Lock everything up then understaff your stores so there’s no one to ask to unlock an item even if you were so inclined to go to the trouble. Great success.
I stopped going to Walmart for that reason.
I remember as a kid in Mexico, you had to go make a line at the store. When you finally got to the desk, you would ask for what you wanted to buy. Lol, needles to say that’s exactly how it still works in small local stores. Its a little like buying cigarettes at the gas station, but for everything minus the ID.
That’s not good for business, but hey, it’s been decades of my life and they’re still working like that. Maybe there’s something to it? I hate it though. I would never shop there unless it was the last place on earth.
Well in Walgreens: if you see someone shoplifting…
ask how they can help you open up the thing locked up because I pushed that god damn button and it’s been 15 minutes and I haven’t seen a god damn employee yet Jesus Christ I came here for a quick trip like wtf I could have ordered this online you fucking morons
“But it does impact how sales work through the store because when you lock things up,” he added, “for example, you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”
wow, check out the brains on this guy
Lol. I’m guessing they earned this discovery after an agile data driven pivot away from keeping the front doors of the store locked all day…
Remember: You get a business degree because you’re not talented enough for the arts and not smart enough for engineering or medicine.
Bonus points for first bringing all your points of sale down to skeleton crews first.
Personally it’s the pricetage that always stopped me from shopping there. Walgreens is consistently the most expensive option for pretty much their entire inventory compared to the 6 chains within half a mile that sell the exact same shit.
Exactly. Their ONLY virtue is convenience. Either you’re there for a prescription and buy something because you’re already there, or you’re just looking to do a quick stop. They’re basically a glorified convenience store that happens to have a pharmacy attached. Their prices are high, but they do have convenience on their side. You don’t have to walk across half a mile of parking before getting to the front door. You don’t have to walk into a giant warehouse store that corrals you into shopping in a giant counterclockwise loop. Walgreens does have the convenience option over shopping at a big grocery store.
And this is what is so bone-headed about these locking cases. Again, their ONLY advantage is convenience. If they’re going to slow things down by putting a bunch of barriers between me and the things I want, I might as well just spend the same amount of time, go to the full-sized grocery store, and save some money.
If it’s locked up, I won’t buy it. I don’t have time for that nonsense and large companies only understand money (or a lack of) before they will make a change.
I don’t buy locked up stuff because I don’t want to talk to people.
we-are-not-the-same.jpg
Yeah turns out people don’t like:
- Being treated like criminals
- Having their time wasted
Walgreens’ inventory shrinkage is not my problem. Locking everything up rather than paying loss prevention staff is just going to piss everyone off.
Personally I LOVE having my time wasted!
Only if it’s in fun and/or interesting ways, though, not waiting for some underpaid and overworked employee getting a key for the toilet paper safe or whatever.
See, that right there is capitalist talk.
Time enjoyed is not time wasted unless you’re Ebenezer Scrooge.
Being treated like criminals
I’ve been followed around a store. Guess what store I’ve never bought from and won’t be back to.
Circuit City
i’m starting to worry we’ll never find out which store it is. the suspense is killing me
Well you didn’t tell us which store so we don’t know
They told you to guess!
Radio Shack?
Everyone who ever entered a Radio Shack was followed around the store.
And enough people didn’t come back that they went out of business.
Man, I miss radio shack when they actually had electronic components.
Then I’m not wrong.
At self-checkout in a lot of stores employees stand behind me because I move fast. Apparently that means I’m stealing rather than I move faster than a snail when there’s a huge line of people waiting.
God the ones here don’t let you. The scales have to match so you can only pick up one item at a time, scan it, put it in the bag, and wait for the scales to read.
Oh my god I hated those scale checkouts in the US. “Please remove bag from area” etc.
I stopped going to Kroger grocery stores mostly over price but honestly even if they lowered prices I wouldn’t go back specifically because of this feature. It’s more pleasant to shop at Walmart or Safeway as they don’t use this kind of system.
I don’t have any krogers just their rebrands. I only shop the ads (when it’s actually a good deal) and do drive through pick up.
Self-checkout is the symptom. The disease is wandering around a store thst is ever changing and lack any industry standards.
Having them pick the order is like the olden days when stores were merely a counter with a clerk who would go in back and grab the items on your list.
Please let us go back to that.
Actually we had a 7-11 type store that took over a fast food place. They kept the drive-through and used that after like 6pm, taking a list and gathering everything while you were at the window. So awesome.
