NEW YORK—Nov. 11—Veteran’s Day in the United States—is the world’s biggest shopping event, but not for reasons Americans would expect. China’s Singles’ Day, also held on 11/11, has become a sales juggernaut, and now U.S. retailers are hoping to create a similar shopping event in the United States, Bloomberg News reports.
This year, more than two dozen retailers, along with the Shopkick reward app, have agreed to promote deals on 10.10 (October 10), according to event mastermind Deborah Weinswig, a retail consultant.
The event aims to generateholidayshoppinginOctober to help retailers manage shipping capacity, available merchandise and crowd control.
“If we don’t pull it forward, then it won’t happen,” said Weinswig. Retailers are already scrambling to purchase merchandise from stores going out of business because of light inventory stockpiles. “There’s just literally so little in the pipeline,” she said.
While the majority of holiday shopping happens in the weeks closest to Christmas, Weinswig hopes 10.10 will help shoppers realize they can’t cut it close when it comes to buying gifts this year. For example, shipping times in December will likely be longer than normal. “There is no capacity,” she said. “We’re seeing people who have never shopped online shop online.”
Already, retailers are looking to shift holiday spending over more weeks. For example, Home Depot has announced it will start Black Friday deals in early November, while American Eagle Outfitters is also trying to entice holiday shopping sooner. Amazon’s Prime Day will likely also be held in October, rather than its usual July date.
Today we spoke to a valued backOffice™ Software and InsightRS Scan Data customer, One Stop Liquor in Bellevue, Kentucky. They reported that business has been good during this pandemic but the latest struggle has been getting change for their registers. They typically purchase change each week but now this is not an option due to allocation of coin inventories at the banks.
So what do you do?
You depend on your awesome customers! They simply put a sign at the registers saying “We need change” and their customers responded quickly. In one short week they were able to purchase two full weeks worth of change. People working together is so valuable right now.
Temporary coin order allocation in all Reserve Bank offices and Federal Reserve coin distribution locations effective June 15, 2020
The COVID‐19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coin. In the past few months, coin deposits from depository institutions to the Federal Reserve have declined significantly and the U.S. Mint’s production of coin also decreased due to measures put in place to protect its employees. Federal Reserve coin orders from depository institutions have begun to increase as regions reopen, resulting in the Federal Reserve’s coin inventory being reduced to below normal levels. While the U.S. Mint is the issuing authority for coin, the Federal Reserve manages coin inventory and its distribution to depository institutions (including commercial banks, community banks, credit unions and thrifts) through Reserve Bank cash operations and offsite locations across the country operated by Federal Reserve vendors.
The Federal Reserve is working on several fronts to mitigate the effects of low coin inventories. This includes managing the allocation of existing Fed inventories, working with the Mint, as issuing authority, to minimize coin supply constraints and maximize coin production capacity, and encouraging depository institutions to order only the coin they need to meet near‐term customer demand. Depository institutions also can help replenish inventories by removing barriers to consumer deposits of loose and rolled coins. Although the Federal Reserve is confident that the coin inventory issues will resolve once the economy opens more broadly and the coin supply chain returns to normal circulation patterns, we recognize that these measures alone will not be enough to resolve near‐term issues.
Consequently, effective Monday, June 15, Reserve Banks and Federal Reserve coin distribution locations began allocating coin inventories. To ensure a fair and equitable distribution of existing coin inventory to all depository institutions, effective June 15, the Federal Reserve Banks and their coin distribution locations began to allocate available supplies of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to depository institutions as a temporary measure. The temporary coin allocation methodology is based on historical order volume by coin denomination and depository institution endpoint, and current U.S. Mint production levels. Order limits are unique by coin denomination and are the same across all Federal Reserve coin distribution locations. Limits will be reviewed and potentially revised based on national receipt levels, inventories, and Mint production.
Visa Global Payment System Risk is aware of increasing incidents involving suspects placing skimming devices on point-of–sale (POS) terminals for the purpose of collecting payment card information, including PIN numbers. Perpetrators use this information to create counterfeit cards re-encoded with the stolen card information and make unauthorized ATM withdrawals. The primary targets for these recent skimming events are self-checkout terminals in supermarkets. However, any POS terminal may be at risk, including those that are often unattended, such as terminals near deli counters, coffee stands, etc. The perpetrators are mobile and will target multiple stores within a geographic area for a period of time before moving on to a new location. Most entities targeted are using payment devices that have not yet been upgraded to accept EMV cards.
