Popular grocer adds ridiculous rule to prevent theft
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"Smile, you're on camera." That's what the sign says when I walk into my neighborhood supermarket. And while I recognize that security cameras are not a new thing, I can't help but notice that my local supermarket seems to have more of them lately.In fact, it's a little unnerving watching yourself being recorded while you're trying to manage the self-checkout lane. Anyone who's ever used one of those knows how quirky they can be. But these days, they're designed to make you feel like a hardened criminal if one of your items doesn't scan correctly. And don't get me started on the whole "unexpected item in bagging area" alert. Um, that's my grocery bag – you know, the reusable one I bring along with me to put my groceries into because my state banned both plastic and paper bags a long time ago.Rant over.But still, if it seems like supermarkets are going to pretty big extremes to prevent theft, it's understandable.Retailers reported an 18% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the National Retail Federation.And the Retail Industry Leaders Association says theft is routinely underreported. In 2023, for example, 105,877 incidents of theft were recorded, but only 11,547 actually made it into an official report that law enforcement had to address. Shoplifting has increased in recent years.Image source: Shutterstock Popular supermarket chain takes extreme step to prevent theftLarge supermarkets aren't immune to theft. Quite the contrary — the larger a given store is, the easier it might be to slip out with a stolen item unnoticed.One Safeway store, however, is now going to a pretty big extreme to prevent theft.Related: Costco quietly lowered prices on key itemsAt the Safeway on San Francisco’s King Street, you basically cannot leave the store unless you make a purchase.The Mission Bay location has installed new gates that open automatically when customers walk in but trigger an alarm if people attempt to back out. This means that if you enter the store and change your mind about making a purchase, or if the store doesn't have the one item you came in for, you're stuck.That's because the exit gate only opens if you scan your receipt on the way out.Of course, if you end up in that situation, you're technically not trapped in the store or forced to spend money on something you don't need. You could always find a security guard and ask to be let out.But let's face it — who wants to do that? And who knows what sort of scrutiny that might trigger?Consumers could face more hassles checking out at the supermarketSafeway's new anti-theft measures aren't necessarily a new thing in retail. They're also not new for San Francisco — a city that's been plagued by an uptick in crime in recent years.In 2023, SFGATE reported that a number of stores in the area quietly began disabling self-checkout lanes to prevent theft. That year, a Safeway location in the Fillmore District got rid of self-checkout, while the Target location on Mission Street did the same. Related: Dollar Tree raises prices again, frustrating budget shoppersSafeway then continued removing self-checkout options in 2024. As the company told SFGATE last year, "Operational changes have been made at select stores throughout the Bay Area given the increasing amount of theft."At the time, Daniel Conway, vice president of government relations for the California Grocers Association, told the outlet, "This is just the beginning of this.”While it's easy to call retail theft a San Francisco problem, the reality is that it's a national issue. And as retailers grapple with losses from theft, they're apt to start implementing more extreme measures to prevent customers from stealing.What might that look like? It's hard to say. But imagine, if you will, that instead of showing your Costco receipt to a smiling employee on your way out the door, you instead have to wait for a scanner that not only reads your receipt, but reviews your cart before you're allowed to exit the store. That could cause huge bottlenecks on a regular basis. More Retail:Costco CFO makes rare pricing promiseHome Depot faces growing consumer boycott calls ahead of holidaysTarget’s efforts to make amends with customers hit a snagAmazon lawsuit could be a warning to other employersAlong these lines, it won't be surprising to see more supermarkets employ the technology Safeway recently did, thereby leading to big delays in customers getting out of stores and on with their lives. If retailers do increasingly put these safeguards in place, though, they'll need to come up with a solution to the no-receipt problem – because it's pretty darn ridiculous to risk ending up trapped inside your local grocery store just because you didn't end up buying anything.Related: Home Depot issues dire warning on housing market, economy