(Fruitland Park, FL; June 27, 2002; Business Wire) Just 30 U.S. retail companies lost over $5.0 billion to shoplifting and employee theft in 2001, with only 3.45 percent of those losses resulting in a recovery, according to the Fourteenth (14th) Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, the leading loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm.

According to Jack Hayes, this means that for every one dollar recovered, another $27.95 is lost to retail theft.

"The losses continue to amaze us." said Mark R. Doyle, Vice President at Hayes International, "While both the number of dishonest employees apprehended and the dollars recovered from those employee apprehensions finally leveled off after seven consecutive years of increases, our survey participants reported sizable increases in the number of shoplifters apprehended and the dollar recoveries from shoplifting." Mr. Hayes added, "Shoplifting and employee theft continue to be costly crimes which negatively impact the bottom-line profits of many retailers. The result of these crimes is higher prices for consumers at the cash register, and a loss of jobs for employees when retailers are forced to close stores or even go out of business."

This highly anticipated annual survey reports on over 700,000 apprehensions taking place in just 30 large retail companies representing 12,833 stores with combined 2001 annual sales in excess of $419 billion. Some of the major results from this survey are:

*Total dollar recoveries from both shoplifters and dishonest employees in 2001 exceeded $182 million, an increase of 9.44% over 2000.

*Survey participants apprehended 622,222 shoplifters in 2001, which reflects a 5.19% increase over their 2000 shoplifter apprehensions (591,545).

*Dollars recovered from shoplifting apprehensions totaled $70,954,254 in 2001, which is an increase of 9.32% over 2000 recoveries ($64,905,425).

*For the 5th consecutive year, the dollars recovered from shoplifters where no apprehension was made increased substantially over the prior year ($41,275,172 in 2001 vs $30,315,706 in 2000, up 36.15%), after increasing an astonishing 27.96% in 2000 and 23.45% in 1999.

*Dishonest employee apprehensions (77,805 in 2001 vs 78,468 in 2000) and the dollars recovered from those apprehended employees ($70,221,185 in 2001 vs $71,494,974 in 2000) decreased ever so slightly in 2001 (0.84% and 1.78% respectively), after increasing the prior 7 consecutive years.

*On a per-company basis, one in every 27 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer. (Based on over 2.2 million employees.)

*On a per-person basis, dishonest employees steal approximately 7.9 times the amount stolen by shoplifters ($902.53 vs. $114.03).

William J. Reilly, COO of Checkpoint Systems, Inc., a leader in the development, and marketing of loss prevention technology to many of the world's leading retail chains, said, "We're pleased to see the positive apprehension results and the increase in dollar value of the recovered merchandise. However, internal and external shrink numbers still remain too high. A robust loss prevention program and the installation of sophisticated anti-theft technology by retailers can help drive the number of apprehensions to new highs."

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. is a multinational company that manufactures and markets digital RF/EAS and RFID systems, RF source tagging, CCTV systems, fire and intrusion alarms, and access control systems. Additionally, Checkpoint markets Honesty Testing, an employee-screening program developed by Jack L. Hayes International, Inc.

Jack L. Hayes International, Inc., with offices in Fruitland Park, Florida and Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been in the Loss Prevention/Shrinkage Control consulting business for 24 years, and is recognized on an international level as the foremost loss prevention/inventory shrinkage control consulting firm in the world.

Jack L. Hayes International, Inc., 4028 Williams Street-Suite 200, Fruitland Park, FL 34731 www.hayesinternational.com