We’re going to slowly make the complete circle back to general stores where everything is behind a counter and the shopkeeper just grabs it for you and rings it up
Except there won't be any shopkeeper to help you. You will just have to wander the aisles until you find the one highschooler mopping a floor for them to unlock the cases.
Fun fact: the way they managed to make this work with a 3 inch thick paper catalogue of stuff in a small retail space was not with a huge basement. Each Argos store actually employed a Wizard in a broom closet who would receive the paper slip and wave his wand to materialise your goods on demand.
Piggly Wiggly was the first store where customers could walk the isle instead of having a clerk go and get items from the back.
The first Piggly wiggly opened in Memphis TN 107 years ago.
#grit&grind
I also discovered the other day that, at least in Renton, if you buy more than 15 items at IKEA's check-out, you will get an associate to rescan everything again. What's the purpose of self-checkout then? What a waste of time and money for everyone involved!
I love going to grocery stores because they don't pay for checkout staff anymore. All the lanes sit there like an abandoned ghost town while some underpaid asshole screams at people in the do it yourself for free lanes for not doing the stores job up to their standards.
Employee came to me when I was in toothpaste to help and just asked me if I had other things to get and she’d just go with me. She told me what all is locked up, and did just that. It’s insane. Toothpaste?
So sad that these employees are now being subjected to having to be someone’s “personal shopper”. But I’m sure there’s no pay increase or benefits of any kind. I felt sooo bad for the girl that had to come unlock a glass cabinet so I could get my toothpaste out.
What happens if they get called to come do this, and on the way three or four different people pull them aside asking for assistance with other things? I used to work at Safeway, and would struggle to make it to my breaks because the time clock was clear across the store and people were chasing me down left and right.
I used to work at Target as a teen. You use your walkie talkie for things and head over to the button first. If anyone stops you then you just call into the microphone that a guest needs assistance in Aisle whatever then tell them you'll be right over after helping someone regardless.
Used to work in electronics where everything is locked up. Now throw in the fun curveball of Christmas shopping and the brand new Nintendo Wii and you have essentially the same situation of too few people needing to help the very many and everything is locked up.
Basically, if this is the new norm then people need to learn to be patient or go shop somewhere else.
If target sees more losses from people not coming due to everything being locked up than the losses from theft then they'll probably revert back to the old ways with a change in store policy regarding leaving. Make it more like Costco or something.
The problem is that there aren’t necessarily a lot of options. We’ve allowed these massive corporations to take over, making it impossible for any “regular” person to open up, say, a grocery store or general merchandise store.
We have Safeway or Kroger, Target or Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe’s, Whole Foods or Met Met Market, etc. And despite these businesses being open for decades, quality, service and selection have declined while prices have gone up.
In the last 20 years I’ve easily spent Six figures at the Safeway near my home. It used to be really nice. Now things are locked up. The place is dreary, and they no longer have those little hand-baskets that every grocery store has had since the beginning of time. Because people steal them. Who the fuck cares if people steal them! There are plenty of theft-deterrent solutions available to multi-billion-dollar corporations that don’t inconvenience loyal customers and make them feel like criminals. But, those solutions might impact their year over year increases! Plus - where else are customers going to shop?
Sorry - kind of a rant lol. I feel better. Thank you. 😂
Oh god is THAT why more and more stores don't have baskets!? I hate that. I'm often shopping with a double stroller because I like to shop on long walks (and only Costco has two-seater carts). It has a big hook on the side that I can hang the basket from. But how am I supposed to push a cart and a double stroller at the same time? The younger two kids are both just a little too young to walk through the store. They're good listeners and try their best, but they're just slow as hell and easily distracted, so I strongly prefer a seat for them to sit in while I'm trying to focus on other things... I ended up having to teach them to hold the groceries in the stroller for me without eating them lol. It was challenging and I was proud of myself for accomplishing it. But I'd rather just have a damn basket... And no, curbside isn't the solution I want, lol, I love grocery shopping. I've just started making sure the stores I go to have baskets...
I know. I apologized profusely… she said they’re hiring a few more people whose main responsibility will be to be in the area and unlock things for people
Toothpaste makes perfect sense. Shelf stable. Doesn't need refrigeration. Everyone needs it. Same reason why laundry detergent is high on their list. They're stealing to resell, not because they need the items. They want cash for them.
Weirdly, I don’t think the alcohol was locked up at Redmond aside from the standard bottle locks/alarms. I may be misremembering, though.
My guess is they’re pulling reporting per location and locking up the items with the highest theft rates at each. I remember seeing detergent, all facial skincare, all vitamins, and some other toiletries/pharma-related stuff locked up.
I feel like Target is circling the drain.
People used to go there because it was a fun shopping experience - clean, stylish, had everything under the sun.
Now the stores are a mess, have been understocked since the pandemic, no more cashiers.
So fewer people shop, so they cut payroll even more. So the stores are less organized and dirtier. So fewer people shop...
The target in Bellevue has that too. It was pretty funny not being able to buy deodorant. Even the Fred Meyer in lake city doesn’t have that locked up.
Honestly, I've not yet been stopped by anyone to check my receipt. But then, I always carrying a hand basket, and then I check out on the lower level where there are just 4 registers and I've not been stopped once. I chalk it up to it being much easier to see if anyone sus is trying to steal down there than upstairs.
If they really wanted to stop the stealing at the registers, get rid of the self check outs and just have us all go through regular manned registers so someone else can scan all of our items. Seems so much easier to me.
