Report: Retailers Embracing New Approach to Managing Loss
RILA Research Examines Adoption of Total Retail Loss Concept

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) today published "Total Retail Loss 2.0: From Theory to Practice," a report which analyzes the global retail industry's adoption of Total Retail Loss (TRL), a concept first introduced by RILA and University of Leicester Emeritus Professor Adrian Beck in 2016.

Based on an online survey of nearly 100 retailers, as well as interviews with senior asset protection executives, Professor Beck examined five factors when reviewing retailers' approach to TRL and its applicability: awareness, adoption, review, development, and implementation.

The research found:

● 89% of retailers surveyed were aware of TRL
   - 64% of those believed TRL had some impact in their organizations

● 53% of respondents had either fully embraced the concept or adopted some of its elements
   - 47% were thinking about using it in the next year

In addition to understanding the awareness and utilization of TRL across the industry, the report considers challenges to adoption, tips on getting started with the concept, and reveals an updated TRL typology.

"Our goal when we teamed up with Professor Beck was to establish a more uniform approach to measuring loss across the industry in hopes of mitigating challenges retailers face managing loss," said Lisa LaBruno, RILA executive vice president of retail operations and innovation. "Fast forward three years, TRL has gained significant traction globally and retailers are finding great value in this approach. It's exciting to see the industry leveraging this work and we're optimistic that TRL adoption will continue to expand." rila.org

The full report can be accessed here.


Liberty Lake, WA: OpenEye announces plans to double workforce, expand HQ following acquisition by Alarm.com
OpenEye is expanding its Liberty Lake headquarters following an acquisition by Alarm.com, a home automation and monitoring company. The cloud-based video surveillance company is planning to double its workforce and move to a larger facility, which is anticipated to open in 2020 in Liberty Lake. OpenEye has already posted job listings for software engineers, developers, and sales and technical support positions.

OpenEye employs more than 100 people in product development, delivery and support in Liberty Lake. The company's web services platform - which utilizes in-cloud computing, data analytics, information security and the Internet of Things - serves more than 14,000 locations nationwide. spokesman.com


Amazon Sells Clothes From Factories Other Retailers Blacklist
After a deadly 2013 factory collapse, most big U.S. apparel companies agreed to steer clear of dangerous plants in Bangladesh. Not Amazon.

After a 2013 factory collapse killed more than 1,100 people in Bangladesh, most of the biggest U.S. apparel retailers joined safety-monitoring groups that required them to stop selling clothing from factories that violated certain safety standards. Amazon.com Inc. didn't join.

According to a Wall Street Journal investigation, the site today offers a steady stream of clothing from dozens of Bangladeshi factories that most leading retailers have said are too dangerous to allow into their supply chains.

A yellow gingham toddler top embroidered with flowers was among those clothes, listed on Amazon for $4.99 by a New York City retailer. The Journal traced the top to a factory in Chittagong, Bangladesh, that has no fire alarms and where doors are of a type managers can lock and keep workers in. A laborer at the factory, 18-year-old Nasreen Begum, said she spends 12-hour days there stitching shirts with 300 others. "You're trapped inside until the time you complete the orders," she said.

The Journal found other apparel on Amazon made in Bangladeshi factories whose owners have refused to fix safety problems identified by two safety-monitoring groups, such as crumbling buildings, broken alarms, and missing sprinklers and fire barriers.

U.S. retailers such as Walmart Inc., Target Corp. , Costco Wholesale Corp. and Gap Inc. have agreed to honor bans imposed by those two groups, to have their supply chains inspected and to disclose to the groups the factories that supply them. wsj.com

Edwardsville, IL: Worker alleges Amazon distribution center's negligence led to fall
An alleged trip and fall at an Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville has prompted a lawsuit as the plaintiff alleges the online retail giant and the owners of the facility are liable for his injuries. Jimmy Horneman filed suit Sept. 26 in St. Clair County Circuit against Amazon, which rents the property at Lakeview Corporate Drive in Edwardsville, and the owners, CP Logistics and Lex Edwardsville, alleging negligence.

