It's 'Auror Week' on the D&D Daily!

Check out today's 'Vendor Spotlight' from Auror directly beneath the 'Top News' column to learn how Auror is helping address safety concerns in retail communities.
 

Nedap to partner with PUMA North America for RFID Roll Out

Groenlo, the Netherlands, 18 October 2022: Nedap, the global leader in RFID solutions, has been selected by PUMA North America to roll-out Nedap's iD Cloud inventory visibility platform.

Following the success of Nedap's three-store pre-rollout, 135 of PUMA stores in North America are now being equipped with Nedap's iD Cloud, allowing fast and regular stock counts, efficient replenishment, smart refill suggestions and data-driven loss prevention. The store solution also enables stores to always have the right products available and, as such, to provide best-in-class omnichannel customer experiences. And with better stock visibility, PUMA NA can offer services such as Ship-From-Store and Click & Collect (BOPIS) more efficiently.

Read more here
 

Smash & Grab Surge: The Causes & Solutions
Streetwear Store Robbery Highlights Main Street’s ‘Smash-and-Grab’ Problem

Stolen goods aren’t the only expenses typically incurred when a “smash-and-grab” takes place. Often, retailers sustain property damage that requires significant repair.

Retailers Blame Bail Reform, Felony Thresholds for ORC Surge

The nationwide “smash-and-grab” retail crime spree comes amid criticism that the offense still carries low risk for would-be offenders. Retailers are largely in favor of increasing penalties for theft, and reducing felony thresholds: 70.8 percent of retailers reported increases in organized retail crime (ORC) in areas where felony thresholds have increased, according to the 2022 National Retail Security Survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF).

More than half (54.6 percent) reported that initiatives to reduce or eliminate cash bail have been associated with a substantial increase in repeat offenses, while 15.2 percent reported a moderate increase. And while 30.3 percent reported that there had been no change in repeat offenses, no retailers said there was a decrease.

Lawmakers introduce Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act

On Friday, U.S. House Representatives Ken Buck (R-Col.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Susie Lee (D-Nev.) and Ted Budd (R-NC), introduced the bipartisan Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act that would create a federal organized retail crime task force. This legislation specifically targets “smash-and-grab” robberies as well as intricate retail theft schemes like the $20 million crime ring that authorities busted in Texas earlier this year.

The House measure serves as a companion to another bill with the same name. Both versions of the act would establish a central center to combat ORC, which would facilitate information sharing between agencies. Additionally, federal judges could order criminal forfeiture after ORC convictions.

The Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act is often associated with another bill that was introduced to Congress in 2021 but has gotten increased attention amid the retail crime wave, the INFORM Consumers Act. sourcingjournal.com

Grocery Store Safety & Violence Concerns
Food safety extends into retail security

An important but often overlooked aspect of retail grocery food safety is security.

Making sure that people walking the aisles don't tamper with product - and catching them when they do and making sure they never do it again - is crucial to assuring loyal customers that their grocery store is a safe place to shop and one where maintaining the integrity of the products they buy is paramount.

Theft is also an increasing problem in grocery, and fresh foods are one of the top targets, Herzog said.

"Grocery stores are one of the first places people steal from, and it's definitely growing with the economy the way it is right now," he said. "Many people can't afford to buy what they used to be able to. Shoplifting is worse."

In-store communication

For grocery, that often means protecting baby formula and other items that are locked in cases, said Stewart McClintic, the company's CEO. Customers hit a call button located next to the cases, which sends a signal out to all employees who have a two-way radio, expediting the transfer of those products to shoppers' carts or baskets.

Two-way radios are a more contemporary solution to problems that used to be solved using a loudspeaker broadcast to everyone in the store, McClintic said. When a food safety or other problem arises, it's also much quicker to communicate by two-way radio and helps ensure that the right person for the job gets alerted.

Safeway and Kroger have been among Hq98's retail customers. "A lot of the bigger chains are starting to implement them," he said. Unfortunately, much of that is due to increases in active shooter scenarios in stores. supermarketperimeter.com

'Alarming Rates' of Theft Hitting NYC Drug Stores
NYC drugstores experiencing shoplifting crisis
A higher number of New York City shoplifters are picking pharmacies, according to the NYPD, who say many of your neighborhood drug stores are choosing to close their doors. Police also point to the city's bail reform policies as only making the situation worse.