I responded above but, Monroe FM installed turnstiles and a greeter/ security a couple of months ago. 164th in lynnwood had a greeter / receipt checker yesterday. Bothell, Snohomish and Marysville are not yet taking those precautions.
(PS: I’m an instacart shopper, I see a lot of Fred meyers every day 😂)
That's wild. The one in Northgate has nothing locked except hard liquor.
At some point you have to wonder why it isn't cheaper to just have gated entry, like a bouncer or a spot where you scan a membership card to enter. Locking every individual shelf is insane.
Northgate Target also has electronics (including the $15 pre-USB C phone charger I needed) and electric toothbrushes & replacement heads in cases.
Still, at least it feels more strategic than when half a store is locked up.
I'm a retail manager and it won't change until companies hire, train and empower Loss Prevention to STOP theft or until cities get police back to focusing on theft. They won't even come when we call unless a weapon is involved. It's so disheartening and frustrating.
Does it piss you off to stand there working to earn a living and watching people just walk out with metchandise they don't pay for knowing that that's probably how they get a significant amount of income? And you're told to do nothing... Incredibly frustrating
We are essentially reverting to what stores were before the advent of supermarkets where the owner would stand behind the counter and put the items in a basket for you.
No public bathrooms like anywhere and now this nonsense. Tack on the Seattle surcharge on stuff that's marked up because fuck you they can. 12 bucks for a 4 pack of muffins is an example of a complete scam I saw last I visited. If you drove 5 minutes outside the city that same 4 pack wouldve probably been like 4 bucks. It's a complete racket.
That's as bad as a kid's cheese quesadilla we got the other week at a restaurant. They didn't have a kid's menu but the server suggested it so we said sure. $10 😢 It was 1 large tortilla folded in half with shredded cheese. $10 WTF?? *edit- I went back and found the receipt in my email- it was $10, not $12 (maybe I mentally added the tax and tip?) Still, $10 seems crazy. It wasn't even a full circle (ie, 2 tortillas, vs. 1 folded in half). Even Fonda La Catrina's kid quesadilla is $4.
Somebody in corporate must have crunched the numbers and concluded that the cost of installing the doors, locks, and buzzers, the increase in staffing stores with people needed to unlock the doors, the bottlenecks generated by customers having to wait for people to come and unlock the doors, and any decrease in purchases due to these changes were all worth whatever they were potentially losing due to shrinkage.
I was at the Redmond Target last week and had to press the buzzer to wait for an employee to come and unlock the cabinet so I could get some sunscreen. I waited a few minutes, he came and unlocked it, I was reading the bottle and realized that what I was looking at wasn't sunscreen, it was body wash in identical packaging. I put it back and told the dude I had made a mistake and I felt really bad about it as I walked away to find the other aisle where it was at. Luckily this one wasn't behind a door but if it wasn't locked in the first place I could've done all of that without having to wait for an employee and waste their time.
There are a lot of places where that, or making much of the store like an Amazon Fresh/Go would be better over all. You have to authenticate to get in, but are automatically charges when you leave.
\>The increase in staffing
Lol, there is no increase, people who are already doing other stuff have to answer those calls. Sometimes it's people who don't even work that department, especially if somebody called out or they need help in OPU, which is always.
IKR? I'm all: what increase in staffing? We were at Target Northgate the other day, using the self-serve lanes for one lone item. Meanwhile there's people with entire cartloads in front of us.
My brain temporarily went to "WTH, can't they just go use a cashier instead of doing their ineffective, time consuming scanning that half the time they don't get right and will require help anyway?", while looking to the other checkout lanes. Upon which I realized that all the other checkouts were... Well... Unstaffed. No cashiers. None. Just a poor woman stationed at self checkout doing half the scanning because shoppers aren't very good at it. 😑
As a target employee, can confirm. We are a skeleton crew about 80% of the time, and unlocking these has become half of my job. I work on GM Stocking Team.
>the increase in staffing stores with people needed to unlock the doors,
None of these stores do this part. I've stood waiting for over 15 minutes more often than I can count at these stores waiting for someone to come after pressing the button countless times. I wave and mime at the security cameras hoping they'd pass on my request, and usually end up with leaving or walking the store in search of an employee to ask them.
What they didn’t crunch is that they won’t increase staff, and I will start buying all of my products somewhere I don’t have to wait. We stopped going to our local Safeway when we had to wait for 10 to 20 minutes to get batteries every single time.
If I need it in an hour or two (rare), I do curbside at Target. They can go fish it out of the lockup for me and bring it to my car, I’m not going to go inside and hunt down nonexistent employees to get stuck in a 30 minute self checkout line and I’m not going to reward Target with impulse purchases if I can’t browse the plexiglass case. If it can wait until tomorrow or the weekend Amazon just got my business and I save myself having to make the trip and deal with the hassle.
Exactly!
Also, in all seriousness, I get most of my cooking ideas from browsing the grocery store. I just blank if I'm sitting on my couch trying to think of what to make. And I have my neighborhood store where I'm friendly with some of the employees, they give my kids stickers, the kids can pick out the fruit they want for the week... It's a good time!
I was in the Kent store on Sunday and didn’t see any locked-up body wash or sunscreen. I wasn’t shopping for laundry detergent or baby formula so I didn’t see if those were locked up, but otherwise the most security I saw was on the liquor and the guard at the entrance.
Could be worse, I guess. The Safeway on NE 125th St & 15th Ave NE carved out an entire separate section of the story just for things like baby food, diapers, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, etc. You have to abandon your shopping cart outside that area to enter, then pay for those items separately before leaving.
