is to rephrase the question. You need to stay true to the issue. Using the above example, here’s how that might sound: (Question) “Isn’t the discipline of a watch list an exact science?” (Rephrase) “How will we manage the watch list for you?” (Direct Answer) “We believe it’s both a science and an art.” (Develop the Answer) “The quantitative analysis is the science. Applying decision-making discipline to the analysis is the art. Let me give you an example of that…” There are three reasons you might rephrase a question: To take the negatives out if it’s a hostile question. To position the issue in preparation for your answer. To buy thinking time before answering. When you don’t know the answer, always acknowledge it. Say something like, “I don’t have that data with me…” and then you have two options: (Option 1) “But I will get it for you and phone you this afternoon with it.” (Option 2) “But if you’d give me a call following our meeting, I can get it for you.” So how do I communicate these messages most effectively?
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Whether you’re having a cup of coffee with your boss or speaking to a roomful of your team members, your executive leadership team, or a group of people you’ve never met, the way you communicate is critical to accomplishing your objectives. For the best results, follow the four quadrants of communication. Do your homework and organize your message. Then deliver it to one person at a time. Handle questions non-defensively. Don’t forget to use your voice, gestures, and posture to physically project confidence and enthusiasm. Practice these techniques for just six weeks to make them your own. You…and your listeners…will notice a big improvement. JOHN M. VAUTIER owns Vautier Communications, a Chicago-based business communications practice that consults with executives and organizations about how to organize and effectively deliver clear messages. He is coauthor with his son and business associate, John J. Vautier, of an e-book titled Speak as Well as You Think. Vautier can be contacted at 847-749-1930 or via email at john@vautiercommunications.com.
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Solutions Showcase American Dynamics
Considerations for Video Analytics in Retail By Shahar Ze’evi
T
here was a time, just a few years ago, when many people thought video analytics for the retail market would give them all the information they could possibly need by simply plugging in a camera and pressing “Record.” The promises did not live up to the hype, and video analytics never saw the rapid adoption by the retail market that was anticipated at the time. Today, however, expectations have been reset and video analytics systems have become more sophisticated and technologically advanced. Though it is still not a plug-and-play world, video analytics as part of an integrated solution can significantly empower retailers when they invest in the proper video infrastructure and take the time to understand how they want to use the analytics.
Keys to Success The biggest key to success is being able to pinpoint exactly what you are looking for out of a video analytics program. This is particularly important because different applications call for different equipment, setup, and data. For example, if the loss prevention department is interested in employee theft or fictitious transactions at the registers, cameras should be placed with a clear line of sight to the register. On the other hand, if management wants to analyze the behavior of how long people are standing in the queue and which end-cap displays are most effective, a wide-angle lens covering a larger field of view may be more cost-effective. Loss Prevention Applications. Loss prevention and sales/merchandising are the two main applications for video analytics in retail. With loss prevention applications, retailers must define their requirements as specifically as possible—for example, whether they are attempting to eliminate shrinkage from internal theft, external theft,
or both. They should also decide if there are specific behaviors, such as loitering, that store personnel want notifications about, or if management is looking to understand transaction inaccuracies in specific cash registers. Loss prevention analytics can take on a number of scenarios. A retail store may be concerned with organized crime theft, employee theft, or a combination of the two. For example, a drugstore may employ analytics on the camera monitoring aisle 5 where it caught a shoplifter stealing razor blades, as well as on the camera in the back room where internal theft is suspected. Integration between a video management system and a retail point-of-sale system can also help LP personnel with exception reporting, where LP personnel want to know if a customer was present during a voided transaction at a cash register—often the difference between a valid transaction and fraudulent one. The use of video analytics combined with exception reporting can also prioritize which exception to view by highlighting if there is no customer present during a transaction or if the EAS tags have been removed, when available through the article surveillance system (EAS).
Merchandising Applications. Since a video analytics system is set up to collect a lot of data, a natural inclination for retailers is to use some of that data to understand their customers’ behavior. The biggest challenges for retailers with merchandising applications are determining the specific scenarios they want data for, as well as in what form they want the data. Who will be using the data is just as important as what data they want to see. The Right Partner. One final consideration for choosing the right video analytics program is to make sure the supplier and installing company have longevity and experience in these complex programs and will be able to support the needs of the organization. Video analytics companies are in large supply, but not all of them may be around in another five years. Therefore, taking the time to find a supplier that meets the organization’s needs and will be available for a long-term partnership is the final piece of the analytics pie.