Over the last six months, Tarasenko said he has watched shoplifting in his store get worse. He has responded by putting more staff on the floor and confronting the thieves.

FOX 5 NY asked him what he thinks is behind the rise in petty theft. "People can come in and they just don't care," Tarasenko said. "They just come, they get arrested, and they're let out. I think that's the same old story you're hearing day in and day out."

New York City police officials agree. At a news conference last week, Chief Michael Lipetri said shoplifting in the city is at its highest levels, with complaints up by nearly 18,000. "Pharmacies that continue to get preyed on across the city," Lipetri said. "And guess what? Continue to get closed at alarming rates."

Rite Aid recently closed a location in Hell's Kitchen after more than $200,000 in product was stolen over two months. CVS has warned that about 10% of its stores will close nationwide.

City policy is perpetuating the problem. And pharmacies like his remain the preeminent target among shoplifters. "It used to be years ago they would spend a few days in jail or go through the system," Tarasenko said. "Now, they just let them out."

In September, Rite Aid reported $5 million in losses in just three months due to shoplifting and said its store may start locking every product behind shelf-cases. fox5ny.com

Rising Crime & Disorder Has Businesses Fleeing Urban Centers
To Stop Urban Crime and Disorder, Leaders Must Restore Law & Order

Will companies stick to their expressed commitment to social responsibility? Or will they follow Hobbes and retreat from the rising crime and disorder of urban America?

Chicago has the dubious distinction of being at the center of this great experiment, with 802 people shot to death in 2021, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab, up from 774 in 2020, and violence and disorder rampant. Fear is clearly winning.

The jump in violent crime is taking place against the background of increasing civic disorder. When it comes to general disorder, the test case is not Chicago but San Francisco. Theft from convenience stores has been a fact of life in the city for years along with homelessness and open drug use. A 2014 ballot initiative to raise the felony penalty threshold for thefts to $950 hasn’t helped.

In addition to driving some big corporate headquarters out of city centers, the Hobbesian imperative is directly and indirectly having two other marked effects on urban life.

First, stores are closing their operations in the most crime-infested areas. Starbucks is shuttering branches over worries about violence and drug use, a reversal of its earlier commitment to welcome everyone and anyone, regardless of their behavior or willingness to buy coffee. Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens are closing dozens of stores over worries about crime and disorder.

Second, companies are having to take distressing measures to train their employees to deal with the reality of violent crime. Stores that remain in downtowns are increasing the number of security guards they employ while also reducing their opening hours.

The tragedy of the flight of American business from core cities is that policy makers have a tried-and-tested solution to the problem. This is Hobbes-ism plus: Accept the truth of Hobbes’ insight that the basic duty of the state is to preserve law and order but add that it can only succeed in doing this if it addresses broader social problems of homelessness and drug addiction. washingtonpost.com

What's Driving Annual Shoplifting & Shrink Surge?
The Supply Side: Retail fraud, theft losses continue to rise

The effects of COVID continue to reveal unforeseen impacts across the retail industry, with theft and shrink ballooning to nearly $100 billion problem for the industry

Crime experts say shoplifting and inventory shrink continues to increase annually mainly because of too few authorized loss prevention personnel to apprehend shoplifters and no dollar-value prosecution thresholds for either internal or external incidents. With fewer people watching, fraud continues to rise, with 69% of survey respondents citing higher in-store fraud and 61.1% indicating e-commerce fraud during the past year. Also, 53.9% said omnichannel fraud incidents were also higher in 2021 relative to 2020.

Cargo theft of products en route from a distribution center to a store increased, according to 47.4% of respondents. About 42% said they had cargo stolen at stores, and about one-third cited cargo being stolen en route from manufacturers to distribution centers, at the distribution center or third-party warehousing and partners.

More retailers are considering using radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking in supply chains, artificial intelligence at the point of sale with self-checkout video analytics, license plate recognition, and self-service locking cases or lockers for high-risk items like electronic games. About 40% of retailers in the survey said they used RFID technology in their loss prevention strategy.

