Seal in Profits
Reduce Shrinkage and Tampering By Implementing a Strong Security Seal Strategy.
One of the key objectives to any retail security program is preventing shrinkage throughout the system, from the time suppliers ship products through distribution centers and on to each individual store. While retailers are predominantly successful in securing merchandise until it enters their possession in the DC, it is precisely once the inventory is within their possession that it becomes vulnerable to a wide range of harder-to-thwart threats.
Retail security professionals typically implement a basic security seal program to enhance accountability throughout the supply chain and reduce the risks. However, too many retailers secure bins, totes, boxes, and even trucks with uniquely numbered seals – but without an auditing system in place for validation. Such programs are merely window dressing, and far from a serious deterrent to unscrupulous employees seeking to help themselves to company merchandise.
An effective auditing system insists upon a process by which the integrity of the seal is confirmed every time possession is transferred, usually as simple as requiring the receiver to confirm the security of the inventory, sign for it, and be held accountable for it.
An audit trail of seal numbers, chain-of-custody transfer signatures, and corresponding inventory counts system needs to be carefully recorded and visibly checked by management to reinforce the message that every single inventory item matters. Demanding accountability encourages and rewards security-oriented employees, and has the added benefit of improving overall vigilance.
By Brian Lyle, Vice President of Cambridge Security Seals.
