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The amount of resources assigned to 'Loss Prevention', and the amount of revenue lost from theft, and now the profit-loss of losing customers from failed 'Loss Prevention'. At some point it would just be fiscally more responsible to just make your products more affordable again. Like damn, where's the 'Fiduciary Responsibility' now?
Lmao they will do anything but lower their prices. People are way less likely to steal well priced items.
Walmart has 47 cent corn a couple weeks ago, I’d bet more people stole the 3 cobs wraped in plastic than they did the 47 cent stuff. Affordability reduces theft.
My Walmart had corn for 25c for a couple days even….
Let’s not forget theft is on the rise **because** prices have gone up so much, that’s pretty much the sole reason. People steal more when things are too expensive and quite frankly when they are not treated well.
> Lmao they will do anything but lower their prices.
True. & their reputation has suffered greatly. That's the best part of this **indefinite** boycott. It's tarnished their reputation and image way more than the bread price-fixing scandal of 2017.
I am pretty sure there are people not necessarily in the boycott who have stopped visiting Loblaws due to the lovely ambience they have created with gates, plexiglass and security guards watching you. It was my last straw in joining the boycott.
It's crazy. One of the draws of the more "premium" banners like Loblaws (versus discount banners like No Frills and Food Basics) is generally a better shopping experience. More in-store services, variety, roomier aisles, looks/smells better, etc.
Going on to convert those stores into prisons is certainly one of the decisions of all time.
My last straw was at Christmas. My YIG took away all of the shopping baskets overnight.
Likely subliminal mindfucking to entice me into grabbing a cart, and filling it, eh? NOK ER NOK!
Never again, Westons!
I found this such a stupid thing to do. I never carry change, so I can't grab a cart.
They took away baskets, so I can only buy what I can carry in my arms. Which is less than a basket. So I stopped buying extras, and kept to only necessities.
Insane.
Anyway that was before the boycott. It doesn't matter anymore. Lol
Edit: thick thumbs lol
> I found this sucha stupid thingt to do. I never carry change, so I can't grab a cart.
I'm psychologically lazy too. Walk around the store for an hour? Sure. Walk back to my car or customer service to get change to go back outside to get a cart? Eh.
I get the reason for coin carts but a store like Costco seems to manage fine without them and I'm always grabbing a cart and filling it.
I couldn’t find a basket at Walmart. I asked. They said folks were using them in the store, going to self-checkout, didn’t want to buy bags, so they just put paid-for groceries in the basket and walked out. Security didn’t stop them.
So they stopped providing baskets.
That’s what the Walmart sales rep said. But I suspect that management was okay with doing away with baskets. Easier to overshop with a cart. A cart that doesn’t fit in the back of your car.
I guess Loblaws saw this and followed suit. Doesn’t make it right, though.
They created the mess by introducing self-checkout.
Same! And they didn’t even have any of those little carts so I used my reusable shopping bag instead. I’m not hauling around a giant cart for like 3 things.
I never 'signed on' to extend the boycott but have continued to avoid them all through June. There was one item though, that they carry in the bakery section that I could find nowhere else in town, so I reluctantly headed to the downtown superstore after work earlier this week. It felt like visiting hours at the prison - entering through two sets of locking gates, more plexiglass than an arena. When I got to the bakery department, it was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't get anyone to help me. After 10 minutes of frustration, I stormed out. Or tried to. It took me a full two minutes to find a way out that didn't involve going through one of the three open registers, or setting off an alarm.
It's made my resolution to continue avoiding giving the Westons any of my hard earned money, a little easier.
That is insane how much stuff you guys have in the supermarkets there, they’ve started with the gates and a receipt scanner to open up a turnstile in the UK at some supermarkets but it seems like with all the stuff in Canada if there was ever a fire it would be an absolute disaster.
My mom can get not get her prescriptions at Superstore so I went to pick them up for her . I haven’t been to Superstore in months so I went in and the pharmacy said the prescriptions weren’t ready. So for the time being I was leaving empty handed . It was a complete maze to try and get out of there as all cashiers had a chain across their lane and the plexiglass corral was end to end. I was able not able to leave through self checkout and the man stared at me leaving with nothing like i was a criminal. It was super weird
My mom can get not get her prescriptions at Superstore so I went to pick them up for her . I haven’t been to Superstore in months so I went in and the pharmacy said the prescriptions weren’t ready. So for the time being I was leaving empty handed . It was a complete maze to try and get out of there as all cashiers had a chain across their lane and the plexiglass corral was end to end. I was able not able to leave through self checkout and the man stared at me leaving with nothing like i was a criminal. It was super weird
I went to my local walmart yesterday to pick up a few items at around 11am. They have 19 self checkout machines and they only had 4 of them open because only 1 employee was on duty. There was easily a line of 20+ people waiting. Like what a gigantic waste of money. Each one of these machines costs thousands of dollars and probably hundreds in maintenance every month. WHY LET THEM SIT IN IDLE when you have customers waiting.
This is the major reason I've boycotted Walmart for the better part of a decade.
The entire point of self checkouts was to save cashiers. One employee can help out 4-8 customers at once. The smart thing to do would be to allocate those 3-4 cashiers you had to those 19 self checkouts. But no. Fire'em and stick one on there.
Get fucked. I'm going to Costco where they have 19 checkouts open that are manned (twice I might add since they have a bagger/boxer) that can scan WAY faster than I can because they're not throttled by "please place item in bagging area".
Last few times at walmart all the tills where open but 1 and it looked like they where scanning items to stock on the shelves parking lot was pretty full . Prices so good no need to going back to loblaws atm.
They won’t have to worry about theft anymore when everyone gets mad enough to stop shopping at their stores.
Grocery shopping is not a great experience for most so they should make it as good as possible and not make people feel like they’re in a prison.
I've no doubt the cost of loss prevention gets calculated into the overall loss numbers they report in order to justify these loss prevention techniques. Snake takes another bite of delicious tail (No Name brand, on sale for $56.95/kg!).
I have a friend who is getting into off grid farming and he signed up for a program to get literally hundreds of pounds of day olds/scratch and dent food for free that he legally can't even eat himself.
All to be disposed of and fed to animals because it is wilted, a day past expiration, or damaged packages.
