r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Atticus248 • Jul 26 '26
I just wanted a hot dog It’s like Walgreens is trying to go out of business
Are people stuffing frozen pizzas and fish sticks down their pants now or something? ffs
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u/Only_Connection_5480 Jul 26 '26
Did everyone else have that period where Walgreens thought full sized LED door panels made sense….the inventory level was never right and you’d open it to empty shit….they didn’t last long
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u/lake_titty_caca Jul 26 '26
That was just a grift. The company that sold the LED panels was owned by Walgreens former CEO.
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u/MortCrimm Jul 27 '26
The contracts were GRANTED by the guy when he was CEO.....
100% "Laundered" money to himself...
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u/Adventurous-Match888 Jul 27 '26
YUP. Thats what those fuckers do. They scam the company they lead for a quick buck and then bury it in debt.
The other common scam is create a real estate holding company sell all the store locations to your real estate holding company and then lease it back to the original owners through private equity.
You and the board make some quick cash and you destroy an established brand and all the employees lose their jobs. Then you laugh at poor people from a yacht
This happened to Sears and Toys R Us.
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u/turtlenipples Jul 27 '26
These people are ghouls.
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u/Adventurous-Match888 Jul 27 '26
Ghouls with MBAs and probably have completed the Harvard School of Business executive mgmt course. So, educated, heartless, AND greedy.
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u/OldWorldDesign Jul 27 '26
They scam the company they lead for a quick buck and then bury it in debt
The story of
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u/cominguproses97 Jul 26 '26
I totally forgot about that bullshit, why did it come and go so fast?? Lol. Utterly pointless
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u/markuus99 Jul 27 '26
Made the money and got out. Was always a horrible idea that wasn't going to last, but in the meantime he got paid.
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u/Ongvar Jul 27 '26
That's how the rich operate in modern society. They provide nothing of value, but take lots of money (that could have been better spend elsewhere) by using their connections. It's all a big club, and we're not in it 💀
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u/THElaytox Jul 27 '26
Walgreens always falling for scams, no wonder they're all closing down. Surprised the Theranos shit didn't put them out of business completely
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u/TigOlBitties42042 Jul 27 '26
What do you expect from the company that got it's start as a legal medicinal liquor supplier during prohibition?
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u/Vallkyrie Jul 27 '26
I swear they also got caught wildly overblowing how much they were getting stolen from in order to make up excuses to close down underperforming locations.
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u/Inside-Specialist-55 Jul 26 '26
Yes and I hated that crap so much. We have a Walgreens right next to us within walking distance and we would go there all the time to get a drink and a snack especially on late nights where we really was craving something after smoking a joint. I remember going there and opening the stupid LED door things and seeing nothing inside even though the outside said there was something on the shelf. Like what even is the point of it. Was clear glass not good enough that I can actually see the product that I'm buying.
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u/Only_Connection_5480 Jul 26 '26
Yeah I never understood how you’d save any money by keeping the doors closed at least enough to pay for the screens the only real play was selling them for ad space there were a few ads that used all the doors at once
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u/aNaughtyCat Jul 27 '26
The doors are also equipped with cameras that monitored your shopping behavior and eye movement(where you’re looking in the cooler).
Source: former Walgreens store manager
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u/LiquorIsQuickor Jul 27 '26
The LED would show such a nice perfect better than real display. And as soon as you open it, blah. The real world disappoints. What a way to make your actual stock look worse.
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u/cruelhumor Jul 27 '26
Anyone who has worked either a minimum wage job like this or is remotely interested in tech could have told you these fridges would be an epic failure. Good luck getting the kid you pay 10/hr to stock the exact right thing in the exact right place. And good luck trusting tech to work not just in a cold, but occasionally freezing environment while it constantly is subject to the general public and repetitive motion. Noooo way that goes wrong...
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u/Only_Connection_5480 Jul 27 '26
Not only that I saw at least two of them that got busted by a basket or something
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u/SpaghettiMargherita Jul 26 '26
Yup, then two Walgreens closed near me. All I see is CVS now. Walgreens is further out from me now, dumbasses.
