Store anti-theft alarms

[Tolduonce]

Back when anti-theft tags and alarms were new they intimidated me. If a clerk failed to remove the tag in a legitimate purchase an alarm would go off when exiting the store. The customer would have to return to an employee, prove his or her innocence and have the dye-filled tag removed. Nowadays, those little anti-pilferage tags are enclosed in just about EVERYTHING and I set an alarm off a couple times a month. Since these tags don't contain the dye, it's not necessary to have them removed before you can use your aspirin or read your magazine. Hey, I said some stores have them in EVERYTHING.

My question for you is, what do you do when the alarm goes off and all eyes are on the exiting customer? Here's what I do. I keep right on walking. I no longer will be inconvenienced by a store's malfunctioning equipment. Now, I don't take-off on the dead run or try to be evasive. I just walk out and carry on. If they want to check my bag, they need to come to me, not the other way around. Just sayin'.

 

[rtt]

I usually stop, turn around at look at the clerk who served me. I have always been waved through, and never expected otherwise, I'm sure the clerks get this all the time and are sick of it as well. From my point of view, giving them the option to recheck if they want to looks better for me on the security cameras than if I just keep walking, even if it's at the same steady pace..

 

[Austin]

I keep walking.

 

[Maineac]

I also keep walking. No one has ever followed me out.

It seems to happen frequently at the Lowe's and Home Depot.

 

[luvmysuper]

I keep walking.

Irritating, but still preferable to having your stuff checked against the register tape like some untrustworthy cretin like they do at Walmart.

 

[ackvil]

I usually stop, turn around at look at the clerk who served me. I have always been waved through, and never expected otherwise, I'm sure the clerks get this all the time and are sick of it as well. From my point of view, giving them the option to recheck if they want to looks better for me on the security cameras than if I just keep walking, even if it's at the same steady pace..

So much depends on the device. Some of the devices that are on clothing can harm the clothing if you try to remove it. Those clerks usually remove because they are easy to see.

The other devices look like bar codes and have to be desensitized by the clerk. I usually ask them to remove or desensitize it because it could go off again if you enter another store.

 

[SpyvSpy]

I keep walking if a store employee says something I'll stop. Nowadays they really shouldn't worry about people stealing cause usually when you walk in the store they follow you around like flies on $&@!.

 

[DamnFineBob]

I usually turn to the clerk who served me and shout
"You'll never take me alive!"
before running at top speed to my getaway car.
(OK, maybe I just keep walking.)

 

[Edcculus]

If its one of the clip on tags, I get the clerk to remove it. FWIW, those tags aren't filled with dye. They are just a MAJOR PITA to remove without the proper device. When I worked retail, or detector didn't work. We put sensor tags on stuff anyways to discourage people from walking off with the items.

Also, some stores are sewing tags into the seams of clothes. Esp places like Old Navy. I once bought a pair of pants there and forgot to cut out the tag when I got home. The washing/drying somehow re-activated it. I was at the mall a few weeks later and set off the alarm when I entered and exited every store!

 

[Jim]

If you take 6 feet of twisted pair wire and hank it up in your pocket, it will set the alarms off every time.

 

[proxymoron]

I usually make a mad dash from my car and peel out in a cloud of burning rubber. But that's only if I did, in fact, steal the item.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Shopping NYC last summer, I get wondering why the alarms were going off at EVERY store we went to. Turns out that one of the pairs of shorts I had bought at H+M had a pocketfull of those security tags someone had obviously taken a hacksaw too. It seems someone had ripped off a bunch of clothes and stowed the tags in those shorts and then casually tossed them back onto the pile outside the changing room.

Of course, I discovered this when I reached into the bag and came up with a huge handful of these tags ...... right in front of a cop on 5th Ave!

 

[Tolduonce]

I suppose my underlying problem with tags and alarms can be traced to the loss of trust between merchant and customer.

Merchant doesn't trust customer so they put detectors in their wares.
Customer resents the lack of trust the merchant has for him/her. Such resentment from both parties cannot be good for business.

 

[Maineac]

I usually turn to the clerk who served me and shout
"You'll never take me alive!"
before running at top speed to my getaway car.
(OK, maybe I just keep walking.)

Typical Lehigh Valley guy!

(I used to be one)

 

[DrColossus11]

I keep walking unless someone stops me.

I had one day were those things would go off in every store I walked in or out of, couldn't figure out why. Later I realized that the IR on my smart phone was broken and kept sending out a signal that those things didn't like.

 

[BurkDarkpatches]

I suppose my underlying problem with tags and alarms can be traced to the loss of trust between merchant and customer.

Merchant doesn't trust customer so they put detectors in their wares.
Customer resents the lack of trust the merchant has for him/her. Such resentment from both parties cannot be good for business.

Merchants don't trust customers en masse for a good reason. If you're honest, I wouldn't read too much into their legitimate preventative measures.

Steve

 

[Edcculus]

Merchants don't trust customers en masse for a good reason. If you're honest, I wouldn't read too much into their legitimate preventative measures.

Steve

I agree, people don't steal because store owners use anti theft devices. I mean, the locked glass case is also anti theft device for more expensive items...

 

[life2short1971]

Employees steal more than customers. Its proven. I just keep walkin

 

[Masterkova]

Of course, I discovered this when I reached into the bag and came up with a huge handful of these tags ...... right in front of a cop on 5th Ave!

That is awesome.

 

[AdrianR]

...Irritating, but still preferable to having your stuff checked against the register tape like some untrustworthy cretin like they do at Walmart.

LOL!
Here in Mexico, you CANNOT LEAVE Home Depot or Sams Club UNTIL they have checked your register tape against the items you have.

Self-service checkouts? I keep dreaming