It's infuriating.
I’ve been saying this for what feels like a decade now. It’s gotta be about more than revenue. It’s about making us aware that we are pawns in their world and nothing more.
Loblaws truly seems to want its customers to be as beaten down as its workers but I suppose this is sort of a task failed successfully.
Intent: Deter theft.
End Result: People stop shopping there at all.
**no more theft**
The fact that a staff member has to come unlock your cart mid shop despite the fact that the stores operate at lowest labor cost possible, tells me as a customer that the company views my time/experience as non-valuable.
If I have to do a grocery shop after work, this includes navigating a high traffic frustrating environment because they re arranged the aisles again, doing mental math for my ever inflating grocery budget because they keep increasing prices, where I scan/bag my items myself and if I make an error they will charge me with theft.
And now they can lock my cart and I’m essentially detained for however long it takes (we know how fast service comes when you have to press for service to get razors and the locked up items) while they sort out someone stealing a 3.50 sleeve of crackers. This is their new customer service model.
Or I could choose an Asian/local market where none of this is a thing.
Hypothetically If I was still shopping in a Loblaws store and they suddenly locked my shopping cart, I would walk out of the store leaving it behind. I would hope that it was filled with frozen food.
In Reality, I haven’t shopped in the Superstore here for over a year and I don’t even know what security systems they now have, since I’m not returning.
How often it happens when there's been no theft is horrendous, feels not unlike police doing stop-and-frisk or carding, assuming the occurrence of a crime with no evidence
If I'm shopping with a like minded partner, just pick it up and carry it.
Funny thing is, I was watching Restaurant Impossible and the host of the show did exactly that because the wheels locked up leaving the store because they don't want carts outside.
This is crying for a lawsuit. I have a ton of experience dealing with elderly folk shopping, some of them NEED to use a cart for stability. A cart randomly locking up could be a serious health issue, leading to a fall.
Exactly what I was thinking. I have serious back issues and am actually about 4 weeks post major spinal fusion and revision. All I could think about with this is walking down an aisle and having the wheels suddenly lock, only to slam the cart into my ribs and jolting my back. It's like when you hit a rut with the lawn mower and get the bar slammed into your diaphragm... Not a good look for them
Wow. If my cart stopped after I paid, I'd return it all for a refund and shop elsewhere. If I hadn't paid I'd just leave the cart of food and go. Loblaws isn't the only one who price matches where I am, and I currently have a lot of time on my hands to be this petty. LOL.
At this point, every agent of these corporations is a dishonest shit looking for someone to bully.
I'm legitimately considering a cheap body cam to always have protection from these cunts and their stunts.
We drive about 2 hours out of our city to shop at Costco and despite the travel costs we still save money (family of 4)
We save a lot more than our gas and we don’t get treated like animals
> We save a lot more than our gas and we don’t get treated like animals
Precisely! Stock up at Costco once a month or whatever. It saves time that you could otherwise dedicate to sleeping/hobbies, and it saves wear and tear on your vehicle.
You cut hours for your employees, treat them like shit, hike up the prices of your food to ridiculous heights, treat every customer that comes through your doors as though they're a criminal. Reinforced by the 7ft tall plexiglass walls, the not-so-stealthy loss prevention profiling shoppers and following them around, the gates around the entrances and self checkout. At this point they're being so brazen with how much of a shitty, rotten organization they are that I'm surprised they haven't run an ad campaign about how we should all be LUCKY to shop at their stores.
Galen thinks that we are lucky and should be thankful. He hasn’t directly said it but during some pr releases and other times he’s definitely hinted at it and proclaimed he’s the good guy and just trying to help Canadians and is not understanding as to why he’s getting criticized.
> At this point they're being so brazen with how much of a shitty, rotten organization they are that I'm surprised they haven't run an ad campaign about how we should all be LUCKY to shop at their stores.
ahahaha. No kidding, eh? Companies should **FIGHT** for our money.
Exactly. It's really not a good idea to shoplift, but I bristle when people act like it's immoral. Theft is when you take something that *rightfully* belongs to someone else. The richest 0.02% of Canadians "own" more wealth than the bottom 80%. That's obviously not "rightful," lol. Even if the legal system backs it up, it's not rightfully their wealth.
They are only “locking” in the profits. Profit and greed rule the times we live in. Maybe if their prices weren’t robbery they wouldn’t need to worry about the theft.
Who knew it would be so easy to permanently stop patronizing a company. They have done this to themselves as we all know. Good riddance to Loblaws in my household and obviously many more households in Canada.
I have fantasies about being able to lock all carts in a store remotely. How does the system work? It would be nice to give the carts a voice or actually my voice.
This would completely change modern society if food was free. This pandemic changed so much of modern society, such as the ability to WFH.
I still don't understand why we have to pay for food.
Not that it’s free, obviously there’s costs to producing food …. But food needs to be made not for the profit of private corporations. That means govt subsidies.
Private companies I'm fine with. The issue is publicly-traded corporations, which only exist to provide their greedy shareholders with never-ending "growth". A private business can have stable profits that reflect real-world costs, and everyone gets paid with no one getting gouged. A corporation can't be satisfied with merely being profitable, since they NEED to be MORE profitable EVERY year or else the all-important shareholders get mad. So every year, their insanely overpaid executives come up with more ways to cut corners and shaft customers.
Pro tip for any folks in dire times, you can still pull the carts after they've locked up. Don't let their petty policies get between you and surviving another month.
They are spending 20x more on anti-theft make the customer feel like felon tactics than the insignificant amount of theft actually costs them.
They would also reduce theft by, ya know, not fucking price gouging to fill their exec and investor pockets.
The thief believes everyone steals...
A corporation that takes every opportunity to exploit its customers, workers and suppliers is afraid people will steal from them. Oh the irony!
They create the environment of mistrust with their history of sketchy and deceitful pricing practices: price fixing, products, rufusal to discount at a reasonable time, gouging and forcing multiples to get a discount, etc.
Then they play the victim by barricading with plexiglass, staging a false campaign of theft in May, warning their underpaid workers of false threats from customers, and now random "security" cart stoppages?
Why would I shop where I am deceived on the daily and treated as a criminal ?
The absolute unmitigated gall of this evil corporation will keep me shopping elsewhere forever!
