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Walmart shopper will be ‘driving 45 miles to Target’ after forced wait to unlock items – it’s worse than receipt checks
Walmarts across the country have shut due to shoplifting
A WALMART customer is threatening to start shopping at the store after having to wait for an employee to unlock merchandise.
The outraged customer posted on X, formerly Twitter, raging about their horrible experience shopping at the retail chain.
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“Worse than being asked to show a receipt at @walmart after doing their job for them: waiting for someone to come unlock the merchandise we want to buy,” the customer posted.
“This is some bulls**t! I’ll have to start driving 45 miles to @target for my purchases.”
One shopper replied, letting the poster know that the nearby Target also has self-checkout machines and does receipt checks, but the poster doesn’t seem to mind that policy at Target.
“Target in Bloomington has self-checkout but they don’t make you feel like a criminal,” the poster replied.
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“So much stupid stuff is locked up now at Walmart.”
Another shopper replied to the post, saying their store locked up toothpaste.
“Do people really make drugs out of toothpaste,” the X user wrote.
“Several years ago my son was Asset Protection (security) at [Walmart].”
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“You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff people steal, and how they steal it.”
Locking up items is just one way Walmart has been battling retail theft the past few years.
‘Literally no need,’ says Walmart shopper as checkout feature makes receipt checks useless – workers are ‘on power trip’
Last year, Walmart closed 24 stores due to theft, according to The Street.
In a press release after several Chicago area Walmarts shut down, the company explained, "These stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the city [of Chicago]”
“It was hoped that these investments would help improve our stores’ performance. Unfortunately, these efforts have not materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing."
Retail theft costs stores millions of dollars, forcing many stores to close.
In 2023, retailers lost an estimated $121.6 billion to retail theft, according to a shoplifting survey conducted by Capital One.
By 2026, that number is expected to rise to $150 billion.
One store in Dunwoody, Georgia, a town 40 miles outside of Savannah, recently shut due to theft.
Police responded to over 600 calls to that shopping center in 2023, ABC affiliate WBS-TV 2 reported.
“We had a group of people who would just walk in and grab large flat screens and walk out,” said Dunwoody Police sergeant Cheek.
Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillion acknowledged the rising theft during an interview in 2022.
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"Theft is an issue. It is higher than what it has historically been," McMillion said.
"If that's not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close."
Anti-theft measures rolled out by retailers
Retailers across the US and Canada have rolled out strategies designed to combat theft. The U.S. Sun has compiled a list of measures that have been implemented at stores.
- Locking items in cabinets.
- Security pegs.
- Security cameras.
- Signs warning about the impact of theft.
- Receipt scanners.
- Receipt checks.
- Carts with locking technology