darkSpyro

I was at my local EB Games store on Friday and they were setting up a new security gate system (the type that beeps when you pass through it with stolen merchandise). As they only keep their boxes on display and game discs behind the counter and all consoles out the back of their store, I asked what the big deal was with the new security system.

I was told that new waves (I suspect he is talking about Swap Force) of Skylanders will have settings that trigger off the security beepers. The guy said because of (and I quote) "snot-nosed little kids" stealing Skylanders from his store, they loose $100's in profit every week. He continued to tell me that even Skylanders ripped out of packaging and slipped into someone's pocket will even beep.

So my theory is that the NFC tags inside skylanders will trigger off these gates, unless a new security device is installed inside them? Do you think this will affect the price of new Skylanders or do they already have the technology to activate a security beeper?

^ i see i don't blame them since alot of shoplifting this day.

Unless they are adding their own 'tag' inside the packaging I call BS on this.

The RFID tags are not designed to work at that distance, even if they were they would need "alarm" mode de-activating at purchase?
So he has a special portal on the till and puts the figure on to de-activate the alarm?

Rubbish.

Guy was talking out his **** to scare people LOTS of security people do this. The claim abilities the system doesn't have just to scare people off the idea of theft.

Seems stupid to me. It sounds like they are setting something up that will end up beeping no matter what, even if you have paid for your Skylander. As far as I know, they can't deactivate something inside the Skylander in order to show that it was purchased. It's likely just going to beep any time a Skylander goes through, even if it was paid for. That or it's just a regular security system and it'll work off the barcodes. Either way, if they are losing hundreds a week, they need to re-evaluate their store.

Even if he's not talkig about profit but pure losses, he'd have to be losing 10-15 skylanders a week at least, and they aren't that small. If the employees are really not noticing people walking over and stealing them at a store that small, something is wrong. It's more likely that they have employees stealing them honestly than customers. Beyond that, installing a security system to avoid losing a hundred dollars a week doesn't seem worth it.

(deleted double post)

I forgot to add, he said the security feature deactivates when he scans it at the register. Sounds to me like a regular security tag but built-in.

I know alot of Skylanders packets dont get sealed at the factory properly, namley multipacks, and I have even witnessed (and reported them to store staff) people slipping them into their pockets.

People having to steal $10 skylanders is kinda sad. Anything they can do to reduce their losses sounds good for all of us.

fun fact;
due the possibility of legal action on the part of the shoplifter, or the legal repercussions of the shoplifter maybe having a weapon that can harm the employee, big chain stores tell their employees NEVER EVER to pursue shoplifters unless the designated loss-prevention officer is nearby(which he or she usually is not)

so, in essence, you can walk through the beepers and just not care.

they can still get your plates though so it's good to park outside of their parking lot security camera's view.

don't ask me how i know all this. and DONT TRY THIS AT HOME YOU FOOLS

Regular ordinary security systems work from a small rectangular strip. Seems like a very standard thing, every time I buy a DVD I find it and remove it (for them it gets stickered inside before the DVD is sealed in plastic). The sticky side is often transparent, I can see a piece of flexible metal inside shaped like a parallelogram. Makes me think of a razor blade somehow, even though they're rectangular. It would be very easy to just stick these to the boxes, then they can just be deactivated like with everything else, using a standard store security system. If it were me, I would just stick it on the bottom next to the bar code.

This only means it's a lie that it'll work even if the figure is unboxed in the store. They may just be making that claim to reassure the store and/or to scare off the shoplifters.

I can't say that I blame the owner for being upset about theft. Yeah, he did it in a really rude way, but in my local stores, Skylanders do seem to be a pretty frequently shoplifted item. I've never noticed it happening in a GameStop before, but that's mostly because the employees actually care there and pay attention to what's going on. In Walmart and Target however, it's not uncommon at all to see empty Skylander packaging just laying around, where some kid has ripped open the box, just stuck the figure in their pocket, and walked out. I'm not surprised this happens honestly. The Skylander displays are often in the back section, and no one working there ever pays attention. I'm not trying to talk bad about big retailers in general, just the few in my area.

Yeah this happens at my local best buy since the skylanders section is off in the back, most of the time I'll see skylanders opened and packaging back there...

They haven't set up any new alarms at best buy though...

Well, I don't blame them.

My Target has lots of empty Skylander boxes in a bin. They don't even bother to tke the blisters, they just steal the plastic insert with the cards and such along with the Skylander...

Thankfully they put security bag-checkers at the front of the store again. Honestly that should just be a mandatory thing at ALL stores EVERYWHERE.

Hilariously, my EB Games is much more active in Skylanders, and they've never known one to be stolen from them, but then again they keep them behind the counter.

Most of the Stores around here have them behind the counter or in locked display cases. You have to ASK for what you want.

This is of course what led to me getting Darklight Crypt because it was hidden at the back of the display case and I managed to get them to dig through and find it.

It's sad that people steal from shops. Don't write off how desperate people can be for a few $.

Good luck to the store, but there is no way the security system can be triggered by the actual Skylander tag.

@Pyrofer I'm not endorsing the behaviour, but I don't get why you're so confused about it. Yes, it's a few dollars, but it adds up(Skylanders single packs here are $14 at the lowest, so even if you just buy 5 that's $60 right there). It's a scummy thing to do and people shouldn't do it, but in the same vein as scalping, I don't think that it's hard to see why.

Makes sense. I constantly see torn up packaging and missing figures.

I think niceguy was describing one of the AP techniques we used when i worked with the R Us company. There is a wire inside a sticker stuck to some merchandise which will trigger the alarm at the door. At least where i worked we had a magnetic pad that deactivated it when it was near enough. I could see gamestop doing this to prevent theft. Unfortunately we couldnt do this at target since we dont have those magnetic pads :/ I dont remember but i dont think walmart has them either. It kinda sucks cause some items come with built in AP features that we cant deactivate so the alarm goes off for paid items occasionally. Ever buy a pack of cards and get a blank card with a funky sticker on it? Thats the manufacturers way of preventing their products from being stolen. My only worry with that type od system for skylanders is for the people that collect them in packaging Those stickers are terrible trying to get off.

Quote: GhostRoaster

People having to steal $10 skylanders is kinda sad. Anything they can do to reduce their losses sounds good for all of us.

Standard Skylanders are $20 here.
Not that it justifies stealing, just pointing it out.

Quote: GhostRoaster

People having to steal $10 skylanders is kinda sad. Anything they can do to reduce their losses sounds good for all of us.

Stealing and cheating is good for nobody. I'd like to find some of these shoplifters and beat them to a bloody pulp. Nobody should get free stuff EVER when there is somebody else working hard day and night to get the same stuff.