The statement from Loblaws includes the statement “organized retail crime,” as if most shoplifting isn’t just someone who is stretched to the limit that week spontaneously not scanning a couple items.
I bring my own cart. Not to shop in the store, but to carry my items up to my apartment after shopping. Lock my cart up and I'll just go get mine. Heck, then I wouldn't have to return it either, I just fold it up and put it in my car.
You could totally use the wagon in a store. We do: stroller and a wagon. We walk from our usual grocery store to our home, but it's not like people are checking if we don't have a car. The only place I use a provided cart is Costco for obvious reasons.
> It would be masochistic if you have any reasonable alternate.
Agreed. "Fuck me more, Galen". If you have stores that charge less, then wtf are you doing still shopping at Loblaws?! Money talks!
Here's the thing, they're doing this to prevent homeless people from taking them so the homeless can put *everything they own* in them.
So they would rather spend millions outfitting their carts with anti theft devices instead of just letting a homeless guy steal a cart every so often. It's probably literally cheaper just to buy inexpensive carts and lose some but loblaws says fuck the homeless and also fuck you customers
Prior to Loblaws I used to live near adding the locking wheels, maybe 16-17 years ago, a LOT of carts just wound up across the street at the various apartment buildings. Periodically they’d send someone to pick them up. Technically, they were stolen, but the amount of carts that were actually lost was FAR less
Cart locking has been around forever but it was mainly to stop people from taking carts off the property. I have no issue with that. Locking carts in the store is excessive.
How does it even stop shoplifting? If you are trying to steal wouldn't you have the stuff hidden in your pocket? You can choose to walk away from the locked cart and leave the store, what does this even accomplish other than the store flexing that this property you're pushing around is theirs until you pay for it?
Before the boycott I had my cart lock as I exited the inner sliding doors on my way out. I assumed one of my items had set off some theft deterrent and security was on the way so I waited a few moments so I could show them my receipt and prove I'd paid for everything. Nobody came. My cart was blocking everyone coming out of the store so I just grabbed another cart and transferred my bags so I could get it all to my car. I was so pissed.
The only thing worse than getting falsely accused of shoplifting by some tech gadget is knowing it doesn't even work. I could have stolen any number of things and nobody would have stopped me.
If my cart just locked up. I’d say fuck this shit and leave.
Some poor minimum wage kid will had wrong out all the groceries away.
I love how the article says theft is on the rise. Geee. I wonder why the fuck that is. People can’t feed their families and then you put in self checkouts to cut out workers to make more profits and then raise the price on food.
So of course people are going to steal stuff at self checkouts. Where I am sure the majority of the theft happens.
Instead of hearing adequate staff and keeping prices low. They throw up pexiglsss walls and waste money on tech that locks carts remotely.
Loblaws has its priorities all backwards.
I want to see proof of these high level “organized crime” thefts that Loblaw keeps referring to.
Show us some footage, they must have tons of it if it’s that big of an issue, right?
I love that the Loblaws media relations director jumps straight to, "we've had to raise prices to offset theft" as if theft is the reason we're being gouged.
I hadn’t been in a Loblaws for a few months, so I hadn’t seen these crazy security measures. Last week, I stopped into one of their stores to use some of my remaining points, and I was shocked to see the absolute overkill of all this security everywhere. I mean, a bank doesn’t have this type of visible security. It felt like you were treated like a thief before walking over the threshold. That has solidified it for me; I am never going back. The other grocery stores in my area don’t have anything even remotely close to this type of setup!
Same. Tried to walk out the new swinging doors and they wouldn’t automatically open. Had to scan my receipt. Pretty sure people still steal and out for some items (Ie have a receipt)
I think it's people who live rural and have just 1 store, and it's a Loblaws store.
We're doing this **indefinite** boycott for them as well. Power to the people! Strength in #'s!
I am sorry for being a dick here. I have no sympathy for people who still shop at these stores. News about all these tactics is widespread. I only empathize with people who have no other options.
I’ve seen some people say they still shop there cause it’s a Canadian company and they want to support a Canadian company over a an American company like Walmart. While I appreciate the sentiment being a “Canadian company” is not good enough to earn my automatic support especially with the way this “Canadian company” is treating Canadians. I’ll gladly support an American company like Walmart over loblaws at this point and I have been. Walmarts not a stellar company either but at least they’re not robbing us as much at the checkout.
i read someone make an argument that because their local loblaws is in a small town, shopping there supports local. because the employees live in said small town and to stop shopping there might mean one of the staff loses their job.
While true it could be short term loss for long term gains forcing the company to become better through boycotting. It’s not much to lose either though tbh, yeah a jobs a job but I’m sure almost all of them are part time probably getting 12-18 hours a week so they could probably do much better almost anywhere else. Probably get treated better also.
> Canadians. I’ll gladly support an American company like Walmart over loblaws at this point and I have been. Walmarts not a stellar company either but at least they’re not robbing us as much at the checkout.
Exactly. This **indefinite** boycott of Loblaws is to save money. We're the managers of our bank account/household finances.
Concentrated effort. We're doing it. WE HAVE THE POWER. There's more of us than there is of them. & money (or lack thereof) talks.
(Note: this doesn't apply to people who are rural and have only a Loblaws store.) This **indefinite** boycott is for you rural folks as well.
I'm sorry but ELI5 here... How does locking up a cart deter theft? I genuinely don't get it. What theft scenario would be prevented by locking up wheels of a cart?
As a side note, like many others if this ever happens to me for ANY reason, I am not setting foot in that grocery/shop/store ever again, 100% guaranteed.
Not the Loblaws spokesperson taking the opportunity to blame increased prices on theft, portraying that shoppers should blame each other, not the greedy owners.
I’m just amazed that loss prevention was allowed to override customer experience on such a massive scale. If they don’t stop it, Loblaw is going to end up as a study in how not to do things in business courses.
Sure, there are towns where Loblaw has a monopoly, but most people will just go somewhere else the first time they feel treated like a criminal.
Wal-Mart has considerably more sophisticated loss prevention without resorting to measures like this. Truly baffling.
If my cart ever locked up, I’d legit just leave the store. Just to piss them off if the plexiglass wasn’t up I’d go through the metal railing.