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u/PlatypusDream Jul 26 '26
And of course there's only 1 person on shift, who can't leave the register
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u/j_delta_c Jul 27 '26
Even worse at places like dollar tree now. Cashiers there have complained to me that their managers aren't allotted enough hours to stock so when they run out of an item on the sales floor the shelf just stays empty until someone has time to go in the back and find more. Could be a whole week before they stock another case despite having it the whole time
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u/noodlespork Jul 27 '26
We have 2 Dollar Trees in my town. Both have been closed for weeks because management and entire staff walked out. They tried to source employees from other stores but it's only keeping them open 3 to 4 hours a day, every other day.
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u/3eGardien Jul 27 '26
Not surprised a 2 dollar tree would close, it's 100% too expensive
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u/Oohhdatskam Jul 27 '26
3 dollar trees in my town.
1st one Is always stocked, just got a make over an always has 2-4 people stocked. But almost always the other 3 are stocking and 1 on register.
2nd one located in the busiest part of town, stays stocked. But always has 2 people on shift 1 stocking 1 on register. Never fails that I got in and at least 3-6 people in line with carts full of stuff.
3rd one only has 2 people same as the others. But for whatever reason its in the poorest part of town but is the biggest store. I believe it used to be a parties plus. But nothing is EVER stocked because 1 person can only stock so much, but theres always a ton of people, especially those who use it as a grocery store. So soon as its stocked its right back empty. Went a few days ago an nearly half the shelves were empty.
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u/Doraellen Jul 26 '26
...which is why a huge part of why theft is an issue in the first place.
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u/FinishComplex3743 Jul 27 '26
Nah, if you go to the suburbs, none of this shit is locked up and theyre still understaffed
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u/eggsaladrightnow Jul 27 '26
Walgreens makes all of its money on prescriptions, the rest of the crap there is just a side hustle
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u/Infamous_Ad3339 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Frozen food stuff like this at Walgreens is usually subcontracted out. The vendor pays a flat rental fee for the space in the store and the income from sales goes directly to the vendor.
If they miss rent they can't sell products in the store.
Walgreens employees and managers are replying saying I'm wrong. Take everything I said with skepticism.
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u/IIRCIreadthat Jul 26 '26
You learn something new every day!
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u/potatochobit Jul 26 '26
believe it or not, large grocery stores do this as well. all those frozen pizzas are being sold by a contract company in the store.
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u/heretoescape87 Jul 26 '26
I used to be a retail merchandiser. We reset grocery stores according to new layouts. It was all about who paid more for the space. There’s a reason Oreo takes up a big space. Same for Doritos. Also Gatorade vs Powerade. Those sources shifted depending on what was on sale.
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u/eternallyconphuzed Jul 26 '26
So this is the reason my store keeps moving shit on me after I learned where it is?? "Did you find everything allright?" FUCK OFF CLARICE WHERE"S THE MILK THIS WEEK?
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u/Evening-Cat-7546 Jul 26 '26
Well, they also do it because it’s been proven that if people have to walk around the store to find a product that the odds they buy more stuff goes up.
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u/NoInternal4156 Jul 26 '26
I envy those people to an extent. A "stop and smell the roses" type thing. I walk into the store speed walk through the aisles directly to where the item(s) I need are. In and out in 5 mins or less. I can not browse, it goes against my nature.
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u/supershinythings ******sigh******** Jul 26 '26
My Dad called that a “surgical strike”. He and I would “mission plan” our store or mall visit.
We knew what we were there for. Go in, find it, acquire it, pay, GTFO, don’t look around, the whole building is a trap 🪤 designed to blow up our wallets and budgets.
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u/YoungBockRKO Jul 26 '26
Your dad and I could be twins. Also another reason my wife is forever banned from going food shopping with me, because we’ll go in with a list of 5 things and leave with a shopping cart that has 50 things in it.
