Around my way?
Target , Walreens , Walmart and other stores ARE increasingly putting consumer goods behind locked glass display ‘s….
Why?
Empolyee’s shrug and say people are stealing more and more ….
I wonder if that has anything to do with HIGHER CONSUMER PRICES and the ‘good’ economy that ole’ Jerome in the Fed is handling with HIGER interest rates that bumping even more stuff to be more expensive?
Hmmmmm?
No wonder on-line shopping increases….
But alarm bells have been sounding for some time now. During a Nov. 2021 Senate hearing, Ben Dugan, director of organized retail crime and corporate investigations at CVS Health, revealed that the company loses more than $200 million each year due to ORC, adding that it has seen a 300 percent increase in theft from its stores since the start of the pandemic.
And in January of this year, Walgreens CFO James Kehoe said that the company’s shrink rate was 40 to 50 percent higher last year than it was in 2020.
As a result, the three retailers have turned to locking up more and more of their products over the last year.
Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer told The Wall Street Journal that the company is locking up more products and is now focusing on securing entire product categories instead of just certain high-price items. Forbes reported that Walmart started testing new types of locked cases this year that can only be opened by employees using a smartphone. And at CVS stores, viral videos have revealed everything from shampoo and conditioner to soda bottles being kept behind locked cases….
…
It might not be good for the retailers either. Joe Budano, the CEO of Indyme, a San Diego-based company whose security devices are used by Walgreens and other big chains, told Forbes that locked-up products in stores usually results in a 15 to 25 percent reduction in sales. “It’s a solution of last resort,” Budano added in a separate interview with Slate….
The problem with locked cases is that they combine with a retail staffing shortage, so when a consumer wants a locked-in item, an unoccupied sales-clerk with a key may be nearly impossible to find in any reasonable period of time (would you wait 10-15 minutes just to buy a watch or an ink cartridge?)
Yup….
It IS discouraging and kinda makes ya feel lower class if you know what I mean?
The opposite?
People turning making ‘free’ purchases because the prices have made their buying power less?