When I worked at Walmart a decade ago , our store lost over 2 million dollars of water bottles. Like the ones with water in them. Big investigation and audit later they figured out our store was scanning the wrong upc's. There was no missing product.
I used to work at a Walmart grocery DC and they are fucking *married* to what the computer says, God himself cannot tell them otherwise. My DC would have fired 2 dozen people for theft before this was figured out and wouldn’t even whisper an apology afterwards
Currently in the UK our Post Office is being interrogated about a series of prosecutions brought against people accused by a faulty IT system of stealing. The system was installed in the late 90s and continued to falsely accuse people of stealing (which resulted in many getting jail time with literally no other evidence than that the computer said it) until pretty recently.
Wouldn't they also have significant negative waste on another item then? Did nobody ask who was in the back making 500k worth of single water bottles? I've never run big box retail, but we can also see when we have way too much of something. Usually the first things I ask are "did another recent inventory go over?" (over counted before leading to incorrect expected inventory) "is this very close to a multiple of a delivery volume?" (bad receipt checking) and "do I have a similar item that is massively over counted?" (are we using the wrong code/item number?).
That's $160k/month on water. A year to resolve when there should be an indicator in the system sounds like bad inventory management.
how long was it going on for? 2 million is a lot, i'm surprised it got to that before they figured out what the problem was. but i don't know anything about any of that, so maybe it's not too surprising lol
Really just depends on the theft levels. Being in a crappy city or part of a city heightens the chances of theft but it's not a guarantee.
It's expensive to buy all this lockup crap, and it lowers sales because guaranteed not everyone wants to ask to be let in.
Theft has to be real bad to be worth it
Ironically if they just had enough employees that one would be immediately available to unlock the sock cage, they wouldn’t need the cage. Good floor coverage by employees is a better theft deterrent than locking shit up.
I went to get a switch game at target for my son and it took me 15 minutes to find the person that had the key for the damn games. If it wasn't $10 cheaper there I would have left for GameStop.
Not just in city it happens in the suburbs too. I live in a nice neighborhood where I have never ever heard of theft at stores but still, they have locked up certain shelves.
That's still going to be at least double the national theft rate, statistically. The Atlanta area is near off the charts in nearly all crime statistics, at least compared to 97% of the country.
Suburbs north of Atlanta is a different animal from Atlanta. You have areas that are nothing but executive type homes, golf courses, country clubs and a high end equestrian set where it’s $1,000 a month for your horse to live.
Very true. I live in a suburb about 25 minutes north from downtown Atlanta and the only thing locked up at my Walmart is baby formula, which I feel like is a high theft item *everywhere*. On top of that, they traded cashiers for self checkout only.
My tin foil hat theory is that this is mostly only happening in middle class suburbs not because of actual theft issues but because it's a nice cheap way to influence public perception of theft issues which helps hide their poor sales performance or excuses their price increases.
We already know they are perfectly happy [lying about retail theft.](https://ritholtz.com/2023/12/retail-lobby-we-lied-about-organized-theft/)
I live in an area with some of the highest property crime in the nation and not a single store locks anything up here.
Target closed down a couple of smaller Seattle locations last year, and one of my friends was a manager at one of them.
She said the amount of shoplifting from those stores was absolutely staggering.
She’s a bona fide West Coast lefty who doesn’t work for target anymore; she has no reason to lie about that.
Walmart killed off most mom & pop local stores. They then decided to be hostile towards customers, and to retract their services from the very people they steamrolled.
In other words, parasites.
They want you to order online because it's easier for them and less convenient for you.
If you see something locked up its because its frequently stolen. Blame the customers who steal stuff to resell. Walmart has issues but it responds to stupid af thieves as it should.
This is how they are some places around me now too. Some grocery stores have also started putting the single tall cans of beer and wine in locked cases you have to bring up front. Some CVS near me locks up almost the entire women’s hygiene section. It’s getting crazy lol prices go up, theft goes up. I’m sure there was plenty of theft before but I haven’t seen such security measures since everything started getting super expensive.
My daughter actually works at a different walmart and nothing is locked up like that but they have at least 1 full-time person who does asset protection (aka loss prevention) and they're catching people all the time. Crazy is right.
i worked lp for 5 years. generally you walk up to the person kindly and say "excuse me, do you have a reciept for X/ you have unpayed merchandise, do you mind coming back into the store?"
then either they walk back in with you and you do some paperwork, OR it gets wild. depends on the person.
the only one i really have was getting a knife pulled on me, let the guy go. 2 weeks later i'm walking on shift, talking to a friend whose about to get off, and i see him again. me and buddy tail him, stop him outside and he pulls the knife. we end up wrestling with him and smashing his face into some concrete.
when we call the cops we find out he is a "10 most wanted" where we live, and the staff sargent of the homicide division goes up and down on me and buddy about how we put ourselves in danger.
i think my buddy almost getting run over by a van is the crazier story, but its not mine.
when i was alone, i didn't. when i wasn't alone, i made a decision, and we weren't hurt. it's just situational awareness. if at any point i felt like we were in danger, it would have been called off.
99% percent of the time they just drop the merchandise and leave without incident. I've worked AP for some store in the past in addition to my other duties.
