Tesco buyers fume at ‘obnoxious’ main change | UK | News | EUROtoday

Some Tesco buyers are livid because the grocery store introduces a significant anti-theft system. In an try and cease thieves, locked safety cupboards have been positioned on alcohol cabinets, with a ‘four-step process’ to open them.

The ‘Freedom Case’ tracks when gadgets have been eliminated, how typically the cupboard is opened and for the way lengthy. It additionally alerts employees when it detects ‘suspicious behaviour’. They have been rolled out throughout various shops however some prospects aren’t having fun with them. One in Swansea informed WalesOnline: “I presume it’s to try and stop people stealing stuff but I’m not quite sure how it stops them completely as you can still access the alcohol – you just have to wait a few moments before you can.”

Another mentioned: “You have to press a button – then there is a countdown, then it tells you that you can open the door. Perhaps when you press the button the CCTV watches you and stops someone just casually sticking a bottle underneath their coat as they walk down the aisle.”

The British Retail Consortium says theft from shops is “out of control” and prices retailers £2 billion a yr. Its March examine discovered that almost 1 / 4 of the UK inhabitants has witnessed shoplifting within the final 12 months.

Social media customers have additionally been complaining concerning the anti-theft units. Broadcaster Lorraine King wrote on X (previously Twitter): “Popped into Tesco to buy a bottle of champagne for my friend’s birthday and was confronted with this.”

Another poster added: “I would guess the security guard is looking at a camera rather than it being facial recognition but still, very obnoxious by Tesco.”

Martyn James, an unbiased client champion, mentioned: “Is there a sadder indictment of society than this – the fact that buying a bottle of booze is now like getting into a high-end luxury jewellers?

“If the epidemic of shoplifting and aggressive customer behaviour is not dealt with firmly and definitively, then we face a future where everything we buy is behind bars or plastic screens. That’s not a future I want to live in.”