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Many retailers might think that cameras are enough of a deterrent to prevent employees from stealing, but the reality is far from it. Criminals can be crafty and find unassuming ways to exploit your POS system to give them a bigger (and illegal) payday. 

The FBI defines skimming as “when devices illegally installed on ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, or fuel pumps capture data or record cardholders’ PINs.” When criminals use one of these devices, they can then use the collected data to steal from innocent victims’ accounts, draining them of their money. While skimming has primarily been an issue for gas station pumps and ATMs in the past, it has slowly become a much more prevalent issue in the grocery industry as well. Criminals have realized that with fewer workers aware of the skimming threat in grocery stores, combined with more people swiping their cards each day on the device, grocery stores can be a target for a bigger payday. 

Over the past 12 months, three major E. coli outbreaks decimated sales of Romaine lettuce, rearranging and upsetting the salad bowls of America. Numerous salmonella scares caused recalls of eggs, chicken, and turkey—not to mention nearly 20 million pounds of ground beef—from many different suppliers. And that’s just a fraction of fresh food recalls that made the news in 2018, and it doesn’t touch on recalls of packaged, frozen, or prepared foods.

At TRUNO headquarters in Lubbock, Texas, we may not have snow for the holidays—it’s not even dipped to freezing this week—but we can’t help inserting the holiday spirit into everything we do this time of year. Lately we’ve written about what we’re so thankful for in 2018, as well as this year’s perfect Christmas gift for retailers. We even talked about how to stay jolly while protecting yourselves from holiday shoplifters.

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, more than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting over the last five years. And with the holiday season in full swing, increased store traffic means a greater risk of retail theft than at other times of year. 

At TRUNO, we have a lot to be thankful for: our customers, our partners and all the great folks who make up the TRUNO team. But we’re also thankful for data, because it drives so much of what we do as a company and how we’re able to help retailers thrive.

As vice president of sales for TRUNO, I’m constantly thinking about how we can improve the lives of store operators. My passion for helping retailers solve challenges is a direct result of my own career in the industry. I know first-hand the thoughts that keep a store operator up at night, but I also know how the proper retail technology can help them sleep easier.

In April of this year, all of the major credit providers—Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover—did away with requiring signatures at the point of sale. Why did they require signatures in the first place, why don’t we need them now, and what does this change mean for retailers?

Not so many years ago, grocery shopping used to be a more personal experience. Families shopped at the same store every time, usually on Sundays, to buy food and supplies for the week. It was quite common—and even expected—for shoppers to build relationships with store employees. The butcher knew customers’ names and what cuts their families preferred. And the cashier greeted them with a smile and asked them how their day was going.

Earlier this year, enforcement of the latest version of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS 3.2) went into effect. The new payment security regulation, originally introduced in 2016, is aimed at better preventing, detecting and responding to cyberattacks that can lead to payment data breaches.