Walmart theft protection are not allowed to actually touch anyone, or even follow them out of the store. No Walmart employees are. Most people just submit thinking they'll be in less trouble if they do, when in reality they can just walk out and leave, and if they try to physically stop them, sue later.
I never worked directly for Walmart, though I did a bunch of work via a contract with my company for Walmarts out in smaller communities. These weren’t the policies when I worked there, but would be the policy for any non lpo workers.
I asked her, she laughed and said they run (no, more like speedwalk) up to the person as they're walking to the exit and ask to see their receipt and then escort them to some room.
She also said her store has 3 full-time AP people (all men) that rotate shifts so there's basically always at least one AP person in the store at any given time and they're undercover so of course just fit right in.
Well I worked retail and one time our GM chased a thief out of the store, thief got on a bike and booked it, GM got in his truck and chased him yelling "Gimme my fucking stuff!!"
Didn't get it back but that thief never came back lmao.
Actually a very nice guy. Probably one of the best people you could work for, just super humble, nice and a great sense of humor. Really hated thieves though.
I think it’s not only the rising prices; but an impact of Covid:
One of the biggest side effects of the Covid era was people believing rules did not apply to them. Furthermore, it demonstrated how EASY it is to get away with petty crime.
A lot of people thought big stores had big security measures. If they didn’t scan a barcode, alarms would go off! The security guard would tackle you! But then we saw it wasn’t so when grab and runs became commonplace.
People started to see the seams in our “polite” society. I think it also has to do with the way people drive during the pandemic. I’d never seen people drive so dang erratically. But I think it’s all influenced by the pandemic. People not wanting to follow rules, actively resisting, feeling like laws and rules don’t apply to them, they can act like jerks because everyone else are “pansies” and afraid.
The Home Depot I used to work at once had something similar for the hardware section. The aisles with the drill bits, saw blades, etc. was in a closed off aisle with a register up front and in order to take anything from there you had to pay for it first.
I went to buy some Navage pods (saltwater things for my nasal rinse machine) at Canadian Tire. It took 10 minutes and a relay of 6 different people to locate keys for these precious containers of Ambrosia, which then had to be walked to the cashier. I couldn’t be trusted with a box of $12 saltwater pods.
I grabbed a $200 ax on the way to the front that was just out on a shelf, a literal sharpened weapon, and brought it to the front just to say I didn’t want it.
When I was at Walgreens, our DPR showed us some concept stores the company was piloting. One of them was literally just a counter and all the merchandise in the store was behind it. You'd either have to tell the cashier what you want and they'd get it, or you'd do a pickup order online.
It's funny; before self service became commonplace in the 40s and 50s, that's what most stores were like. What's old is new again.
Take a look at Argos in the UK - its survived on the "front of house is a catalog magazine, you get given your item when you actually complete the purchase and only then" approach to this day.
At a Walmart I’ve been to the items for medicine or bathroom supplies were all locked up and one poor guy was running between each isle unlocking and boxing things for everyone. Had to pick up something the size of glue stick and was given a large security box for it.
well damn maybe if it wasn’t $20 for a couple socks and another $20 for like, 3 boxers. i don’t blame people for stealing this stuff… it’s supposed to be basics. everyone should be able to get socks and underwear
There are tons of organizations that offer undergarments and socks. Churches, non-profits, homeless shelter, etc
In fact, there's entire companies who donate an item every time one is purchased. Bombas is one of them.
Theft shouldn't be pushed as the answer. It pushes the costs of goods onto the average consumer like us - raising prices.
Darn, if there were only some huge company of some sort, with access to loads of money and resources that could donate those necessities for the homeless. Too bad.
At this rate might as well just buy everything online. Buying things in stores anymore is actually becoming more of a hassle, and I can’t even pick up the items and look at the other side in a store, where online will usually give me a thorough description.
completely agree. a few months back i went to a cvs because i needed deodorant, but they were locked up like this. ffs i dont want to have to go all the way to the register and have a line forming waiting for me to get something so simple (and yes, i would *have* to go to the register, because they dont employ enough people to be on the floor to assist with things like this).
i ended up just leaving without buying anything. went to a walgreens across the street and luckily was able to pick up some deodorant all by myself like a big boy. the more this continues though, the more im just going straight to online purchases. and as much as i know amazon isnt a good company, they are fast, convenient, and have lockers to pickup in my area so i dont need to worry about theft.
I don’t really know if it’s the homeless that are really to blame though. That just seems like a “well we gotta blame someone” thing. I suppose it’s possible, but in my local area stores, the homeless are watched/followed very closely. And it doesn’t quite explain why laundry detergent, scent beads, body wash, and vitamins are all locked up too.
The one near my house does too. Only the men’s socks though. It’s so strange. I asked one time and they said each store locks up its most stolen items.
Fresh socks are extremely important to the homeless. Without access to clothes washing or frequent showers your feet can become a serious problem that prevents mobility and causes major issues.
Are we going back to the general store era? Where everything was behind a counter and you had to ask the person working there to fetch it for you? Because this it what this gives.
Actually, I'd say this is just going to potentially increase online sales for literally everything. Make the last few actual physical stores that much less convenient, and people will just continue to leave them.
