Loblaw is a major food, pharmaceutical, general merchandise, and financial services distributor throughout Canada.
They have some 1,036 stores in total. So, it’s quite a heroic feat to keep up with all the shoplifting that occurs daily.
This article will tell you all about Loblaw’s shoplifting policy. The things covered will be the methods they use to catch shoplifters, how employees get involved with preventing theft, the systems they have in place, and more.
Shoplifting Policies at Loblaw
Loblaw will not respond to individual questions regarding their security and shoplifting policies.
In fact, most major retailers don’t divulge this kind of information so as not to compromise employees, security staff, and the systems they have in place.
However, there is a plentitude of information available via an interview with their senior vice president of loss prevention and other viral accounts that made headlines.
Here, we can piece together what their shoplifting policy entails and how they go about enforcing it.
Loss Prevention Magazine Interview
Loss Prevention Magazine did an interview with Dean Henrico, senior vice president of loss prevention for Loblaw Companies Ltd in 2010 with an update in 2016.
This man is responsible for the entire loss prevention program the company has in place for every single store, IT site, and distribution center they oversee.
He’s been in the business of asset protection for 27 years with companies like Wal-Mart and Zellers.
They focus their efforts on traditional loss prevention, minimizing total shrinkage at all retail locations, and integrity investigations of their employees.
Not only do they handle theft and shoplifting cases but also total company waste, whether that be time, food, or ineffective procedures.
Major Changes Began in 2007
When Henrico arrived at the company, Loblaw was not yet ready to alter how they strategized loss prevention. But, in 2007, they undertook an extensive project to refocus and simply operations due in part to a major shift in leadership at the time.
This is when the company decided to change their approach to shoplifting.
They went from the typical reactive method, catching thieves in the act and calling the police, to a more compliance-based system. Henrico believes that loss prevention efforts are only as good as the situations they prevent from occurring.
So, his team doesn’t waste time on external and internal numbers, although it is a main factor in their job overall.
Henrico prefers to identify the root cause that allowed each problem to happen in the first place. Once they analyze data, look at surveillance footage, and read incident reports and other pertinent documentation, they implement corrective measures.
Sometimes this will be for specific locations and other times they will put these measures in place throughout the whole company. It depends on if the incident is a systemic problem.
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Training & Strategies
Because of how they train loss prevention personnel internally and externally, they are meticulous about catching shoplifters and apprehending them.
In 2016 alone, they were able to catch 31% of the theft in their stores, recovering up to 50% in profits. This translates to a 2.5% result in resolved cases and 20% of all money lost.
But, these numbers involve the larger cases of theft, including organized retail crime, that involve things like health products and beauty merchandise as well as alcohol and meat.
Minor theft is still a problem for Loblaw, especially where self-checkout lanes come into the picture.
Anti-Theft Procedures
Regardless, they have surveillance cameras in every location and they’ve been incredibly useful in terms of internal and external theft apprehension. While they use emergency alert systems (EAS) in some stores, not every location has it in full.
They mainly use such technology for things like electronics, clothing, and some items in health and beauty.
Sometimes, they outsource third-party uniformed guards from private security firms at the exit doors. But, it depends on how much theft is a problem at any given location. Not every store under the Loblaw banner will have security guards.
While Henrico prefers using Loblaws own employees for this job, their loss prevention strategies center on relationships.
Even still, it’s better to have someone acting as a security officer who will have the company’s best interests at heart.
They’ll know the store, the employees, the customer base, and the intricacies of operations. Outside security, firms do not receive full training and orientation with these concepts.
Customer Experience vs. Theft Prevention
In this same interview, Henrico mentions that the job of loss prevention means never losing focus on the customer.
While it’s their job to stop shoplifters and prevent theft as much as possible, they must also consider making the shopping experience easy for Loblaw’s customers.
Although this sounds excellent, several loss prevention strategies in place have many customers fuming in protest.
For instance, at the beginning of June 2023, Loblaw began requiring receipt checks for every purchase upon customers exiting the store.
Customer Outrage
So many people complained over the course of two weeks, citing feelings of criminal treatment. They checked the receipts but not people’s bags and this didn’t go over well. What compounded the outrage was the price gouging the company does in response to inflation and as a means to cover shoplifting costs at their stores.
What’s more, you can find a myriad of personal accounts from customers who are very upset at how Loblaw’s employees treat them once they enter the store.
Security guards and team members follow customers around the entire time of their visit. If someone is carrying a large bag or wearing baggy clothing, it’s an automatic red flag.
Naturally, this makes honest-paying customers uncomfortable. This is in fact so detrimental that you can find at least one post on most public online forums warning people against shopping there. These measures seem to contradict Henrico’s stated focus on making things easier for the customer.
While the signs informing customers about receipt checks are gone, it’s unclear whether they still enforce the policy. Even still, following by employees very much is.
Anyone can understand why Loblaw would want to devise more stringent anti-theft policies. But all these do is send a lound and clear message that Loblaw doesn’t trust their shoppers.
Self-Checkout Theft
Indeed, with self-checkout fraud on the rise at an alarming rate, Loblaw had to think of something to deter it. Unfortunately, some people will load their carts full of items and fail to pay for certain things.
Some of this is human error, simply forgetting about that bottle of water or toilet paper under the cart. But, a lot of it is intentional, where people pay for most of their cart but choose to “accidentally” leave things out.
Basically, self-checkout shoplifting is a crime of opportunity and these machines actually make it easier to steal. In fact, recent studies show that implementing self-checkout kiosks increases shoplifting, which results in higher prices throughout the store.
Any loss a retailer experiences passes onto the consumer, the company does not swallow the costs.
Conclusion
Loblaw does not tolerate shoplifting at their stores and you can see all the various measures they use when you visit any one of their locations.
Cameras, security guards, informed employees and emergency alarm systems guide the process of analyzing their losses.
Truly, loss prevention strategies are a delicate balance between security assets and making customers feel welcome.
But, perhaps Loblaw is too proactive. With so many customers enraged by things like receipt checks and unfair monitoring, shopping is a less than desirable event.