Shahr Ze’evi is Senior Product Manager, Tyco Security Products, responsible for the American Dynamics video management portfolio. He can be reached at szeevi@tycoint.com. LP Magazine | July - august 2013
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evidence-based
Using Big Data for Precision Prevention Measures
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recision is always the goal. And the more we know, the better we’ll be. Today crime and loss problems are primarily defined by recent incidents and emerging patterns. This is good, but we can continue to get better. We can use the term “precision LP” (or “precision AP”) to label our efforts to first move to “evidence-based LP” using scores of LP studies to make better decisions, then push further to “precision LP.” The goal of precision LP is to identify the underlying granular drivers of retail crime attempts, similarly to what is being done in certain subtypes of cancer for example. Understanding crime problems, or diseases, at the molecular level allows for much more precise diagnoses, targeted solutions, and, of course, much better prevention and recovery. Precision LP will be based on future advances in understanding underlying causal mechanisms of our problems, like the interaction of surrounding offenders, their ease of access to our assets, how well we protect those assets, and how well we can learn and improve. We will also need to do something else—share. And that means sharing good stuff. The real key to precision LP is having a central clearinghouse of studies. No single retailer or solution provider can provide the deep and wide data we will need to get very, very good at crime prevention, mitigation, and recovery. We will need to pull together third-party scientific as well as retailer-proprietary studies. Big data are needed in other words. We will need to know how differing neighborhood settings, store types, merchandise mixes, manager priorities and skills, and protective techniques work alone and together.
The Rationale
Why do we want to go to the precision LP model? There are at least two reasons: To truly maximize the impact, effectiveness, and ROI of protective treatments and To minimize negative side effects like shopper and employee frustration and waste. It is important to note that every location, management team, and problem is slightly…but importantly…different.
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by Read Hayes, Ph.D., CPP Dr. Hayes is director of the Loss Prevention Research Council and coordinator of the Loss Prevention Research Team at the University of Florida. He can be reached at 321-303-6193 or via email at rhayes@lpresearch.org. © 2013 Loss Prevention Research Council
This understanding is very important. It would be great if we could apply prevention measures across the board, but that will never deliver the results we and our management expect. So key precision elements include: Correct understanding of the underlying causes of a specific problem. Understanding how each problem has slightly different elements like we mentioned above. Neighborhoods, managers, and other factors vary, and this variation is really important to sustained success. Assuming we select the right solution or combination of solutions, these measures need to be tweaked to affect that location’s problem.,
Precision LP will be based on future advances in understanding underlying causal mechanisms of our problems, like the interaction of surrounding offenders, their ease of access to our assets, how well we protect those assets, and how well we can learn and improve. Getting There
Like anything good, getting to a much more precise level of LP practice will take vision, time, and action. LP practitioners need much more information to make better decisions. As I mentioned, that information will need to come from individual retail organizations, be blinded as to source, be warehoused, and be analyzed along with collective study data to provide more in-depth information. Take for example an LP department team that is meeting to form their next year’s strategy. They realize a particular product category’s losses are hindering sales along with profitability. The team then conducts their internal problem diagnostics, and then turns to |
LPportal.com
the precision LP data warehouse to look at their evidence-based options. They find three preventive options that have been extensively tested by several retailers and once by an independent organization. The team then chooses their top two options, and plans to assess those options in two or three locations. Pending that analysis, they may abandon one or more options, find ways to make them work in their stores, or go forward as is. Following are some possible next steps to get us closer to precision LP at the industry level. We don’t just need big data, we need little data, and, most importantly, we need to have all the data flow into a central, secure repository. We need practitioners and scientists alike to both feed into and have access to the data. All retailers would feed in their test results via a web-based form that provides the research method and results without revealing the submitting retailer’s name. We can also look toward bringing together data from broader studies and datasets like the University of Florida’s National Retail Security Survey, the Centre for Retail Research’s Global Theft Barometer, the evolving National Shrink Database, LERPnet, and other sources. We need scientists to evaluate the data and provide simple descriptions of what they find, and what those findings mean in practical terms for retailers.
e then build a global best methods database. The W LPRC Research Fusion Center is helping to work toward that goal as part of this scenario. We can work toward a comparative effectiveness matrix for common problems. For example, the truck hijacking problem might be addressed by a practitioner looking at several anti-hijack methods that have all been rigorously evaluated. When you move from the industry to the retailer and solutions provider level, greater precision means consistently using the problem-solving techniques discussed here and elsewhere like SARA (scan, analyze, respond, assess) to really identify problem causes, and then focus solutions. Ideally, this means in-house assessments should be fairly rigorous, including using control locations to rule out many other causes of observed outcomes. And then as mentioned, retailers and their vendor partners should submit their findings to the data warehouse.
Concept to Action
These are my initial thoughts on how we can all keep moving our discipline toward greater precision and even better results. Please send your thoughts and suggestions to rhayes@lpresearch.org. Also, please contact us if you have interest in participating in this year’s LPRC Impact conference at the University of Florida, October 14 – 16.
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industry news
Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Arriving in Mainstream Retail?