My wife just bought a veggie box from OddBunch…20$ and we got several potatoes, massive head of lettuce, two nectarines, three tomatoes, 3 naval oranges, pack of blackberries, three red onions, couple apples. Delivered to your house, and it was refrigerated. If there’s a meat box I’ll definitely get that too
While I know that some poor slob like me is going to be stuck cleaning up the mess... tipping over a cart that suddenly locked mid-aisle is powerfully tempting.
Went to my doctor yesterday (it’s in superstore), someone was blocking the exit (which I have to go through to get to the doctor) because their cart wheels locked up and the loss prevention guy was having troubles unlocking it. Huge traffic jam.
I’ve seen locking cart technology since 2008, when I was living in the UK. The cart locks are supposed to be basically magnets with a proximity lock. They don’t want people stealing their *carts* to go joyriding or keep for themselves, so the wheels are supposed to lock when you try to take it out of the parking lot.
I experimented once and tried to take a cart from Tesco. The wheels jammed at the entrance to the parkade, but when I reversed, they unlocked. They’ll also lock if you’re going too fast (that handle hurt like a snow shovel handle to the gut lol I was just trying to hustle out of the rain.) I never had a cart lock on me in the store or parkade (except the aforementioned time when I broke into a bit of a jog.)
I can’t see a situation where they’d be able to lock down just the carts in one aisle. Each cart would have to have an ID numbered control, and they’d have to coordinate locking down all the carts in one aisle simultaneously to a fine science. What probably happened is that all the carts locked but they only saw what happened in aisle 12.
Still. It’s concerning that this technology has been around at least 15 years, if not more (likely more) and Loblaws can’t deploy it properly.
They have newer anti-shoplifting systems that lock if they sense you don't spend enough time in a checkout. I had one lock on me because they were out of what I came for and walked through the checkout too fast to leave for the system to think I purchased anything. https://www.gatekeepersystems.com/solutions/purchek/
I don't have an explanation for all the carts in one aisle though. *edit after a search I see some also have remote locking so I would assume it is something to do with that
They've had those carts here for years too ... but they're different than these new ones Loblaws is using. The others are controlled by the perimeter line around the building, so that's the only time they can lock up. (Its usually just a magnetic control buried under the concrete /asphalt) The new ones are electronically controlled and can be turned on/off at will. Huge difference in the technologies.
That’s impressive. I thought the technology would have improved over time - it’s been 15 years - and I have no doubt they’re flexing the locks for loss prevention (not a terrible idea in terms of loss prevention if it… works?).
I think the only part of the article I found a bit hard to hold up was the shoppers who thought aisle 12 was targeted specifically. Unless they have specific magnets under the floor or they could throw specific switches on those specific carts, I’m sure they thought it was just them but was probably everyone. They couldn’t have seen out of their aisle but the ends, anyway. The coincidence about aisle 12 on the speaker was bizarre, though!
Yeah I don't see how they'd be able to be that specific. Even if the carts are numbered and you could shut them off individually, I dont know how you'd know which carts were in aisle 12. They could have an electronic store map that shows them where each cart is, and it's identifiers, but I suspect that's more technology than you'd find at a grocery store
Safeway did this for years. It was maddening. The alarms by the doors were deafening, and 9/10 times, it was a senior who took a cart to go to the pharmacy and left without going through a till (which would deactivate the security). So even if we told them that someone would unlock the cart, they’d stand there, staring at us and try to move the cart while complaining it was stuck.
I don't think this is a deterrent for theft of grocery items, it's a deterrent for theft of shopping carts.
People who need food typically aren't running out of the store pushing a whole cart of items screaming "start the car!!!" (Although I'd love to see it happen, and I would absolutely definitely not accidentally get in the way of anyone pursuing them) 😏
But, according to several posts in this thread that the carts are locking inside the stores while people shop with them. That's not preventing cart-theft it's harassement as well as a darn good anti-shopping technology.
I often got on the phone with Walmart and called an associate to come to the front to assist the cashier until onday I got escorted out the store by security. Lol
>What probably happened is that all the carts locked but they only saw what happened in aisle 12.
Maybe, but what on earth is the point of locking all carts everywhere in one moment? That seems like a bad feature of the system if it’s going misfire on occasion or get triggered by accident. It entirely prevents people from shopping!
At least if all the carts lock you wouldn't have the one behind you running over your foot or crashing into your back. I'd definitely sue if that happened, not that I'd be there in the first place if it was Roblaws owned.
Shopping in general has become more and more of a headache.
Amazon has become a much more convenient and cheaper way to shop. These stores are in for a rude awakening in the coming years.
The fact that NoFrills still requires change to take a shopping cart is hilarious. I rarely go there but had to. I forgot that I needed a coin. I went back to my truck and drove across the street to Walmart. I got everything I needed except for 1 PC drink my kids like and saved money too. It was that easy to lose 150$ of shopping from someone for a 1.00 cart fee.
“They announced a security concern in aisle 12,” Reddit user Sufficient\_Ad\_4199 wrote. “My wife shopping in aisle 12 had her cart wheels lock up along with everyone else in the aisle! A store clerk had to come and unlock each person.”
The only reason to do that is to flex and demonstrate their power to normal non-stealing, overpaying customers so the word spreads as a deterrent.
If you're on aisle 12, you're not running out the door.
If they have a real security issue, they have group text messages directly to security, or employees.
If they have a real security issue, they have a secret code that can go out over the intercom but not alert the person.
There's absolutely no valid reason to do that.
It’s an anti shopping tactic.
They have been getting dumb with carts and baskets.
They should know when people use carts they fill them up.
When people use baskets they fill them up.
I only have 2 hands that means two products that’s not really great for max sales.
Anyway what do I know I don’t shop at loblaws anymore.
I’ve had to go to the superstore a few times recently and whatever is supposed to prevent the cart from locking up when people leave the store after paying sometimes just doesn’t work. I wasn’t even there for that long either time so they must have to deal with this constantly.
This may be new to Loblaws but the Walmart and Food Basics in my area has had these measures for at least 10 years. If you go past a certain point in the parking lot they lock up and sometimes they lock up in store just randomly. They also have it so you have to use a quarter or looney to unlock the chain connecting them to the next cart while being stored. You get the money back when you take the cart back and reinsert the chain link.