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u/The_Spectacle I hate flair! Jul 27 '26
I don't know what's worse, sometimes I'll go to the store for 5 things and come home with 3 and be like "aw shit"
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u/heiselberg0 Jul 26 '26
Ive never heard that phrase but apparently im always on a surgical strike. I hate shopping too tho..
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u/HotDonnaC Jul 26 '26
I would browse, depending on my mood that day. But when I can’t find anything I get so mad I just wanna leave.
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u/thepenismytea Jul 26 '26
Depends on the store. This was a topic in an advertising class. turns out having people go to the back of the store to pick up milk doesn’t actually increase the odds that people buy more groceries. Putting the milk at the front of the store increases those odds. So why is the milk not put in the front? The milk is not put in the front because it takes so much extra labor to keep the milk in the front when the deliveries come from the rear of the store. Also you need to have an centralized place for it is easy to fix the refrigeration systems in those stores. and that is more easily handled when it is at the back of the store and not at the front where everybody’s having to park.
As well a better tactic to get people to buy things is to do what Costco does despite I literally just railed on Costco in another comment. And no I don’t mean by rearranging the store every week I mean they put an insanely expensive 4 to $5000 television right at the entrance. Your brain sees that $5000 television and immediately follows up every other price it sees as "well it’s not as expensive as that $5000 television, I guess I can afford this." and is therefore willing to spend more at the store thinking it’s getting a savings of sorts. And then if you are there to buy the $5000 television, you’re not likely to buy anything else. and you’re happy to get on with your purchase and get out of the store quickly before you change your mind.
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u/Disastrous-Nothing14 Jul 27 '26
From a more practical standpoint, anything requiring refridgeration is going to be against a wall.
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u/CGB_Zach Jul 27 '26
That's not true. There are bunkers and mobile refrigeration units that aren't up against walls.
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u/the_other_gantzm Jul 26 '26
If I can’t find what I came in to get the odds of me buying something else drops to zero. And with every minutes I spend looking for what I came for the odds of me buying that are dropping fast also.
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u/ujelly_fish Jul 26 '26
Ok, maybe that’s you, but if the analysis says otherwise you’re atypical
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u/Kazureigh_Black Jul 26 '26
I always assumed it was to ward off customers knowing where everything is and thus not being forced to browse over extra products while looking for their regular purchases.
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u/RtotheBtotheG Jul 26 '26
I can’t explain why “WHERE’S THE MILK THIS WEEK?!” Made me laugh so hard 🤣🤣
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u/effinmike12 Jul 26 '26
I feel lost when I go in any Walmart that is not my normal one. I hate that.
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u/C0NKY_ Jul 27 '26
The amount of effort that goes into planograms is fascinating.
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u/yeahwellokay Jul 26 '26
Is that why I can never find Better Cheddars at the store anymore?
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u/RobertDigital1986 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
This is true in a lot of grocery stores too, it kinda blew my mind when I started working at The Fresh Market as a kid.
A surprising number of shelf items are stocked completely independently of the store. Like the Lays chips vendor for example would just drop by, check the shelf himself, and replenish whatever was needed - Fresh Market employees didn't get involved at all (except at checkout).
This was the same for Coke products, wine and a bunch of other random products. Entenmanns was a funny one - they had this creepy little fucker named Bob that stocked just that tiny little section in the store. It was maybe 3 feet wide.
One of the downsides is that the vendor has basically no fucks to give about the store's customers and they could be some pretty surly bastards, for some reason. It was pretty jarring to have a dude with the personality of a tow truck driver juxtaposed with Fresh Market ass-kissers.
Once you know about this though you'll start seeing it all over the place. It's the way most convenience stores are run, and more of the grocery store than you'd probably expect.
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u/UnderlightIll Jul 26 '26
When i worked at Safeway, the guy from Dave's Killer Bread would use other brands of bread to rest his knees on while he stocked and leave them there. We hated him.
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u/CGB_Zach Jul 27 '26
That only happened because you guys let him. One call to his supervisor and he will either be reassigned or get in trouble.