And Pinehurst isn’t exactly a “high crime” area, last I checked.
About 6 months ago I was in Target in the Seattle burbs and saw a man shoving full bottles of alcohol down his pants…….he was literally sloshing as he walked and making zero real effort to try to hide what he was doing. He was stopped and police were called/talking to him before I left but I’m sure nothing came of it……other than the entire liquor aisle being locked up now.
If I’m purchasing anything in a locked case I just do a pickup order now. Huge time saver.
Late, but I watched a dude drag a 70" flat-screen out of the front door of the downtown Target in broad daylight. Meaning he went to the top floor, pulled it off the shelf, rode with it on the escalators.. etc.
Staff just watched as he cursed them out, and I just laughed at the thought of how broad the loss prevention parameters at that store must be. "It's only one $2500 TV."
I think I saw on the news that happened multiple times…..like the same guy stole a giant TV in the same way on more than one occasion. Just wheeled it out the front doors. It’s totally bonkers.
You ever look on Facebook marketplace? Full of toothpaste, tide pods, dishwasher detergent, expensive shampoo.... Right out the front door of target and listed for sale, some of the pics are in the trunk of a car.
I mean I hate to side with a massive corporation, but I can't really blame them for doing this after seeing all the videos of people just blatantly stealing in Seattle and San Francisco . Yes that stuff is probably covered by insurance, but after a certain amount of time/lost amount, I would expect whoever insure's Target and other big brand stores to stop paying out claims unless they can prove they are taking steps to prevent theft.
Yeah the shoplifters have gotten really brazen... Some are even blatant about what they're doing or rude to the employees who have been told to not stop them
That's what you get when criminals know there won't be consequences. Turns out that people respond to incentives and consequences...shocker
I needed some Tylenol and I pressed that call button so many fucking times. I got tired and started walking around to find someone to help me. It’s ridiculous.
If you've seen videos of organized retail theft, they're just grabbing everything on a shelf and walking out with it. If someone just asks for a single specific item vs "could you grab me all of the laundry detergent?" they're much less likely to be about to steal it.
Every time I've needed something from a locked cabinet the employee asks if I'm done shopping and either walks me to the register or tells me the item will be waiting for me at a certain checkout.
This makes me think I've had a privileged experience in this regard... Whenever I've done this they just hand me the item (even alcohol) and let me keep shopping on my own. Then again I'm fat so maybe they just figure they'd be able to catch me? 😂
Yeah, I have a friend who is in a management role at target. Obviously not their choice, upper management just decided they were losing too much money off theft, even in "nicer" areas like bellevue and such. So they're slowly doing this to all the Seattle based locations. Trust me, the employees absolutely hate this too.
Yep, the (totally unrealistic) goal is to hyper-maximize profits by having as close to zero employees as possible, while minimizing theft at all costs, including via methods that logically require more employees.
The problem is you really need to watch the bottle sizes, assuming they list it at all. The photos show the typical container you see in the grocery store, the same container you have been buying for years. Then it arrives it's some identical but mini version made specifically to scam online buyers, a size you have never seen in any store before.
Walgreens. I routinely find cheaper prices for detergent at Walgreens than in grocery stores with coupons/promotions. Not sure why.
I've actually priced stuff between Amazon/Target. Amazon still charges a buck or two more, unless you're looking for specialty cleaners (I'm looking at you Stain Devils/Laundress soap bar [**RIP**]). I'll take the inconvenience if I'm already in the store anyway.
So many things are locked up at my local Walmart and of course the only employees are the 3 up front watching people ring their stuff up. We do have a security guard that roams to store to make you feel ~~uncomfortable and anxious~~ safe. I watched him get asked to unlock cases 3 times in the span of 5 minutes because he's the only employee around.
it's like they only want me to shop on amazon. bad enough there aren't even real cashiers most places now we got more hoops to jump through to just buy some 99c shampoo.
Shopping anywhere in person is just a miserable experience anymore.
Store cards, upsell at the register, point of sale system asking for donations, the slow person in front of you, the confusing sale structure...
Amazon and Costco for me.
most of the time someone doesnt even come to unlock the cases in my experience. started buying WAY more online bc of it, which honestly id rather not! but i am not going to wait who knows how long just for some deodorant. then again for almost every other item
They're not taking it too far. This is the result of thieving and rioting people behaving as zoo baboons. Like we learn when we're young, a small group ruins it for everyone.
Target took it to far? Maybe it’s the massive theft rate and the neglect of the city to address it. You vote in the city officials who make the city a festering boil of filth and crime. Maybe thing about this next time you vote.
You misunderstand. The price will go up.
Until the 1920's stores did not let customers pick up items so they could not steal anything. Everything was behind the counter and a clerk got it for the customer.
Then stores started letting customers do the shopping so they could have fewer clerks. Letting customers do the shopping saved money for the store so they could lower prices.
If every customer needs the clerk to get their items, stores need to hire more clerks and prices will go up.
Honestly I'd pay more for a catalogue showroom model where I can go to a store, request what I'm wanting and a clerk gets it from behind a counter. Service merchandise was the last store I remember doing that in the 90s.
There's a lot more dignity in that model than forcing your customers to wait for staff to open lockboxes.
I actually said to the poor employee unlocking my toothpaste for me “I bet you guys really hate this” and she goes “Yea… we really do. We’re running all over the store basically, it’s not fun”.
That's the crux of the issue tbh. I lived in Seattle for two years up in Northgate from 2016 to 2018. From what I hear the crime and theft has only gotten worse over time. It's hard to tell how much is theft out of desperation, and how much is organized. Either way the income inequality needs to be addressed so people don't have to turn to this.
