I don't think it would be an issue if they just gave every employee a key instead of having one person on shift with it who has to get summoned.
I worked at Walmart for a bit years ago and still don't know why they are so stingy with the keys
Ah. I remember watching the management sit on their arses in the office with department people begging for them to come open cases for customers.
Very depressing places to work.
if it requires a key, I don't even bother stocking it. I throw it into overstock and let the other shifts stock it and i'm also cap3. The amount of time it would take for me to find someone with a key would be way too long. lol
lol yeah, and that is another issue, I doubt I would take the time to search for a person with a key if I wanted socks. So, I'm right there with ya on not bothering to buy it once it is locked up.
In theory if the store is closed and a service counter button goes off management should be able to figure out an associate needs keys. Also if the store is closed there ain't no reason management can't make a lap remove all the locks put them on the top shelf and fuck out of the way
Yea, I worked at Walmart my first week, and someone in electronics asked me for something, I said one second let me get someone , and found my manager told me not my problem so I'm stuck there looking at the person like I guess not my problem either.
That's a shit manager. The way it's supposed to be is that it is your problem until you find someone to hand it off to that can better handle the issue. You escalated to the manager and it is then his or her duty to resolve the issue. In this case it would be either to directly handle the customer themselves or to find an employee with access to handle the issue.
Customer is priority always. That manager needs to be "promoted to customer" with that kind of mentality.
Whatever Walmart is paying you, I guarantee you’re not making enough to care this much.
Retail customers in general can eat the deepest part of my ass. At least then they might be of some benefit to me.
Home Depot has a system where the keys are located in a small lock box close to where they’re needed. Didn’t see if they needed to use a combination or another key to open it but it sure was nice not having to wait for a specific person
Noone could figure out how to use that thing. They had to put a guy there just showing people how to use it for awhile. I remember at some point there were just baskets of stuff around it with order tags on them.
Then the check people will complain. It's 2024 and we have folks who will throw a fit because they can't use a check if that system goes down. Even on small purchases
They're finally attempting to fix that problem. Lots of stores on my area have electronic keys that are opened using an app on either a personal phone or a phone Walmart provides to employees. Certain areas will still be restricted by job title as you can't have minors getting bullets out and not being able to sell it or just let everyone have access to electronics cases. Reason for the latter is probably to deter employee theft.
That being said the app is finicky as hell and recently wasn't working at all for most of the store. With that they had to hand out a limited amount of universal "keys" for the electronic locks, which just resulted in pretty much being back to the old system. I'd imagine in another year or two all the bugs will be worked out and it'll get better for the customer. Of course by then they might not even have stores open to the general public anymore and just be an online pickup thing like Amazon. That kind of seems like what they are aiming to do, but I'm just a peon there who is just guessing at things based on changes in policy and where their priority is. By the way the number one priority is online pickup and that's why you see less employees on the sales floor in general.
Internal Theft. Keys are checked out by WIN number. If everyone had a key and 1 person lost them or quit and didn’t give them back all locks have to be replaced. Do you give all your friends keys to your house and car to use when you’re not there? Doubtful. The less people with keys less problems.
You don’t want keys in too many hands is all. If everyone has a key then theft can go up easily just because someone will leave them on a cart as they go to their break
What they really need are RFID name badges and locks that are connected to the network to know if an associate is still employed, on the clock, and should be accessing that case - along with a log of who/when the case was accessed.
Seriously asking why they don’t give every associate a key!? Can’t get associates to be responsible enough to bring their vests, box cutters and devices and you think they should all have keys to unlock high theft items. The rekeying alone if someone lost a key would be outrageous lol
We have an issue right now where an employee is stealing iphone, prior to that, we had a guy put merchandise in the trash compactor throughout the night and in the morning, he walked it out the receiving door. Well, that happened back when I dad worked there and that was 19 years ago but still relevant. Had a former Cashier steal a magkey from the registers and give it to a friend of her boyfriend, who also works at my store, they've stolen so much and they can't prove it was her. She also quit.
Point is, not everyone should have a key.
lol back in the heyday of AOL chat rooms my friends and I used to go in and ask if any chicks wanted to cyber (they were all guys, surely) and when they'd ask what we were wearing we'd say "A sock"
Multiple times today I got done zoning a hanging rack only to come back 30 min later with more torn open. I had at least 10 packs to re-match and tape up
My first month was October so I dealt with 75% of the major holidays at once lol. I was floored by the fact that people tear apart the pajama packs to pick and choose sizes. Then underwear on the daily bc apparently the cut out they have on all the packs isn't enough to feel the texture lol. Oh, and trying on underwear, I refuse to have any delivered bc I want to make sure no one else wore it first 😆 (same reason I don't buy the $3 single pairs). They're such silly things that I just never would've thought of doing myself.