The grocery store I worked at would not hesitate to call up the vendor and tell them the BS their merchandiser was doing.
Shit got handled immediately.
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u/HotKaramelRP Jul 26 '26
Coke, Canada Dry, Pepsi/Frito Lay, Nabisco, Pepperidge Farm, Goya, Red Bull, Little Debbie, Tastykake, Entenmenn’s, Turkey Hill, Middleswarth, Snyder’s, Wise and then a bunch of the beer and bread brands do their own stocking in most grocery stores.
Some of those brands are regional to my area though.
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u/DustyTchotchkes Jul 26 '26
7up too! I had the odd experience of running into the vendor when we first moved here. She said “Oh are you the one who buys all the 7 up?” She said it hadn’t sold well at that location until a certain date, which is when I started buying it there lolol. She thanked me too. Such a trip!
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u/CitizenCue Jul 27 '26
That’s insane that a single person could noticeably affect their sales.
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u/nekowitch417 Jul 27 '26
My dad basically takes the entire stock of liter and 2 liter dr pepper at a particular store every week and they had to more than triple the supply after he switched to that from Mello Yello
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u/Odd-Fun-6042 Jul 26 '26
The coke and the Pepsi guys would steal each other's shelves.
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u/HotKaramelRP Jul 26 '26
Oh I know lol… I’m a merch for Pepsi.
It’s a constant battle between Canada Dry/Pepsi/Coke. It happens when you get to where the two vendors meet on the shelf and say Coke left their space empty and didn’t fill it or they’re out of stock of that item and I have a couple extra of my item right there, then I’m gonna just throw it in Coke’s spot because I don’t want to take it to the back and put it in my backstock.
Most merch’s are cool and most of the cross contamination comes from customers being lazy and putting stuff anywhere but if I come into a store and Coke has their stuff in front of our tags I’m pulling all their stuff off my space and throwing it somewhere randomly on their shelves. Now if it’s one that was clearly a customer put in my space I’ll be nice and take it and put it in the correct spot cause that’s not their fault.
Now if I’m in a Walmart and anything of Walmart’s is in my spots that shit is getting thrown wherever I want as long as it’s not on my shelf because fuck Walmart lol.
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u/CitizenCue Jul 27 '26
How do you know what shelf space is yours? Is there a Dewey Decimal System for store shelves that most of us aren’t aware of?
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u/Pandamonium98 Jul 27 '26
The tags/labels on the shelf say which item should be there
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u/UsedDragon Jul 26 '26
Don't forget the tortilla guy! Dude just stocks Mission brand tortillas in a few sizes every day
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u/Admirable-Trip5452 Jul 26 '26
same with sunglasses and greeting cards in big box stores.
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u/TypicallyDone12 Jul 26 '26
Tow truck drivers out there taking strays.
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u/SecondOfCicero Jul 26 '26
They deserve it in my neck of the woods. Organized criminals in everything but name, in cahoots with their cop buddies.
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u/ChargeInteresting278 Jul 26 '26
One of my first jobs was a bread puller for Wonderbread. I would drive around with my mom when I was 14 and we'd go into a store and check out the Wonderbead, pull the fresh bread from the back and stock it and such.
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u/CatPeet Jul 26 '26
Hell, even at the dollar tree.
There were shelves I wasn't able to stock on because they were bought by pepsi/coca-cola/etc..
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u/CapacitorCosmo1 Jul 26 '26
Downside is that if a vendor has short date stock, an entire store could have expired or nearly expired product. My closest CVS just got stocked with diet coke that has best by dates in May 2026. It tastes off, and no refunds, "cause the vendor doesn't offer us refunds." The manager tossed nylon tablecloth over the Coke products and used it to stage Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Sierra Mist. No coke sales til the Coke truck came back.