While numerous technologies are available to help retailers with loss prevention, the number of those actually using them to their full extent remains low. Only 14% said they use AI-based perimeter surveillance or face recognition technology. With more severe threats, just 7% said they have the technology to detect gunshots on the premises, and no retailer is yet using drones for surveillance or tracking purposes. talkbusiness.net

Store Owners Take Matters into Own Hands Amid Retail Violence Surge
(Update) Orlando store owner's message to criminals: 'There's a really good chance you're gonna get shot'

'If you come to the Magic Mall and you want to commit a crime, there's a really good chance you're gonna get shot,' store owner says

Two of four suspects in an attempted "smash and grab" at an Orlando shopping mall jewelry store were shot and killed. Police say they swarmed the Magic Mall just before noon Friday. A jewelry booth inside was robbed. At least one of the suspects was armed, FOX 35 reports.

"The store owner shot at the suspects," police said in an email to the TV station.

Store owners at Orlando's Magic Mall said the incident is why many of them are armed: "There's a lot of concealed license carriers here. So if you come to the Magic Mall and you want to commit a crime, there's a really good chance you're gonna get shot," one said.

"Normally we're good, but we have to take care of ourselves," another said. foxbusiness.com

Neighborhoods pledge to take back NYC streets from gun violence

Lawmaker wants postal service police patrols to stop robberies of mail employees

US: 98.8M Cases - 1M Dead - 96.2M Recovered
Worldwide: 630.4M Cases - 6.5M Dead - 609.6M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 811

NYC's Post-COVID Retail Recovery
New York’s Madison Avenue Retail Recovers to Pre-Covid Levels

More stores are snapping up spots even as landlords still struggle to get higher rents.

More stores are filling vacancies on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue, a sign that the key shopping corridor is starting to bounce back after the pandemic.

Retail tenants have been snapping up spots on Madison Avenue, pushing the available space down to roughly 18% in the third quarter, the lowest since 2018, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Hermes and Versace are among the retailers that have recently opened new stores or expanded in that area on Madison Avenue, ranging from 57th to 72nd streets. bloomberg.com

CA's COVID State of Emergency Coming to an End
California’s Covid State Of Emergency Will End In February, Almost 3 Years After It Was Instituted, Announces Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced this afternoon that the state’s long-running, Covid-related State of Emergency will end on February 28, 2023. That’s basically three years after it began on March 4, 2020.

“This timeline gives the health care system needed flexibility to handle any potential surge that may occur after the holidays in January and February,” Newsom said in a statement, “in addition to providing state and local partners the time needed to prepare for this phaseout and set themselves up for success afterwards.”

Hospitalizations and deaths and cases are way down from the highs seen during the summer surge and last winter. But the announcement comes as federal and local health officials have signaled some concern about another surge this winter. The federal government just extended its state of emergency in response to the pandemic through January 11, 2023. deadline.com

New COVID Variants Spreading like Wildfire
Biden Covid officials scramble to plan for Omicron subvariant threat

New strains seem to evade treatments used for vulnerable patients — and could complicate the latest White House messaging strategy on Covid.

Top Biden health officials are increasingly concerned about the rise of new Covid variants in the U.S. that appear to evade existing treatments used to protect immunocompromised people from severe illness, according to three senior administration officials.

The variants — known as BQ1 and BQ1.1 — have spread swiftly throughout the U.S. over the past few weeks, and now account for more than 11 percent of all cases nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly double the proportion they represented a week earlier. politico.com

A swarm of sneaky omicron variants could cause a COVID-19 surge this fall

Moderna CEO: Not everyone will need an annual COVID booster

$9.6M in Fines, 182 Inspections Since 2017
Dollar General faces new penalties for store safety issues

Regulators said Dollar General is facing another $1.68M in fines after government safety inspectors found violations at four of the chain’s stores in Alabama, Florida & Georgia

Dollar General is facing another $1.68 million in fines after government safety inspectors found violations at four of the chain's stores in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the federal regulators announced Monday.

During inspections in April 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found dirty and disorderly storage areas and materials stacked unsafely at locations in Mobile and Grove Hill, Alabama; Tampa, Florida; and Dewy Rose, Georgia. OSHA said those conditions put workers at risk of slipping, tripping and getting struck by falling objects.

The company was also cited for fire hazards, including failing to keep exit routes and electrical panels clear and unobstructed, and neglecting to mount and label fire extinguishers.