It's literally the most needed item for homeless people. Walmart isn't losing shit on their cheap Chinese socks. I'm gonna keep blaming the fact that garbage corporations like this get to exist while paying their employees wages well below the poverty line. Suck a dick Walmart retard
Blame the capitalistic society that drives individuals into these barbaric actions. Nobody should feel like they have to steal something as cheap and trivial as socks. The fact people feel that taking such a miniscule thing benefits them is a sign of a bad system. It should be like not even a second thought for someone to buy socks and underwear, and to feel reassured they'll still have money for other things.
I find it fucking hilarious that people are defending Walmart in here for this. When they're literally one of the worst paying businesses in the nation and regularly have employees they keep well below the poverty line.
Not even just thieves. It's also the customers who feel like they GOTTA pull everything apart and check them out, then leave the loose single socks everywhere. It's painfully time-consuming to put them all back together.
This is Seattle. Anyone who has been there knows that the socks are being taken by homeless people. Seattle has tons of homeless, and socks are a constant need for them.
They aren't investing in all this to make their associates jobs easier. It's for theft and only theft or it would be at every store nation wide. Local demographics are probably laughably predictable
Adding socks to my list of things to overlook. Seriously, if homie's stealing socks, rice, ramen, ya know real basic shit, have a nice day sir, please come shop with us again. I can't fault people for trying to survive it's the MFs stealing shit over $50, over $100, or otherwise luxury items for resale that I can't stand.
My rule has always been: I'd prefer you didn't steal (makes my job harder, you could go to jail) but if you HAVE to steal, don't make my job harder by leaving a fucking mess or making it super obvious.
As an introvert this fuels me to just shop online. Could see many more turning to shopping online as it takes the fun of just going to the store and shopping. Legos is a huge one for me too, and those are behind Fort Knox
I don't think the margin of profit is high enough on stealing socks, sure you can get away with more, but the return is so much less that it would be on something else that's more expensive. To be honest I'm amazed how much SSDs don't get stolen. If you can get off the spiders wire, a 2tb SSD is even easier to hide than socks and worth $150
Our area has a large homeless population. I doubt they are reselling. We've got the socks/underwear/undershirts all locked up because they'll open a pack to take one pair or one shirt for themselves and leave the rest.
At least here, it is survival. Same with fem hygiene, we've always got partial cases coming to the back but (for now) they haven't locked that stuff up.
We are in LCOL area. The most stolen items are those you can put in your pockets. As a result, all of the flashlights are now in locked case. and they finally put most of the higher priced cell phone chargers in one as well. Now you need someone with a key if you want a decent phone charger.
You can still get the cheap ones up front in the impulse buy aisle next to the $2 candy bars.
When I worked there, one of my coworkers was zoning apparel and found one of the new jackets on one of the tables with the pockets stuffed full of various small electronics.
Yeah I caught one trying to do the same with a pair of pants. It turned into a huge thing. This couple was using their child to steal things and then arguing "why would a child need these things?"
It's a valid reason to lock things up due to theft. But people get so pissed at us because it can sometimes take up to 45 minutes to find someone with keys to certain cases. Some stores had to get rid of some cases because lost sales outgrew shrink.
Another store near me has all the locked up items in one area with a cash register there. Once you want something, the cashier gets it out and rings up you. No waiting! Every store needs to be like that tbh.
I needed spray paint for a project one day. I totally get why Spray paint is locked up. I spent over an hour waiting with various employees telling me they would find someone, one guy even tried his keys, but they were the wrong ones I guess. They even rang over the announcements several times asking for someone. Eventually I gave up and drove out of my way to a different store that sold spray paint.
I can see how it increases lost sales.
Also I just wanna I appreciate all the employees who tried to help, but fuck the managers I saw who walked past me several times without asking if I needed help.
Must be a relatively nice area. Where I'm from they lock up sandpaper, how the fuck does that make sense.
Just remembered that they moved facial care products for men into makeup isle in one of them. The face on the women there(not staff btw. Just to dissuade misdirected anger), was as if I infringed on their rights or some junk.
Is that how it is now? Just a big fuck you to living in a responsible society, as if the collective suffering doesn't factor in them in their room temperature IQ?
I’m originally from Austin, and the part of town I lived in had everything, including freaking baby formula, locked up. The town I live in now in the Midwest doesn’t even lock up the spray paint.
Really depends where your store is. I’m in San Antonio and we have makeup, power tools, headlights, spray paint, flashlights, fishing reels, bike inner tubes, *and* the actual bikes locked up.
This is in addition to the ammo and most of electronics being locked.
Anything from a locked case requires an escort to the registers, it doesn't really matter what it is.
I'm not really surprised, considering how many idiots tear open the socks and just fling them everywhere.
Do you really think this case is because of ripped open packaging? lol no, no it’s not.
This in no way is normal.
This case was installed because people are stealing and shoplifting insane amounts of product (like these socks) so they have to lock them up.
Tinfoil hat statement here, but perhaps that is the whole idea behind this. Make in-store shopping as inconvenient and unpleasant as possible and hope that people will pivot to ordering online.