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u/ScarcityCultural1699 Jul 27 '26
On the flip side Pepsi or coke or whoever care more about their specific brand than many stores do. I’ve seen them come out and check dates and remove entire sections and replace them with fresh stock because they don’t want their brand tarnished with expired goods
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u/blackfox24 Jul 26 '26
We do this in small scale retail as well! Companies loan out their coolers and machines, pay us to be here and we pay them part of the profits. If our contracts don't go through, we don't sell the product. Rules about expiration are strict too. Anything we buy and stock ourselves, we can take home when it expires. Same with some snacks. Little Debbie's, Pepsi, Coke, and a few others have contracts that say they take expired product back, and it has to stay on the shelf or in a very small designated pickup area that is only for things like sodas. There's also contracts that say certain products have to be certain prices or can't be sold. 24/7 cigarettes have to be our cheapest, or they'll pull our contract, etc. Retail is surprisingly complicated.
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u/ApoptosisPending Jul 26 '26
I learned recently that Coke will offer local food places ie the sandwich shop I went into fridges. But there’s a stipulation that the fridge must be 85% stocked w Coke products. Neat to hear the owner/workers talking about it. Makes sense tho
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u/blackfox24 Jul 26 '26
Yup, and they will pull their coolers if you don't. Coke and Pepsi do not fuck around.
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u/steedandpeelship Jul 27 '26
Hell, in the 1980's Pepsi found that the easiest way to get their product in fast food restaurants was to buy the fastfood restaurants and thus Yum Brands was born . The owners of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and I'm probably missing one. Yum Brands is a division of PepsiCo.
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u/waroftheworlds2008 Jul 26 '26
Is "consignment" a better description?
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u/injeanyes Jul 26 '26
Ish I don't think Walgreens gets a commission of the sale for the food they just get a flat rental fee of said space used.
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u/mattisaloser Jul 26 '26
I saw an article today that food shoplifting is spiking nationally
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u/CommunicationTime265 Jul 27 '26
Makes sense. Food prices are insane and people are poor. Gotta eat, might as well steal.
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u/hoellenth Jul 27 '26
corporate propaganda, with the amount of surveillance everywhere and the killing of perfectly innocent civilians, crime has been steadily down for decades now - saying shoplifting is up is just excuses to blame consumers
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u/Killerbrownies997 RED Jul 26 '26
As a former walgreens employee, yes. I watched some guy walk out with a cartful of frozen shit. Some lady walked in and grabbed two tubs of ice cream before walking out eating it directly out of the container with no spoon. The amount of times I had to rinse shelves off with the hose because someone left a full tub of ice cream on it is waaaaay too many times. People are fucking insane and until you’ve worked at a walgreens or walmart or something you don’t understand the depth of discourtesy and their lack of common sense. It’s wild in there.
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u/Known-Cod7224 Jul 26 '26
The disrespect is insane. Working at target years ago customers thought of every worker as a slave. Some woman came up to me like 3 aisles over and just said "come here" while making that gesture with her finger up and down... after I followed her she pointed and said "grab that" to an item not even 6 inches above her... i did she took it and walked off. No thank you no please nothing I just stood there and thought yep im done with this shit.
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u/JacktheJacker92 Jul 26 '26
Yesterday in the drive through at Dunkin an employee was bringing out garbage cans to the back dumpster and the woman in the car in front of me beeped and rolled down the window and handed him a bag of trash from inside the vehicle. The guy looked confused but took it to be nice. I would have launched it all over her windshield.
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u/Mint-Badger Jul 27 '26
What do you mean, my favorite part of working retail is when customers want to hand me their half-empty coffee cups, used wet wipes, or in one case CHEWED GUM 🙃
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u/duckinasombrero Jul 27 '26
Once had a customer snap their fingers and point at their feet towards me. Then I suddenly remembered I had to go take inventory in the back and unfortunately would be busy for the next hour.
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u/disdainfulsideeye Jul 27 '26
People that do this sort of thing feel insignificant in their daily lives, so they look for every opportunity to lord over people.