The announcement came two months after OSHA announced $1.3 million in proposed penalties for similar violations at three of Dollar General stores in Georgia. OSHA said Dollar General has faced more than $9.6 million in initial penalties after 182 inspections since 2017.

"We will use our full enforcement powers to hold Dollar General accountable for its ongoing pattern of behavior until they show that they take worker safety seriously,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in a statement.

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, has 15 business days to comply or contest the penalties. abcnews.go.com

RFID & Facial Recognition - Transforming Retail for the Better
How Sensors, RFID Tags and Facial Recognition are Transforming Retail

Sensors, RFID tags and facial recognition can monitor product movement, track location and reduce instances of fraud.

Various components of IoT including sensors, RFID tags and facial recognition can help transform retail stores to provide a seamless shopping experience to individuals and help boost sales.

1. Sensors Are Monitoring Customers

Smart sensors can be deployed to detect the arrival of new customers. An automated shopping cart can deploy itself to assist customers in their shopping. The cart will automatically follow customers without them having to push it manually. Additionally, the shopping cart can return to a programmed location once the customer has exited the store.

2. RFID Tags Are Increasing Operational Efficiency

RFID tags can be placed on items that can be scanned automatically to calculate the number of products purchased. For instance, RFID readers can be mounted on shopping carts so that when an individual puts an item in the cart, it can automatically scan the product details such as the name and cost of the item. It can then show the information to the individual on a digital screen placed on the cart. Thus, customers can keep a tab on their shopping in real-time.

3. Facial Recognition is Taking The Retail Experience to the Next Level

Facial recognition can be used to identify individuals. A database can be created for individuals to study their purchase patterns. The data can be used to simplify the shopping experience when the individual visits the next time. Additionally, facial recognition technology can help reduce instances of fraud with the help of the available data. For instance, if an individual has stolen a customer’s credit card or mobile device and uses it for shopping purposes, facial recognition can help identify the mismatch of information in such cases in real-time and alert the concerned authorities and block such transactions. bbntimes.com

Worldwide Wave of Retail Employee Unrest & Unionization
New Crack in Apple’s Armor as Dozens Strike at Its Stores in Australia

The uprising will be of keen interest in the U.S., where a second Apple store voted to unionize last week.

Dozens of Apple workers in Australia walked off the job on Tuesday after negotiations over pay and working conditions stalled, the latest crack in the armor of the tech giant as it contends with a burgeoning unionization movement in the United States and Europe.

The action itself is small. About 150 retail workers, out of the company’s nearly 4,000 Australian employees, voted to strike for an hour. Then, starting on Wednesday, they will refuse to do a variety of work, including installing screen protectors, repairing AirPods and handling deliveries.

But the strike is symbolically significant. After years of labor harmony, Apple retail workers in the United States have overcome resistance from the company to mobilize in a pandemic-era wave of employee unrest, part of a broader flourishing of labor organizing at retailers, restaurants and tech companies. nytimes.com

Retail Union Efforts are a 'National Phenomenon'
Apple Union Win Shows Labor Gains in Organizing-Resistant South
Organized labor’s decisive victory at an Apple Inc. Store in Oklahoma City is causing unions to rethink their long-held belief that workers in Republican-dominated Southern states can’t be won over.

That assumption—which has guided union organizers for the better part of a century—was called into question Oct. 14 when workers at the Oklahoma store overwhelmingly voted to join the Communications Workers of America, the second of about 270 Apple retail locations in the US to unionize.

Union organizers and labor scholars said the blowout victory was significant not only because it was the second Apple store, but also because of where the store is located. It’s not in New York, California, or even suburban Baltimore, where the first Apple store unionized in June. It’s in Oklahoma, where Republicans hold every congressional seat and the share of workers belonging to unions sits well below the national average at 5.6%.

“It really shows a national phenomenon,” said Rep. Andy Levin, a Michigan Democrat and former union organizer. “What do people in Oklahoma City really have to do with people in suburban Baltimore? It’s as different a part of the country as you could imagine.” news.bloomberglaw.com

Amazon Style Opens Midwest Location in Ohio
Amazon’s app-based in-store shopping experience for men and women’s clothing and accessories opened its second location, this time in the Midwest at the Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Millennials, Gen Z to spend the most on Halloween, study says

TJX strategically placed to navigate a recession, JPMorgan says