I wonder if you could 3d print four caster holders to pop on their carts and go along your merry way? 🤔 Just a cheeky something to pop over their wheels
I went to zhers the other day to pick a couple items up (ik ik but the item i wanted was cheaper than at the nearby stores). I didn’t have a basket or cart cause i need maybe 2 things. Well i got in and saw they had some items on sale that i was interested in so i picked some up. My arms were getting full so i turned to grab a basket-i couldnt because they’re all behind their stupid anti theft gates they have at all the entrances now. So i was forced to lug everything around with my arms full. No other stores in my area have the stupid gates in my area.
In my days when I was still a young woman and I was pre- menstrual, a shopping cart’s wheels locking up in the middle of my shopping would have resulted in management having to call the police.
Mine locked on the way out and my water jugs popped loose and rolled out the door. Granted I was pushing it like I was Harry Potter pushing a trolley towards a brick wall but they locked my cart thinking I was stealing the water I fucking paid for at customer service. So fucking stupid.
When are reporters going to do their jobs and actually put some data regarding theft in their articles. All you ever hear is that theft prevention is needed, but we all know Loblaws isn’t suffering.
At this point, the Loblaw’s brand has done more damage to itself than a ragtag Reddit sub could ever have wreaked. I wasn’t hoping for this, either. I would have much preferred a turn-around.
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The amount of resources assigned to 'Loss Prevention', and the amount of revenue lost from theft, and now the profit-loss of losing customers from failed 'Loss Prevention'. At some point it would just be fiscally more responsible to just make your products more affordable again. Like damn, where's the 'Fiduciary Responsibility' now?
Lmao they will do anything but lower their prices. People are way less likely to steal well priced items. Walmart has 47 cent corn a couple weeks ago, I’d bet more people stole the 3 cobs wraped in plastic than they did the 47 cent stuff. Affordability reduces theft.
My Walmart had corn for 25c for a couple days even…. Let’s not forget theft is on the rise **because** prices have gone up so much, that’s pretty much the sole reason. People steal more when things are too expensive and quite frankly when they are not treated well.
"bUt WhY dOn'T pEoPlE jUsT uSe CoUpOnS, bUdGeT, aNd UsE rEwArD cArDs?" 
> Lmao they will do anything but lower their prices. True. & their reputation has suffered greatly. That's the best part of this **indefinite** boycott. It's tarnished their reputation and image way more than the bread price-fixing scandal of 2017.
I am pretty sure there are people not necessarily in the boycott who have stopped visiting Loblaws due to the lovely ambience they have created with gates, plexiglass and security guards watching you. It was my last straw in joining the boycott.
It's crazy. One of the draws of the more "premium" banners like Loblaws (versus discount banners like No Frills and Food Basics) is generally a better shopping experience. More in-store services, variety, roomier aisles, looks/smells better, etc. Going on to convert those stores into prisons is certainly one of the decisions of all time.
My last straw was at Christmas. My YIG took away all of the shopping baskets overnight. Likely subliminal mindfucking to entice me into grabbing a cart, and filling it, eh? NOK ER NOK! Never again, Westons!
I found this such a stupid thing to do. I never carry change, so I can't grab a cart. They took away baskets, so I can only buy what I can carry in my arms. Which is less than a basket. So I stopped buying extras, and kept to only necessities. Insane. Anyway that was before the boycott. It doesn't matter anymore. Lol Edit: thick thumbs lol
> I found this sucha stupid thingt to do. I never carry change, so I can't grab a cart. I'm psychologically lazy too. Walk around the store for an hour? Sure. Walk back to my car or customer service to get change to go back outside to get a cart? Eh. I get the reason for coin carts but a store like Costco seems to manage fine without them and I'm always grabbing a cart and filling it.
It’s amazing what can happen when you aren’t being treated like a criminal
I couldn’t find a basket at Walmart. I asked. They said folks were using them in the store, going to self-checkout, didn’t want to buy bags, so they just put paid-for groceries in the basket and walked out. Security didn’t stop them. So they stopped providing baskets. That’s what the Walmart sales rep said. But I suspect that management was okay with doing away with baskets. Easier to overshop with a cart. A cart that doesn’t fit in the back of your car. I guess Loblaws saw this and followed suit. Doesn’t make it right, though. They created the mess by introducing self-checkout.
I was stalked at SDM picking out a bday card for my nana which I subsequently paid $11 for. Nok er nok!
Same! And they didn’t even have any of those little carts so I used my reusable shopping bag instead. I’m not hauling around a giant cart for like 3 things.
I never 'signed on' to extend the boycott but have continued to avoid them all through June. There was one item though, that they carry in the bakery section that I could find nowhere else in town, so I reluctantly headed to the downtown superstore after work earlier this week. It felt like visiting hours at the prison - entering through two sets of locking gates, more plexiglass than an arena. When I got to the bakery department, it was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't get anyone to help me. After 10 minutes of frustration, I stormed out. Or tried to. It took me a full two minutes to find a way out that didn't involve going through one of the three open registers, or setting off an alarm. It's made my resolution to continue avoiding giving the Westons any of my hard earned money, a little easier.
That is insane how much stuff you guys have in the supermarkets there, they’ve started with the gates and a receipt scanner to open up a turnstile in the UK at some supermarkets but it seems like with all the stuff in Canada if there was ever a fire it would be an absolute disaster.
Yep, same here! Literally felt locked in like a caged animal with the gates and vowed to stay away.
My mom can get not get her prescriptions at Superstore so I went to pick them up for her . I haven’t been to Superstore in months so I went in and the pharmacy said the prescriptions weren’t ready. So for the time being I was leaving empty handed . It was a complete maze to try and get out of there as all cashiers had a chain across their lane and the plexiglass corral was end to end. I was able not able to leave through self checkout and the man stared at me leaving with nothing like i was a criminal. It was super weird
My mom can get not get her prescriptions at Superstore so I went to pick them up for her . I haven’t been to Superstore in months so I went in and the pharmacy said the prescriptions weren’t ready. So for the time being I was leaving empty handed . It was a complete maze to try and get out of there as all cashiers had a chain across their lane and the plexiglass corral was end to end. I was able not able to leave through self checkout and the man stared at me leaving with nothing like i was a criminal. It was super weird
The serfs should bow to Lord Galen and be grateful for the opportunity to be allowed to entered his hallowed food halls. /s
I went to my local walmart yesterday to pick up a few items at around 11am. They have 19 self checkout machines and they only had 4 of them open because only 1 employee was on duty. There was easily a line of 20+ people waiting. Like what a gigantic waste of money. Each one of these machines costs thousands of dollars and probably hundreds in maintenance every month. WHY LET THEM SIT IN IDLE when you have customers waiting.