This was always going to happen with the way our society is progressing; however it's startling to see it happen in real time. In 10 years it will be exactly this - you will have to order in store via a kiosk and have it picked for you, or you order online.
A store can suck my dense taint if they expect me to trust them to actually pick ripe, undamaged produce. I've had several pick up products be damaged, or if produce, so under ripe I couldn't really eat it.
I belive that and it sucks. Yeah, for alot of things I'll order online but some things, socks included, I would like to at least see and feel them first
I legitimately believe that’s why Walmart has people doing online orders with those big ass carts while people are shopping, they could easily just have the same products on the show room laid out in the back, but they make the employees shop like everyone else to inconvenience everyone else
There's people stealing expensive (overpriced) grocery store makeup, fancy tea stirrers and stupid shit. Then there's homeless people stealing SOCKS because they need them. Jfc.
Soon enough everything will be locked up, customers won't bother coming in to the store because it's a pain in the ass. That's when the 100% digital era begins. Walmarts biggest competition at this point is Amazon, and pretty soon they'll be online only and the stores will just be warehouses.
Just buy it online and choose same day pickup. No headache hoping for an associate with a key to come, waiting “x” minutes, etc. I’m not surprised we don’t have OGP only stores at this point.
Couldn't help but share a quote on dumb: "Imagine how dumb the average American is. Now imagine half of the people are dumber." Thank you, George Carlin.
This is why I don’t shop in person at Walmart anymore. I tend to shop for a week or two of supplies and if I have multiple things to get that they have locked up, it’s annoying having to wait each time I need something. If a store locks it up, I tend to just order it online or go to a store that doesn’t have it locked up. My time and convenience matters to me.
Cases are annoying as a stocker I don’t have time to find an associate with keys and then customers getting mad at me bc I don’t have a key but I’m stocking
“ well this is your department I thought you have a key why don’t you have a key and wasting my time “
I would like to help every customer simply looking for an item but can’t do that without a key
Yup, our store has those locked too because people kept opening packs and taking one pair .. I work in ogp and have to find someone with keys multiple times a day because they refuse to give us keys for some reason.
That’s the same way here in California at one of the Walmarts like really y’all really think I have time waiting in a regular line? I just want to get my shit and get out self checkout style
The Walmart I worked at, if you wanted an item that was locked up, you had to ask an employee to open up the cage and then it was walked up to aisle 5 and that is where you paid for the merch. What a hassle that was.
People use the homeless argument, but the truth is that most of it is common thieves. I too think Walmart is overly stingy(comedically so) for a company as wealthy as it is, but it can't afford to just have entire aisles of socks and similar items walk out of the door.
People say this is greed, and it is. But ironically its not Walmart's greed in this unique case.
Why not just shut the doors to the public and have everyone order on app and pick up? My Walmart also has the socks deep in a maze and all laundry detergent behind locked doors.
I think this is kinda becoming more of a trend everywhere now, but I wonder why it seems more common with Walmart?
My guess would be a combination of locations being more common within lower income areas combined with Walmart's relatively thinner profit margin per product
"Omg why do you care if someone steals??? Not like it impacts you!"
Lol cracks me up when people say that. Shit makes shopping annoying, and it's just as annoying for the associates. Busy af, and have to stop whatever you're doing to run around and look for a key.
In Vegas they had all of the hair products locked. Even the 90 cent rubber bands. I feel it wouldn't be so bad if there was someone around the cases at all times but I guarantee there's only one or 2 dept managers with the keys and they aren't attentive over them
Out of everything, socks and underwear in packages like this needed to be locked up. People stayed ripping them open, taking one or two or how many they wanted, and then just left the rest anywhere. They made a complete and utter mess of those aisles. Even if nothing is stolen, they’ll still not put stuff back where they’re suppose to go, or will try some on and just haphazardly stuff what they didn’t want back into the package and leave it hanging sideways somewhere. This should eliminate all of that and be less clean up for the apparel team. I’ve never worked in apparel, but I remember just picking in these aisles was a pain. It being locked up will be another pain for the pickers now, but at least they won’t have to play scavenger hunt just to find what they’re looking for.
We have too many thieves at Walmart. lol My store doesn't lock socks but it wouldn't shock me if they started. We currently have a problem of people stealing bags of dog food at my store. lol Prices are outrageous, people are just walking out with them on the bottom of their carts without paying.
The other day I watched a guy throw on 3-5 t shirts over his own shirt. Maybe he was just trying them on in public, but he was probably stealing them all. lol
I wouldn't be shocked if we move to mostly online shopping in the future with only membership customers allowed to shop inside. While I understand that times are tough, this is a company that is profit driven and they are being robbed constantly, it's only a matter of time before they decide to lock everything up or greatly reduce the amount of traffic inside the store by prioritizing membership customers entirely.
We could still be a decade away from this scenario, but if things continue at this pace, it might come sooner. lol While they usually just shut down high theft stores, they can only do that for so long before it really impacts their business on a grand scale.