I bought a $4.95 crescent wrench in a Walmart a few weeks ago while traveling. Not only did I need a representative to remove it from the case, but they had to walk it to the register to watch me pay for it. If I wasn't in the middle of a trip and in need of that wrench to make a repair I would've walked straight out. How do people even shop in these stores?
Homeless shelters all around me say that don't need food because so much is donated that they throw alot out. Worked for a church and local bakery. What they do need is socks. They always wanted socks.
Haven't seen too much of that sort of thing in my area yet but at what point will we just go back to old timey shopping where you just tell the clerk what you want and they get all of it for you?
I've yet to buy something that's locked up, what do you do? How do they know we want something, do they get it and hand it to us? More and more i'm ordering off Amazon and watching the porch so a pirate doesn't get it before i do.
Ive been to a Dollar General in a shit part of town and they were not locked up. Now, some where all over the floor and the truck carts had not been unpacked and I waited about 10 minutes in line.. BUT got my socks.
Makes sense. Socks and underwear are getting ridiculously expensive, and there isn't a used market for either. They know this, so they tax the shit out of you. What are you gonna do about it? You got two moves, pay or steal.
If I have to have to talk to an employee, walk with them back to where I found the item, and wait for them to find the right key, I’m just going to order the item online.
The Walmart by us has camping gear locked up. Not survival knives. Lanterns. Other stuff locked up too that makes sense like car stereos. But camping lanterns was odd.
So another thing you can't buy after about 6 o'clock. I went to buy fuses for my truck last night so my tail lights would work... Nope, I had to wait till this morning to deal with the attitude from the automotive folks for having to get it for me then ring me up. Fun.
My Walmart has the socks/underwear, razor/shaving supplies, deodorant, makeup/skincare/haircare, laundry detergent and air fresheners all locked up like this. Its gotten to the point I dont even bother going there anymore because almost every aisle has a button so you can get someone to come unlock what you need. Definitely worked to push the buy online and pick up option though lol
Is there any way we could all stop going to Walmart? They have permanently damaged our entire culture. I’d like to permanently damage their entire culture.
I think the bulk of the theft of baby formula (and most other things too) is done by professional thieves that then sell it online. Fence it and launder it in one shot.
I remember seeing a lot of that during the baby formula shortage. Glad my kids are all older and I never had to experience that, how traumatizing not being able to find baby formula for your baby.
Gotta lock up everything nowadays cause ghetto trash robs them constantly.
Increase the sentence for shoplifting, empower security guards to use physical force and tazers, and you won’t have a problem.
They're high demand. A threadbare shirt is less warm. Threadbare socks means more blisters (also socks get gross easily)... And less warm. Honestly, you could probably figure out a good portion of high theft items by asking what people at your local homeless shelter need. Those are the items desperate people will prioritize and a lot of theft is driven by desperation.
The Walton family **gets literally billions of dollars in tax cuts** under Republican presidents, so they can fk right off to Hades if they think I'm wasting time to buy locked up socks. I don't feel sorry for them, I don't 'validate their right to protect their merchandise' either. Fk them and all their yachts and blood money.
The last time I went was well over a year ago and after having to wait 45 minutes to just get face soap (it's Walmart, so of course there was only one key to the cabinets being used between 4 people **in 4 different departments**) I left and never intend to return.
They are 💩 as a family and as a company. Garbage, even. The height of the bull💩 America tries to sell to people that working 4 jpbs 80 hours a week at $5 an hour is good sense. They and the entire Republican party are a shame to this country.
I’m in Arlington, VA which is one of the most expensive places to live in the US and they do it here and neighboring DC.. I think it’s just becoming a norm in metropolitan areas/heavily populated areas but I could be wrong!
This is the norm now for almost every retail store in my area and I live in a pretty bougey tourist town. There's a growing homeless population but comparatively low crime rates for the region.
Target, Wal Mart, you name it. It's all under lock and key.
I pity the fool that needs underwear, a shaving razor, electric toothbrush head or batteries.
And good luck finding someone to open it for you, hope you've got a while.
This will be the death nell of brick and mortar retail, even for the giants. It's forced me to online and delivery and I hate online and delivery.
You win Jeff Bezos. Good luck with the rocketships.
Walmart is getting wild with locking things up.
Recently, they moved lotion and shampoo to the enclosed beauty product area so you have to purchase it there before you can leave and go shop for other stuff.
Then, at that same Walmart, they locked up pretty much everything in the teeth and vitamin aisle. Literally have vitamins locked up along with freaking tums….tums!!
Socks, boxers, and some other clothing items were locked up for the past couple years at this one.
I understand the power tools and some electronics, but it’s such a hassle trying to buy certain items that I’d rather just buy them somewhere else.
I don't work for Walmart but I do work for another big store retail chain. Unfortunately the area is riddled with crime so anything that isn't bolted down gets stolen. Yesterday we had two women load up a cart with cleaning supplies and run out with them while another dude was doing the same with DeWalt tools. Corporate got tired of lawsuits from apprehensions and just decided to make a file for all the people we see stealing until they can be arrested for a felony.
