Some dealers, like three-location Arnold Lumber Co. in West Kingston, R.I., take it further, verifying orders several times before the customer reaches the gate guard, who does a final check. “It really helps verify that what’s being delivered, bought, or returned is what’s supposed to be there,” says controller Paul Nadeau.
It also works in receiving. At Arnold, deliveries are carefully checked to ensure that whatever’s on the shipping order actually makes it to the warehouse. This reduces the likelihood of merchandise disappearing en route. “Load checkers are worth their weight in gold,” Nadeau says. Because it’s blended into existing job descriptions, there’s no cost involved, and only a small amount of time. “Having a second set of eyes on everything going in or out the door not only helps us track inventory, but it sends the message that we’re paying attention. It works well for us.”
The Eyes Have It Electronic surveillance provides an additional set of “eyes” in the form of cameras that document activity. Camera costs vary wildly, depending on features. One very popular model for live monitoring is the pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera, which allows you to view a large area and move the camera to check out suspicious activity. Available from many manufacturers, the PTZ camera is sophisticated and expensive (starting around $1,100 each), but provides maximum flexibility for dealers wanting to do live, real-time surveillance.
According to the 2005 CSO Magazine Surveillance and Monitoring Survey, 39 percent of respondents said their use of video surveillance had increased over the last year; 19 percent said it had risen dramatically. That trend will likely continue, according to a recent national retail survey sponsored by ADT, which found that video surveillance was the technology most retailers said they would be installing over the next 12 months.
Videotape-based surveillance is another format, but the systems can be cumbersome, are hard to search, and require lots of storage. Plus, some people recycle tapes into the system, recording over footage that could come in handy in a future investigation. New video-capture software addresses this problem by storing footage on a computer and allowing it to be transferred to a remote hard drive or CD for easier long-term storage and retrieval.
Video Insight has developed software solutions that allow users to monitor live video and store it on a computer for later use. Dealers can use the always-on feature or program the system to activate when motion is detected. The system also can be set up to count vehicles going in and out of the area. The most elementary setup, which runs about $1,500, is a low-end camera-computer system, using a PC and four cameras placed near entrances or suspect problem areas.
“Archiving footage on a computer makes storage easier than clunky videotapes,” notes Linda Richardson, Video Insight’s marketing director. “Users can export video clips to a CD to give to the police,” she explains. “This is frequently how people get caught and prosecuted.”
What’s more, surveillance “is better than a security guard who costs money by the hour,” Richardson points out. “The cost of labor is usually more expensive than buying a computer and some cameras.”
At J-Kay, inventory control manager Tammy Dygert already uses cameras. “We monitor some of our aisles that have higher-end, popular power tools, like pneumatic nail guns,” she says. “We also put cameras on the littlest things that we have problems with like higher-priced bits and blades that are easy to take.”
Additionally, she deploys wireless cameras that extend the surveillance system if she finds evidence of theft on less-popular aisles. “You’ll find empty packages in a certain aisle that might be a blind spot, or by doing inventory—we track quantity on hand,” she adds. “When we see losses, we’ll put up a camera. I think it’s a good deterrent. They see the camera and stop.”
