Some stores may be low on security cameras, and shoplifters take it as a chance to deploy their skims.
That’s when the family dollar shoplifting policy comes in.
The policy states that if a family dollar employee identifies a shoplifter, they have to ask them to replace the stolen items and immediately leave the store as of 2022. The police may be alerted, which can lead to the shoplifter’s prosecution depending on the value of the stolen goods. In such a case, employees should not at any given time follow the shoplifters outside the store.
Below is detailed information about the policy. Let’s dive in!
About Family Dollar
Family Dollar is an American variety store chain. It is a leading national operator of multi-price point stores, providing competitively priced merchandise to value-conscious customers in over 8,000 stores in 46 states.
For more than 50 years, Family Dollar retail stores have consistently kept costs low, passing those savings down to their customers.
How Does The Family Dollar Track Shoplifters?
Many Family Dollar stores have been equipped with security monitoring systems such as surveillance cameras. The employees also help in checking for any suspicious activity from the customers.
They help identify any suspicious shoplifters and keep the customers alert that they are being watched as they make their purchases. The cameras also help the police arrest the shoplifters by identifying them as shoplifters and booking them.
Why is Shoplifting so Prevalent at Family Dollar Stores?
Shoplifters highly target family dollar stores due to low-security measures. As much as the stores are equipped with surveillance cameras, they have many blind spots.
Furthermore, the staff are always busy serving other customers, meaning less monitoring of the surveillance cameras that shoplifters see as a chance to steal items and hide them away from the staff by putting them in bags, purses, or under their clothes.
Despite having the loss prevention officers keeping track of shoplifters, the family dollar merchandise does not have security tags, which makes it easier for shoplifters to sneak the stolen items out of the store easily.
The loss prevention officers are also responsible for handling any problems at the store.
Other measures to reduce shoplifting are as follows,
Like any other store, family dollar stores have scheduled particular hours when the doors stay locked when the night falls.
Additionally, there are reports of other Family Dollar staff requesting customers to remove their hoods when entering and check their bags and purses when leaving the store.
They have also implemented the idea of the staff greeting customers when they enter the store to make sure the customer’s presence has been noted.
The employees may occasionally make announcements in the aisles where the customers are browsing to remind them they are still being observed.
What Family Dollar’s Shoplifting Policy Doesn’t Allow
Chasing of the Shoplifters
The Family Dollar employees or the loss prevention officers cannot chase the shoplifters, especially from the store. They should not touch nor follow the shoplifter outside the store.
The reason is that the situation can get out of control, and the chasing may cause injuries to both parties or an innocent person, and the company may be held liable.
Furthermore, the shoplifters may have a weapon to use to harm the employees, or they may run to a driving vehicle when fleeing.
Nothing should lead the loss prevention officer to get physical with a shoplifter rather than let them leave.
Right Action Taken
When the employees identify a shoplifter, they can confront them by forcing the shoplifter to replace the item and leave the store.
The store manager mainly does this. But when the confrontations get out of hand, the shoplifter is allowed to leave.
When the shoplifter leaves the store, the employees can call and inform the police about the incident. If the shoplifter is identified and located, they are arrested and can be booked.
Does Family Dollar prosecute shoplifters?
The shoplifters can be prosecuted if they are well-identified and located by the family dollar store. This, too, by following the extent put in place by the state laws. Individual states make laws about prosecuting shoplifters.
Moreover, when the police identify and track down shoplifters from Family Dollar stores, they are likely to face punishable consequences of increased severity.
The Family Dollar store may prosecute the shoplifter making decisions by weighing the items stolen. These decisions may lead to criminal penalties and a possible permanent record for the shoplifter.
The police may issue the shoplifters a note never to enter the store again.
Family Dollar Staff Members
The Family Dollar store is run and managed by a team of directors, managers, a security team, and other employees.
The loss prevention officers, employees, and store managers are most in contact with the customers. The Family Dollar store does not have security guards but loss prevention officers who intervene if there is a shoplifter in the store.
The employees can also call police officers any time they feel unsafe or threatened by the presence of a customer.
Nobody wishes or asks for a lack, but some people have lousy days.No, the store would like to make losses due to shoplifting by the have nots or simply misbehaving customers. Therefore, policies must be set to avoid such incidents and protect businesses.
Hence, the introduction of the Family Dollar shoplifting policy aims to protect the employees, the business itself, and the country’s economy.
The family dollar policy is to prosecute the shoplifters by following the laws set and implementing the right action for the shoplifter.
Make sure to keep the confrontations simple and contact the police.