Zebra Technologies Launches TC22/TC27 Mobile Computer for Enterprise-Grade Manageability and Productivity

New Zebra device delivers 5G and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and built-in support for Apple VAS and Google Smart Tap to unlock new ways of working

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.--Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets, and people, today announced the launch of the TC22/TC27 – a valuable mobile computer for organizations that were previously constrained to use consumer or lower quality devices lacking the features they need to maximize efficiency and productivity.

This powerful, feature-rich device is ideal for businesses including small and medium size businesses (SMBs) in retail, sports and entertainment, transit and logistics, utilities and field services which have limited budgets but need advanced range scanning, hybrid point of sale (POS) solutions, and enterprise-grade manageability without the IT complexity. For hospitality and entertainment businesses, the built-in support for Apple VAS and Google Smart Tap enables the TC22/TC27 to easily validate tickets, membership and loyalty cards, and boarding passes stored in mobile wallets.

Read more here
 

Oregon Passes ORC Senate Bill 900
Lawmakers passed array of criminal justice bills in tumultuous session
Lawmakers set a new $5 million grant to help police agencies fight organized retail theft rings. Through Senate Bill 900, police agencies will be able to apply for state grants to combat the problem and coordinate efforts to fight the problem.

Establishes Task Force on Organized Retail Theft. Directs task force to review existing issues of organized retail theft to determine changes to laws or policies to address issues or reduce organized retail theft. Sunsets on December 31, 2024.] Takes effect on 91st day following adjournment sine die.] Establishes Organized Retail Theft Grant Program. Directs Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to administer program. Appropriates moneys to commission for purposes of program. oregoncapitalchronical.com


Retail Media Outlets Covering INFORM Act Roll-Out
CNBC - Fox Business - Retail Dive - Chain Store Age - Pymnts.com

Inform Act ‘a significant dose of help’ against organized retail crime
Retailers have increasingly blamed theft – both in brick-and-mortar stores and online – as a threat to safety and profits. The Inform Act seeks to reduce that by compelling online marketplace retailers to collect and verify key information, and by establishing enforcement criteria and penalties for not following the rules.

Retailers that don’t comply may face civil penalties of $50,120 per violation. The new rule also empowers state attorneys general and other officials to initiate federal court cases and take action under state law to seek restitution.

The Inform Act requires marketplaces to disclose more information about who is selling what on their platform. Sellers that meet the sales threshold must supply that information or be suspended from the platform, and consumers have a way to report suspicious online sales activity.

The new rules will affect some of the retail industry’s largest and best-known companies like Amazon and eBay. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is also subject to the new rules by operating Facebook Marketplace. Other retailers likely subject to the new rules include Etsy, Wayfair and Flipkart. retaildive.com


Cartels Targeting Golf Retail to Turn a Profit
How a surge of smash-and-grab robberies is upending golf retail

The industry's leading golf retailers reported 900 crime events in 2022 and $6 million in stolen clubs or five times more than in 2019.

Golf retail’s past dealings with crime have been a vexing annoyance but hardly the existential threat that recent events may be inspiring. What used to be known as “shrinkage”—a putter slipped down a pant leg or sleeves of Pro V1s hidden in a box of Pinnacles—is becoming an epidemic.

“It has trickled into golf for one simple reason: The game has become so popular. The market is so much bigger than it used to be, the equipment is so desirable and the stuff is just so easy to move,” says Mike Mata, vice president of cybersecurity and loss prevention for Worldwide Golf Shops. “The individuals who move this merchandise are typically involved in a lot of different criminal activity. These organizations are linked to the drug cartels and the various mafias.

“They’re just diversifying,” he adds. “If there’s a crackdown on the U.S.-Mexican border, and some of these cartels are having a tough time moving drugs into the country, well, they’ve got to figure out a way to make money somehow, and the big one right now is organized retail crime.”

In 2022, leading golf retailers (Golf Galaxy/Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Tour Superstore and Worldwide Golf Shops) reported 900 crime events. The value of club thefts industry-wide was roughly $6 million in 2022 or five times more than what it was in 2019.

Several elements are fueling this surge. (1) Selling prices of clubs have risen sharply, making the appeal of getting a deal on a luxury item especially intriguing for the criminal element. (2) It’s relatively easy money for products that hold their value. (3) During the pandemic many golf stores weren’t as robustly staffed, allowing for more undetected crime to occur. Theft has continued because even if caught, criminals likely have to steal multiple thousands of dollars to see real jail time. (4) Criminals know that retailers are instructing their employees not to intervene physically. Not only is a driver not worth dying for, but the retailer could be liable for any injuries in a confrontation. golfdigest.com


Industry Leaders Share Violence Prevention Strategies
How to get ahead of violence — and prevent the thinking that precedes it

NRF PROTECT: Insights and strategies to confront the issue of violence

With more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2023, the urgency to address issues of violence and learn how to prevent it is clear. At NRF PROTECT, McDonald’s Director of Global Security Rob Holm and Bryan Niederhelm, senior vice president for threat assessment and management with Gavin de Becker & Associates, shared strategies for intervention and prevention.

