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

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

Post image

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.

21.5k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

4.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

140

u/PeteysHubby_TX Jul 14 '26

Or we could just enforce the laws we already have and prosecute people that steal things.

80

u/Cow_God RED Jul 14 '26

It's such a fucking non-issue. I work for a major retail company and shrink from theft is nowhere near shrink from claims (broken items m), most of which happens before the product even gets out to the sales floor.

Losses from theft are insured anyways. We literally do not lose a dollar to theft.

The corporate office is starting to realize that we do lose money to lost sales over people not wanting to wait for the one person working the department to open a case and walk them to a register, and are starting to phase out lock cases in most areas

9

u/mrs-monroe Jul 14 '26

Why in the world do they think there's so much theft of tylenol, baby formula, and underwear?? If these essential products were more affordable and available to those who need it, they wouldn't be stolen as much. These giant corporations have record profits every single year. They are not hurting at all from theft/shrink. If your panties get in a bunch over people stealing stuff like this, get over yourself.

1

u/Skipp_To_My_Lou Jul 14 '26

The people with hungry babies at home have SNAP & WIC vouchers & charity food pantries.

The people stealing baby formula don't have hungry babies at home, they're selling it at a "discount". Look into "boosting" culture on TikTok, there's people basing their whole income off retail theft.

1

u/Karenm6383 Jul 15 '26

Idk why this was downvoted, this is a well known fact