A Walmart customer is threatening to start shopping elsewhere after waiting for an employee to unlock merchandise.
The frustrated customer posted on X, formerly Twitter, about their bad experience at Walmart.
“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.”
Another shopper replied, noting Target also has self-checkout and receipt checks, but the poster didn’t mind Target’s policy.
“Target in Bloomington has self-checkout but they don’t make you feel like a criminal,” the poster replied.
“So much stupid stuff is locked up now at Walmart.”
Another shopper commented that their store locks 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].”
“You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff people steal, and how they steal it.”
Locking up items is one way Walmart has been battling retail theft in recent years.
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 to close.
In 2023, retailers lost an estimated $121.6 billion to retail theft, according to a shoplifting survey by Capital One.
By 2026, that number is expected to rise to $150 billion.
One store in Dunwoody, Georgia, 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 McMillon acknowledged the rising theft during an interview in 2022.
"Theft is an issue. It is higher than what it has historically been," McMillon said.
"If that's not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close."