CVS Tests Letting iPhone Users Unlock Product Cabinets Without an Employee

[iBreatheApple]

Considering this is where we are… this is genius and might set a precedent for the future of shopping until (if ever) society gets its **** together. Not that I want it. But it’s smart. Just don’t raise prices to pay for the integration. You’ll be saving money from the lack of theft.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. They don’t want to pay anyone, just have people come in and leave money. It’s why they are firing checkers and replacing them with self serve checkout lanes. It’s why there’s never anyone stocking stuff that you can ask. It’s why the stores are ofted staffed by one person at the front and nobody else anywhere to help you. News Flash: When stores are staffed adequately, theft goers down.

And this is not just retail staff. Did anyone see the story about a bunch of long-term meteorologists being laid off by an owner of many stations to have The Weather Channel take over for daily weather reports in various cities? Apparently, WC will then record a local segment to sub in for the segments where locally-employed meteorologists would normally appear to do their job. Meteorologists are college-degreed scientists.

I'd be sweating a bit if I was local news anchors & sports.

It seems the ultimate goal is to eventually have no employees but then for all those people who don't have jobs (and thus incomes) to be able to just keep right on buying products & services. There's seems to be some fundamental flaw in that change. I can't quite put my finger on it. If only A.I. Siri existed, perhaps she could point out the issue???

 

[alexandr]

Because criminals don’t carry iPhones…. and do dumb things while simultaneously being logged into various apps. This gives new meaning to Buy One, Get One. There, I fixed it.

…and, you are missing the point man…. Really missing the point. This isn’t an app issue or a tech issue, this is a profound societal issue.

Additionally, the answer for everything isn’t that there is an app for this or an app for that; if I need to reinforce my point further.

Right, and it would be easy to match someone opening the cabinet against stolen items.

I'm not missing the point — I'm focusing on what the article is about rather than the hysteria you trying to steer me in the direction of. There are plenty of forums that focus on societal issues — do you bring up iPhones there?

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

Right, and it would be easy to match someone opening the cabinet against stolen items.

I'm not missing the point — I'm focusing on what the article is about rather than the hysteria you trying to steer me in the direction of. There are plenty of forums that focus on societal issues — do you bring up iPhones there?

Hysteria…. There is an app for that, I think it’s called Apple Journal.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Yeah, as others have pointed out… by locking up very expensive products. The iPad I just bought there wasn’t even on the floor—they wouldn’t get out of the locked back room to give it to me until I’d already paid for it. And then checked my receipt on the way out.

(I will add they also failed to enroll the AppleCare I paid over a hundred bucks for in spite of all that, so if I had been more ignorant and not caught that later and gone back to complain, I’d have gotten severely ripped off.)

So yeah, if Costco is our standard, the obvious solution is to make people pay first and then give them the product out of a locked room, then check again when the leave the building. Works wonders!

Not to mention that they put small things in absurdly large packages—if I want to buy an SD card or phone charger there, it has more cardboard and plastic than if I had Amazon ship it to me in a box. I shudder to think of the monstrous levels of waste that would result if every retailer did that, and it basically prevents them from selling anything physically small that costs less than $10.

Big boxes have been a solution since forever. In the 80s, CDs used to have big boxes so they didn’t fit in pockets. That evolved to more solid plastic security cases that couldn’t be removed without a key.

Antitheft measures have been a thing since stores put merchandise on the floor. This is just the latest iteration.

 

[dannyyankou]

You might as well go a step further and let them pay for the merchandise at the same time.

 

[spazzcat]

This ^

Costco has figured this out a long long time ago

It is much harder to steal a 30 pack of something.

 

[dannyyankou]

This ^

Costco has figured this out a long long time ago

And in the few cases that they do lock merchandise, they do a better job at it. They hold high value items in the front, and you bring the empty box or merchandise card to the front. Speak to the person behind the counter, and they go in a room and grab it.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

What happens when the door doesn’t lock properly and things go missing?