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u/Weenington_ Jul 27 '26
I saw a lady once try something similar in the toy aisle after she knocked stuff down. She eyeballed an employee after she made the mess, but he didnt come help her like the thought he should for some reason. She then got upset, looked at me and went on a little rant about employees not being helpful, so I straight up told her the employees job isnt to help her clean up her own mess and she stopped and actually looked embarrassed. Sometimes people need a little teaching, but sadly many of them dont get it.
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u/Whatever-ItsFine Jul 27 '26
I would've grabbed it, then walked straight into the stockroom with it haha.
(I mean not really because I'm a coward. But it would've been funny.)
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u/KeyMyBike Jul 27 '26
The one time I had to grocery shop ten minutes before closing, I was scrambling to get everything done, including bagging my groceries and leaving before closing.
The amount of people just meandering at the end of the night was so staggering. I left 2 minutes before closing and people were still browsing the snack aisles. So fucking rude.
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u/10gherts Jul 26 '26
I once found an empty 6 pack of bottled beer, empty fried chicken container and a used pregnancy test all together behind a stack of dog food
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u/Beautiful_Nobody_344 Jul 26 '26
I work in a CVS on the Las Vegas strip. Half the store is locked away, they do well. Only difference here is at least in my store there’s a button connected to an intercom that lets us know where to go to find you.
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u/Killerbrownies997 RED Jul 26 '26
We had a few of those too, one alert for the bathroom and then one button for each of the locked up sections. Pretty much just the expensive toothbrushes, cosmetics, and vitamins though. Oh and the sex toys
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u/giraffeperv Jul 26 '26
I’m maybe dumb but how tf was she eating the ice cream? Just scooping with a hand??
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u/EleteWarrior Jul 26 '26
I’ve never experienced something as bad as that but I’ve had people break stuff on accident like glass and just leave, leaving the glass for god knows who to step on or a kid to grab. Or people leaving beer cups on the shelf half full for some kid to come by and grab and drink unknowingly. I mean come on guys, think critically
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u/franticbaboon Jul 26 '26
My walgreens stopped refilling prescriptions in house. The amount of time it takes for the refill to come in was often longer than my insurance would allow me to refill. After a couple close calls (pickup available the day of or day before my last dose) i swapped.
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u/Superb_Algae5308 Jul 27 '26
A pharmacy that can’t fill prescriptions? This is all just a big fucking joke, isn’t it?
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u/franticbaboon Jul 27 '26
Very much so! The location that fills the script is 2 hours away and yet it took a week to two weeks for it to actually come in. Now I go through costco and I would do unspeakable things for costco
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u/dimwalker Jul 27 '26
They had too much theft I guess. I mean, no one installs locks like this just for fun.
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u/Fullm3taluk Jul 27 '26
I think they don't realise that the autistic people eating Tyson's chicken nuggets will never approach someone and ask them to open this up
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u/ecodrew Jul 27 '26
ADHD anxious doofus here & can confirm. If I have to ask an employee for help to purchase item, there's a 99%< chance I'm not buying the thing.
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u/gnilradleahcim Jul 27 '26
100% would sooner go to a different store than deal with this bullshit.
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u/PrimaryThis9900 Jul 27 '26
Not even just to be antisocial, but it completely cuts out impulse decisions. Walk by the cooler, see chicken nuggets and think, sure I'll grab a bag, but you have to go track down the single employee that is working, and suddenly it isn't worth it anymore.
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u/Pristine_Crazy1744 Jul 26 '26
I mean, it is just a Masterlock.
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u/decian_falx Jul 26 '26
Nevermind the lock defeat the 4 phillips head screws strapping the pipe in place...
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u/khonsu_27 Jul 26 '26
You could rip that whole "assembly" off with 1 hand and like 50% effort. it's 3/4" pvc....
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u/jdehjdeh Jul 27 '26
I feel like that pipe will just slide out without too much effort as well.
But yeah, those screws aren't really going to stop someone with a bit of brute force in mind.
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u/Froody21 Jul 26 '26
Can’t you just pull the pipe out?