If a store has an intentionally terrible interface like this, or displays a video feed of you using it, I’m not touching self checkout. Going through a cashier’s line is fine, and walking away from my cart and never coming back is fine if that’s not an option.
Hot Topic?
Red Door?
Jimboys Tacos
Toys R Us?
Maybe if there were like 2 employees in the store, people would feel less comfortable stealing shit.
The Joann fabric near us has these speakers that will say something like “ask an associate if you need anything” when you walk near them. They put them near the expensive shit.
Clearly, it’s an attempt to alert staff when someone is walking near the expensive stuff, but like…the store has 2 employees and when they’re not checking people out, they’re trying desperately to keep up with the boxes of unloaded freight clogging up the aisles.
Nobody is watching you steal stuff.
It’s really simple: either you accept shrink, or you hire enough people with keys to handle your anti-theft shit.
I don’t go to target anymore, CVS, or Walgreens if it’s at all avoidable because it’s going to take an hour to get in, buy a few things, and leave.
They want to lock shit up, but then only have one employee covering the whole damn store that can unlock shit, meaning if you want some laundry detergent, it’s going to take you half an hour.
Of course, the local grocery stores, Walmart, Amazon, and various other retailers don’t lock shit up, so yeah, I just go there and don’t have to deal with stupid bullshit pushed by morons who haven’t gone shopping in one of the stores they run.
Yeah I really have been turned completely off to Target. I have one really close and the prices alone, but also the experience, are absolutely horrible. Going into an ikea once kinda opens your eyes. You could have a better thing for 1/3 the cost. Also, the fucking internet exists. So why buy anything at a “big box” store.
These companies don’t realize what century they’re living in. The advantage of a physical store is that you can get what you want NOW. Not tomorrow. Not two days from now. Not whenever Amazon finally gets around to delivering it to you. You can go to a store and get what you need NOW.
That is the entire reason for these stores to exist. Theirs is a market of convenience. But they can’t seem to realize that.
Just wait, I’m sure soon a wild techbro will appear with a great solution to this problem that will require you to install an app and surrender all your data and biometrics in order to open those cases yourself to get a damn toothbrush or some shaving cream…
Dun dun dun dun Dana da Suddenly a wild techbro appears! Your attack was super effective!
AI surveillance cameras in 3…2,…1…
If this happens I’m now personally blaming you.
Just send your ID in and they’ll authorize Unlokr to let you buy your dish soap in peace.
Same here, but that means I buy everything from Amazon . There’s not an ethical choice
Walmarts definitely also lock stuff up.
Its regional. The Walgreen’s by me doesnt lock stuff up, nor the walmarts, but if I go about 10 miles south then they do.
Well yeah, the stuff that they lock up is also regional because they generally base it on what’s been getting stolen.
The only thing worse than shaming your customer is inconveniencing them.
Walgreens is why I joined Dollar shave club years ago. Nothing like needing to flag down an employee to fetch another employee who can unlock the razorblades.
Razor blades in Costco are not locked up, and one package easily lasts a year
In the Bay Area, I saw stores with gates and turnstiles which are presumably intended to make running out of the store harder, especially for someone holding a lot of stuff. I wonder if they work any better.
One store I went to there even had a guy letting people in one by one after looking them over, like a bouncer.
Edit: This sort of thing frustrates me.
these claims were unfounded, with a mere 23 shoplifting incidents occurring between 2018 and 2021, according to police records
That’s less than one shoplifter a month, which is obviously not an accurate count.
The police barely even respond to shootings. Are they going to do anything if you call them and report someone stealing a box of shaving supplies? Why bother even trying to report that?
If bet thats 23 incidents reported to police. There are absolutely people out there that make a living stealing from box stores. Kroger specifically won’t do much besides glare at you and ask if you’d kindly not steal that.
Walgreens is God awful, 25 min In line for a prescription yesterday and everything is locked up.
Walgreens decided that underpaying and understaffing the pharmacy is their new secret to profitability.
It’s one of the faster enshitifications I’ve seen. Last time I had a prescription filled at Walgreens, I had plenty of time in line to realize that my stupid shopping choice could also actually get me killed this time.
Putting the actual issue aside for a moment, the lock pictured is pretty stupid. It would be so easy to simply unscrew the screws.
Uh, where y’all live that this is a thing? I’ll stay out the major cities, thanks.
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God damn they even stole the damn comment. Can’t have nothing
Shoulda locked it up
Yeah, but then you’d have to wait like 30 minutes for a mod with the key to unlock it.