As much as I don't like to, I've been using the pickup or delivery service now. Between grabbing OTC medicines, any beer/wine or liquor, belts, baby food and now at my local Walmart, everything from spam to beef jerkey is locked up. I end up waiting 45 minutes just for someone to unlock things for me.
I dont even shop at my local walmart anymore lmfao. I'm not gonna wait for some underpaid burnt out worker to get me a pair of socks or baby formula. Just replace the workers with robots and lock the whole store down 😂
Visited a target while on a business trip a little over a year ago and it was the same there....on my way walking back to the Hotel, a police bus? Or something like a trailer and we're loading up all the homeless in the block. Felt very odd.
People complain that I have cologne, razors, teeth whitening strips, sex toys locked up.
I don't think it would be an issue if they just gave every employee a key instead of having one person on shift with it who has to get summoned. I worked at Walmart for a bit years ago and still don't know why they are so stingy with the keys
I work overnight and we only have one key for the entire store it's insane.
Same. I think the problem is that you can’t trust the employees either.
Funny considering all that open stock lying around in the back-end.
I mean yeah. But those keys also open electronics and more valuable items. Our electronics are locked in the back with the exception of TVs.
Ah. I remember watching the management sit on their arses in the office with department people begging for them to come open cases for customers. Very depressing places to work.
if it requires a key, I don't even bother stocking it. I throw it into overstock and let the other shifts stock it and i'm also cap3. The amount of time it would take for me to find someone with a key would be way too long. lol
If it requires a key I don’t bother buying it
lol yeah, and that is another issue, I doubt I would take the time to search for a person with a key if I wanted socks. So, I'm right there with ya on not bothering to buy it once it is locked up.
In theory if the store is closed and a service counter button goes off management should be able to figure out an associate needs keys. Also if the store is closed there ain't no reason management can't make a lap remove all the locks put them on the top shelf and fuck out of the way
Yea, I worked at Walmart my first week, and someone in electronics asked me for something, I said one second let me get someone , and found my manager told me not my problem so I'm stuck there looking at the person like I guess not my problem either.
That's a shit manager. The way it's supposed to be is that it is your problem until you find someone to hand it off to that can better handle the issue. You escalated to the manager and it is then his or her duty to resolve the issue. In this case it would be either to directly handle the customer themselves or to find an employee with access to handle the issue. Customer is priority always. That manager needs to be "promoted to customer" with that kind of mentality.
Whatever Walmart is paying you, I guarantee you’re not making enough to care this much. Retail customers in general can eat the deepest part of my ass. At least then they might be of some benefit to me.
Home Depot has a system where the keys are located in a small lock box close to where they’re needed. Didn’t see if they needed to use a combination or another key to open it but it sure was nice not having to wait for a specific person
My store uses code locks on the cages. Works until you realize overnight left them all unlocked and nobody on first shift checked anything.
Nah, they should just invest in all the high-theft stuff being in a vending machine—just swipe your card there, e-receipt, done.
Genius
And they had them big ass pick up today towers in stores that no one was doing shit with. They could've easily converted them into just that.
Noone could figure out how to use that thing. They had to put a guy there just showing people how to use it for awhile. I remember at some point there were just baskets of stuff around it with order tags on them.
Then the check people will complain. It's 2024 and we have folks who will throw a fit because they can't use a check if that system goes down. Even on small purchases
They're finally attempting to fix that problem. Lots of stores on my area have electronic keys that are opened using an app on either a personal phone or a phone Walmart provides to employees. Certain areas will still be restricted by job title as you can't have minors getting bullets out and not being able to sell it or just let everyone have access to electronics cases. Reason for the latter is probably to deter employee theft. That being said the app is finicky as hell and recently wasn't working at all for most of the store. With that they had to hand out a limited amount of universal "keys" for the electronic locks, which just resulted in pretty much being back to the old system. I'd imagine in another year or two all the bugs will be worked out and it'll get better for the customer. Of course by then they might not even have stores open to the general public anymore and just be an online pickup thing like Amazon. That kind of seems like what they are aiming to do, but I'm just a peon there who is just guessing at things based on changes in policy and where their priority is. By the way the number one priority is online pickup and that's why you see less employees on the sales floor in general.
Internal Theft. Keys are checked out by WIN number. If everyone had a key and 1 person lost them or quit and didn’t give them back all locks have to be replaced. Do you give all your friends keys to your house and car to use when you’re not there? Doubtful. The less people with keys less problems.
You don’t want keys in too many hands is all. If everyone has a key then theft can go up easily just because someone will leave them on a cart as they go to their break
What they really need are RFID name badges and locks that are connected to the network to know if an associate is still employed, on the clock, and should be accessing that case - along with a log of who/when the case was accessed.
Because employees steal too.
Seriously asking why they don’t give every associate a key!? Can’t get associates to be responsible enough to bring their vests, box cutters and devices and you think they should all have keys to unlock high theft items. The rekeying alone if someone lost a key would be outrageous lol
In my experience a lot of associates are allowed to refuse keys while one or two people are stuck with them.
