A WALMART shopper was furious online after claiming he waited 30 minutes just for an employee to unlock a product for him.
The shopper shared a photo of a Walmart aisle with products locked behind a plexiglass cage.
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The client, Kirsten Strickler in X (@Kirsten65244482) tagged the store and Enfamil, an infant formula brand in his post.
“Seriously, if you guys are going to start this nonsense, I’m not buying from you,” the post said.
“No one has 30 minutes to wait for an associate to unlock the cage every time I need to buy formula. Lots of other options out there!”
Walmart’s official customer service account, Walmart Help, responded to the post: “Thanks for sharing this with us, Kirsten. Could you DM us with more information so we can look into this for you?”
‘IT IS STUPID’
Kirsten isn’t the only Walmart shopper fed up with anti-theft policies.
Another customer recently shared on social media that they had to postpone their shopping experience after waiting for an employee.
“I went shopping with my dad today. He said he needed to buy underwear,” the shopper began in a tone X post.
“Walmart locked them out. I had to wait 10 minutes for someone to pick them up,” they continued.
“So they wouldn’t let us put them in the cart, they escorted my dad to a cashier and made him pay for them right then and there.”
The customer also included a graphic that said “stupid” in his post.
RETAIL THEFT
Locking products behind plexiglass is a common anti-theft measure that major retailers are implementing.
Some retailers have also employed receipt checkers and anti-theft devices to crack down on thieves.
The pandemic has led to a rise in robberies, with major cities like New York seeing an increase in shoplifting incidents by 68.1% since 2019, according to the Manhattan Institute.
Last year’s report from the National Retail Federation also cited “unprecedented levels of theft” in 2023.
The study found that retailers are combating “rampant crime in their stores” after total losses of $112.1 billion in 2022.
KEY INSIGHTS: Locked Items
In November 2023, WSL Strategic Retail interviewed shoppers about using theft-proof lockers for its How America Shops report.
Here are the key findings:
- 70% of shoppers have faced blocked merchandise when they were hoping to purchase an item.
- 78% of these shoppers said they received help from an employee and waited to purchase a product, although this number dropped for customers under 26.
- 12% of buyers said they refused to buy the product and many turned to the Internet or another store.
- Meanwhile, 10% said they had purchased a similar product that was available in the same store. Again, among Gen Z customers there was a difference, with 19% of them saying they did this.
Why 22% of customers didn’t wait for service?
- Most wanted to avoid additional complications.
- Many were unable to find a store employee and those who did said the employee had difficulty opening the locker.
- A third were angry that products were locked away
- A quarter said they did not have time to wait for assistance.
Source: WSL Strategic Retail
Retailers have had to adjust their store policies to adapt to concerns about shoplifting since the pandemic.
Other major retailers, such as Target and CVS, have also cracked down on store theft with anti-theft measures.
One CVS shopper even called the store an “introvert’s nightmare” after asking an employee to unlock his products.
“All drinks are locked – from water to alcohol, at CVS,” they explained in a post on social media.
The US Sun has reached out to Walmart for comment.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