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ou’ve heard of PayPal, and you may have downloaded your mobile payment app, but do you know what “bitcoin” is? Have you ever heard of BitPay, Gyft or BitFash, or MtGox? If these terms are unfamiliar, then don’t skip the rest of this article. When I started in retail as a financial executive in a Macy’s subsidiary in 1974, we accepted cash, personal checks, and charges on our own company credit card— that was it—no American Express or Visa. We had our own credit and collections department, so we managed the entire process from beginning to end. Our only financial middle-man was the cash-collection service. Fast-forward forty years and the world is on the verge of accepting payments for goods and services in bitcoin, which according to bitcoin.org is a “decentralized, digital currency that enables instant payment to anyone, anywhere in the world.” The idea, first promulgated around 2009, is to use cryptography, meaning secure communication, to control the creation and transfer of money, rather than relying on central authorities. Bitcoin came to my attention in a recent news story about the Winklevoss twins…the two brothers who sued over the rights to Facebook…who have invested a fortune in the currency. “We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error,” said Tyler Winklevoss. As one would expect, the online community was first to embrace the bitcoin in commerce. Now, people are starting to use bitcoin in retail. In mid-May CNNMoney reported that payment processor BitPay joined with mobile payment app maker Gyft to offer simple software that allows customers to buy gift cards for stores, such as Sephora, Burger King, Gap, and others. These retailers don’t directly accept bitcoin yet, but customers can effectively pay for merchandise in over 50,000 of their stores in the U.S. The Bitcoin Money blog reported that brick-and-mortar merchants are beginning to accept bitcoin directly, especially in locations like New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, and New Hampshire, where clusters of enthusiasts can use them in bars, restaurants, and other retail businesses. A New York bar called EVR contended that bitcoin payments accounted for about 10
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by Robert L. DiLonardo DiLonardo is a well-known authority on the electronic article surveillance business, the cost justification of security products and services, and retail accounting. He is the principal of Retail Consulting Partners, LLC (www.retailconsultingllc.com), a firm that provides strategic and tactical guidance in retail security equipment procurement. DiLonardo can be reached at 727-709-6961 or by email at rdilonar@tampabay.rr.com.
percent of its overall revenue in the month of April 2013. An Australian real estate brokerage now accepts bitcoin as payment for property. In theory the bitcoin process eliminates the threat of payment or collection security breaches, and cuts down transaction processing time and cost. Will bitcoin be the wave of the future? The investment community thinks so. Millions of dollars in seed money have poured into bitcoin payment-processing startups and online sites that sell brand-name merchandise. The industry estimates that about $1 billion worth of bitcoin was traded in April. It appears the buzz is just beginning.
U.S. Management Buys All-Tag, Expands U.S. Factory The senior management team from All-Tag Americas Inc. recently acquired most of the assets of All-Tag S.A. of Belgium, the world’s second largest manufacturer of RF EAS labels, behind Checkpoint Systems. Immediate plans call for the transfer of most of the remaining label production equipment to Florida, resulting in the creation of an unspecified number of well-paying production jobs. All-Tag had moved about 25 percent of its production capacity to Florida in mid-2011. The original factory in Manage, Belgium, had been in operation since 1992. All-Tag is the only major EAS manufacturer currently producing labels in the U.S. “We saw an opportunity to make a few structural changes that will bring back full-time jobs to South Florida, consolidate our engineering, manufacturing, and management footprint, and provide even better service to our growing list of customers,” said CEO Stuart Seidel. Corporate headquarters will be moved to the existing facility in Boca Raton, which will house worldwide sales and customer service, in addition to the vast majority of the company’s EAS label production. While All-Tag S.A. was strictly a manufacturer of disposable EAS and RFID labels, All-Tag Americas has a long history of designing and marketing the full spectrum of EAS accessory products, including tags and benefit-denial |
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devices compatible with virtually all AM and RF detection technologies. The company has recently introduced a people-counting system. The new entity, called All-Tag Security Americas (All-Tag), also acquired All-Tag Security U.K. Limited and All-Tag Security Hong Kong Limited. The management group includes seasoned veterans of the EAS business, led by Seidel and Andy Gilbert, the sales and marketing
Walmart Changes AP Leadership Team By Jim Lee, LPC, Executive Editor Recently we had an opportunity to speak with the new asset protection leadership team at Walmart U.S. Sonya Hostetler, vice president of asset protection and safety, has appointed three experienced and dynamic retail executives to lead the program. Here is a summary of our conversation and a chance for all of us to get to know them. EDITOR: Sonya, you placed two experienced operations executives in key asset protection leadership positions. What was your thought process with that decision? HOSTETLER: For me, team dynamics across our AP leadership team are critical to our ability to deliver optimum results. Leaders who are knowledgeable around the total business, not just the asset protection aspect of the business, are equally critical. My decision to place both Paul Jaeckle and Nikki Bayne in our organization was in line with that thinking. Both bring diverse experiences and backgrounds with a proven track record of delivering results. Diversity of thought, experience, and background are force multipliers, and I truly feel we have accomplished those things with this move. EDITOR: At the same time, you added Mike Lamb, a well-known LP executive. How did you get so fortunate? HOSTETLER: Coming into the AP organization, I recognized very quickly that I would need to have a leader who not only had strong leadership skills, but had the institutional knowledge and experience of asset protection. Mike has had a very successful career in loss prevention and has been able to bring a new prospective into our AP organization. Leveraging his experiences outside of Walmart to help optimize our business model has been an advantage for us.