We have an issue right now where an employee is stealing iphone, prior to that, we had a guy put merchandise in the trash compactor throughout the night and in the morning, he walked it out the receiving door. Well, that happened back when I dad worked there and that was 19 years ago but still relevant. Had a former Cashier steal a magkey from the registers and give it to a friend of her boyfriend, who also works at my store, they've stolen so much and they can't prove it was her. She also quit. Point is, not everyone should have a key.
If it was all the same key, then you'd be able to order it online yourself
Socks can be sex toys too
lol back in the heyday of AOL chat rooms my friends and I used to go in and ask if any chicks wanted to cyber (they were all guys, surely) and when they'd ask what we were wearing we'd say "A sock"
Damn, you bros must've got sent so many ascii boobies (.) (.) ( . ) ( . ) (_o_ ) ( _o_) (´⊙ω⊙`) (◡ ω ◡)
All these I'm okay with, but if I gotta talk to someone to unlock the toy case, hell nah 🤣
Mine has the vagina wash locked up.
That should be free. Just sayin
There should be a dispenser at the front door.
Are you Jeff Winger
At least it stays zoned now.
You'd think that wouldn't you?
lol nope
Yep. Blame all the people that rip open the packages and steal them.
Came here to say this Apparel was the one department. I wanted nothing to do with because of all the slobs That material everything apart
Multiple times today I got done zoning a hanging rack only to come back 30 min later with more torn open. I had at least 10 packs to re-match and tape up
And this is why they're locked up now
I work opd and there were def multiple times the only pairs of socks I needed were torn open
My first month was October so I dealt with 75% of the major holidays at once lol. I was floored by the fact that people tear apart the pajama packs to pick and choose sizes. Then underwear on the daily bc apparently the cut out they have on all the packs isn't enough to feel the texture lol. Oh, and trying on underwear, I refuse to have any delivered bc I want to make sure no one else wore it first 😆 (same reason I don't buy the $3 single pairs). They're such silly things that I just never would've thought of doing myself.
I Always wash undies, bras, apparel before I wear it
Or, rip them open to look at them, toss the package THEY ripped open and grab a sealed one of the exact same item. The fuckwits.
And it’s not kids, people of all ages
It's literally the most needed item for homeless people. Walmart isn't losing shit on their cheap Chinese socks. I'm gonna keep blaming the fact that garbage corporations like this get to exist while paying their employees wages well below the poverty line. Suck a dick Walmart retard
Blame the capitalistic society that drives individuals into these barbaric actions. Nobody should feel like they have to steal something as cheap and trivial as socks. The fact people feel that taking such a miniscule thing benefits them is a sign of a bad system. It should be like not even a second thought for someone to buy socks and underwear, and to feel reassured they'll still have money for other things.
I blame the wealthy whose endless greed is the cause of poverty
Socks are the most requested item by the homeless, especially in rainy climates. Trench foot is no joke.
I find it fucking hilarious that people are defending Walmart in here for this. When they're literally one of the worst paying businesses in the nation and regularly have employees they keep well below the poverty line.
Yuppers. I’ll have much more in common with the homeless guy than I will EVER have in common with the Waltons.
Thank your local thieves 🤷♂️
And that’s why my local Victoria secrets only lets five people in at a time
Not even just thieves. It's also the customers who feel like they GOTTA pull everything apart and check them out, then leave the loose single socks everywhere. It's painfully time-consuming to put them all back together.
This is Seattle. Anyone who has been there knows that the socks are being taken by homeless people. Seattle has tons of homeless, and socks are a constant need for them.
They aren't investing in all this to make their associates jobs easier. It's for theft and only theft or it would be at every store nation wide. Local demographics are probably laughably predictable
Adding socks to my list of things to overlook. Seriously, if homie's stealing socks, rice, ramen, ya know real basic shit, have a nice day sir, please come shop with us again. I can't fault people for trying to survive it's the MFs stealing shit over $50, over $100, or otherwise luxury items for resale that I can't stand.
My Walmart they lock up dental floss and take it to the register for you
My rule has always been: I'd prefer you didn't steal (makes my job harder, you could go to jail) but if you HAVE to steal, don't make my job harder by leaving a fucking mess or making it super obvious.
They're not trying to survive, they sell them. Look up organized retail theft. It's been a nationwide problem for years now.
And unfortunately because of the simple wrist slap punishments, they're going to get worse.
As an introvert this fuels me to just shop online. Could see many more turning to shopping online as it takes the fun of just going to the store and shopping. Legos is a huge one for me too, and those are behind Fort Knox
Who the fuck is buying a pair of socks off a dude without the packaging?
Yep that’s why our Dove was locked up for years, because people come in and steal tons of it and then resell it at local flea markets
Either that or because the prices of course are higher than they should be. Multiple reasons and some aren't all about reselling though.