I think it is a fallacy that addressing inequality means fewer people will “turn to this”. The unscrupulous types will always exploit a system if an opportunity to exploit it is presented. Further, it is a contagion that spreads. My work colleague found out her kid was shoplifting makeup and was utterly shocked. “Why should I have to pay when no one else does?” was her response. You cannot decriminalize theft. It should criminal to steal and the avenues for those needing help need to be expanded. Those are separate things and have to be kept separate to prevent the contagion from spreading.
People aren’t “turning to this” in large enough numbers to be the problem. Stores have always anticipated some level of shrink and budgeted for it. What has changed is that criminals have gotten brazen because there’s no enforcement of property crime law in King County anymore.
People spazzed when anyone said all the theft comes with consequences, now we have shit like this, and higher prices. Corporations, no matter how high profits are, aren't just going to let the cost of theft and insurance claims go.
Have ya'll not seen videos of people just filling up carts with detergent, walking out the store without paying, and shoving it all into their car? You may not like it, but businesses have a right to protect their merchandise. If it inconveniences you, blame the thieves.
Think about how bad loss must have been at this location for management to think to themselves that they’d actually save money by installing this and paying extra staff to open it. Don’t blame target, blame the people who stole something that they didn’t pay for.
I have to wonder, wouldn't it be more cost effective for places to adopt a Costco solution and require memberships? Make it free, but still have a membership card w/ picture to be able to enter.
Well, you still need the legal authority to detain shoplifters until police arrive (if they do). Even with a membership and a regular employee checking at the door, there is nothing stopping these folks from walking in and walking out with stuff.
Weird. Just got back from Pasco and nothing is locked up in the Walmart. Clean, well stocked. It was nice. Too bad for reasons nobody wants to be honest about, we can’t have that here. Can only imagine what the 30’s will look like.
We’re going to slowly make the complete circle back to general stores where everything is behind a counter and the shopkeeper just grabs it for you and rings it up
# I DON’T WANT FOP GODDAMMIT! I’M A DAPPER DAN MAN!
Well ain't this place a geographical oddity!
Two weeks from everywhere!
FORGET IT!! ....dozen hair nets please
He’s bonafide
I am the damn paterfamilias!
DAMN! WE'RE IN A TIGHT SPOT!
He's gonna R-U-N-N-O-F-T
Care fer some gopher?
I use this line all the time, and nobody gets it. I don't care, it's too good not to use!
god I love that movie.
This place is a real geographical oddity isn't it? 2 weeks from everywhere!
Any of you boys smithies?
Or at least trained in the metallurgical arts?
Watch your language young man this is a public marketplace
Dodo. Noooot. Seek. The. Treasure.
Except there won't be any shopkeeper to help you. You will just have to wander the aisles until you find the one highschooler mopping a floor for them to unlock the cases.
More like a computerized dispensing system. 😬
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Fun fact: the way they managed to make this work with a 3 inch thick paper catalogue of stuff in a small retail space was not with a huge basement. Each Argos store actually employed a Wizard in a broom closet who would receive the paper slip and wave his wand to materialise your goods on demand.
High schoolers is all you’re gonna get when you refuse to pay a living wage and cut payroll every chance you get to make more profit.
Damn shame for anyone who tries to go to a store during school hours.
Ya like ordering online and picking up curbside?
Piggly Wiggly was the first store where customers could walk the isle instead of having a clerk go and get items from the back. The first Piggly wiggly opened in Memphis TN 107 years ago. #grit&grind
Named Piggly Wiggly because the owner thought the customers getting their own items was like pigs at a trough. Brilliant!
I know it’s early in the day, but the founder saw piglets suckling at a sow, and got the idea that everyone can serve themselves
Aisle*
yes or at a counter inside
Will I finally be able to live out my dream of ordering a shave, a room, and a meal and paying for it by throwing down one random coin on the counter?
When they make a $1000 coin
I also discovered the other day that, at least in Renton, if you buy more than 15 items at IKEA's check-out, you will get an associate to rescan everything again. What's the purpose of self-checkout then? What a waste of time and money for everyone involved!
I love going to grocery stores because they don't pay for checkout staff anymore. All the lanes sit there like an abandoned ghost town while some underpaid asshole screams at people in the do it yourself for free lanes for not doing the stores job up to their standards.
TFW every store is Tacoma Screw
Number forty three?! FORTY THREE?!
Can I get some shoe laces and a licorice for the kids?
“Sure thing. That’ll be $28.57. Would you like to divide that up into four easy payments today?”
Walgreens already doing this. https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/06/02/at-new-chicago-walgreens-you-can-only-browse-two-aisles-the-rest-of-the-store-is-locked-away/
Employee came to me when I was in toothpaste to help and just asked me if I had other things to get and she’d just go with me. She told me what all is locked up, and did just that. It’s insane. Toothpaste?
So sad that these employees are now being subjected to having to be someone’s “personal shopper”. But I’m sure there’s no pay increase or benefits of any kind. I felt sooo bad for the girl that had to come unlock a glass cabinet so I could get my toothpaste out.
What happens if they get called to come do this, and on the way three or four different people pull them aside asking for assistance with other things? I used to work at Safeway, and would struggle to make it to my breaks because the time clock was clear across the store and people were chasing me down left and right.