Mike Lamb, LPC
Senior Director, Asset Protection Operations, U.S. Stores Mike Lamb’s retail loss prevention career spans thirty-plus years, most recently as VP of asset protection for The Home Depot. His responsibilities for Walmart include the
director. “This investment illustrates the dedication our team has to the success of All-Tag,” said Gilbert. “We have some innovative plans under development that will provide significant growth opportunities.” All-Tag’s founder, Olivier Boels will assume the role of president of Europe. The new entity is privately held. Financing assistance was provided by a Florida-based investment group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
development and implementation of AP strategies and awareness programs across the brand along with leading transformational and innovative change in conjunction with the AP executive. Lamb has been active in the LP industry, serving on the board of directors for the Loss Prevention Foundation, the Loss Prevention Research Council, and RILA’s Asset Protection Leaders Council.
Mike Lamb, LPC
EDITOR: After six months on the job helping to lead Walmart’s AP efforts, what have been the challenges and successes? LAMB: Two thoughts immediately come to mind relative to that question. First is personally adjusting to the enormous scale and velocity of the world’s largest retailer. Second is effectively engaging across the critical business partners both from an asset protection and cross-functional perspective. From a success point of view, I would call it “positive progress” versus “success.” While one’s work across the challenges and opportunities is never complete, I feel good about our approach and progress thus far. Further, from a team point of view, we recognize where the challenges lie and are laser focused on our strategy and approach. EDITOR: What are the goals with asset protection at Walmart? LAMB: The answer to that question is very clear in my mind. Continually deliver on the desired asset protection business results for the organization. That first begins with people and then process development and execution. Identify, hire, train, and retain the very best people, and in conjunction with that, design, implement, and execute world-class asset protection programs. I would like to think we are well on our way with regard to those things. EDITOR: What are your thoughts on the addition of two experienced stores and operations executives into senior leadership roles in AP? LAMB: I truly believe the addition of Nikki and Paul to our team provides an invaluable depth of knowledge and insight into the business. More importantly, it helps identify how we approach problem solving and gives us enormous
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diversity of thought and perspective. The critical importance of diversity of background and experience is often overlooked in key AP leadership roles. With both having a myriad of professional experience ranging from operations to innovations, we have a unique advantage that has and will continue to add tremendous value to the team.
Nikki Bayne
Senior Director, Asset Protection, Central Business Unit Over the past twenty-four years, Nikki Bayne has held various leadership positions in human resources and store operations within Walmart. Prior to her appointment to her current position in AP, Bayne served Nikki Bayne as director of operations in the Texas area, where she led all operational initiatives across several markets. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in criminal justice from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. Bayne has served as a board member for The Plano Symphony Orchestra as well as The Giving Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to hunger relief. She has also served as president of the women’s division of the McKinney (Texas) Chamber of Commerce. EDITOR: What was the attraction that made you accept this new challenge in asset protection? BAYNE: I have always been intrigued by areas of the business that allow me to expand my knowledge and contribution to the organization. While I did not have prior AP experience, I was impressed by the more recent strategic direction, objectives, and excitement that I observed within the AP organization. That aligned very nicely with my goal of making a significant contribution to a company that I care so deeply about. EDITOR: After a couple of months on the new assignment, what personal challenges do you see ahead? BAYNE: I would have to say that the greatest challenge is ensuring we deliver flawless execution around the tactical and strategic objectives and goals that have been outlined by our vice president. In addition, I see the critical need for me to connect with my field team as quickly and effectively as possible to ensure we are identifying and celebrating wins, as well as identifying and addressing opportunities. One of the most surprising aspects of this job is adjusting to the rapid pace and ever-changing dynamics of the asset protection role.
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EDITOR: If you could achieve only one objective in the next year, what would that be? BAYNE: That’s a very easy question for me. My primary objective is to develop and grow the talent on my team, which ultimately ensures we deliver on our performance goals. I believe leadership is about galvanizing a team, working hard, and having some fun along the way. If we accomplish that over the next year, I will feel as though it’s been a successful one. EDITOR: You recently attended your first national asset protection conference. What were the positive takeaways for you? BAYNE: The synergy I observed and the tremendous knowledge that was shared by the presenters really opened my eyes to the complexity and importance of what we do in asset protection. It’s a great opportunity to exchange the best of ideas and network amongst your peers.