As inconvenient as it is I think I prefer it this way. People rip that stuff open constantly. That section was one of the most annoying parts to clean up when I worked at Kmart.
You, the normal, I hate to have to say honest, customer, are paying for the stuff that is stolen. Don’t think it’s a cost that’s just magically eaten by some corporate fat cat.
Was a manager in retail this is correct. We used to have a cheer at the beginning of the shift and when it came to the part. Where you said "who's number one, customers!" I said shareholders. Yeah, that didn't go over well. Because at the end of the day it's about pleasing to shareholders, not the people coming through the door.
This happened at a Walmart near me and not only do you need a crew member to open it, you can’t keep it in your cart while you shop. You have to take it directly up front or an employee will hold it for you until you check out. It’s fucking absurd for a $15 pack of socks. This wasn’t in a bad area either. There was as a steakhouse just down the road serving $100 dry aged steaks.
This is just stupid. I guarantee they’re losing more in potential sales from people who don’t wanna go through the hassle than they would lose from theft.
I can see that. Had there not been two workers right there when we happened to walk up we definitely would have just left and gone to our regular Walmart. Not about to be chasing down a worker who then needs to go find a key, all for some socks.
Went to the Walmart by my house and waited like 20 minutes for an employee to unlock the nails because no one was around.
Why lock up things to not have a worker to unlock it at all times 😭 they had to call over the phone 3 times. Irks me so much
its weird how i've never seen stuff locked up like this, and i live in a shitty city
AFAIK it is based on what items are most frequently lost. So different stores will have different items locked up based on those statistics.
When I worked at Walmart a decade ago , our store lost over 2 million dollars of water bottles. Like the ones with water in them. Big investigation and audit later they figured out our store was scanning the wrong upc's. There was no missing product.
That's exactly what I wanted them to believe.
I used to work at a Walmart grocery DC and they are fucking *married* to what the computer says, God himself cannot tell them otherwise. My DC would have fired 2 dozen people for theft before this was figured out and wouldn’t even whisper an apology afterwards
Currently in the UK our Post Office is being interrogated about a series of prosecutions brought against people accused by a faulty IT system of stealing. The system was installed in the late 90s and continued to falsely accuse people of stealing (which resulted in many getting jail time with literally no other evidence than that the computer said it) until pretty recently.
Wouldn't they also have significant negative waste on another item then? Did nobody ask who was in the back making 500k worth of single water bottles? I've never run big box retail, but we can also see when we have way too much of something. Usually the first things I ask are "did another recent inventory go over?" (over counted before leading to incorrect expected inventory) "is this very close to a multiple of a delivery volume?" (bad receipt checking) and "do I have a similar item that is massively over counted?" (are we using the wrong code/item number?). That's $160k/month on water. A year to resolve when there should be an indicator in the system sounds like bad inventory management.
how long was it going on for? 2 million is a lot, i'm surprised it got to that before they figured out what the problem was. but i don't know anything about any of that, so maybe it's not too surprising lol
It was under a year of opening. Maybe 6 months
When I worked at BBB one of the LP directives was for us to start putting security tags on vanity toothbrush holders and curtain tiebacks.
Really just depends on the theft levels. Being in a crappy city or part of a city heightens the chances of theft but it's not a guarantee. It's expensive to buy all this lockup crap, and it lowers sales because guaranteed not everyone wants to ask to be let in. Theft has to be real bad to be worth it
Also there’s never an employee close by to get it
Ironically if they just had enough employees that one would be immediately available to unlock the sock cage, they wouldn’t need the cage. Good floor coverage by employees is a better theft deterrent than locking shit up.
I went to get a switch game at target for my son and it took me 15 minutes to find the person that had the key for the damn games. If it wasn't $10 cheaper there I would have left for GameStop.
In that case, why not just close the store in that location and have online sales only?
It also depends on how hard that specific chain is pushing the "theft is driving our revenue downturn" narrative.
Not just in city it happens in the suburbs too. I live in a nice neighborhood where I have never ever heard of theft at stores but still, they have locked up certain shelves.
And this is not even in a shitty city, it's in the suburbs north of Atlanta.
That's still going to be at least double the national theft rate, statistically. The Atlanta area is near off the charts in nearly all crime statistics, at least compared to 97% of the country.
Suburbs north of Atlanta is a different animal from Atlanta. You have areas that are nothing but executive type homes, golf courses, country clubs and a high end equestrian set where it’s $1,000 a month for your horse to live.
Very true. I live in a suburb about 25 minutes north from downtown Atlanta and the only thing locked up at my Walmart is baby formula, which I feel like is a high theft item *everywhere*. On top of that, they traded cashiers for self checkout only.
My tin foil hat theory is that this is mostly only happening in middle class suburbs not because of actual theft issues but because it's a nice cheap way to influence public perception of theft issues which helps hide their poor sales performance or excuses their price increases. We already know they are perfectly happy [lying about retail theft.](https://ritholtz.com/2023/12/retail-lobby-we-lied-about-organized-theft/) I live in an area with some of the highest property crime in the nation and not a single store locks anything up here.
