DOVER, Del. -- Basics/Metro Markets has a watchful eye on operations at its newest store here, where it hopes to cut losses due to theft and bad checks.
A surveillance system is keeping watch on activity in the store while a new check authorization feature will rein in losses due to bad checks.
A new closed-circuit television monitoring system was installed in the 62,000-square-foot store that opened here May 11, said Mike Mays, assistant vice president of loss prevention at Basics/Metro, Randallstown, Md. Video signals from a dozen CCTV cameras are being transmitted over telephone lines from the store here to a monitor at headquarters 100 miles away.
"It's not only for loss prevention," Mays said. "We can check to see if the floors are mopped properly, for example. It's available for a lot of different purposes."
The video monitoring system is manufactured by Sensormatic, Deerfield Beach, Fla.
Mays said another system Basics/Metro is testing at the new store is a "check velocity" function. The feature, to be phased in to six other metropolitan stores in June, maintains a "rolling file" on check writers.
"We're targeting the bad check writer who's in the business of writing 30 to 50 bad checks over a short period of time," Mays said. By maintaining a data base of career "bad check writers" as well as policing check cashing limits, Basics/Metro hopes to close the window of opportunity for fraud.