Paul E. Jaeckle
Senior Director, Asset Protection, East Business Unit Paul Jaeckle brings sixteen years of loss prevention, innovations, and store operations experience inside Walmart to this role where he is responsible for the AP functions for 1,380 Walmart locations extending from Puerto Rico to Maine. Paul E. Jaeckle Jaeckle has served on the Sage Colleges alumni board of directors since 2010 and was recently appointed to the board of trustees. He earned his master’s degree in organization management and design from Sage Colleges in 2009. Jaeckle has also served as the VP of the loss prevention committee of the Retailers of Massachusetts, was a member of the Retail Council of New York State’s food, safety, and LP committee, was the New York State Emergency Management Organization retail representative, and was on the board of directors for the Greater Washington, D.C. Urban League. EDITOR: You graduated from college with a degree in criminal justice from Western Illinois and began a career at Walmart in asset protection before moving to operations. Why did you make the move into operations? JAECKLE: I made the decision to go back to complete my master’s degree while I was working as a regional AP director. During that timeframe, I really began to strategize on what I wanted my full career to look like and how to further use my education. I tried to balance my education, experience, and exposures to position myself to learn the business from a more holistic
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approach, understanding that much of what we accomplish in AP is an extension of operations. I realized that I needed to understand the operational functions better in order to allow me to make better decisions in AP and become more credible to my internal customers. Walmart was going through significant changes in how stores operated with inventory management, so it was a great time to learn myself and teach my customers how to be more effective when it comes to inventory management and where the gaps lie related to processes or where risk resides for the potential of shrink.
EDITOR: Do you see common goals and objectives between stores, operations, and asset protection? JAECKLE: I do. The mission remains the same though the subject matter may be a bit different—develop leaders, seek to understand how and why things work, remove barriers, and drive strong execution of business objectives. For the most part though, everything mirrors very closely between the different disciplines. As I mentioned before, AP is truly an extension of operations and a critical discipline to complete the business model and make it successful.
EDITOR: What caused you to make the full circle back to AP? JAECKLE: My heart has always been in asset protection. Our organization is filled with great people and the role inspires me for several reasons. AP had been an exporter of talent inside Walmart for several years, but had not seen the same inbound transitions to balance the organization. When Walmart named Sonya as the AP executive, it was very refreshing to me to see someone with credibility and understanding of asset protection, operations, and strong people leadership commitments being leveraged to lead such a great organization. In addition, my education, experience, and knowledge of both AP and operations, plus my commitment to developing talent and working for a great leader all made this an intriguing and easy decision for me.
EDITOR: What were your impressions and takeaways from the Retail Industry Leaders Association LP conference? JAECKLE: The attendee commitment and the breadth of knowledge in the presenters were most impressive to me. I was extremely excited to see industry leaders not so much focused on managing the business for today, but focused on the current trends and how we manage against the risks of innovation and where the business is going. Things like mobile retailing, addressing the speed and adaptability of the business needs, seeing the number of industry leaders working together to mitigate common risks and sharing learnings; all were refreshing to see. The commitment for our industry suppliers to keep us out in front of those risks was also really impressive to me.
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Milestone XProtect® is the world’s leading IP video surveillance management software and is reliable, future proof and easy to use. It supports the widest choice in cameras and seamlessly integrates with business and security solutions such as RFID. Which means your possibilities are unlimited and you can keep your security options open. See our new products and the new ways to use XProtect at: www.milestonesys.com
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LEE: Will we see you come out of retirement for the fourth time? LUCIANO: That depends on whether I go “up” or “down” after I die.
George Luciano Added to NRF Ring of Excellence George “Pops” Luciano was inducted into the Ring of Excellence at the 2013 NRF Loss Prevention Conference and Expo in San Diego in June. This distinction recognizes George “Pops” Luciano the lifetime contributions made by Luciano to the loss prevention profession. Jim Lee, executive editor of LP Magazine and a long time friend of Luciano, asked the new inductee a few pointed questions. LEE: Tell the young people reading the magazine how you started in LP. LUCIANO: I was working as a robbery/homicide detective in October of 1966 when I was offered a job at Vons Grocery as assistant director of security paying $200 more per month, plus a car. I had been number one on the promotion list for sergeant, but was passed over for the number three on the list, who happened to be female. So, I took the Vons job. LEE: What was your first directorship? LUCIANO: I became regional director of security at Smith’s Food King in 1971 and corporate vice president of LP at HRT Industries (Zodys Discount Stores) in 1976.
