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I worked Loss Prevention for JC Penney for 4 years in the 80s. I loved the job. Coworkers were great and we set a district record for shoplifting arrests. We would average 30 per mo. Anyway, I'm thinking of going back into the field, but I've read about changes over the years.
1. Loss Prevention agents now have a quota or they get fired?
2. Some agents have posted getting certified. What's that about? Three arrests for certification?
3. I remember that I could not stop someone if I loss sight of them in the store. That was
the reason to have one agent on the cameras and another following the suspect. Some agents
are posting the 5 steps of following someone. What is this about?
I'm sure like many industries, things have changed but there seems to be more internal stress for the pay. Not sure that I want to worry every week if I don't find somebody stealing. I'm talking about companies like Sears, Kohls, JC Penney, Nordstom etc.. I appreciate any input from people who are in the field or left the field within the last 4 years.
I worked Loss Prevention for JC Penney for 4 years in the 80s. I loved the job. Coworkers were great and we set a district record for shoplifting arrests. We would average 30 per mo. Anyway, I'm thinking of going back into the field, but I've read about changes over the years.
1. Loss Prevention agents now have a quota or they get fired?
2. Some agents have posted getting certified. What's that about? Three arrests for certification?
3. I remember that I could not stop someone if I loss sight of them in the store. That was
the reason to have one agent on the cameras and another following the suspect. Some agents
are posting the 5 steps of following someone. What is this about?
I'm sure like many industries, things have changed but there seems to be more internal stress for the pay. Not sure that I want to worry every week if I don't find somebody stealing. I'm talking about companies like Sears, Kohls, JC Penney, Nordstom etc.. I appreciate any input from people who are in the field or left the field within the last 4 years.
I can't help you with your questions, but what a coincidence...I also worked in Loss Prevention at JCP in the early 80s (and at Korvettes before that). One of the most fun jobs I ever had.
I can't say that now, 30 plus years later, it's something I'd ever consider doing again though.
I worked LP for a major company for about seven years. Things have changed. Where I worked it got to the point where you couldn't engage a suspect in conversation/consentual stop, you couldn't stop someone if you lost sight of them, etc., etc. Corporate is afraid of getting sued and the managers are pissed because so much product is walking out the door but, by policy, there is not anything you can do about it. It's not a line of work I'd go back into.
JOHNP292. I grew up behind the Korvettes in Oak Lawn and worked at the JC Penney in Ford City. It was one of the best jobs. I was just thinking of part time but I do realize we live in a different society now. Shoplifters are more desperate and companies have more regulation on officers. Hell, I don't think I even needed a guard card in 1986. I remember having to sleep in the store when those damn Cabbage Patch Dolls were delivered to our store. Then I had to wait an hour with a store clerk because her ride was late. We even drove them home cuz we got tired of waiting. I think we had a quota too. Something like 2 apprehensions per 40 hrs, but we didn't fear of getting fired over it. Thanks for the replies.
JOHNP292. I grew up behind the Korvettes in Oak Lawn and worked at the JC Penney in Ford City. It was one of the best jobs. I was just thinking of part time but I do realize we live in a different society now. Shoplifters are more desperate and companies have more regulation on officers. Hell, I don't think I even needed a guard card in 1986. I remember having to sleep in the store when those damn Cabbage Patch Dolls were delivered to our store. Then I had to wait an hour with a store clerk because her ride was late. We even drove them home cuz we got tired of waiting. I think we had a quota too. Something like 2 apprehensions per 40 hrs, but we didn't fear of getting fired over it. Thanks for the replies.
In addition to how things have changed, that is a young person's game. It makes me feel old saying that, but I couldn't run down a shoplifter in the parking lot today like I could in the early 80s. I worked in stores in northern NJ, and we used to have problems with hit-and-runs from Newark and Paterson, and occasionally NYC. Those guys sometimes were dangerous, even back then. I'm sure they are more so today.
In addition to how things have changed, that is a young person's game. It makes me feel old saying that, but I couldn't run down a shoplifter in the parking lot today like I could in the early 80s. I worked in stores in northern NJ, and we used to have problems with hit-and-runs from Newark and Paterson, and occasionally NYC. Those guys sometimes were dangerous, even back then. I'm sure they are more so today.
It got to where we were not even allowed to follow someone into the parking lot.
Loss prevention is more about reducing employee theft, rather than paltry shoplifting.
Internal theft is much more damaging and large scale than shoplifting.
Yes and no, certainly not like it was. Organized retail theft (not cargo hijackings but thefts from stores) is literally a billion dollar industry. LP involves everything from in-house petty theft to stopping boosting crews that take 10K worth of electronic products a day.
We concentrated on both. Employee theft was a big deal, because a dishonest employee could do a lot of damage over time. But shoplifting isn't paltry either. Industry estimates in the 80s were that for every shoplifter apprehended, 12 got away. And the hit-and-runs/ boosting gangs could hit a store for thousands in a single event, and additionally posed safety risks to customers. It got so bad we sometimes had task forces with the police in unmarked cars to stop the fleeing shoplifters. The PD purchased radios on our store frequencies so we could communicate directly with the local patrol units (it was a nice try, but not very effective). In one case in the 90s, a fleeing shoplifter tried to run down a plain clothes police officer. The cop wound up clinging to the hood of the moving car and shot the shoplifter through the car door. They both lived. I wasn't in LP any more then, but I was an EMT and I treated and transported the shoplifter.
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