Darian Griffin was named Division Loss Prevention Manager for Ralphs Grocery Company. Prior to his job with Ralphs, Darian worked for 13 years with The Paradise Shops as the Managing Director, Operations & Loss Prevention; Director, Operations & Loss Prevention; and the Regional Loss Prevention Manager. Congrats Darian!

Don Morisette was promoted to Michigan Division Loss Prevention Manager for Kroger. Don started his career in the grocery industry in 1976 as a clerk and worked his way up to Store Manager for 23 Supermarket in 1984 in Flint, MI. In 1996, Kessel Foods purchased 23 Supermarkets where Don continued to work as store manager. Kroger’s then purchased Kessel Foods in January 2000 and Don was transferred to store 409, Grand Blanc MI., where he stayed for 6 ½ years. He achieved top ten sales improvement and top ten EBITDA three years in a row, 2002, 2003, 2004. Then he was transferred to store 419, Flushing MI., in 2006 where he stayed for 2 ½ years. He was then promoted to Human Resource Coordinator in 2008. Congrats Don!

Kroger continues to build their ORC effort by adding two new investigator positions and staffing a Financial Crimes Investigator specifically focused on ORC.

February sees lots of cuts and one VP of LP job elimination at Ascena. With Sears, Lowe's, Sports Authority, Big M, Blockbuster Video, and a few others cutting LP budgets. It's been a rough February.

The LP News Network shot 21 segments last week at the Los Angeles Area Organized Retail Crime Association's 3rd annual conference. One of which is an exclusive interview with the San Diego Detective who successfully managed the investigation that led to the bust of the "Box Stuffer Crew" for $6.4 million, which is probably the biggest ORC case in the retail industry in 2011. Stay tuned as we release these episodes starting tomorrow.

Sweethearting is accounting for 40% of total shrink in U.S.'s $200 billion a year problem across all industry segments. The study conducted by three university professors, which will appear in next months Journal of Marketing, shows 67% of respondents had taken part in sweethearting in the past two months alone and that many employees were motivated by the prospect of receiving better tips and similar deals at the customer's place of business, according to a statement issued by Michigan State University. (Source securityinfowatch.com)

Since 1992 the NBA has confiscated $369 million in counterfeit NBA goods. And Homeland Security and local law enforcement are gearing up in Orlando for the upcoming All-Star NBA game and will be monitoring the vendors as they did in Indianapolis at the Super Bowl. (Source wftv.com)

Nordstrom is doubling its investment in e-commerce. Nordstrom also plans to hire another 400 employees to staff its online businesses. Thirty percent of capital spending, or nearly $1 billion dollars will be spent to support e-commerce over the next five years. (source internetretailer.com)

Louisville Police have arrested a suspect in tri-state robberies of Target stores. Keith Rowland has been charged with robbery in connection to robberies in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. Rowland is believed to have stolen $5000 from Target over the last 3 months, and injured 2 Loss Prevention Associates. (source whas11.com)



Walgreens Bandit being sought in several pharmacy robberies Colorado. Colorado Springs Police are seeking the identity of the Walgreens Bandit who has hit 5 stores this month, no one has been injured and no weapon has been seen by store associates. (source krodo.com)




North Carolina man arrested with $700 in foil wrapped DVD’s Winters took the time to wrap up his DVD’s and Blu-ray discs he was stealing from the Wal-Mart in Raleigh but something went wrong with his plan. Winters now faces larceny by anti-theft device and resisting arrest charges, being held on a $15,000 bond. Winters was on parole for 2nd degree burglary. (source newsobserver.com)

Elaborate way of stealing diesel fuel from a BP station in Tampa. Hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel had already been siphoned from an in-ground tank. The van was equipped with a plastic bladder and a battery operated pumping station. Upon the arrival of a Deputy, the group of thieves took off in another car. (source tbo.com)

Puma investigates shootings at factory protest in Cambodia. It is unclear if Police officers opened fire on protesters outside the Kaoway Sports factory, in Svay Rieng province. According to reports, more than 6,000 workers were throwing rocks at the factory in protest of unfair working conditions. Puma officials and representatives of Cambodian NGO CLEC are on their way to visit one injured employee who has been hospitalized in Phnom Penh. (source bbc.co.uk)

4th Quarter same store sales results

Saks Fifth Avenue Q4 reports same store sales up 7.7% with revenue up 7%, with Saks Direct (online) up 21%
Home Depot Q4 U.S. same store sales up 6.1% with revenue up 6%
Barnes & Noble Q4 same store sales up 2.8% with revenue up 4.2% with their Nook business up 38%
Wal-Mart Q4 U.S. namesake same store sales up 2.1% with net sales excluding membership fees from Sam's Club was up 5.9%
 

Submitted by Art Silva

Managing change

Last week I wrote a quick introduction describing some of the effects of unemployment. I received a lot of great support and several great emails from people who feel the same so I wanted to say thank you for that. This week, I wanted to talk a little about perspective and managing change because it is a lesson I wish I had learned many months ago. There are several situations that can bring about being unemployed, but there is one common denominator – we are all human and we like it or not, we have emotions. It is how we address those emotions that really determines the success with which we make it through trying times.

Whether it is from a company closing, there is a staff reduction, a change in management, an employee not getting along with their supervisor, or any other reason for losing a job, how we manage the change will affect our outlook on life and will affect those around us. In my particular situation, my company had announced that they would either be selling or closing our operations, and it wasn’t until four months later that they finally announced that they decided we would be closing. As those four long months passed by, there were highs of expecting a sale and lows where we thought we were closing. I was in the depths of one of those emotional lows when my LP Investigator and I were leaving for the day and I asked how he was holding up. He said his father told him that when you can’t control your situation, the only thing you can control is how you deal with it.

I had heard similar sayings before from others and I don’t know what it was – maybe the timing of the comment or who it was coming from – but whatever the reason, it really resonated with me and I finally took it to heart. From that day forward, a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I truly realized that it wasn’t doing me any good to have a negative view and that it was only hurting me, my team, and my family. Finally understanding I didn’t control everything and only concentrating on what I could control – namely my perspective – has also carried me through some of these tough times now that I am unemployed.

The lesson I wish I had learned sooner was that rather than discounting those previous suggestions to stay positive as cliché or coming from people who were too cheery, I would have had fewer sleepless nights and headaches if I had listened the first time. I hope that my lesson learned late can help others cut down on the time it takes them to come to the same conclusion.
 

Raphael Villanes, CPP was promoted to Division Loss Prevention Manager for Safeway Inc
Darian Griffin was named Division Loss Prevention Manager for Ralphs Grocery Company.
Don Morisette was promoted to Michigan Division Loss Prevention Manager for Kroger.
Aaron Rogers was named Manager of Risk Services for Axcess Financial.
Raymond Sosa was named Regional Loss Prevention Manager for CVS Caremark Corporation.
Don Cummins was named Regional Loss Prevention Manager for Forever 21.

No matter what you do, there's always two sides in every stadium, both supported by their beliefs, convictions and opinions and both equally opposed in their desire to win. While winning is everyone's objective, how you play the game is in actuality more important. Regardless of how the other side plays, one must always remember that afterwards regardless of the win or loss everyone respects the one who played like a professional and gave it their best.

Just a Thought,
Gus Downing