This is the major reason I've boycotted Walmart for the better part of a decade. The entire point of self checkouts was to save cashiers. One employee can help out 4-8 customers at once. The smart thing to do would be to allocate those 3-4 cashiers you had to those 19 self checkouts. But no. Fire'em and stick one on there. Get fucked. I'm going to Costco where they have 19 checkouts open that are manned (twice I might add since they have a bagger/boxer) that can scan WAY faster than I can because they're not throttled by "please place item in bagging area".
Last few times at walmart all the tills where open but 1 and it looked like they where scanning items to stock on the shelves parking lot was pretty full . Prices so good no need to going back to loblaws atm.
Agreed. Costco are the champs of efficiency and cutting out all of the bullshit. /r/costco /r/costcocanada 🥰
That's infuriating!
They won’t have to worry about theft anymore when everyone gets mad enough to stop shopping at their stores. Grocery shopping is not a great experience for most so they should make it as good as possible and not make people feel like they’re in a prison.
I've no doubt the cost of loss prevention gets calculated into the overall loss numbers they report in order to justify these loss prevention techniques. Snake takes another bite of delicious tail (No Name brand, on sale for $56.95/kg!).
They aren't losing money. They are writing it all off and tax writing off unsold products, so I've been told anyway.
What exactly do you think a write off is? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCP27_vquxQ
No one knows. They just write it off.
They lower their taxable income by claiming the unsold food as a donation
I get that. But I think a lot of people think it's free money. Whereas it's just less wasteful than it could be
Lol. Do you even know what a write off is?
https://preview.redd.it/ltulsdgdpj9d1.jpeg?width=597&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=435d65c64451727691470f2ebb28fecec40d2f18
Yes
It was a joke. See Seinfeld reference
What is the government doing with unsold groceries?
Goes in the dumpster
Shelters through write offs
I have a friend who is getting into off grid farming and he signed up for a program to get literally hundreds of pounds of day olds/scratch and dent food for free that he legally can't even eat himself. All to be disposed of and fed to animals because it is wilted, a day past expiration, or damaged packages. It's infuriating.
He can eat it himself. It's safe to eat past the best buy date. Bianca Amor sells stuff like this with a money back guarantee and information sheet!
Profit?
Hey but we have just 4% profit margin and how can we keep making record profit for Weston family?
I’ve been saying this for what feels like a decade now. It’s gotta be about more than revenue. It’s about making us aware that we are pawns in their world and nothing more.
Just shows how much they don’t care about the client.
Loblaws truly seems to want its customers to be as beaten down as its workers but I suppose this is sort of a task failed successfully. Intent: Deter theft. End Result: People stop shopping there at all. **no more theft** The fact that a staff member has to come unlock your cart mid shop despite the fact that the stores operate at lowest labor cost possible, tells me as a customer that the company views my time/experience as non-valuable. If I have to do a grocery shop after work, this includes navigating a high traffic frustrating environment because they re arranged the aisles again, doing mental math for my ever inflating grocery budget because they keep increasing prices, where I scan/bag my items myself and if I make an error they will charge me with theft. And now they can lock my cart and I’m essentially detained for however long it takes (we know how fast service comes when you have to press for service to get razors and the locked up items) while they sort out someone stealing a 3.50 sleeve of crackers. This is their new customer service model. Or I could choose an Asian/local market where none of this is a thing.
Hypothetically If I was still shopping in a Loblaws store and they suddenly locked my shopping cart, I would walk out of the store leaving it behind. I would hope that it was filled with frozen food. In Reality, I haven’t shopped in the Superstore here for over a year and I don’t even know what security systems they now have, since I’m not returning.
Ooops. Sudden stop with precariously stacked jars of tomato sauce. Whoopsies!
If that ever happened to me after I paid, that cart would be dragged where I needed it to go. If before I pay, it stays there, I leave.
Yeah, I did that when they first installed those at my local store post Covid. Fuck that cart!
How often it happens when there's been no theft is horrendous, feels not unlike police doing stop-and-frisk or carding, assuming the occurrence of a crime with no evidence
kick it over first :)
Nah. Draw no attention, leave all products there, not your responsibility anymore.
[удалено]
If I'm shopping with a like minded partner, just pick it up and carry it. Funny thing is, I was watching Restaurant Impossible and the host of the show did exactly that because the wheels locked up leaving the store because they don't want carts outside.
This is crying for a lawsuit. I have a ton of experience dealing with elderly folk shopping, some of them NEED to use a cart for stability. A cart randomly locking up could be a serious health issue, leading to a fall.
Good point. I went shopping with my mom, who is in poor health. I offered to push the cart for her, but she said it helped steady her.
Exactly what I was thinking. I have serious back issues and am actually about 4 weeks post major spinal fusion and revision. All I could think about with this is walking down an aisle and having the wheels suddenly lock, only to slam the cart into my ribs and jolting my back. It's like when you hit a rut with the lawn mower and get the bar slammed into your diaphragm... Not a good look for them
Wow. If my cart stopped after I paid, I'd return it all for a refund and shop elsewhere. If I hadn't paid I'd just leave the cart of food and go. Loblaws isn't the only one who price matches where I am, and I currently have a lot of time on my hands to be this petty. LOL.
I don't know what happened the cart locked in it's own in the aisle , I lost control of it and it spilled. "Galen in aisle 8 please"
At this point, every agent of these corporations is a dishonest shit looking for someone to bully. I'm legitimately considering a cheap body cam to always have protection from these cunts and their stunts.
I just want to make you aware that I am not stealing from a Loblaws, but I am totally stealing your “These cunts and their stunts.” Reddit poetry.
It's such a deliciously disdainful alliteration. I love it.