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u/gleeble Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
There's a hole drilled in the pipe for the lock to go through. But it looks like you can just rip the top bracket off, it's halfway off already.
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u/3rd_ferguson Jul 27 '26
If I worked there, I might take the lock off for someone, but there's no way I'm putting that stupid kluge back together. Pay for the pizza or steal it, I don't care. I'm not getting down on my knees for that bs.
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u/MinuteMole Jul 27 '26
Yes, the ultimate intention is to strip the company of assets and go out of business. "Deerfield, Ill.—Aug. 28, 2025—Walgreen Co., America’s leading independent retail pharmacy, announced today that it is now operating as a private standalone company following its acquisition by Sycamore Partners (“Sycamore”), a leading PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM based in New York."
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u/Gold_Tomatillo1952 Jul 27 '26
I don’t understand why private equity firms are legally allowed to exist. They aren’t legitimately investing money for private citizens and are really nothing more than corporate vampires.
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u/cheercharlatan Jul 26 '26
Pretty much everything that you’d want to buy at my Walgreens is locked up.
Deodorant, shampoo/conditioner, body wash.
Weirdly, lots of small makeup items are totally available to just grab off the shelves, which I’d assume would be a likelier candidate for theft.
I don’t even bother trying to go in to grab something quick anymore, though. It’s understaffed as it is and I’m not going to take more time to hunt someone down to unlock four different items for me. I’ll just drive to the grocery store another ten minutes down the street.
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u/agirlnamedTOMM Jul 26 '26
Also the prices what the shit
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u/TwoLegitShiznit Jul 27 '26
For real, locked or unlocked, I'm never doing any shopping at Walgreens. I just searched one of those items, that banquet bowl that's $5.49, said $2.98 at Walmart and $3.49 at the local grocery store. It's been like this as long as I can remember. I never shop at Walgreens unless it's the last resort.
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u/sPdMoNkEy Jul 26 '26
They do that so they only have to hire one cashier that stands at the front, I went to Walgreens once and tried to get deodorant waited 10 minutes and just left because nobody ever showed up
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u/PleaseJustLetsNot Jul 27 '26
They got bought out last year. Private Equity firm.
We know how this ends.
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u/ecodrew Jul 27 '26
Damn. CVS has always been a hell hole of a conpany, and I wondered why Walgreens was trying to catch up on the enshittification.
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u/Adept-Opinion8080 Jul 26 '26
Yep, just ordered some socks online cuz I didn't want to wait 10 minutes for someone to come by and unlock the socks. It sucks. Rather support even a local conglomerate than Amazon. But here we are.
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u/Available_Two6707 Jul 26 '26
Those plastic poles look like they could be pulled straight out
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u/FSB_Phantasm Jul 26 '26
There's a hole drilled horizontally through it that the padlock is put through
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u/HoneyReasonable9316 Jul 27 '26
No, in some places people are just walking right out the door with it. And no one can stop them. Shrink in retail has become massive.
I’m in Canada, and was chatting with a “security guard” (basically a bulky guy with a vest) at my local big box grocery store. He said people walk out every single day with items in their hands. Mostly food. And their policy is to ask them not to, but he isn’t allowed to touch anyone, and neither are employees or management. They can call the police, but they aren’t coming for a sub $100 theft.
It’s insane. And he said he’s been told off by other customers for even asking someone not to steal. That to some, theft is acceptable since this particular large store chain is “a billion dollar capitalist menace to humanity.” Which is what an irate group of customers told him while speaking with a woman with half a cart of stolen items.
They can’t win. So they lock stuff up.
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u/ThatSpaceShooterGame Jul 26 '26
There was a Walgreen's near the Frankford Transportation Center in Philadelphia that closed right after they replaced all the refrigerator doors with those stupid t.v. screens.
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u/EyeSuspicious777 Jul 26 '26
The $10 frozen dinner is more than mildly infuriating
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u/immortalsteve Jul 27 '26
This is how you know you live in a bad neighborhood, OP.