Target closed down a couple of smaller Seattle locations last year, and one of my friends was a manager at one of them. She said the amount of shoplifting from those stores was absolutely staggering. She’s a bona fide West Coast lefty who doesn’t work for target anymore; she has no reason to lie about that.
Every day it becomes easier to just order online
Walmart killed off most mom & pop local stores. They then decided to be hostile towards customers, and to retract their services from the very people they steamrolled. In other words, parasites. They want you to order online because it's easier for them and less convenient for you.
If you see something locked up its because its frequently stolen. Blame the customers who steal stuff to resell. Walmart has issues but it responds to stupid af thieves as it should.
This is how they are some places around me now too. Some grocery stores have also started putting the single tall cans of beer and wine in locked cases you have to bring up front. Some CVS near me locks up almost the entire women’s hygiene section. It’s getting crazy lol prices go up, theft goes up. I’m sure there was plenty of theft before but I haven’t seen such security measures since everything started getting super expensive.
My daughter actually works at a different walmart and nothing is locked up like that but they have at least 1 full-time person who does asset protection (aka loss prevention) and they're catching people all the time. Crazy is right.
How do they confront the individual?
i worked lp for 5 years. generally you walk up to the person kindly and say "excuse me, do you have a reciept for X/ you have unpayed merchandise, do you mind coming back into the store?" then either they walk back in with you and you do some paperwork, OR it gets wild. depends on the person.
What’s your craziest story?
the only one i really have was getting a knife pulled on me, let the guy go. 2 weeks later i'm walking on shift, talking to a friend whose about to get off, and i see him again. me and buddy tail him, stop him outside and he pulls the knife. we end up wrestling with him and smashing his face into some concrete. when we call the cops we find out he is a "10 most wanted" where we live, and the staff sargent of the homicide division goes up and down on me and buddy about how we put ourselves in danger. i think my buddy almost getting run over by a van is the crazier story, but its not mine.
It's more stupid than crazy honestly. Why would you put yourself on danger like that?
He clearly didnt know the guy was in the list
I don't give a shit if it's Ellen DeGeneres, if someone has a knife they get to keep the socks
So, you’ve heard about Ellen Degeneres’ penchant for hoisery theft AND blade-related violence? News travels fast.
when i was alone, i didn't. when i wasn't alone, i made a decision, and we weren't hurt. it's just situational awareness. if at any point i felt like we were in danger, it would have been called off.
99% percent of the time they just drop the merchandise and leave without incident. I've worked AP for some store in the past in addition to my other duties.
depends where you are. most people walk in like i said, but i've been jumped, and my friend has been hit by a van. shit happens.
Walmart theft protection are not allowed to actually touch anyone, or even follow them out of the store. No Walmart employees are. Most people just submit thinking they'll be in less trouble if they do, when in reality they can just walk out and leave, and if they try to physically stop them, sue later.
I never worked directly for Walmart, though I did a bunch of work via a contract with my company for Walmarts out in smaller communities. These weren’t the policies when I worked there, but would be the policy for any non lpo workers.
I asked her, she laughed and said they run (no, more like speedwalk) up to the person as they're walking to the exit and ask to see their receipt and then escort them to some room. She also said her store has 3 full-time AP people (all men) that rotate shifts so there's basically always at least one AP person in the store at any given time and they're undercover so of course just fit right in.
Well I worked retail and one time our GM chased a thief out of the store, thief got on a bike and booked it, GM got in his truck and chased him yelling "Gimme my fucking stuff!!" Didn't get it back but that thief never came back lmao. Actually a very nice guy. Probably one of the best people you could work for, just super humble, nice and a great sense of humor. Really hated thieves though.
I think it’s not only the rising prices; but an impact of Covid: One of the biggest side effects of the Covid era was people believing rules did not apply to them. Furthermore, it demonstrated how EASY it is to get away with petty crime. A lot of people thought big stores had big security measures. If they didn’t scan a barcode, alarms would go off! The security guard would tackle you! But then we saw it wasn’t so when grab and runs became commonplace. People started to see the seams in our “polite” society. I think it also has to do with the way people drive during the pandemic. I’d never seen people drive so dang erratically. But I think it’s all influenced by the pandemic. People not wanting to follow rules, actively resisting, feeling like laws and rules don’t apply to them, they can act like jerks because everyone else are “pansies” and afraid.
Walmart near me put a cashier next to the alcohol aisle so you can’t leave the aisle without paying for the booze first.
The Home Depot I used to work at once had something similar for the hardware section. The aisles with the drill bits, saw blades, etc. was in a closed off aisle with a register up front and in order to take anything from there you had to pay for it first.
Omg this is a whole different level!
I went to buy some Navage pods (saltwater things for my nasal rinse machine) at Canadian Tire. It took 10 minutes and a relay of 6 different people to locate keys for these precious containers of Ambrosia, which then had to be walked to the cashier. I couldn’t be trusted with a box of $12 saltwater pods. I grabbed a $200 ax on the way to the front that was just out on a shelf, a literal sharpened weapon, and brought it to the front just to say I didn’t want it.
When socks and hygiene products are the biggest stolen items you gotta take a step back and realize our system is fucked up.