LEE: What does the Ring of Excellence mean to you? LUCIANO: It’s hard to put into words how honored I am to have been chosen to be among the LP professionals who have made LP what it is today. There have been so many innovators who were out-of-the-box thinkers as well as examples of honesty and integrity. This group worked with a variety of vendors who helped create the sophisticated LP tools that are in use, and still evolving, today. Getting this honor is definitely the highlight of my career. LEE: What would you tell our readers about being an LP professional? LUCIANO: An LP professional must be extremely loyal to his company, his people, and his profession and must realize that his conduct affects all three. You must give back to the industry by sharing your experiences, including successes in dealing with shrinkage. Egos need to be left at home. You must make a concerted effort to continue working with vendors to foster innovative ideas to the benefit of all. Last, but not least, you must remember that your reputation means everything to the industry, to yourself, and to your family. EDITOR’S NOTE: George Luciano was featured in the magazine’s “Legends in Loss Prevention” series in the November-December 2006 issue. A PDF of that article is on the magazine website, LPportal.com.
LEE: You’ve always been a people person, correct? LUCIANO: Yes. I wanted to surround myself with professional people who wanted my job. In fact in one company, I hired the person who lost to me when I got the job.
lEGENDS IN lOSS PREVENTION
George Luciano
D
on Rickles fell to his knees and claimed that “Lucky Luciano” had been sent to knock him off when George Luciano went to pick up the famous comedian for a public appearance. It wasn’t the first or last time someone called him “Lucky Luciano,” but George has always been a good sport, and never took offense to the nickname he shared with the mobster some consider the father of modern organized crime. The fact that he must have heard the nickname thousands of times from people he hardly knew and always responded with a big grin and a hug on the neck tells you more about the kind of man George Luciano is than anything else. To a generation of loss prevention executives, his real nickname is “Pops.” A counselor, advisor, friend, and father figure to many in our industry, he is known as a man you can count on to give you the “straight scoop.” And like a real Pops, if you’ve been fortunate enough to know him, you know that he is always there for you. Whether it is a few kind words of encouragement during a difficult time, or using the guest room over his garage, his legacy will be that he cared more about the people in our industry than most people will ever know.
LEE: What were the qualities you looked for in people who worked for you? LUCIANO: Initiative, technological knowledge and skills, a personality conducive to a cohesive company-wide management team, results-oriented, independent thinking, and honesty. LEE: You’ve been a pioneer in civil demand. When and why did that come about? LUCIANO: In 1978 I became aware of CA Penal Code section 490.5, which was a new law and one of the first in the country. We introduced the program a year later and recovered a quarter-million dollars. But the most important factor was that we reduced shrinkage by $5 million. Because of this success, our company became the training center for many other retail chains, at which time we not only provided the law and AG opinion, but also case studies and apprehension forms.
From Cop to LP Luciano came to retail loss prevention after spending ten years, from 1956 to 1966, in the detective division of the Alhambra, California, Police Department. While there he took an extra assignment as a range master at the shooting range and worked seven days a week to support a growing family. An opportunity to work at Von’s Grocery “making a little more money” was his first step in a long and prosperous career in retail loss prevention. Joe Matthews, director of loss prevention at Academy Sports, put it this way, “Pops has the unique ability to adapt to any business situation.” He went from being a cop to working in grocery
LEE: Let me think, how many times have you retired? LUCIANO: [Laughing] I’ve retired three times. On two of the occasions, you were the master of ceremonies. My last job was VP of LP at Petco in San Diego, which was a great job.
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stores, department stores, electronics stores, home centers, pet stores, and then as a consultant and successful business owner, making life-long friends every step of the way. But being friendly does not by itself make a great leader. Rod Holm, vice president of loss prevention at Limited Brands, credits Pops as the first senior LP executive to recognize and implement chain-wide “target store” or “blitz store” programs, a practice Holm and many others unashamedly copied. Luciano was also among a small number of executives who realized early-on that electronic article surveillance (EAS) would revolutionize theft-deterrent programs in all types of retail environments. During his career he “introduced” EAS to home centers and pet stores and made those programs successful. Other LP executives who at one time worked for Pops describe him as sometimes having a rough exterior, but in the same breath, say that he is a “real cream puff.” They also say that he always stressed being innovative and not getting stuck in the same old routines. And of course you can’t say anything about Pops without recognizing that he is one of a handful of former retail loss prevention executives who successfully transitioned from a top job working in retail to a vendor serving the retail community. As senior executive VP and co-owner of Civil Demand Associates, he built a successful company providing civil recovery collection services for more than 100 major retailers in the United States. November – December 2006
