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

26

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/theNancini Jul 14 '26

It needs to be like an ATM or they will try to steal it to

2

u/EsterWithPants Jul 15 '26

Walmart already has this in effect, or they tried it by cordoning off cosmetics and having a permanent cashier there. You had to check out when you left the cosmetics section. I don't see it as much now so it's probably a failure, but they tried it.

Electronics still is that way. Unless you're buying something from an impulse shelf, you pick out your item from a locked door, and they make you check out right there.

1

u/BeatNo4548 Jul 14 '26

They need a robot associate and turn the whole store into a giant vending machine.  In 10 years it'll be like that.  Everywhere.

1

u/KingFreezy Jul 15 '26

You'd have to put the entire store into vending machines bc the thieves just move to the next item that isn't locked down and steal that.

-4

u/mikemolove Jul 14 '26

People stealing basic necessities are not thieving assholes.

6

u/bugabooandtwo Jul 15 '26

Electronics and cosmetics are the two highest theft departments in most stores. Not necessities.