The core of Horneman's argument is that on Sept. 30, 2017, during a work visit to the Edwardsville facility, he tripped over a parking block because it was the same color as the rest of the lot and there were no warning signs. The suit alleges the defendants failed to keep the premises in a "safe and usable" condition for those visiting the property. This included "negligently and carelessly" failing to provide a "safe ingress and egress" from the guard shack to the parking lot. madisonrecord.com

Harris County, TX: Spring woman files $1M lawsuit against Target,
says she was misidentified as 'taco seasoning bandit'
Life was on course for Alaina Alejandra Villa until, she says, Target misidentified her as the taco seasoning bandit. Police tagged her, based on surveillance videos, as the culprit of a crafty shoplifting spree over three days at Target stores in Atascocita and Spring, according to a $1 million federal lawsuit Villa filed Tuesday.

The "Taco seasoning bandit," as she's called in court documents, was reportedly caught on video in July 2018 at the self-checkout aisle, palming a 99-cent Knorr spice packet and scanning its bar code repeatedly as she faux-scanned an air purifier ($152.99), a duvet ($89.99), two window valances ($49.98), a dinnerware set ($59.99), a Rocket vacuum ($189.99) and other household items.

The Harris County district attorney charged Villa with misdemeanor theft, saying she matched the image of the woman on the surveillance video in the store and parking lot. Villa says after being wrongfully identified by authorities, she turned herself in on the theft charge. After multiple postponements, the prosecutor dismissed the charges, checking a box on the form that said, "probable cause exists but case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this time."

Villa, who is Hispanic, says she was misidentified and jailed due to her race. She has maintained her innocence, refused multiple plea offers, and is now seeking monetary damages and accusing the chief security staffer and the Target company of defamation, malicious prosecution, wrongful imprisonment and negligence. houstonchronicle.com

UK: Manchester, England: Association of Convenience Stores to host Crime Prevention Security Summit
The ACS event will provide retailers with the opportunity to hear from a number of experts about the latest developments in crime tackling equipment and how it could be used to protect their business interests. It will focus on key areas of retail crime including protecting people, theft, robbery and burglary and fraud and internal theft. The event, which is being staged on 27 November, builds on the organization's long-established drive to tackle retail crime which includes the annual Crime Report and the "It's Not Part of the Job" campaign with the home office. The ACS has also been busy lobbying politicians for some time to get better support for retailers and their colleagues. talkingretail.com

How Facebook Bought a Police Force
The Bay Area has long been a sandbox for technology giants who are no longer merely occupying communities, but building and reshaping them. In Menlo Park, an affluent, mostly white city of 35,000, Facebook at one point paid workers not to live in lower-income neighborhoods near the company's headquarters. And now, there's a police unit that is funded by Facebook to patrol the area surrounding its campus. The bill comes in at over $2 million annually - big money in a small city.

The "Facebook Unit," as it was nicknamed by Menlo Park police, has not gotten much attention outside of these communities, despite being one of the nation's only privately-funded public police forces.

Public records obtained by Motherboard - hundreds of pages of notes, proposals in draft and final form, presentations, and emails between Facebook and the Menlo Park Police Department over several years - provide an unprecedented look at how the partnership was forged and how it operates, as well as at public concerns about law enforcement's intimate ties to one of the most powerful technology companies in the world. vice.com

Indeed Names H-E-B Top-Rated Workplace In Retail Third Straight Year
For the third year in a row, San Antonio, Texas-based H-E-B was named the No. 1 top-rated workplace for retailers by job listing site Indeed. The rankings are based on employer ratings and reviews by employees on Indeed.

Indeed's 25 Top-Rated Workplaces: Best Retailers

9 In 10 Employees Come To Work Sick, Survey Shows
Are coworkers literally making each other sick? In new research from global staffing firm Accountemps, 90% of professionals admitted they've at least sometimes come to the office with cold or flu symptoms. Of those respondents, 33% always go to work even when they're under the weather.

Among the 28 U.S. cities in the study, Charlotte, Miami (96% each), Austin, Chicago and Cincinnati (93% each) had the most employees who show up while feeling ill.

More than half of those who report to the office with a cold or the flu (54%) said they do so because they have too much work on their plate; another 40% don't want to use sick time. prnewswire.com

62% of Employees Want Leadership To Speak Openly About Mental Health
Multiple studies show that anxiety in the workplace is peaking and burn-out at work is common. What now? The intuitive answer would be for businesses to create more awareness of mental health symptoms and how to get help. Many companies are doing just that. But today's employees are asking for more. A younger demographic in particular is looking for more open, meaningful connections to leadership and want to hear directly from them on mental health issues.