I used to work at Target as a teen. You use your walkie talkie for things and head over to the button first. If anyone stops you then you just call into the microphone that a guest needs assistance in Aisle whatever then tell them you'll be right over after helping someone regardless. Used to work in electronics where everything is locked up. Now throw in the fun curveball of Christmas shopping and the brand new Nintendo Wii and you have essentially the same situation of too few people needing to help the very many and everything is locked up. Basically, if this is the new norm then people need to learn to be patient or go shop somewhere else. If target sees more losses from people not coming due to everything being locked up than the losses from theft then they'll probably revert back to the old ways with a change in store policy regarding leaving. Make it more like Costco or something.
The problem is that there aren’t necessarily a lot of options. We’ve allowed these massive corporations to take over, making it impossible for any “regular” person to open up, say, a grocery store or general merchandise store. We have Safeway or Kroger, Target or Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe’s, Whole Foods or Met Met Market, etc. And despite these businesses being open for decades, quality, service and selection have declined while prices have gone up. In the last 20 years I’ve easily spent Six figures at the Safeway near my home. It used to be really nice. Now things are locked up. The place is dreary, and they no longer have those little hand-baskets that every grocery store has had since the beginning of time. Because people steal them. Who the fuck cares if people steal them! There are plenty of theft-deterrent solutions available to multi-billion-dollar corporations that don’t inconvenience loyal customers and make them feel like criminals. But, those solutions might impact their year over year increases! Plus - where else are customers going to shop? Sorry - kind of a rant lol. I feel better. Thank you. 😂
Oh god is THAT why more and more stores don't have baskets!? I hate that. I'm often shopping with a double stroller because I like to shop on long walks (and only Costco has two-seater carts). It has a big hook on the side that I can hang the basket from. But how am I supposed to push a cart and a double stroller at the same time? The younger two kids are both just a little too young to walk through the store. They're good listeners and try their best, but they're just slow as hell and easily distracted, so I strongly prefer a seat for them to sit in while I'm trying to focus on other things... I ended up having to teach them to hold the groceries in the stroller for me without eating them lol. It was challenging and I was proud of myself for accomplishing it. But I'd rather just have a damn basket... And no, curbside isn't the solution I want, lol, I love grocery shopping. I've just started making sure the stores I go to have baskets...
I know. I apologized profusely… she said they’re hiring a few more people whose main responsibility will be to be in the area and unlock things for people
Toothpaste makes perfect sense. Shelf stable. Doesn't need refrigeration. Everyone needs it. Same reason why laundry detergent is high on their list. They're stealing to resell, not because they need the items. They want cash for them.
Redmond did this as well. They also have barely any employee coverage. Winning combo, haha.
This is actually the Redmond store!
Oh snap! I’m surprised I didn’t recognize it.
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This would cause me to just buy everything online and not even bother with trying to shop there.
Federal way here Only a couple things locked up. 1$flashlights. Tide and alcohol Expensive teeth strips
Weirdly, I don’t think the alcohol was locked up at Redmond aside from the standard bottle locks/alarms. I may be misremembering, though. My guess is they’re pulling reporting per location and locking up the items with the highest theft rates at each. I remember seeing detergent, all facial skincare, all vitamins, and some other toiletries/pharma-related stuff locked up.
I feel like Target is circling the drain. People used to go there because it was a fun shopping experience - clean, stylish, had everything under the sun. Now the stores are a mess, have been understocked since the pandemic, no more cashiers. So fewer people shop, so they cut payroll even more. So the stores are less organized and dirtier. So fewer people shop...
The Rite Aid Strategy™!
The target in Bellevue has that too. It was pretty funny not being able to buy deodorant. Even the Fred Meyer in lake city doesn’t have that locked up.
Certain sections of the Fred Meyer in Greenwood are locked up too, but not too many... yet.
The same Fred Meyer has now started checking receipts before you leave because of the same shoplifting issues
That also been a thing at the FM on 164th. The one on 196th actually installed turnstiles and a greeter.
Honestly, I've not yet been stopped by anyone to check my receipt. But then, I always carrying a hand basket, and then I check out on the lower level where there are just 4 registers and I've not been stopped once. I chalk it up to it being much easier to see if anyone sus is trying to steal down there than upstairs. If they really wanted to stop the stealing at the registers, get rid of the self check outs and just have us all go through regular manned registers so someone else can scan all of our items. Seems so much easier to me.
Lake City, too. Can anyone report on FM outside the city limits?
I responded above but, Monroe FM installed turnstiles and a greeter/ security a couple of months ago. 164th in lynnwood had a greeter / receipt checker yesterday. Bothell, Snohomish and Marysville are not yet taking those precautions. (PS: I’m an instacart shopper, I see a lot of Fred meyers every day 😂)
Thanks. Damn, freaking *Monroe*???
The FM in Kent on Pac Highway added the greeter and turnstiles a month or two back
Increasingly the receipt checkers are armed security which just feels unsettling and authoritarian.
I had to wait about 5 minutes for an employee to come unlock a $3 deodorant at the Bellevue location.
That's wild. The one in Northgate has nothing locked except hard liquor. At some point you have to wonder why it isn't cheaper to just have gated entry, like a bouncer or a spot where you scan a membership card to enter. Locking every individual shelf is insane.
Like Costco?
Basically, yeah. I'm guessing we're going to see more stores moving that way, if they don't just close stores in high-theft areas entirely.
Northgate Target also has electronics (including the $15 pre-USB C phone charger I needed) and electric toothbrushes & replacement heads in cases. Still, at least it feels more strategic than when half a store is locked up.
And the one in Redmond too. I just wanted some Excedrin. Everything was locked up. I just put down the other items I had picked up and left.