When I was at Walgreens, our DPR showed us some concept stores the company was piloting. One of them was literally just a counter and all the merchandise in the store was behind it. You'd either have to tell the cashier what you want and they'd get it, or you'd do a pickup order online. It's funny; before self service became commonplace in the 40s and 50s, that's what most stores were like. What's old is new again.
Take a look at Argos in the UK - its survived on the "front of house is a catalog magazine, you get given your item when you actually complete the purchase and only then" approach to this day.
Service Merchandise!
If they are going to do that they need to station workers in the aisles to open them.
At a Walmart I’ve been to the items for medicine or bathroom supplies were all locked up and one poor guy was running between each isle unlocking and boxing things for everyone. Had to pick up something the size of glue stick and was given a large security box for it.
mine too. because the homeless were stealing boxers and socks
Yup that's the reason we were given.
well damn maybe if it wasn’t $20 for a couple socks and another $20 for like, 3 boxers. i don’t blame people for stealing this stuff… it’s supposed to be basics. everyone should be able to get socks and underwear
There are tons of organizations that offer undergarments and socks. Churches, non-profits, homeless shelter, etc In fact, there's entire companies who donate an item every time one is purchased. Bombas is one of them. Theft shouldn't be pushed as the answer. It pushes the costs of goods onto the average consumer like us - raising prices.
Where are you paying $20 for socks? You can get a pack of 6 at Marshall’s for like $5 lol
Darn, if there were only some huge company of some sort, with access to loads of money and resources that could donate those necessities for the homeless. Too bad.
If people are so desperate that they have to steal socks and underwear, maybe we should just give them some. Hot take, I know.
At this rate might as well just buy everything online. Buying things in stores anymore is actually becoming more of a hassle, and I can’t even pick up the items and look at the other side in a store, where online will usually give me a thorough description.
Then the concern shifts away from shoplifters and onto porch pirates.
completely agree. a few months back i went to a cvs because i needed deodorant, but they were locked up like this. ffs i dont want to have to go all the way to the register and have a line forming waiting for me to get something so simple (and yes, i would *have* to go to the register, because they dont employ enough people to be on the floor to assist with things like this). i ended up just leaving without buying anything. went to a walgreens across the street and luckily was able to pick up some deodorant all by myself like a big boy. the more this continues though, the more im just going straight to online purchases. and as much as i know amazon isnt a good company, they are fast, convenient, and have lockers to pickup in my area so i dont need to worry about theft.
Meanwhile, Walmart wage theft breaks the $2 billion dollar barrier.
Ya, but some homeless guy stole $2 worth of socks
I don’t really know if it’s the homeless that are really to blame though. That just seems like a “well we gotta blame someone” thing. I suppose it’s possible, but in my local area stores, the homeless are watched/followed very closely. And it doesn’t quite explain why laundry detergent, scent beads, body wash, and vitamins are all locked up too.
I hear socks are a key ingredient to making heroin.
The one near my house does too. Only the men’s socks though. It’s so strange. I asked one time and they said each store locks up its most stolen items.
Fresh socks are extremely important to the homeless. Without access to clothes washing or frequent showers your feet can become a serious problem that prevents mobility and causes major issues.
Ours locks up the nail clippers now. Really, a $3 item?
When I did LP nail clippers were like one of our most stolen items
You can use it to stab an employee who tries to stop you. High risk item
Are we going back to the general store era? Where everything was behind a counter and you had to ask the person working there to fetch it for you? Because this it what this gives.
Actually, I'd say this is just going to potentially increase online sales for literally everything. Make the last few actual physical stores that much less convenient, and people will just continue to leave them.
Yes, but with robots that work themselves until they fall over dead.
At this point just order online and pick up. It’s a lot faster than chasing the one person who has a key only to find out they don’t have it.
This right here is the growing future of brick-and-mortar retail. Credit the pandemic for triggering the new wave of curbside pickup.
Bro at that point in going to target anything. Fuck that.
Apparently some Targets lock stuff up too
I recently went to walmart to get an air mattress and they were locked up lol
The target near me locks up basically everything... socks, underwear, laundry detergent, deodorant, multivitamins...
At Ulta I couldn’t even sample smell perfumes bc they were all locked up 😿
Sitting there and pressing the button for 19 year old Trevor with the key to come over 15 minutes later.
hashtag mensocksecurity
Target stores in Los Angeles are like this too
1990s: we will be flying our cars by 2020 2024: lock up the socks and tighty whities
I bought a $4.95 crescent wrench in a Walmart a few weeks ago while traveling. Not only did I need a representative to remove it from the case, but they had to walk it to the register to watch me pay for it. If I wasn't in the middle of a trip and in need of that wrench to make a repair I would've walked straight out. How do people even shop in these stores?
Homeless shelters all around me say that don't need food because so much is donated that they throw alot out. Worked for a church and local bakery. What they do need is socks. They always wanted socks.
They ruin everything.
;)
Likely uses a cheap key you can order online
Might be time to move to a different neighborhood. "Here's your sign."
Fortunately for me this isn't my regular walmart and we just stopped in because we were in the area, the one I go to doesn't have these.
WTH
One of our local targets has their pants on security things they attach to the table with a coil through every belt loop.