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

In regard to Costco…. Costco isn’t a convenience store, comparatively speaking.

Walgreeens, generally speaking, is somewhere someone can get something with relative ease.

Most people aren’t going to go to Costco if they need one or two items. It simply isn’t convenient.

 

[brofkand]

Criminals steal things they can resell through amazon. It's an industry in California.

My local Apple Store has AirPods, thumb drives, keyboards, cases, etc., all unlocked. Is there no resale market for these items in California?

 

[alexandr]

Hysteria…. There is an app for that, I think it’s called Apple Journal.

You should give it a whirl!

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

You should give it a whirl!

I tired to use it but was geo-restricted because I wasn’t in a Walgreens or Costco. 😁

 

[big_papa_johnny]

You're joking, right?

What part of that sounded like a joke to you?

 

[Baywatchboy]

My local Apple Store has AirPods, thumb drives, keyboards, cases, etc., all unlocked. Is there no resale market for these items in California?

I'm sure there is and plenty of Apple stores have been hit, but items such as laundry detergent, baby wipes, deodorant, makeup, etc... are items that people buy more often and therefore, are easier to sell on a regular basis.

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

This locking everything up doesn’t seem to be nearly as prevalent as the media portrays it to be. Oftentimes, it’s stores that have been struggling for years due to mismanagement, and they just use 'theft' as an excuse to negotiate lease concessions and save some money.

That hasn’t been my experience, in the least.

Recently I visited two different REI stores in two different states and I started to notice smaller, in size and price, items with security mechanisms on them.

I thought to myself that seemed odd with it being REI and all. So, I engaged a store representative and they informed that they have been dealing with an influx of theft on everything; and these REI stores are hardly located in poor crime ridden areas.

This was also the case at a larger retail golf store that I visited as well. So, in my estimation, even with a small sample size, this isn’t a manifestation of poor management of the P&L statement, this is a much larger issue.

 

[Baywatchboy]

What part of that sounded like a joke to you?

For starters, your entire first sentence, "This locking everything up doesn’t seem to be nearly as prevalent as the media portrays it to be."

I guess if the media doesn't report something, it never happened.

 

[cocky jeremy]

I don't shop places where crap I need to buy is locked behind glass cabinets. Haven't been inside a CVS in years. I will not be treated like a criminal when I've done nothing wrong.

I think it's mostly ghetto areas. I've seen this about Walmart, Target, etc. None of them near me do this.

 

[big_papa_johnny]

I guess if the media doesn't report something, it never happened.

I'm confused as to how you came to that conclusion based on what I've said.

 

[brofkand]

I think it's mostly ghetto areas. I've seen this about Walmart, Target, etc. None of them near me do this.

Mostly true, frankly. There is nothing locked up in the Target near me except electronics like laptops and cell phones. All the cosmetics etc are unlocked.

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

I'm confused as to how you came to that conclusion based on what I've said.

That’s the conclusion I came to, also. No worries mate, just use the edit button and add conciseness if you want to make a more specific claim.

 

[ImmanuelKant_ObiWan]

I think it's mostly ghetto areas. I've seen this about Walmart, Target, etc. None of them near me do this.

Well, I don’t recall the study, but there was one completed that showed crime increase in areas where Walmarts were opened. I’ll try to find the reference.

 

[big_papa_johnny]

That’s the conclusion I came to, also. No worries mate, just use the edit button and add conciseness if you want to make a more specific claim.

My original post was adequately specific, "mate". Not sure what additional clarification you require.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Mostly true, frankly. There is nothing locked up in the Target near me except electronics like laptops and cell phones. All the cosmetics etc are unlocked.

It's real hood if the chapstick is locked up. 😆

 

[jinnj]

So what happens when you just want to get a bottle of pills and you have a Karen waiting for an employee and decides to bumrush you and grab her ****. Am I now responsible for that ****! CVS is best visited after midnight. All the garbage is at home sleeping.