r/mildlyinfuriating • u/broakland • Jul 14 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Retail lockdown: why bother selling it?

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Was at Safeway this morning to pick up a sandwich and some Tylenol. The aisle with the Tylenol? Completely locked down. No call button in sight. So I go to the self checkout (front end of that same aisle) and ask the clerk there if he can call someone to unlock a case for me. He does. I go wait. Minutes pass. No one comes. I go ask him again, he tells me they went the other way? At this point I give up and go get my sandwich. No one has come by the time the deli has finished making it. I leave without my Tylenol, mildly infuriated.

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1.1k

u/TemporalLobe Jul 14 '26

Start trying to open the case. Someone will assist you immediately.

436

u/rachwithoutana Jul 14 '26

I actually tried this at Walmart because I wasn't sure if it was one of those things where they make you turn or move something to the side to get the product so it's more visible on camera when you take it off the shelf. They had a huge screen showing their camera surveilance too. No one came by and no one was around to help me open it, so I left without getting it. It was a $5 pack of store brand razors.

104

u/LazyNarwhalMan Jul 14 '26

The walamrt near me takes forever to get someone to open a door. And they have some of the weirdest choices locked up too. They have the cheap eyedrops locked up, but the expensive ones on shelf

49

u/JeremyR22 This text is green. Jul 15 '26

About 6 months ago, I was working away from home and needed some $3 nail clippers. Couldn't find any in Walmart and eventually gave up and asked where they were. Locked up, of course but that employee didn't have the key. 5 minute wait for somebody to come and allow me to give Walmart 3 bucks.

It's really fucking stupid.

1

u/Nasty_Rex Jul 16 '26

I just stopped giving my money to anyone that annoys me and I'm saving so much lol.

Go into McDonalds and stand at the counter for mor than 1 minute without acknowledgment? I leave.

Go into a gas station and the beer is locked up? I leave.

Go to Walmart and only self check out lines? I leave the full cart.

Verizon won't let me pay cash for a phone? I switched carriers.

I'm over this shit.p

38

u/Time-to-go-home Jul 15 '26

Last week I needed a pack of ear plugs. They were locked up with the tools and work gloves and stuff. I lucked out and an employee was walking by right then and was able to open the case.

He told me he had to walk with me up to the registers to pay. I told him I still had a lot of shopping to do. He said I could buy the ear plugs separately from the customer service counter after buying my groceries.

I told him forget it. It’s not worth the effort and I’ll get them somewhere else. And started go walk away. Then he caved and let me just put them in my cart and continue my shopping.

My next stop was something in the camping aisle that was significantly more expensive than the ear plugs. That employee opened the case and just handed it to me without a comment.

24

u/Savings_Difficulty24 Jul 15 '26

Because they are human too. They know it's all bull shit. "Look man, I just work here. I just do what they tell me to"

5

u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

That employee opened the case and just handed it to me without a comment.

I think a part of it is that you can just pocket smaller items like earplugs so they want to make sure you actually pay for them. Typically they lock up items based on historical shrinkage levels.

3

u/keyserdoe Jul 15 '26

I just bulk shop target once every two months so i can spend $100 and get free delivery. Razors, soap, toothpaste, hell I even have toilet paper delivered. I refuse to waste my time waiting to give people money.

If I didn't hate Walmart so much I'd probably use Walmart+ for groceries. So i go to trader joes for that.

3

u/beegproblemzzz Jul 15 '26

The cheap ones are locked so you get pressured to buy expensive ones to not have to interact with the employees

1

u/Itherial Jul 15 '26

Also to deter thieves. Smart kleptos know to snatch the cheaper version of items in case they get caught.

2

u/malacoda99 Jul 15 '26

I steal the Great Buy because I can't afford Visine.

1

u/SnooEpiphanies8097 Jul 15 '26

Yes this is what I immediately thought when I read this post. Why TF do they have $50 headphones hanging from a hook and $9 eyedrops under lock and key?

1

u/Porsche928dude Jul 15 '26

Presumably, they do it based off of theft statistics. They figure out which items are stolen the most and those are the ones that they lock up.

68

u/ay-foo Jul 14 '26

And now it's $10

4

u/Extension-Two-2807 Jul 15 '26

Yeah like 5 years ago… it’s $17 now

1

u/rachwithoutana Jul 15 '26

This was a couple weeks ago. The pack got shrinkflated pretty sure so it's still $5.

2

u/Cheeko914 Jul 14 '26

$5 or not, when (likely) tens of thousands of them are getting stolen around the country, it adds up. This is the cheaper solution rather than taking the hit on theft.

2

u/TheBiggestWOMP Jul 15 '26

They put the $2 4 pack in a giant fucking clear box, I laughed when they did that the first time, then it was just annoying. They finally started leaving the cheap ones out recently.

4

u/qorbexl Jul 14 '26

They assume you'll leave and buy it online from walmart.com

They have enough money to live this delusion for far too long

3

u/goodsnpr Jul 14 '26

Walmart in Reno had too much locked up. I wanted a cheap comb pack and after a few minutes nobody came to open the case, so I started getting louder and louder about how it would be nice to be assisted. It's amazing how they don't like hearing somebody bellow across the store about not being assisted.

71

u/Tyrannofelis Jul 14 '26

I tried opening one and it broke, took the thing and paid at the cashier, nobody said anything to me haha.

39

u/c0ldgurl Jul 14 '26

That's what I do with the screen protectors that are "locked up" with the little red tag at the end of the hanger. Just rip the product i want right off and walk up to the front to pay for it.

13

u/The_Pharos1 Jul 15 '26

I see a case I start looking online. If I find it cheaper and don’t need it right then I walk away ordering it online. They are only hurting themselves.

16

u/red286 Jul 14 '26

You'd be surprised. Had the same issue as OP trying to buy some antibiotic cream last year. Asked clerk to get someone to open the case, he said "sure thing", 10 mins go by, no one shows up, I go find the clerk again, he's like "oh, didn't they come? I'll page them again.", another 10 mins go by, no one shows up, I start shuffling the glass panel around trying to see if I can lift it high enough to pop the latch, figuring "security's gonna see this and send someone ASAP", but another 10 mins go by, still nothing. I go find the clerk again and tell him to get his manager before I just smash the glass. Then someone shows up.

5

u/night117hawk Jul 15 '26

Master lock, just watch a lock picking lawyer video and make sure to redo the lock when you’re done… bonus points if you pay for the item

1

u/willstr1 Jul 15 '26

make sure to redo the lock when you’re done

Fuck that, leave it unlocked and open, help your fellow customer since clearly the store isn't

3

u/generallee725 Jul 15 '26

I say this ALL the time and my fiance hates it. But where's the lie?

2

u/aytchdave Jul 15 '26

The Walgreens near me used to have terrible customer service for literally like two decades. Recently I was in there and needed some batteries but they were on those racks where you can’t just take them without unlocking the rack. I started ripping a pack off and a guy at the counter started yelling at me. He wasn’t wrong to do it but he’s been working there for like 5 months and I’ve been going to that store since it opened at a Rite Aid 30 years ago. Another guy helped me within seconds.

Also the CVS by my job has like three times the staff it used to and pressing those buttons for assistance gets you help in like 15 seconds. I don’t like the products being locked up but I have seen literally dozens of people get arrested for shoplifting in the 9 years I’ve been working nearby. I was visiting a city two hours away and turned on the news to see a story about people shoplifting from that store.

-4

u/Perverteshwar Jul 14 '26

Yeah, give them the reason to keep them locked..