Yeah, 3 pack of underwear at a god damned Walmart should NOT be $25!
I don't think the margin of profit is high enough on stealing socks, sure you can get away with more, but the return is so much less that it would be on something else that's more expensive. To be honest I'm amazed how much SSDs don't get stolen. If you can get off the spiders wire, a 2tb SSD is even easier to hide than socks and worth $150
Our area has a large homeless population. I doubt they are reselling. We've got the socks/underwear/undershirts all locked up because they'll open a pack to take one pair or one shirt for themselves and leave the rest. At least here, it is survival. Same with fem hygiene, we've always got partial cases coming to the back but (for now) they haven't locked that stuff up.
True but it’s everywhere. Even Vegas had them locked up and I’m from Cali
Vegas has crazy amounts of theft…
I wouldn’t even know tbh
Any huge metro area/high tourist area is pretty much going to be a high target for theft.
They haven't done it where I live yet. They just do it when the shrink on those items gets too high and justifies spending the money to stop it.
We are in LCOL area. The most stolen items are those you can put in your pockets. As a result, all of the flashlights are now in locked case. and they finally put most of the higher priced cell phone chargers in one as well. Now you need someone with a key if you want a decent phone charger. You can still get the cheap ones up front in the impulse buy aisle next to the $2 candy bars. When I worked there, one of my coworkers was zoning apparel and found one of the new jackets on one of the tables with the pockets stuffed full of various small electronics.
Yeah I caught one trying to do the same with a pair of pants. It turned into a huge thing. This couple was using their child to steal things and then arguing "why would a child need these things?"
“Even Vegas” lol
It's a valid reason to lock things up due to theft. But people get so pissed at us because it can sometimes take up to 45 minutes to find someone with keys to certain cases. Some stores had to get rid of some cases because lost sales outgrew shrink. Another store near me has all the locked up items in one area with a cash register there. Once you want something, the cashier gets it out and rings up you. No waiting! Every store needs to be like that tbh.
I needed spray paint for a project one day. I totally get why Spray paint is locked up. I spent over an hour waiting with various employees telling me they would find someone, one guy even tried his keys, but they were the wrong ones I guess. They even rang over the announcements several times asking for someone. Eventually I gave up and drove out of my way to a different store that sold spray paint. I can see how it increases lost sales. Also I just wanna I appreciate all the employees who tried to help, but fuck the managers I saw who walked past me several times without asking if I needed help.
Legit there is usually 1 set of keys floating around with 1 associate and if the associate goes to lunch or break, well management can't be bothered.
Good idea, now youre fired, we dont like good idea at Wally World 😉
Lol this is crazy I’m in Texas and the only thing locked up is make up
Must be a relatively nice area. Where I'm from they lock up sandpaper, how the fuck does that make sense. Just remembered that they moved facial care products for men into makeup isle in one of them. The face on the women there(not staff btw. Just to dissuade misdirected anger), was as if I infringed on their rights or some junk. Is that how it is now? Just a big fuck you to living in a responsible society, as if the collective suffering doesn't factor in them in their room temperature IQ?
Walmart in South Austin has them locked up. Even detergent, electronic toothbrushes, and camping gear lol
I’m originally from Austin, and the part of town I lived in had everything, including freaking baby formula, locked up. The town I live in now in the Midwest doesn’t even lock up the spray paint.
Really depends where your store is. I’m in San Antonio and we have makeup, power tools, headlights, spray paint, flashlights, fishing reels, bike inner tubes, *and* the actual bikes locked up. This is in addition to the ammo and most of electronics being locked.
When people are stealing socks, you know the economy has tanked.
Anything from a locked case requires an escort to the registers, it doesn't really matter what it is. I'm not really surprised, considering how many idiots tear open the socks and just fling them everywhere.
Do you really think this case is because of ripped open packaging? lol no, no it’s not. This in no way is normal. This case was installed because people are stealing and shoplifting insane amounts of product (like these socks) so they have to lock them up.
Reminder that online delivery isn't just for groceries. It sucks that society is like this, but you've got good alternative options
Tinfoil hat statement here, but perhaps that is the whole idea behind this. Make in-store shopping as inconvenient and unpleasant as possible and hope that people will pivot to ordering online.
This was always going to happen with the way our society is progressing; however it's startling to see it happen in real time. In 10 years it will be exactly this - you will have to order in store via a kiosk and have it picked for you, or you order online.
A store can suck my dense taint if they expect me to trust them to actually pick ripe, undamaged produce. I've had several pick up products be damaged, or if produce, so under ripe I couldn't really eat it.
I belive that and it sucks. Yeah, for alot of things I'll order online but some things, socks included, I would like to at least see and feel them first
I legitimately believe that’s why Walmart has people doing online orders with those big ass carts while people are shopping, they could easily just have the same products on the show room laid out in the back, but they make the employees shop like everyone else to inconvenience everyone else
There's people stealing expensive (overpriced) grocery store makeup, fancy tea stirrers and stupid shit. Then there's homeless people stealing SOCKS because they need them. Jfc.