Placement of Skimming Devices
Skimming devices can be placed at any time of the day but placement usually occurs during slower times of business when the perpetrators can go undetected by employees or other customers. The perpetrators will usually work in teams of two or more with one person being a lookout, one person placing the skimming device on the POS terminal and another creating a barrier so that no one can observe the skimming device being placed. Perpetrators have been known to use large items such as packs of paper towels to block the view of POS terminals. In some instances, it was reported that the suspects created a distraction in the store by faking a medical incident or causing commotion that distracted the attention of store personnel away from the POS terminals. The skimming devices will mimic the look of the front of the POS terminal.
Recommended Inspection & Response Actions
1. Prevention Through Device Inventory Management
In accordance with PCI DSS Requirement 9.9, ensure implementation of security controls to protect POS devices from tampering and substitution. Examples include:
⇒ Maintain a list of devices including the device serial number or other method of unique identification.
⇒ Keep a list of device location either by store or physical location within the store itself (i.e., self-checkout, deli counter, manned checkout).
⇒ Train personnel to be aware of suspicious behavior and to report tampering or substitution of devices.
⇒ Verify the identity of any third-party persons claiming to be repair or maintenance personnel, prior to granting them access to modify or troubleshoot devices.
2. Physical Inspection of POS Devices
Implement security procedures to inspect POS devices at least twice each day and at random times.
Physically examine the device. Skimming devices are typically attached with minimal adhesive allowing them to be place and removed with ease, so devices may be detected by giving the front of the POS/PED a good grab-and-pull. Weighing the devices may also identify tampering.
Please note some skimming devices are Bluetooth enabled and data can be captured without the device needing to be recovered.
When inspecting devices, use backup security personnel to monitor from a distance as suspects may watch compromised terminals and suspects are trained in counter surveillance to avoid detection/arrest.
3. Device Recovery Response
If a skimming device is discovered on a POS terminal, do not handle it, as evidence may be damaged.
Notify local law enforcement and the FBI or USSS office so they can recover the skimming device.
Protect any video surveillance that may be used to identify any perpetrators and confirm timing of when the device was placed on the POS terminal.
Initiate incident response procedures and notify your Acquirer so that Visa can assist with the investigation.
Information from VISA April 2016
For other questions, please contact Cyber Intelligence & Investigations via email at USFraudControl@visa.com
Beginning January 12, 2016, only the most current version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates. Internet Explorer 11 is the last version of Internet Explorer, and will continue to receive security updates, compatibility fixes, and technical support on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
Internet Explorer 11 offers improved security, increased performance, better backward compatibility, and support for the web standards that power today’s websites and services. Microsoft encourages customers to upgrade and stay up-to-date on the latest browser for a faster, more secure browsing experience.
What does this mean?
It means you should take action. After January 12, 2016, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for older versions of Internet Explorer. Security updates patch vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malware, helping to keep users and their data safer. Regular security updates help protect computers from malicious attacks, so upgrading and staying current is important.
Potential risk of using older versions of Internet Explorer:
Security
Without critical browser security updates, your PC may become vulnerable to harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software which can steal or damage your business data and information.
Compliance
Businesses that are governed by regulatory obligations such as HIPAA should conduct due diligence to assess whether they are still able to satisfy compliance requirements using unsupported software.
Lack of ISV Support
Many Independent Software Vendors(ISVs) no longer support older versions of Internet Explorer. For example, Office 365 takes advantage of modern web standards and runs best with the latest browser.
Insight Retail Software is proud to announce the release of EDI Manager. Almost every vendor can supply you with an electronic invoice of your order, and our new EDI Manager allows you to import these invoices directly into backOffice™.
Once imported, backOffice™ will identify new products received in the order, any price or cost changes and the quantity shipped of each item. With the click of a button, new items are added, price and cost changes are made, and an order is created in the inventory module!
Just another way to run your business more effectively and save you time.
For more information please complete the form below. Thank you!
Posted by InsightRS 
Insight Retail Software Blog 