In a recent study of 1,000 employees, 62% of respondents said having someone in a leadership role speak openly about mental health would make them feel more comfortable talking about it themselves. The research also showed that only 26% felt any action was being taken to address mental health in the workplace. forbes.com
 

NRF: Holiday shoppers plan to spend 4% more this year
Consumers say they will spend an average of $1,047.83 this holiday season, up 4 percent from the $1,007.24 they said they would spend last year, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Shoppers between the ages of 35 and 44 plan to spend the most at $1,158.63.

Retailers are expected to import near-record volumes of merchandise ahead of the tariffs that are scheduled to take effect on a wide range of consumer goods from China on December 15.

The consumer survey comes on top of NRF's annual holiday spending forecast, which takes into account a variety of economic factors to project overall spending rather than per-consumer spending. The forecast estimated that holiday retail sales in November and December will be up between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over 2018 for a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion. nrf.com

Deloitte: Retailers Can Expect Jolly Holiday Shopping Season
● Shoppers are expected to spend $1,496 per household during the holiday season this year.
● The top 20% of spenders account for 60% of total dollars people plan to spend during the holiday season.
● The bulk of holiday spending ($596) will go to experiences and celebrations - including entertaining at home, socializing away from home, travel and restaurants.
● Consumers of all age groups likely to rely more on Cyber Monday than Black Friday.
● People surveyed expect to spend 59% of their holiday budget online, compared with 36% in-store.
● Promotions will influence 81% of consumers this holiday season. prnewswire.com

Why a Shortened 2019 Holiday Calendar Should Concern Retailers
This year, consumers will have six fewer days for holiday shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And only one in three are aware of the impending calendar crunch, according to July 2019 data from RetailMeNot. There's no doubt that the shortened holiday calendar is going to sneak up on many consumers and impact their holiday shopping. The largest share (34%) of US internet users surveyed by RetailMeNot said they would begin searching for holiday deals earlier because of the tight timeframe. And nearly as many (28%) said they would make their first holiday purchase sooner.

But not everyone is ready to plan out their holiday gifts that far in advance. Instead, some are looking to retailers that offer expedited shipping to help alleviate the strain of the condensed holiday shopping season. And others are just stressing out about finishing their shopping on time. emarketer.com

Walmart to match up to $1.5 million donated through El Paso Giving initiatives

Walmart creeps on Christmas with promo deals before Halloween

Target associates to get more OT pay for Christmas

Target takes on Amazon with enhanced holiday fulfillment

Bucks County, PA: Rite Aid sold a distribution center to Walgreens, which doesn't want it,
so 350+ are losing their jobs
 

Senior LP Job Postings Removed from Website:

● VP Risk Management - Simon Property Group - Indianapolis, IN
● Associate Dir. Security & LP - GOAT - Los Angeles, CA
 

Checkpoint Systems Announces CBD Product Protection Solutions for Retailers

Provides Security Keepers and Labels for theft prevention on products containing CBD

THOROFARE, N.J. - Checkpoint Systems, a leading global supplier of Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), RFID solutions and Alpha High-Theft Solutions for the retail industry, recently announced its line of specialized security labels and Keepers® to protect against retail CBD theft.

The portfolio of solutions offers retailers the ability to openly display popular CBD and other high value products by removing them from locked cabinets, assuring easy access for customers. Security Labels and Keepers are proven to increase sales and decrease shrink with an impressive ROI.

According to Stuart Rosenthal, Vice President of Sales for Checkpoint's Alpha High-Theft Solutions, "By having such a wide variety of Keeper sizes available, it makes protecting new products, such as CBD, straightforward and simple."
 

Are You In? Become an NRF Cybersecurity Program Sponsor

NRF is looking to collaborate with strategic partners to develop research, events and year-round products and services for cybersecurity professionals in retail.

By becoming a partner, you'll be able to lead a cybersecurity webinar, receive two full conference passes to NRF 2020 Vision: Retail's Big Show, become a member of the NRF Cybersecurity Advisory Group and so much more.

Click here to learn more.

Interested in becoming a partner? Contact Tami Sakell at sakellt@nrf.com or (202) 661-3044
 

Orlando, FL: Video Released of Disney World costume theft; former employee sold over $29,000 of stolen goods
Authorities have released photos and videos of costumes and other props that were reported stolen from Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction at Magic Kingdom. Investigators say the photos and videos were pulled from the phone of Patrick Spikes, a former Disney World employee accused of stealing $7,000 worth of costumes from the attraction. Spikes is also accused of selling the costumes, receiving more than $29,000 through PayPal.