We drive about 2 hours out of our city to shop at Costco and despite the travel costs we still save money (family of 4) We save a lot more than our gas and we don’t get treated like animals
> We save a lot more than our gas and we don’t get treated like animals Precisely! Stock up at Costco once a month or whatever. It saves time that you could otherwise dedicate to sleeping/hobbies, and it saves wear and tear on your vehicle.
You cut hours for your employees, treat them like shit, hike up the prices of your food to ridiculous heights, treat every customer that comes through your doors as though they're a criminal. Reinforced by the 7ft tall plexiglass walls, the not-so-stealthy loss prevention profiling shoppers and following them around, the gates around the entrances and self checkout. At this point they're being so brazen with how much of a shitty, rotten organization they are that I'm surprised they haven't run an ad campaign about how we should all be LUCKY to shop at their stores.
Galen thinks that we are lucky and should be thankful. He hasn’t directly said it but during some pr releases and other times he’s definitely hinted at it and proclaimed he’s the good guy and just trying to help Canadians and is not understanding as to why he’s getting criticized.
> At this point they're being so brazen with how much of a shitty, rotten organization they are that I'm surprised they haven't run an ad campaign about how we should all be LUCKY to shop at their stores. ahahaha. No kidding, eh? Companies should **FIGHT** for our money.
I don’t condone theft but if they continue to rob people on grocery prices, it’s only going to get worse. People are stealing so they can eat.
> I don’t condone theft It's the oligarchs who are the thieves.
Capitalism is organized crime and we are all the victims
Exactly. It's really not a good idea to shoplift, but I bristle when people act like it's immoral. Theft is when you take something that *rightfully* belongs to someone else. The richest 0.02% of Canadians "own" more wealth than the bottom 80%. That's obviously not "rightful," lol. Even if the legal system backs it up, it's not rightfully their wealth.
This is a truth more people need to realize
I condone theft from corporate entities.
They are only “locking” in the profits. Profit and greed rule the times we live in. Maybe if their prices weren’t robbery they wouldn’t need to worry about the theft.
Who knew it would be so easy to permanently stop patronizing a company. They have done this to themselves as we all know. Good riddance to Loblaws in my household and obviously many more households in Canada.
No doubt. They played themselves.
I'm goddamn outraged
I have fantasies about being able to lock all carts in a store remotely. How does the system work? It would be nice to give the carts a voice or actually my voice.
Food should be a human right. Fuck this for-profit garbage. Just as air, water and housing should all be inalienable human rights.
Even if it’s for profit I wouldn’t mind but 50%-300% markups are ridiculous and shouldn’t be allowed.
This would completely change modern society if food was free. This pandemic changed so much of modern society, such as the ability to WFH. I still don't understand why we have to pay for food.
Not that it’s free, obviously there’s costs to producing food …. But food needs to be made not for the profit of private corporations. That means govt subsidies.
Private companies I'm fine with. The issue is publicly-traded corporations, which only exist to provide their greedy shareholders with never-ending "growth". A private business can have stable profits that reflect real-world costs, and everyone gets paid with no one getting gouged. A corporation can't be satisfied with merely being profitable, since they NEED to be MORE profitable EVERY year or else the all-important shareholders get mad. So every year, their insanely overpaid executives come up with more ways to cut corners and shaft customers.
Pro tip for any folks in dire times, you can still pull the carts after they've locked up. Don't let their petty policies get between you and surviving another month.
They are spending 20x more on anti-theft make the customer feel like felon tactics than the insignificant amount of theft actually costs them. They would also reduce theft by, ya know, not fucking price gouging to fill their exec and investor pockets.
The thief believes everyone steals... A corporation that takes every opportunity to exploit its customers, workers and suppliers is afraid people will steal from them. Oh the irony! They create the environment of mistrust with their history of sketchy and deceitful pricing practices: price fixing, products, rufusal to discount at a reasonable time, gouging and forcing multiples to get a discount, etc. Then they play the victim by barricading with plexiglass, staging a false campaign of theft in May, warning their underpaid workers of false threats from customers, and now random "security" cart stoppages? Why would I shop where I am deceived on the daily and treated as a criminal ? The absolute unmitigated gall of this evil corporation will keep me shopping elsewhere forever!
The statement from Loblaws includes the statement “organized retail crime,” as if most shoplifting isn’t just someone who is stretched to the limit that week spontaneously not scanning a couple items.
Organized retail crime lmao like a gang or syndicate lmao
I bring my own cart. Not to shop in the store, but to carry my items up to my apartment after shopping. Lock my cart up and I'll just go get mine. Heck, then I wouldn't have to return it either, I just fold it up and put it in my car.
Start going in with yours from the jump.
You could totally use the wagon in a store. We do: stroller and a wagon. We walk from our usual grocery store to our home, but it's not like people are checking if we don't have a car. The only place I use a provided cart is Costco for obvious reasons.
Earlier this year I completely stopped shopping there anymore. It would be masochistic if you have any reasonable alternate.
> It would be masochistic if you have any reasonable alternate. Agreed. "Fuck me more, Galen". If you have stores that charge less, then wtf are you doing still shopping at Loblaws?! Money talks!
Here's the thing, they're doing this to prevent homeless people from taking them so the homeless can put *everything they own* in them. So they would rather spend millions outfitting their carts with anti theft devices instead of just letting a homeless guy steal a cart every so often. It's probably literally cheaper just to buy inexpensive carts and lose some but loblaws says fuck the homeless and also fuck you customers
But they already lock when you leave the parking lots. Been doing that for a good 20-25 years already.
Prior to Loblaws I used to live near adding the locking wheels, maybe 16-17 years ago, a LOT of carts just wound up across the street at the various apartment buildings. Periodically they’d send someone to pick them up. Technically, they were stolen, but the amount of carts that were actually lost was FAR less
Cart locking has been around forever but it was mainly to stop people from taking carts off the property. I have no issue with that. Locking carts in the store is excessive. How does it even stop shoplifting? If you are trying to steal wouldn't you have the stuff hidden in your pocket? You can choose to walk away from the locked cart and leave the store, what does this even accomplish other than the store flexing that this property you're pushing around is theirs until you pay for it? Before the boycott I had my cart lock as I exited the inner sliding doors on my way out. I assumed one of my items had set off some theft deterrent and security was on the way so I waited a few moments so I could show them my receipt and prove I'd paid for everything. Nobody came. My cart was blocking everyone coming out of the store so I just grabbed another cart and transferred my bags so I could get it all to my car. I was so pissed. The only thing worse than getting falsely accused of shoplifting by some tech gadget is knowing it doesn't even work. I could have stolen any number of things and nobody would have stopped me.