A Family Man Luciano was born in Los Angeles in 1932 and must have had countless opportunities to leave California for a higher paying job or a bigger title elsewhere, but he stayed in California because he wanted to stay close to family. This devotion to family is aptly illustrated by the words of wisdom given to one of his protégés who called him for advice about accepting a job in another part of the country. Luciano’s first question was, “What does your wife think?” The message was clear—it doesn’t really matter how good the job is if your spouse goes along reluctantly. Luciano has always known what is important—family, good friends, good health, a good book, and fishing. He credits Jacqui, his wife of thirty-one years, with giving him the support and family life LPportal.com
People on the move Mike Aldridge, Christopher Havis, Zachary Hayes, and Wes Watson have been appointed Corporate Investigators, and Ryan Scherschell has been named Corporate Investigations Supervisor for 7-Eleven. Blake Thomas has been named District LP Manager for Abercrombie & Fitch. Michael Reid has been appointed Director of Risk Management for Areas USA, Inc. Rob Selah, CFI and Chad Cranfill, CFI have been named Regional AP Managers for Advance Auto Parts. Neill Appel, LPQ has been promoted to VP, Acquisitions for Alarm Funding Associates. Rick Fernandez has been promoted to Senior Investigator for AT&T. Billy West, Todd Stach, and Derick Rich have been named Area LP Managers for Bed Bath & Beyond. Kenneth Boremi, LPC, CFI has been promoted to Director of LP for Brookstone. Andy Fleet has been appointed Director of Asset and Profit Protection for Burberry. Brad Dykes has been promoted to Senior Director of AP for Cabela’s. Josh Murray has been promoted to Manager of Corporate Security and LP for Canadian Tire. Joseph Throneberry, LPC, CFI, CFE has been named Manager of Law Enforcement and Specialty Investigations for Capital One. Joel Canady has been appointed Health and Safety Program Manager for CarMax. Rodney Gray has been named Director of Safety and Security for Check into Cash. Anthony Gabino has been promoted to Area LP Manager for Chico’s. Kevin Charles has been appointed to Regional LP Manager for CVS/Caremark. Deborah Giordano, LPQ has been named LP Analyst for Deb Shops. Laquita Waligorski and Brian Keefer have been appointed Regional LP Managers for Dollar General. Domino’s has promoted Ryan Berkey to Manager, LP and Audit, and Van Carney to Director, Safety and LP. Christopher Rust has been promoted to LP Manager for DTT. Rob Simmons, LPC, CFI has been named Compliance and AP, Corporate Security for EVRAZ North America. Michael Robinson has been appointed Area LP Manager for Family Dollar. Alberto Sandoval has been promoted to Area LP Manager for Gap, Inc. Jamie Bertotti, Lee Lastovica, and Francesca Boyea have been named LP Managers for Genesco.
Louis Ferrell has been appointed Director of Safety for Goodwill International.
Perry Resnick has been appointed Director of AP for REI.
Thomas McCoy, LPC has been promoted to Regional Safety Manager for Harris Teeter Supermarkets.
Rite Aid Pharmacy announced the following changes: Shannon Speelman, LPQ to Profit Protection Investigator; Keith Harmon, LPC to Director of Field Investigations, Major Crimes; Jason Parsons, LPC to Regional Director of LP; Jason Conaway and Christopher Boggs to AP District Managers.
Carlos Lopez Arujo has been named Sub-Director of LP, Mexico for HEB. Devin King has been appointed LP Manager, and Kwame Acree has been named District LP Manager for Hermes of Paris. Allen Flower, CFI has been appointed Regional LP Manager for Hibbett Sports. Dave Adelman has been named Area LP Manager for HMSHost. Mike Boise has been promoted to District Operations Manager for The Home Depot. Brett Steinfels, LPQ has been promoted to Area LP Leader, and Angie Wright has been named Supply Chain Investigator for jcpenney. Stephen Halmeck has been appointed Director, University Relations and LP Support for Kohl’s. Rosie Arizona and Lisa Kennedy have been appointed AP Managers for Louis Vuitton, North America. Lowe’s announced the following changes: Emily Bosworth to Regional LP Director and Jason Friedman and Samuel Charles to Area LP Managers. Victoria To-Dowd, CFI has been named North America LP Manager for Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. Macy’s promoted the following individuals: Jeff Klock to District Manager of Investigations; Samuel Alvarado, Peter Melas, and Michael Mann, LPC to Regional Directors of AP; and George Allison to Director of AP, e-Commerce, for Macy’s Logistics and Operations. Charles Delgado has been appointed VP of AP and Jesse Jones has been named Regional AP Manager for Mejier.
Robert Smith and Todd Vale have been appointed Area LP Managers for Ross/dd’s Discounts. Curtis DuBois has been named AP Manager for Sam’s Club. Scott Walters has been appointed to District LP Manager and Joe Lozano has been promoted to Regional LP Director for Sears Holdings. Brian Brewer, LPC has been promoted to Director of LP for Sobeys. Oliver Pelkey has been promoted to Area LP Manager for Stein Mart. Art Capone has been named Director of LP for Shopper’s World SW Group. John Minick has been appointed Manager, Safety and LP, for Team USA. Elizabeth Cruz has been appointed District LP Manager for TJX Companies. Jim Hiscock, LPC has been promoted to Regional LP Manager and John Rysedorph to LP Supervisor for Trans World Entertainment. Lynn Kresse and Jay Montgomery have been appointed to the National Accounts Division for Vector Security. Walmart Stores promoted the following individuals: Donald Lindsley, LPQ and Joshua Salthouse, LPQ to AP Managers; Paul Jaeckle to Senior Director, AP, East Business Unit; and Nikki Bayne, Senior Director, AP, Central Business Unit. April Sweeney has been appointed District AP Manager for Weis Markets.