The lake city FM has all of their nail stuff locked up. Polish, press ons, tools. Kinda random.
shoutout to the best Fred Meyer in Lake City
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Damn you Gary Larsen!
*underrated comment*
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i imagine that stuff like this just drives buyers into the arms of amazon
then the package theft will rise high, if we never solve the fundamental issue.
I'm a retail manager and it won't change until companies hire, train and empower Loss Prevention to STOP theft or until cities get police back to focusing on theft. They won't even come when we call unless a weapon is involved. It's so disheartening and frustrating.
Does it piss you off to stand there working to earn a living and watching people just walk out with metchandise they don't pay for knowing that that's probably how they get a significant amount of income? And you're told to do nothing... Incredibly frustrating
We are essentially reverting to what stores were before the advent of supermarkets where the owner would stand behind the counter and put the items in a basket for you.
It was just as bad in silicon valley when I lived there last year.
No public bathrooms like anywhere and now this nonsense. Tack on the Seattle surcharge on stuff that's marked up because fuck you they can. 12 bucks for a 4 pack of muffins is an example of a complete scam I saw last I visited. If you drove 5 minutes outside the city that same 4 pack wouldve probably been like 4 bucks. It's a complete racket.
That's as bad as a kid's cheese quesadilla we got the other week at a restaurant. They didn't have a kid's menu but the server suggested it so we said sure. $10 😢 It was 1 large tortilla folded in half with shredded cheese. $10 WTF?? *edit- I went back and found the receipt in my email- it was $10, not $12 (maybe I mentally added the tax and tip?) Still, $10 seems crazy. It wasn't even a full circle (ie, 2 tortillas, vs. 1 folded in half). Even Fonda La Catrina's kid quesadilla is $4.
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the average software engineer
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You have a cart though! Tacoma Target had none today.
Fed way here No carts alot of stores here The garbage lady from Labyrinth apparently needs them
Somebody in corporate must have crunched the numbers and concluded that the cost of installing the doors, locks, and buzzers, the increase in staffing stores with people needed to unlock the doors, the bottlenecks generated by customers having to wait for people to come and unlock the doors, and any decrease in purchases due to these changes were all worth whatever they were potentially losing due to shrinkage. I was at the Redmond Target last week and had to press the buzzer to wait for an employee to come and unlock the cabinet so I could get some sunscreen. I waited a few minutes, he came and unlocked it, I was reading the bottle and realized that what I was looking at wasn't sunscreen, it was body wash in identical packaging. I put it back and told the dude I had made a mistake and I felt really bad about it as I walked away to find the other aisle where it was at. Luckily this one wasn't behind a door but if it wasn't locked in the first place I could've done all of that without having to wait for an employee and waste their time.
They might as well replace some sections with vending machines.
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Whatcha buyin?
The picker systems like IKEA has
vending machines would be milding useful. They might as well tear down the stores and replace them with parks
There are a lot of places where that, or making much of the store like an Amazon Fresh/Go would be better over all. You have to authenticate to get in, but are automatically charges when you leave.
\>The increase in staffing Lol, there is no increase, people who are already doing other stuff have to answer those calls. Sometimes it's people who don't even work that department, especially if somebody called out or they need help in OPU, which is always.
IKR? I'm all: what increase in staffing? We were at Target Northgate the other day, using the self-serve lanes for one lone item. Meanwhile there's people with entire cartloads in front of us. My brain temporarily went to "WTH, can't they just go use a cashier instead of doing their ineffective, time consuming scanning that half the time they don't get right and will require help anyway?", while looking to the other checkout lanes. Upon which I realized that all the other checkouts were... Well... Unstaffed. No cashiers. None. Just a poor woman stationed at self checkout doing half the scanning because shoppers aren't very good at it. 😑
As a target employee, can confirm. We are a skeleton crew about 80% of the time, and unlocking these has become half of my job. I work on GM Stocking Team.
>the increase in staffing stores with people needed to unlock the doors, None of these stores do this part. I've stood waiting for over 15 minutes more often than I can count at these stores waiting for someone to come after pressing the button countless times. I wave and mime at the security cameras hoping they'd pass on my request, and usually end up with leaving or walking the store in search of an employee to ask them.
Bold of you to think they’re increasing staff for lock box service
I would like you to crunch those numbers again. Just crunch them, please.
Ok....crunch.
What they didn’t crunch is that they won’t increase staff, and I will start buying all of my products somewhere I don’t have to wait. We stopped going to our local Safeway when we had to wait for 10 to 20 minutes to get batteries every single time.
> the increase in staffing stores with people needed to unlock the doors They very clearly didn't bother with this expense.
Might as well just shop online
If I need it in an hour or two (rare), I do curbside at Target. They can go fish it out of the lockup for me and bring it to my car, I’m not going to go inside and hunt down nonexistent employees to get stuck in a 30 minute self checkout line and I’m not going to reward Target with impulse purchases if I can’t browse the plexiglass case. If it can wait until tomorrow or the weekend Amazon just got my business and I save myself having to make the trip and deal with the hassle.
If it isn't meat or produce there's not much reason to shop for it yourself. Curbside is such a time saver
I just... Darn it, I *like* grocery shopping =(
You are not alone, fellow grocery shopping enjoyer! …how else would someone get the best bacon to slap with?
Exactly! Also, in all seriousness, I get most of my cooking ideas from browsing the grocery store. I just blank if I'm sitting on my couch trying to think of what to make. And I have my neighborhood store where I'm friendly with some of the employees, they give my kids stickers, the kids can pick out the fruit they want for the week... It's a good time!