Niederhelm used an example of his 16-year-old daughter, who was about to get a driver’s license and to whom he had provided some conventional “defensive driving” training. He then referenced a strategy Holm used with his now-adult sons, for which Holm had established a “safe driving” contract they had to sign and commit to.

That made a point regarding the way creative and early strategies symbolize how we must begin thinking about the prevention of violence.

“That’s where true prevention happens,” he said. “We need to think about it in advance, and we need to think differently. It’s our responsibility to identify internal predictors of violence before it happens. If violence is a river, how can we get further upstream?”

Language is one thing that can influence behavior, he said. There is a dark side to the language people use to tell us about themselves. Suffering precedes violence, Niederhelm said.

Niederhelm offered three takeaways from the session. One, get further upstream. Two, control the ingredients in the workplace recipe. And three, bring it back to basics: care, compassion and hope. Above all, be aware of all these issues and focus on doing it better and earlier. “If we keep doing what we’ve done,” he said, “we’ll keep seeing what we see on the news.”  nrf.com


'The Situation is Out of Control' in Big Cities
'Fed-up' cities are passing laws to combat brazen organized retail theft
Some cities are passing their own laws in order to combat an epidemic of brazen organized retail thefts across the country that have led to some stores shutting down. These kinds of incidents are pushing local lawmakers into passing laws to strengthen the law enforcement response to such robberies, according to a report from CBS News.

"The situation is out of control," said Mayor Mike Coffman of Aurora. The city has passed an ordinance that would put people in jail for three days if they are found guilty of stealing more than $300 in merchandise.

"There's a rising anger about that," Coffman continued, "and the feeling is they're not just stealing from the store, they're stealing from everybody."

He went on to say that the new law was a response to the state legislature lessening penalties for theft.

"The message of this ordinance is, 'Aurora is fed up,'" he added. "Aurora is gonna be tough on crime."

Property crime in the city has dropped 13.9% over the same period from last year. theblaze.com


Another NY Bill Could Let Criminals Run Free
Albany latest ‘wrongful’ bill will mean MORE crime
Its latest bill, inaccurately named the “Wrongful Conviction Act,” could be the worst of all. The WCA is a hastily drafted, last-minute piece of legislation that was just passed — at a time when lawmakers hope no one was paying attention.

The act will eviscerate any hope of having finality in our criminal-justice system and will result in infinite appeals in the same cases and more criminals released onto our streets. It is guaranteed to create more crime victims.

The act is packaged as a mechanism to prevent wrongful conviction — a perfectly fine goal of allowing “innocent” people to challenge past convictions. Under this bill, defendants would be allowed infinite meritless challenges to criminal convictions.

If their motion gets denied, they can file it again and again, as often as they like. They can wait decades and then file the identical motion again. Perhaps most alarming, if a defendant succeeds on a challenge to their conviction, under current law they get a new trial.

Yet under this misguided legislation, they walk free and can never be tried again for that crime. This is true even where the error is due to an ineffective defense attorney, something that the trial judge and prosecutor cannot prevent. nypost.com


Solution to Stopping Armed Assailants?
'Lightguard' system & 'smart guns' aim to combat mass shootings & gun violence
With a graduate student, Luis Carlos Diaz, he has invented a device called the Lightguard system, which, when triggered, flashes a bright light that can disorient an assailant. In the absence of stricter gun control legislation, Lightguard is just one of several new products intended to combat gun violence.

The Lightguard Security System can temporarily impair an attacker’s vision, rendering someone in its path functionally blind for about 10 to 20 seconds. The partial visual impairment may last up to a few minutes. Arwari has tested the device on himself.

“All you can think about is, ‘I need to get this out of my face.’ So, instinctually, you turn away, and you want to go in the other direction,” he said.

He compares the device to a flash-bang, also known as a stun grenade, often used by police, but said the Lightguard is safer, since flash-bangs can cause permanent hearing loss or severe burns. Lightguard also serves as an emergency trigger to alert police. news.yahoo.com


Community members push for change as crime trends rise in Central Ohio

DeSantis vetoes Florida bill offering second chances for criminal record expungement

The Hayes Report on Loss Prevention
Quarterly - Summer 2023 - Vol. 38 No. 3

Topics: 35th Retail Theft Survey - Theft Survey Statistics - Theft Survey Highlights - Company Shrink Stats - Booster Bags - The Bulletin Board

Mark Doyle Talks --- The Survey Says...

This Summer newsletter mostly details the results of our 35th Annual Retail Theft Survey. I would like to express a sincere THANK YOU to the 26 large retail companies who participated and made this survey possible. We do this annual theft survey at our own expense for the retail community, and we hope it helps justify budgets, minimize staff reductions, and prompts retail executives to keep in mind the most important role their AP/LP personnel play in helping to improve overall company profits.

I hope you enjoy this issue of The Hayes Report newsletter and have a safe and enjoyable summer!