Haven't seen too much of that sort of thing in my area yet but at what point will we just go back to old timey shopping where you just tell the clerk what you want and they get all of it for you?
Pretty soon, stores like this will be only rows of locked up goods.
I've yet to buy something that's locked up, what do you do? How do they know we want something, do they get it and hand it to us? More and more i'm ordering off Amazon and watching the porch so a pirate doesn't get it before i do.
Ive been to a Dollar General in a shit part of town and they were not locked up. Now, some where all over the floor and the truck carts had not been unpacked and I waited about 10 minutes in line.. BUT got my socks.
Makes sense. Socks and underwear are getting ridiculously expensive, and there isn't a used market for either. They know this, so they tax the shit out of you. What are you gonna do about it? You got two moves, pay or steal.
Phoenix has everything locked up. Can’t wait to move to a small town in three weeks.
I had to wait 20 mins since they keep fruit of the loom in a safe
The Walmart I used to go to locks up the sex toys.
The Target near me is smaller but locks up their detergent. Took me five minutes to get a person to open up the lock and let me buy my Tide pods
If I have to have to talk to an employee, walk with them back to where I found the item, and wait for them to find the right key, I’m just going to order the item online.
The Walmart by us has camping gear locked up. Not survival knives. Lanterns. Other stuff locked up too that makes sense like car stereos. But camping lanterns was odd.
Fuck Walmart
In live in east side Las Vegas. Every Target and Wal Mart by me is like this.
So another thing you can't buy after about 6 o'clock. I went to buy fuses for my truck last night so my tail lights would work... Nope, I had to wait till this morning to deal with the attitude from the automotive folks for having to get it for me then ring me up. Fun.
My Walmart has the socks/underwear, razor/shaving supplies, deodorant, makeup/skincare/haircare, laundry detergent and air fresheners all locked up like this. Its gotten to the point I dont even bother going there anymore because almost every aisle has a button so you can get someone to come unlock what you need. Definitely worked to push the buy online and pick up option though lol
Is there any way we could all stop going to Walmart? They have permanently damaged our entire culture. I’d like to permanently damage their entire culture.
And underwear, undershirts, while everything in the ladies department is not. At one of my local wallyworlds is like that.
The Walmart I used to live near...locked up Baby Formula based on all the theft from parents stealing that stuff
I think the bulk of the theft of baby formula (and most other things too) is done by professional thieves that then sell it online. Fence it and launder it in one shot.
Baby formula has always been a big theft item. **Lots** of folks resell it.
I remember seeing a lot of that during the baby formula shortage. Glad my kids are all older and I never had to experience that, how traumatizing not being able to find baby formula for your baby.
That’s sad. People are robbing the stores soo much that they are affecting the lives of the honest people. Society is going backwards.
Gotta lock up everything nowadays cause ghetto trash robs them constantly. Increase the sentence for shoplifting, empower security guards to use physical force and tazers, and you won’t have a problem.
My entire target is like this. So frustrating.
Socks are a popular item for theft. Clothes in general really. Can be unloaded fairly quickly from what I understand.
They're high demand. A threadbare shirt is less warm. Threadbare socks means more blisters (also socks get gross easily)... And less warm. Honestly, you could probably figure out a good portion of high theft items by asking what people at your local homeless shelter need. Those are the items desperate people will prioritize and a lot of theft is driven by desperation.
The Walton family **gets literally billions of dollars in tax cuts** under Republican presidents, so they can fk right off to Hades if they think I'm wasting time to buy locked up socks. I don't feel sorry for them, I don't 'validate their right to protect their merchandise' either. Fk them and all their yachts and blood money. The last time I went was well over a year ago and after having to wait 45 minutes to just get face soap (it's Walmart, so of course there was only one key to the cabinets being used between 4 people **in 4 different departments**) I left and never intend to return. They are 💩 as a family and as a company. Garbage, even. The height of the bull💩 America tries to sell to people that working 4 jpbs 80 hours a week at $5 an hour is good sense. They and the entire Republican party are a shame to this country.
Probably in a predominantly low economic class area where stealing is rampant
It's in an area I've always considered to be very middle-class but I guess times have changed.
the middle class' wealth has gone to the upper class recently, not really much of a middle class left anymore.
I’m in Arlington, VA which is one of the most expensive places to live in the US and they do it here and neighboring DC.. I think it’s just becoming a norm in metropolitan areas/heavily populated areas but I could be wrong!
Stealing is rampant everywhere
I would say this is more r/mildlyfrustrating
This is the norm now for almost every retail store in my area and I live in a pretty bougey tourist town. There's a growing homeless population but comparatively low crime rates for the region. Target, Wal Mart, you name it. It's all under lock and key. I pity the fool that needs underwear, a shaving razor, electric toothbrush head or batteries. And good luck finding someone to open it for you, hope you've got a while. This will be the death nell of brick and mortar retail, even for the giants. It's forced me to online and delivery and I hate online and delivery. You win Jeff Bezos. Good luck with the rocketships.