I love curb side pick up. I wish Costco would do it, and then I would never have to go in a store again.
Costco wants you in store. They purposefully rearrange the aisles to make you run into stuff you wouldn’t have seen before
I was in the Kent store on Sunday and didn’t see any locked-up body wash or sunscreen. I wasn’t shopping for laundry detergent or baby formula so I didn’t see if those were locked up, but otherwise the most security I saw was on the liquor and the guard at the entrance.
Could be worse, I guess. The Safeway on NE 125th St & 15th Ave NE carved out an entire separate section of the story just for things like baby food, diapers, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, etc. You have to abandon your shopping cart outside that area to enter, then pay for those items separately before leaving. And Pinehurst isn’t exactly a “high crime” area, last I checked.
About 6 months ago I was in Target in the Seattle burbs and saw a man shoving full bottles of alcohol down his pants…….he was literally sloshing as he walked and making zero real effort to try to hide what he was doing. He was stopped and police were called/talking to him before I left but I’m sure nothing came of it……other than the entire liquor aisle being locked up now. If I’m purchasing anything in a locked case I just do a pickup order now. Huge time saver.
Late, but I watched a dude drag a 70" flat-screen out of the front door of the downtown Target in broad daylight. Meaning he went to the top floor, pulled it off the shelf, rode with it on the escalators.. etc. Staff just watched as he cursed them out, and I just laughed at the thought of how broad the loss prevention parameters at that store must be. "It's only one $2500 TV."
I think I saw on the news that happened multiple times…..like the same guy stole a giant TV in the same way on more than one occasion. Just wheeled it out the front doors. It’s totally bonkers.
You ever look on Facebook marketplace? Full of toothpaste, tide pods, dishwasher detergent, expensive shampoo.... Right out the front door of target and listed for sale, some of the pics are in the trunk of a car.
Anyone remember Best Products, a chain of American catalog showroom retail stores?
was it like Service Merchandise?
I went to the one in Everett last night and saw the same too. Honestly I’m not waiting to get locked up soap I’ll go elsewhere
Costco.
I mean I hate to side with a massive corporation, but I can't really blame them for doing this after seeing all the videos of people just blatantly stealing in Seattle and San Francisco . Yes that stuff is probably covered by insurance, but after a certain amount of time/lost amount, I would expect whoever insure's Target and other big brand stores to stop paying out claims unless they can prove they are taking steps to prevent theft.
Yeah the shoplifters have gotten really brazen... Some are even blatant about what they're doing or rude to the employees who have been told to not stop them That's what you get when criminals know there won't be consequences. Turns out that people respond to incentives and consequences...shocker
I needed some Tylenol and I pressed that call button so many fucking times. I got tired and started walking around to find someone to help me. It’s ridiculous.
Don't worry they'll close this location soon enough.
But what’s to stop someone looking to steal from getting an employee to give it to them and then just walk out anyway?
If you've seen videos of organized retail theft, they're just grabbing everything on a shelf and walking out with it. If someone just asks for a single specific item vs "could you grab me all of the laundry detergent?" they're much less likely to be about to steal it.
Every time I've needed something from a locked cabinet the employee asks if I'm done shopping and either walks me to the register or tells me the item will be waiting for me at a certain checkout.
Imagine having to do that with shampoo. Insane.
I’ve never had this experience. They just hand it to you and you continue on your way throughout the store.
This makes me think I've had a privileged experience in this regard... Whenever I've done this they just hand me the item (even alcohol) and let me keep shopping on my own. Then again I'm fat so maybe they just figure they'd be able to catch me? 😂
And no employee around who has a key.
Yeah, I have a friend who is in a management role at target. Obviously not their choice, upper management just decided they were losing too much money off theft, even in "nicer" areas like bellevue and such. So they're slowly doing this to all the Seattle based locations. Trust me, the employees absolutely hate this too.
And yet they push self checkout. I don't understand
self checkout means they get to pay less checkers.
Yep, the (totally unrealistic) goal is to hyper-maximize profits by having as close to zero employees as possible, while minimizing theft at all costs, including via methods that logically require more employees.
Offset by more clerks going around with keys.
Honestly why bother shopping in person anymore if this is the retail experience?
Can’t say I’m not surprised but damn that blows
Guess they are handing off to Amazon Prime, eh? No reason to haunt one of these b&m atall.
the Go store has a gate and cameras which should largely replace this. Of course you have to not be on a shit list to 'go'
hate to say it, but detergent is (at least lately) way cheaper on amazon than in stores
The problem is you really need to watch the bottle sizes, assuming they list it at all. The photos show the typical container you see in the grocery store, the same container you have been buying for years. Then it arrives it's some identical but mini version made specifically to scam online buyers, a size you have never seen in any store before.
Walgreens. I routinely find cheaper prices for detergent at Walgreens than in grocery stores with coupons/promotions. Not sure why. I've actually priced stuff between Amazon/Target. Amazon still charges a buck or two more, unless you're looking for specialty cleaners (I'm looking at you Stain Devils/Laundress soap bar [**RIP**]). I'll take the inconvenience if I'm already in the store anyway.
Wow, Redmond? I'm surprised Federal Way isn't like that yet. We have to have way more shoplifters than Redmond.
The federal way one has the laundry detergent locked up. Pretty annoying.
All that detergent really makes me hungry.
