Archived New TPS with questions

[LaserFrog]

I started last Saturday as TPS and I have some questions relating to the position.

1. If I am the lone AP member, should I stay at door for the majority of the time or should I stay at door about half the time and do sweeps of the hot item areas?

2. Our store currently has no APS, how does TPS prevent runners/theft if no ETL is on?

If I have anymore questions I will update.

 

[goingto4]

I split my time between the door and walking the floor and vary it depending on how busy the store is. On Friday nights and Saturdays I stay close to the front most of the day, walk the floor every hour or so, and spend some time at the fitting room. The rest of the time my store isn't busy enough to justify standing the front so I make laps through our hot spots, check merch protection, and catch up on whatever needs to be done.

If you're by yourself, your main goal is PMRs via guest servicing/presence. If someone bolts out the door let them go and try to get a license plate. Don't leave the building as that can be seen as pursuing them.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Let me start off by saying congrats. Target has become very selective with who they hire for AP, so job well done. For what it’s worth, before I promoted to AP Team Leader I was a TPS trainer so feel free to PM me if I can be of any additional help or if you want to ask questions privately or anything.

1 - As a solo TPS whenever I worked alone I had a routine of 30-45 min. at the door, 10 minute floor lap, 5 min on cameras, repeat. Your ETL may be very against having you look at cameras so adjust as needed. If you’re in a busier store, maybe cut it to 15-20 minutes up front, then a 5 min floor lap and repeat. There’s no real perfect answer. Make your decisions by analyzing the amount of traffic in the store and prioritzie where you see opportunities. Getting a rush of guests? Focus on the front. Busy in electronics but the lanes are dead? Walk the high theft electronics areas for a few extra minutes and be visible near the boat. Dont forget to check in with the fitting room team as well a few times across your shift.

2 - PMR’s are your best friend. If you know someone is stealing, make your presence known on the floor before they get up front. The closer to the door they are, the more likely they are to resist your attempt to PMR. Ultimately if they dont dump, get good information like license plates and good face shots on PTZ.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Also, check out this thread for more help.

The Break Room - Official Assets Protection Thread

 

[CoolLife24]

The ap at my store goes around the store and then stands at the front but not the whole time and we also have the under cover they walk around too and then ap doesn’t walk around the store. I guess it depends on your store.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

The ap at my store goes around the store and then stands at the front but not the whole time and we also have the under cover they walk around too and then ap doesn’t walk around the store. I guess it depends on your store.

The uniformed guy and the undercover guy are both AP, just different positions within AP.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

ASANTS because our TPS is heavily on the camera and activity getting KTRs when the APTL isn’t present. He’s spends time at the door and does his floor walks and his counts but the days he’s alone there’s not much you can do but document and hope to get some PMRs and KTRs.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Ask your trainer or aptl on these questions.

 

[SquishySquishy]

As a new TPS stick to the basics and learn the routines before you worry about being on the cameras (outside of assisting surveillance).

As you prove yourself and get results you may get leeway to be on camera more and pursue subjects to seek PMRs.

Until then plan on a lot of front end presence and creating partnerships with leaders and GSAs in the store.

Good luck!

 

[LearningTree]

When you're on your own, you will need heavy partnership/awareness from ETLs and TLs in the building. We're more vigilant with getting PMRs from guest servicing and receipt checking when we know TPS is on break or APS is gone for the night. There have also been times where I've had to stall the guest while I wait for TPS to get back from lunch. While we can't outright accuse a guest of stealing, heavy guest serviced and receipt checking goes a long way. Check in with your ETLAP about the policies for receipt checking. It varies from store to store.

I myself am very creative in trying to find ways to check a guest without it being deemed anything other than great guest service (make sure they can't accuse you of calling them a thief later on).

 

[garbage]

Let me start off by saying congrats. Target has become very selective with who they hire for AP, so job well done. For what it’s worth, before I promoted to AP Team Leader I was a TPS trainer so feel free to PM me if I can be of any additional help or if you want to ask questions privately or anything.

1 - As a solo TPS whenever I worked alone I had a routine of 30-45 min. at the door, 10 minute floor lap, 5 min on cameras, repeat. Your ETL may be very against having you look at cameras so adjust as needed. If you’re in a busier store, maybe cut it to 15-20 minutes up front, then a 5 min floor lap and repeat. There’s no real perfect answer. Make your decisions by analyzing the amount of traffic in the store and prioritzie where you see opportunities. Getting a rush of guests? Focus on the front. Busy in electronics but the lanes are dead? Walk the high theft electronics areas for a few extra minutes and be visible near the boat. Dont forget to check in with the fitting room team as well a few times across your shift.

2 - PMR’s are your best friend. If you know someone is stealing, make your presence known on the floor before they get up front. The closer to the door they are, the more likely they are to resist your attempt to PMR. Ultimately if they dont dump, get good information like license plates and good face shots on PTZ.

Perfectly said. I don’t have anything to add except to this

The closer to the door they are, the more likely they are to resist your attempt to PMR.

Back in my TPS days, if they resisted a PMR and were pushing out....well that wouldn’t happen. I’d grab or flip that fucking cart. But yea, not allowed to do that anymore....Acutally I don’t think we were ever allowed to do that. Never mind. Forget I said anything.

 

[SquishySquishy]

Perfectly said. I don’t have anything to add except to this

Back in my TPS days, if they resisted a PMR and were pushing out....well that wouldn’t happen. I’d grab or flip that fucking cart. But yea, not allowed to do that anymore....Acutally I don’t think we were ever allowed to do that. Never mind. Forget I said anything.

That's when you go for the reliable trip technique....

 

[Badjedidude]

When you're on your own, you will need heavy partnership/awareness from ETLs and TLs in the building.

This this this.

If your APS/APTL/ETL-AP isn't there and you're the only TPS in the building, definitely make sure you have solid partnerships with the salesfloor team.

Don't be afraid to call GSTL on the radio and take them to channel 3, then ask them to do a BOB/LISA check on someone at self-checkout or whatever. Same if you see someone about to conceal in Softlines, call up Softlines team members and ask them to guest service your subject.

Go stand in the area near the subject and be the obvious, visible deterrent that you're meant to be!

There are a lot of ways to scare shoplifters into stopping their actions without resorting to accusations or direct contact with the subject. Get creative.

Personally, when I was a TPS, I usually tried to be on the salesfloor more when I was alone. I'd try to do office work when we had coverage, but otherwise... you need to be present and visible at the front lanes (checklanes and self-checkouts as well as doors), and doing parking lot patrols, doing floor walks... etc etc. That's how you get your PMRs.