Walmart shopper baffled over extreme security measure for $1 item worker ‘wouldn’t let them touch until they bought it’

A SHOPPER was shocked after an employee wouldn’t hand them a $1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide. 

The Walmart shopper needed to get an employee to unlock a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from behind the security glass.

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Instead of giving the customer the bottle, the employee brought it behind the cash register, making the customer pay for it before they were done shopping. 

“Had to go to Walmart…$1 hydrogen peroxide is locked up,” the customer posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“After I got it I assumed they would hand it to me like a normal Walmart but no they had to walk it to the cashier.”

“I had to pay for it right then before I was even done shopping…Wow.”

Other shoppers responded to the customer’s posts with similar experiences at the retail giant.

“Our Walmart has set shelving up as a fence per se, with a cashier at the only in/out of the cosmetics and you have to pay for it all there before you’re allowed out,” one Walmart shopper replied.

“If you have cash they walk you up to the front, even if it’s a $3 lip balm.”

Retail stores such as Target and Walmart have been ramping up security measures due to rising retail theft across the country. 

In 2023, stores reported losing over $121 billion to retail theft, a study by Capital One shopping found. 

By 2026, that number is expected to rise to $150 billion. 

Products as small as toothbrushes and toothpaste have been seen locked up at stores nationwide. 

Customers have expressed their frustration on social media about the time it takes for employees to come to unlock the products. 

“Honestly I think it’s a pretty fun new game to go to Walmart and see another thing locked behind glass that I’m now just gonna buy from Amazon,” one Walmart shopper posted on X.

“Gotta be losing way more money from making the experience miserable than whatever fake numbers from shoplifting.” 

A spokesperson from CVS told the LA Times that locking up items was a “last resort.” 

In addition to locking products up, stores are now removing self-checkout machines, checking receipts as customers leave, and restricting minors from shopping alone in certain stores.

Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon said in a 2022 interview with CNBC that shoplifting could increase not just security policies at stores but also store prices. 

“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it historically has been,” McMillon said.

“We’ve got safety measures, security measures that we’ve put in place by store location…if [shoplifting] isn’t corrected over time, prices will be higher and/or stores will close.”

McMillon was right, last year 24 stores closed due to underperformance and theft. 

https://www.the-sun.com/news/11798988/walmart-locking-items-anti-theft/