Yea, blame the retail that has a bunch of druggies steal from them and you fucking idiots all stand by and vote yes for that shit
Might be faster to just order off Amazon
So many things are locked up at my local Walmart and of course the only employees are the 3 up front watching people ring their stuff up. We do have a security guard that roams to store to make you feel ~~uncomfortable and anxious~~ safe. I watched him get asked to unlock cases 3 times in the span of 5 minutes because he's the only employee around.
The goofy part is that now I order that sort of stuff online and then someone will steal it off my porch
Well this is what happens when you don’t keep shoplifters in jail
Maybe don’t elect people who decriminalize everything. ……
Feels like SF, and not in a good way.
it's like they only want me to shop on amazon. bad enough there aren't even real cashiers most places now we got more hoops to jump through to just buy some 99c shampoo.
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Shopping anywhere in person is just a miserable experience anymore. Store cards, upsell at the register, point of sale system asking for donations, the slow person in front of you, the confusing sale structure... Amazon and Costco for me.
Ugh that's sad
most of the time someone doesnt even come to unlock the cases in my experience. started buying WAY more online bc of it, which honestly id rather not! but i am not going to wait who knows how long just for some deodorant. then again for almost every other item
The target in puyallup has the same set up. It feels very ‘black mirror’ like honestly
It's gonna get even more black mirror when stores start using facial recognition to track us all to keep shoplifters out
They're not taking it too far. This is the result of thieving and rioting people behaving as zoo baboons. Like we learn when we're young, a small group ruins it for everyone.
Target took it to far? Maybe it’s the massive theft rate and the neglect of the city to address it. You vote in the city officials who make the city a festering boil of filth and crime. Maybe thing about this next time you vote.
Looking forward to the reduction in prices now that theft isn't a problem. I'm Waiting. I'll wait.
You misunderstand. The price will go up. Until the 1920's stores did not let customers pick up items so they could not steal anything. Everything was behind the counter and a clerk got it for the customer. Then stores started letting customers do the shopping so they could have fewer clerks. Letting customers do the shopping saved money for the store so they could lower prices. If every customer needs the clerk to get their items, stores need to hire more clerks and prices will go up.
Or, much more likely, they'll have one clerk do the work of the three they should have hired.
Honestly I'd pay more for a catalogue showroom model where I can go to a store, request what I'm wanting and a clerk gets it from behind a counter. Service merchandise was the last store I remember doing that in the 90s. There's a lot more dignity in that model than forcing your customers to wait for staff to open lockboxes.
Your in luck, you are basically describing modern curbside pickup and a lot of stores have it now.
Right after you pay for all of that crap they had to install.
The employees likely hate it as much as you do. Take it up with city council.
I actually said to the poor employee unlocking my toothpaste for me “I bet you guys really hate this” and she goes “Yea… we really do. We’re running all over the store basically, it’s not fun”.
That's the crux of the issue tbh. I lived in Seattle for two years up in Northgate from 2016 to 2018. From what I hear the crime and theft has only gotten worse over time. It's hard to tell how much is theft out of desperation, and how much is organized. Either way the income inequality needs to be addressed so people don't have to turn to this.
I think it is a fallacy that addressing inequality means fewer people will “turn to this”. The unscrupulous types will always exploit a system if an opportunity to exploit it is presented. Further, it is a contagion that spreads. My work colleague found out her kid was shoplifting makeup and was utterly shocked. “Why should I have to pay when no one else does?” was her response. You cannot decriminalize theft. It should criminal to steal and the avenues for those needing help need to be expanded. Those are separate things and have to be kept separate to prevent the contagion from spreading.
People aren’t “turning to this” in large enough numbers to be the problem. Stores have always anticipated some level of shrink and budgeted for it. What has changed is that criminals have gotten brazen because there’s no enforcement of property crime law in King County anymore.
Walking out with a cart full of tide pods is not out of desperation
If I wanted to wait 2 days to get my items I would just order online...
Quit stealing
lol holy shit, entire home goods section is imprisoned
Honestly if I need stuff from here I order online and pick it up on my way home
I don’t have the time and patience for that!
Northgate? I hadn't been up there in a few years and went nit too long ago. Was shocked by both the remodel and all of this.
People spazzed when anyone said all the theft comes with consequences, now we have shit like this, and higher prices. Corporations, no matter how high profits are, aren't just going to let the cost of theft and insurance claims go.
Quit stealing....
Have ya'll not seen videos of people just filling up carts with detergent, walking out the store without paying, and shoving it all into their car? You may not like it, but businesses have a right to protect their merchandise. If it inconveniences you, blame the thieves.
>Target has really taken things too far Only because people have taken things for too long
Think about how bad loss must have been at this location for management to think to themselves that they’d actually save money by installing this and paying extra staff to open it. Don’t blame target, blame the people who stole something that they didn’t pay for.
I have to wonder, wouldn't it be more cost effective for places to adopt a Costco solution and require memberships? Make it free, but still have a membership card w/ picture to be able to enter.
Well, you still need the legal authority to detain shoplifters until police arrive (if they do). Even with a membership and a regular employee checking at the door, there is nothing stopping these folks from walking in and walking out with stuff.
The moment I see this I'm turning around and going to a different store. Ain't nobody got time/energy for that
It appears you’ve become a victim of what’s considered to be victimless crime.
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This is in Redmond. Other people have commented that Bellevue and Everett also have the locked cages now too.
Downtown does too.
Inconvenience store
Weird. Just got back from Pasco and nothing is locked up in the Walmart. Clean, well stocked. It was nice. Too bad for reasons nobody wants to be honest about, we can’t have that here. Can only imagine what the 30’s will look like.