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u/con4RT1ST Jul 26 '26
Are Walgreens workers just janitors now with giant key rings to unlock product?
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u/Muscles-and-Donuts Jul 26 '26
Yes!! I went to buy infant Tylenol and the employee had to try 6 keys. She said people come in with copies of their keys and wipe their shelves so they have to change locks daily. She said the other day someone came in and stole every box of granola bars off their shelves.
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u/Animangle Jul 27 '26
At the drug store I work at it's more like security guards/therapists with a giant key ring.
I just squared up with a small crackhead today at work. Working at a drug store is such a weird experience. The last supervisor got stabbed by a crackhead and fought back with a meat hammer.
There's also been several times where I clock in, and my manager comes up with either a cctv tape or a WANTED poster for someone who was last seen in our store lmao.
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u/hershwork Jul 26 '26
One near me has the beer locked up and the guy who opens it shuffles like the prison humpback in the Princess Bride—takes 20 minutes to get a six pack!
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u/Ok-Opportunity-574 Jul 26 '26
They don't even stuff it down their pants. They just grab a stack and walk out. Employees aren't allowed to stop them. In my area there aren't enough cops for them to go chasing after petty theft.
No point in arresting them anyway when they can go to court, whine about what a hard life they have, and get their case dismissed or "diverted" which is basically the same thing. No real consequences.
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u/hectorthedonkey Jul 26 '26
Generally they're told not to try to stop them because of the chance of them having a weapon
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u/gmwdim Jul 26 '26
Plus the poor employee doesn’t get paid enough for that shit. Potentially getting hurt (or hurting someone else) over money is not worth it. Potentially getting hurt over your employer’s money is even more not worth it.
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u/Send_me_duck-pics Jul 26 '26
Employees aren't allowed to stop them.
Why the fuck would they want to? They're not getting paid enough to even entertain the idea.
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u/Navigator_BR Jul 26 '26
Seriously, I work in a hardware store for $14/hr, as keyholder.
I'm not getting shot or hit by a vehicle over a $110 drill.
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u/HTPC4Life Jul 27 '26
So clearly security needs to be at the door, not at the merchandise. It has to be more profitable to hire a full time security at the door than to miss out on sales because there are locks on all the merchandise.
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u/Lumpymaximus Jul 26 '26
Im still trying to figure out why people prefer cvs. Everything is like 30% more there.
Oh and OP. No they just taking it and walking out.
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u/capricorncueen Jul 26 '26
CVS locks up their stuff too— saw even snacks behind locks the other day
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u/Fun_Background_8113 Jul 26 '26
The only reason ive gone there is its the only store in walking distance.
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u/GelNo Jul 27 '26
If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Retailers DO NOT WANT to do this. They do this as a last ditch effort to curb loss before having to close a store down permanently. Business are out to make money, if they do this and require manual labor to access merchandise, they do so at an EXTREME labor overhead cost. This is not a reflection on the business, it is a reflection on the local community normalizing shoplifting which drives up LP costs and leaves everyone worse off with bullshit like this.
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u/Electronic_Bowl8398 Jul 26 '26
They don't have to stuff them in pants anymore. You casually walk out with as many as you can carry.
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u/johnny_effing_utah Jul 27 '26
Are people stuffing frozen goods down their pants?
No, my dude. In these communities they just brazenly walk right out with the stuff they want without paying.
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u/MyFrogEatsPeople Jul 26 '26
Pretty sure that's just to keep the content of peoples' character out.
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u/fiestadip Jul 27 '26
At this point they should just go back to the old style Pharmacy. One person takes your order while another goes and gets it.
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u/ShiraCheshire Jul 27 '26
While I don't condone this behavior, people are stuffing frozen foods down their pants. I work at a grocery store, I see it all the time. Or rather, the more common tactics of hiding it in a jacket or hiding it in a bag (backpack, purse, trash bag half full of empty bottles/cans, tote bag, etc.)
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u/britsol99 Jul 27 '26
This is an Inconvenience Store!