Brian Kling has been promoted to Senior Director of LP for Michael Kors.
David Bermudez has been named AP Specialist for Winn Dixie.
Kieran Keller has been named District LP Manager for NAPA Auto Parts.
Lauren Bridgeo has been appointed Director of e-Commerce and Recovery for The Zellman Group.
Mike Rackley has been appointed Global Director of LP for Nike. Christian Rupert has been named Senior Executive, LP and Customer Service, for Neiman Marcus. Mike Bowers, CFI has been appointed Senior Director of LP for Northgate Markets. George Soto, CFCI, CFE, CFI has been promoted to Director, Investigations and Global Fraud Control, for Office Depot. Anita Worden has been named Corporate Safety Manager for OfficeMax. Dale Jackson has been named AP Manager, Distribution for Pep Boys.
LP Magazine | July - august 2013
To stay up-to-date on the latest career moves as they happen, sign up for LP Insider, the magazine’s weekly e-newsletter, or visit the People on the Move page on the magazine’s website, LPportal.com. Information for People on the Move is provided by the Loss Prevention Foundation, Loss Prevention Recruiters, Jennings Executive Recruiting, and readers like you.To inform us of a promotion or new hire, email us at peopleonthemove@LPportal.com.
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Parting Words
The Power to Choose
Jim Lee, LPC Executive Editor
A
person in control of their life should have only to make two decisions a day: ■ Morning—Scrambled or fried ■ Afternoon—Walk or ride This is a quote that I have hanging in my office, and for any of you scratching your head, it refers to making choices on breakfast and golf. Choices begin once we wake up in the morning and don’t stop until we fall asleep at night. Regardless of whether it is our business or personal schedule, we have choices or alternatives. Think about this. You wake up and have to decide to go to work or not. If you go to work, you have to decide what to do, and then decide to give it your A-game or just go through the motions. The choices and decisions we have to make every day never stop. It can really get confusing. Never are there more choices to make than when you attend a national conference, whether it is FMI, RILA, NRF, ASIS, or NFSSC. The most recent conference I attended was the NRF LP show in San Diego. The choices start when you first arrive in town. Do I play golf today or
The recently passed country singer George Jones had a big hit song called “Choices” where he said, “I’ve had choices since the day that I was born. There were voices that told me right from wrong.” Choose wisely. not? In this case the golf is a charity event for missing kids made possible by the USS Foundation. Giving is optional, so you have to choose to support the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Many over the years have made the giving choice, and in the past ten years over a million dollars have been given by the LP community. This was indeed another record-setting year for this event. Most all conferences begin with an easy choice—the keynote speaker. It was an easy choice to hear Rorke Denver of the U.S. Navy SEALs speak about leadership, preparation, and teamwork. It was an outstanding choice for a keynote and outstanding presentation.
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Then the choices get harder as you have to make a choice from five sessions. How do you do that? The exhibit hall and lunch require little decision making—just go eat, complain if you will about the food, walk around the hall and speak to vendors...or not. The hall is really a great place to network with friends, peers, and meet new people. This can be discouraging as some don’t choose to want to meet new people—a bad choice in my opinion, but a choice nonetheless. After the hall you have to make a choice again among five sessions before the day closes with a general session; finally an easy choice again. That session was presented by a favorite of many of us—Larry Barton, one of the real leaders on violence in the workplace and crisis management. Days two and three bring about the same types of choices. From what I chose to see and from what I heard from others, this was a conference with lots of good choices. So, kudos to Rich Mellor and the retail LP leadership team who work so hard in developing the agendas. One last special session deserves special recognition. That is the awards session led by Melissa Mitchell of LifeWay Christian Stores. The NRF presented the Ring of Excellence award to George Luciano for his lifetime of contributions to the industry. This was way overdue and a superb choice. Since I am writing about choices, I must say that San Diego is special and an excellent choice. I vote for a conference in San Diego every year. It has great golf, the ocean, boat rides, restaurants, a zoo, big league baseball, Sea World, old San Diego town, and the best weather in the U.S. How do you fit all of that in with the sessions? You have to make choices. This column is entitled “The Power to Choose,” with the emphasis on the word “Power.” Determining the best course of action to take, evaluating your alternatives, and making a choice when you are at the fork of the road is individually powerful. The recently passed country singer George Jones had a big hit song called “Choices” where he said, “I’ve had choices since the day that I was born. There were voices that told me right from wrong.” Choose wisely.
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