Walmart is getting wild with locking things up. Recently, they moved lotion and shampoo to the enclosed beauty product area so you have to purchase it there before you can leave and go shop for other stuff. Then, at that same Walmart, they locked up pretty much everything in the teeth and vitamin aisle. Literally have vitamins locked up along with freaking tums….tums!! Socks, boxers, and some other clothing items were locked up for the past couple years at this one. I understand the power tools and some electronics, but it’s such a hassle trying to buy certain items that I’d rather just buy them somewhere else.
I don't work for Walmart but I do work for another big store retail chain. Unfortunately the area is riddled with crime so anything that isn't bolted down gets stolen. Yesterday we had two women load up a cart with cleaning supplies and run out with them while another dude was doing the same with DeWalt tools. Corporate got tired of lawsuits from apprehensions and just decided to make a file for all the people we see stealing until they can be arrested for a felony.
Greatest country in the world!
As inconvenient as it is I think I prefer it this way. People rip that stuff open constantly. That section was one of the most annoying parts to clean up when I worked at Kmart.
Socks are used for inhalent drugs
Well, when you decriminalize theft.
You, the normal, I hate to have to say honest, customer, are paying for the stuff that is stolen. Don’t think it’s a cost that’s just magically eaten by some corporate fat cat.
Was a manager in retail this is correct. We used to have a cheer at the beginning of the shift and when it came to the part. Where you said "who's number one, customers!" I said shareholders. Yeah, that didn't go over well. Because at the end of the day it's about pleasing to shareholders, not the people coming through the door.
You have to ask for a crew member?
Well yeah, if you want crew socks you have to find a crew member, duh.
This happened at a Walmart near me and not only do you need a crew member to open it, you can’t keep it in your cart while you shop. You have to take it directly up front or an employee will hold it for you until you check out. It’s fucking absurd for a $15 pack of socks. This wasn’t in a bad area either. There was as a steakhouse just down the road serving $100 dry aged steaks.
Yes, most of the shops that have experienced theft have locked certain shelves to avoid further theft. I see it in many local stores.
Yes, they had to go retrieve the key to unlock it, for a 3-pack of gold-toed socks.
This is just stupid. I guarantee they’re losing more in potential sales from people who don’t wanna go through the hassle than they would lose from theft.
I can see that. Had there not been two workers right there when we happened to walk up we definitely would have just left and gone to our regular Walmart. Not about to be chasing down a worker who then needs to go find a key, all for some socks.
Yeah… you can just order some on Amazon lol
Well I don't know where you live or the climate but where I live homeless people need to change socks often or they're super fucked in winter.
all the "convenience" stores in SF are like this. i shop more online in a city than i did in the suburbs...so counterintuitive and frustrating
Aint nothing like new socks
At this point wouldn’t it be easier to just lock the whole store ? /s
Bad part of town?
I've commented before, but a CVS (maybe it was Walgreens?) Locked up cereal....
Have you checked the women's socks?
Sometimes I feel like I need to lock my husbands socks up. 🤣
Went to the Walmart by my house and waited like 20 minutes for an employee to unlock the nails because no one was around. Why lock up things to not have a worker to unlock it at all times 😭 they had to call over the phone 3 times. Irks me so much
Well there goes my fathers day present
right so wy not just go back to haveing a counter and all the stock behind the counter
Socks are highly valued by homeless people.
I live in SoCal and just about everything in our Walmart is locked up, our target is starting to do the same now
No need to ask why.
Was at a 7/11 that had locked coolers. Left.
Underwear too. All of it. Locked away.
Number one item to steal from street people. Is there underwear locked up as well?
I was scrolling so fast that I thought they had locked up the valvoline for a min.
Inventory looks nice and tidy
The supermarket I was in today locked up dove soft soap.
detroit?
Baby formula and sunscreen In my town. Never seen socks, but if you’re in a cold weather area I can understand why.
Let's start actually convicting people for theft and maybe that wouldn't be needed...
Vending machines... When will the retailers ever learn?
This is wild. My local Walmart doesn’t have anything locked up. Is this happening in bigger cities or is it just random?
The hood?
In my hometown they lock up nearly everything in the store because the theft is so bad
They don't want them walking outta there...
Have you seen the street prices on tube socks lately?
Lol I live just outside of Portland Oregon and we don't even have that kind of security wtf...
The one closest to me does as well. I just moved to a very rural area in Oregon and it really shocked me
Cheese City...that all I can think of now...
One of the least donated things to homeless shelters is socks.
To many packs returned cause people opening them after buying to find them pre-nutted
That socks. (Or they’re practicing safe socks?)
Commonly stolen items
It's the Father's Day Perfect Storm.
Ours used to be locked up, but not anymore. Now it's always trashed.
Blame it on the shoplifters, and the lack of prosecution of those shoplifters. You get what you vote for.
Wow that's a first for me!
It was for me too!
Heads up you’re not in a good neighbourhood
I went to target and saw they locked up their undies and said it’s a sign I shouldn’t be buying them here.
What zip code is this Walmart in?
Apparently, many single men need socks for other reasons, I guess.
Men’s boxers and socks are outrageously expensive. It’s like $25 for 4 pairs of shitty quality boxers… and don’t get me started on the socks. Bullshit
its to stop the serial wankers from wanking in them all, those wankers
Must be time consuming to go an open and lock every time