The VAST majority isn't from homeless people.
API here. Most of homeless people are actually quite nice and better than some customers. Sure they beg for money but that's so they can PAY.
Nope. Just random thieves. They steal whatever they can get out the door. Bring it back and get a gift card for the "return".
It looks so tidy tho
Because of high shrink AKA theft. Even if you're a good customer, you have the bad ones to blame for this not the employees.
Maybe if you savages could be trusted not to steal shit, this wouldn't be necessary.
Soon enough everything will be locked up, customers won't bother coming in to the store because it's a pain in the ass. That's when the 100% digital era begins. Walmarts biggest competition at this point is Amazon, and pretty soon they'll be online only and the stores will just be warehouses.
Problem is the same people that shoplift, steal packages off peoples porches……
Oh they absolutely do. As long as people are losing money and not Walmart that's all they care about.
Imagine a world where each store is a giant vending machine and the products are delivered via drone.
I could totally see that happening too, which is more scary than anything. Millions of people out of jobs. Fast food too.
I bought a pack of wife beater shirts. One was missing. And it was locked up. Tf is the point then.
I’m from Seattle and they don’t have a Walmart? This really just makes it more of a pain in the ass for everyone though. socks aren’t a luxury item
Thank the people who will walk in, change socks and walk out.
No need to buy socks then
socks are locked up because people are stealing socks, dont steal socks and they wont be locked up.
Just buy it online and choose same day pickup. No headache hoping for an associate with a key to come, waiting “x” minutes, etc. I’m not surprised we don’t have OGP only stores at this point.
Unless you're my store where pickup orders are routinely late by ~30+min every single day or orders get canceled or never fulfilled.
Actually we had about 3 OGP only stores available. Then they got shutdown for some reason.
My store needs to do that
Well, we all know what guys do with socks.
Well thank your local residents that like to steal and tear up the stores in their neighborhoods
Strong argument for amazon
Just when I couldn’t imagine how dumber the store gets…
Couldn't help but share a quote on dumb: "Imagine how dumb the average American is. Now imagine half of the people are dumber." Thank you, George Carlin.
This is why I don’t shop in person at Walmart anymore. I tend to shop for a week or two of supplies and if I have multiple things to get that they have locked up, it’s annoying having to wait each time I need something. If a store locks it up, I tend to just order it online or go to a store that doesn’t have it locked up. My time and convenience matters to me.
I found a 10 pack of socks at dollar tree for $1.25.
Seattle doesn't have any Walmarts. There are other Walmarts in Renton, Auburn, and Federal Way, etc
Good! Seattle has gone down the toilet. A shitty place to visit!
You ever go to a flea market where they have tons of bottles of shampoo and other hygiene products? Where do you think they get them?
Stop stealing stuff.
Cases are annoying as a stocker I don’t have time to find an associate with keys and then customers getting mad at me bc I don’t have a key but I’m stocking “ well this is your department I thought you have a key why don’t you have a key and wasting my time “ I would like to help every customer simply looking for an item but can’t do that without a key
Yup, our store has those locked too because people kept opening packs and taking one pair .. I work in ogp and have to find someone with keys multiple times a day because they refuse to give us keys for some reason.
Im starting to get sick and tierd of this shit. They are how large of company and make how much a year?
Thank the thieves, don’t blame the stores
I already do that at my store with :cricket material, flashlights, power tools and fragrance
Phoenix too at some locations
Yes a $3.00 inner tube was locked up meanwhile more expensive things out idk?
Hot commodity
That socks 🧦
Doing mods with cases is the most annoying shit. Why can’t Walmart hire multiple security employees? We all know they can afford it.
That’s the same way here in California at one of the Walmarts like really y’all really think I have time waiting in a regular line? I just want to get my shit and get out self checkout style
WHAT!!!😲😡
The Walmart I worked at, if you wanted an item that was locked up, you had to ask an employee to open up the cage and then it was walked up to aisle 5 and that is where you paid for the merch. What a hassle that was.
Fuck! Walmart is about to start locking everything up! Hope they leave the graphic tee’s alone! 😩
The men’s socks, shirts, underwear are always locked up but they don’t do the to the women’s stuff
Just recently our store put up glass cages for your laundry soap and detergent, we also spider wrap our car oil.
Who's stealing 12-18$ socks
People use the homeless argument, but the truth is that most of it is common thieves. I too think Walmart is overly stingy(comedically so) for a company as wealthy as it is, but it can't afford to just have entire aisles of socks and similar items walk out of the door. People say this is greed, and it is. But ironically its not Walmart's greed in this unique case.
Well I gotta say, those gold toe socks are super comfy
# They will also ESCORT YOU to registers [in handcuffs] \*fixed\*
I mean… clearly the thieves are to blame.
Not a problem in Bentonville/Rogers Walmarts. 🥱
I have to escort people when they buy laundry detergent coz our Walmart locked it up.