Click here to read the full newsletter


Biometrics are moving the restaurant industry beyond cards and phones
In an era of rapid technological advancements, biometric payment methods are emerging as a game-changer for the restaurant industry. Integrating palm scanning and facial recognition technologies into payment and loyalty systems offers a faster, more secure, and more reliable means of identifying customers. By eliminating the need for physical cards, PINs, phone numbers and manually entered data as identification methods, these biometric systems provide convenience, streamline operations, reduce the risk of identity theft, and enhance the overall guest experience. Companies like Panera and Steak ‘n Shake are among the popular restaurant chains adopting these cutting-edge solutions. biometricupdate.com


Convenience Store Industry - Reaching New Highs
Total U.S. convenience store sales reached a record high of $814 billion last year, an increase of nearly 23 percent year over year, according to the 2023 Convenience Store News Industry Report.

In-store sales at U.S. convenience stores hit a new high of $275.3 billion last year, up 6.6 percent over the prior year.

Motor fuel sales hit $538.7 billion, up 32.9% from LY, While fuel volume was only up 1.6%. (Editor's Note: Pain at the pump)

Industry gross profits overall jumped 3.3 percent last year.

In all, the top 10 chains account for a combined 28,064 stores of the industry’s overall 150,445 locations, or 18.65 percent. Broken down even further, the top three chains account for a combined 20,968 stores, or roughly 14 percent of the industry.

1. 7-Eleven - 12,763
2. Alimentation Couche-Tard - 5,716
3. Casey's General Stores - 2,489  csnews.com


Top 10 Specialty Retailers of 2023
For the sixth consecutive year, RIS has collaborated with wRatings to rank the industry’s top performing retailers. We’ve highlighted the top 100 companies that are continuing to prosper despite the ongoing volatility, analyzing their percentage of market share and how it translates to overall sales and where these companies are investing to maintain their competitive edge. The Top 10 alone totals $2.4 trillion in sales — besting last year’s $2.3 trillion.

Below RIS breaks out the Top 10 Specialty Retailers from the full Top 100 list. Each has demonstrated innovative strategies or unique operational approaches to stay ahead of the competition — whether through enhanced customer experiences, creating memorable moments, these retailers have set themselves apart in the market.

1. Nike
2. TJX Companies
3. Best Buy
4. Sherwin Williams
5. Estee Lauder
6. The Gap
7. Dick's Sporting Goods
8. Mohawk
9. VF Corp.
10. Ulta Beauty  risnews.com


Expiration of COVID-Era Policy Could Hurt Retailers
Changes to student loan policies set to hit retail around the holidays

Apparel retailers have the most to lose from the end of the pandemic-era payment pause, especially if the Supreme Court strikes down debt forgiveness.

Federal student loan payments must resume no later than the end of August, thanks to a compromise struck in order to get Congress to approve the debt ceiling. Plus, the Supreme Court will also soon rule on the Biden Administration’s debt relief plan, a decision that is expected this week.

If the court leaves Biden’s program intact, as much as $20,000 in educational loans for lower-income graduates would be forgiven. Otherwise, cracking down on student loans would drain hundreds of thousands of dollars from many consumers’ budgets, just as the holidays start to loom.

“We already see shoppers pulling back on shopping and spending due to inflation, reduction of SNAP benefits, and a host of other issues,” Julie Craig, Kantar vice president of shopper insights, said by email. “And for younger shoppers and families with children, having payments resume just as the holiday shopping season kicks off could create real challenges for retail.” retaildive.com


Pride Month Backlash Impact
Starbucks to issue 'clearer' decor rules after pride month clash with union
Starbucks plans to issue "clearer" centralized guidelines for in-store visual displays following a union's allegations that managers banned Pride-themed decor, the coffee chain said in an internal memo to employees.

"We intend to issue clearer centralized guidelines... for in-store visual displays and decorations that will continue to represent inclusivity and our brand," Starbucks North America President Sara Trilling said in the memo.

The memo comes after the union representing the coffee chain's baristas alleged that managers at dozens of Starbucks locations had prevented employees from putting up Pride Month flags and decorations, or had removed them. The coffee giant disputes these allegations.

More than 3,000 workers at over 150 Starbucks stores in the United States will walk off the job, the union said on Friday. reuters.com


Walgreens to Close 150 Stores in U.S. & 300 in UK

Back-to-school spending to rise 15.7% this year: JLL
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director, Fraud Strategy job posted for Macy's in Township of Deerfield, OH
Direct oversight of all instore Fraud losses and investigations; drive strategy development based on emerging instore trends; providing expertise in executing business strategy and delivering trustworthy advice to influence business leaders across many lines of business; work closely with MCCS, Stores, and Central Asset Protection teams, to provide key fraud insights and recommendations; influencing business stakeholders through data analysis and interpretation; and more. indeed.com

Director, Retail Risk Management job posted for Cresco Labs in Chicago, IL
The Director of Retail Risk Management reports to the Vice President, Retail Operations and is responsible for implementing programs and trainings and leading a team to support business continuity, emergency response, disaster recovery and loss protection across the retail fleet. The Director will need to establish and maintain impactful relationships with Regional Leadership, Compliance, Human Resources, security vendors, and law enforcement agencies. indeed.com