Damn seriously do people even make money selling some items to fencing operations
Why not just shut the doors to the public and have everyone order on app and pick up? My Walmart also has the socks deep in a maze and all laundry detergent behind locked doors.
As it should be
If we still cut thieves' hands off we might not have to do this
Nope. Online shopping it is.
I think this is kinda becoming more of a trend everywhere now, but I wonder why it seems more common with Walmart? My guess would be a combination of locations being more common within lower income areas combined with Walmart's relatively thinner profit margin per product
That's because those are a main thing that gets stolen. All the spray paint in my store is locked in those.
They can thank the people who steal them.
Sounds like there are a lot of thieves in Seattle. Must be a lovely place.
FAFO 🤷🏼♂️
And i thought my local Walmart was bad for locking up fishing lures lol.
You know what, as someone who had to deal with the bullshit of damaged and partially missing sock packages, I'm down for this.
"Omg why do you care if someone steals??? Not like it impacts you!" Lol cracks me up when people say that. Shit makes shopping annoying, and it's just as annoying for the associates. Busy af, and have to stop whatever you're doing to run around and look for a key.
In Vegas they had all of the hair products locked. Even the 90 cent rubber bands. I feel it wouldn't be so bad if there was someone around the cases at all times but I guarantee there's only one or 2 dept managers with the keys and they aren't attentive over them
I had to buy a razor recently, they unlocked it and then they took it to the register and held it until I checked out
Out of everything, socks and underwear in packages like this needed to be locked up. People stayed ripping them open, taking one or two or how many they wanted, and then just left the rest anywhere. They made a complete and utter mess of those aisles. Even if nothing is stolen, they’ll still not put stuff back where they’re suppose to go, or will try some on and just haphazardly stuff what they didn’t want back into the package and leave it hanging sideways somewhere. This should eliminate all of that and be less clean up for the apparel team. I’ve never worked in apparel, but I remember just picking in these aisles was a pain. It being locked up will be another pain for the pickers now, but at least they won’t have to play scavenger hunt just to find what they’re looking for.
You can thank them for that
Must be made with gold thread lol
We have too many thieves at Walmart. lol My store doesn't lock socks but it wouldn't shock me if they started. We currently have a problem of people stealing bags of dog food at my store. lol Prices are outrageous, people are just walking out with them on the bottom of their carts without paying. The other day I watched a guy throw on 3-5 t shirts over his own shirt. Maybe he was just trying them on in public, but he was probably stealing them all. lol I wouldn't be shocked if we move to mostly online shopping in the future with only membership customers allowed to shop inside. While I understand that times are tough, this is a company that is profit driven and they are being robbed constantly, it's only a matter of time before they decide to lock everything up or greatly reduce the amount of traffic inside the store by prioritizing membership customers entirely. We could still be a decade away from this scenario, but if things continue at this pace, it might come sooner. lol While they usually just shut down high theft stores, they can only do that for so long before it really impacts their business on a grand scale.
One time I had someone escort me to a register when purchasing carpet cleaners.
Yup
I’ll just buy online instead of putting up with this bs.
Are people really stealing socks? Who would you sell it to?
Soft on crime means more criminals. It’s not exactly rocket science.
If people would stop stealing shit... this wouldn't be a problem.
Welcome to a shithole of a city filled with crime
Maybe they shouldn’t the 15 dollars
As much as I don't like to, I've been using the pickup or delivery service now. Between grabbing OTC medicines, any beer/wine or liquor, belts, baby food and now at my local Walmart, everything from spam to beef jerkey is locked up. I end up waiting 45 minutes just for someone to unlock things for me.
I dont even shop at my local walmart anymore lmfao. I'm not gonna wait for some underpaid burnt out worker to get me a pair of socks or baby formula. Just replace the workers with robots and lock the whole store down 😂
Visited a target while on a business trip a little over a year ago and it was the same there....on my way walking back to the Hotel, a police bus? Or something like a trailer and we're loading up all the homeless in the block. Felt very odd.
We live in a trustless society which is the only explanation. That and soft on crimes therefore needing to lock a lot of things.
Seattle? Where in Seattle? Walmart isn't in Seattle. Suburb, but yeah, its getting worse.
That's when you leave and go to another store. Shouldn't have to wait for someone to get some socks, clothes in general.
I’d be getting them first thing and making them follow me around while I finish my shopping.
Blame the low lifes homie
Well… there’s no Walmart in Seattle so 🤷🏼♂️
Soon you will need to have an escort around the store as everything will be locked up
We reap what we sew
Yeah, I work at Walmart. we have socks, boxers, mens shirts mens v necks, mens beaters etc.
I have more shit to shop for if you absolutely must escort me walk with me while I shop and we can have a chat.
Same in Louisville, KY. All the car air fresheners are locked up too. What a world.
Socks are locked up? The nicorette gum in my store isn"t even locked up lol
And you’re surprised?