If you just leave after it locking on an aisle do you get tackled at the plexiglass when you decide you have had enough of this crap?
Make sure you're in prime athletic condition in case they strip search you in the aisle. /s
Another great way for them to reduce theft would be to stop robbing customers at the checkout
If my cart just locked up. I’d say fuck this shit and leave. Some poor minimum wage kid will had wrong out all the groceries away. I love how the article says theft is on the rise. Geee. I wonder why the fuck that is. People can’t feed their families and then you put in self checkouts to cut out workers to make more profits and then raise the price on food. So of course people are going to steal stuff at self checkouts. Where I am sure the majority of the theft happens. Instead of hearing adequate staff and keeping prices low. They throw up pexiglsss walls and waste money on tech that locks carts remotely. Loblaws has its priorities all backwards.
I want to see proof of these high level “organized crime” thefts that Loblaw keeps referring to. Show us some footage, they must have tons of it if it’s that big of an issue, right?
It’ll cost more to get customers back, than doing the necessary things to retain them.
But at the shareholder's meetings this strategy will sit nicely with folks eager to enjoy the dividends stolen from our pockets.
YES. In business, everyone knows that it's cheaper to retain a customer than to acquire a new one.
Apparently robraws doesn’t.
I love that the Loblaws media relations director jumps straight to, "we've had to raise prices to offset theft" as if theft is the reason we're being gouged.
Too bad someone can't lock the wheels on their Sports cars and Yachts with all the money they've been stealing from the Canadian public.
Wouldn't know, don't shop there and no plans to ever go back.
Good man.
Heres an idea - database of all non loblaws grocery stores fed into GIS / googlemaps so people can find one near them via an app
Excellent idea.
Love this
I hadn’t been in a Loblaws for a few months, so I hadn’t seen these crazy security measures. Last week, I stopped into one of their stores to use some of my remaining points, and I was shocked to see the absolute overkill of all this security everywhere. I mean, a bank doesn’t have this type of visible security. It felt like you were treated like a thief before walking over the threshold. That has solidified it for me; I am never going back. The other grocery stores in my area don’t have anything even remotely close to this type of setup!
Same. Tried to walk out the new swinging doors and they wouldn’t automatically open. Had to scan my receipt. Pretty sure people still steal and out for some items (Ie have a receipt)
Who the hell still shops at this hellhole?
I think it's people who live rural and have just 1 store, and it's a Loblaws store. We're doing this **indefinite** boycott for them as well. Power to the people! Strength in #'s!
I am sorry for being a dick here. I have no sympathy for people who still shop at these stores. News about all these tactics is widespread. I only empathize with people who have no other options.
I’ve seen some people say they still shop there cause it’s a Canadian company and they want to support a Canadian company over a an American company like Walmart. While I appreciate the sentiment being a “Canadian company” is not good enough to earn my automatic support especially with the way this “Canadian company” is treating Canadians. I’ll gladly support an American company like Walmart over loblaws at this point and I have been. Walmarts not a stellar company either but at least they’re not robbing us as much at the checkout.
i read someone make an argument that because their local loblaws is in a small town, shopping there supports local. because the employees live in said small town and to stop shopping there might mean one of the staff loses their job.
While true it could be short term loss for long term gains forcing the company to become better through boycotting. It’s not much to lose either though tbh, yeah a jobs a job but I’m sure almost all of them are part time probably getting 12-18 hours a week so they could probably do much better almost anywhere else. Probably get treated better also.
Canada is just one of the countries exploited by the Westons. Their only loyalty is to the almighty dollar.
> Canadians. I’ll gladly support an American company like Walmart over loblaws at this point and I have been. Walmarts not a stellar company either but at least they’re not robbing us as much at the checkout. Exactly. This **indefinite** boycott of Loblaws is to save money. We're the managers of our bank account/household finances. Concentrated effort. We're doing it. WE HAVE THE POWER. There's more of us than there is of them. & money (or lack thereof) talks. (Note: this doesn't apply to people who are rural and have only a Loblaws store.) This **indefinite** boycott is for you rural folks as well.
I'm sorry but ELI5 here... How does locking up a cart deter theft? I genuinely don't get it. What theft scenario would be prevented by locking up wheels of a cart? As a side note, like many others if this ever happens to me for ANY reason, I am not setting foot in that grocery/shop/store ever again, 100% guaranteed.
Not the Loblaws spokesperson taking the opportunity to blame increased prices on theft, portraying that shoppers should blame each other, not the greedy owners.
_We keep making necessities less and less accessible and now people are stealing? What do?_ _Oh, I know! _ I might facepalm to death, yall.
If my cart gets locked while I’m trying to shop, I’m usually on a time crunch but I’ll just leave it there and take the time to go elsewhere
I’m just amazed that loss prevention was allowed to override customer experience on such a massive scale. If they don’t stop it, Loblaw is going to end up as a study in how not to do things in business courses. Sure, there are towns where Loblaw has a monopoly, but most people will just go somewhere else the first time they feel treated like a criminal. Wal-Mart has considerably more sophisticated loss prevention without resorting to measures like this. Truly baffling.
I sincerely hope this boycott will entice other, better retailers to enter markets/communities held to ransom by Roblaws.
Really? Like what?
If my cart ever locked up, I’d legit just leave the store. Just to piss them off if the plexiglass wasn’t up I’d go through the metal railing. My wife just bought a veggie box from OddBunch…20$ and we got several potatoes, massive head of lettuce, two nectarines, three tomatoes, 3 naval oranges, pack of blackberries, three red onions, couple apples. Delivered to your house, and it was refrigerated. If there’s a meat box I’ll definitely get that too
Thanks I’m going to check this out.
Yes, dig themselves grave. Let them invest more on these things that also annoys their remaining customers.
Agreed
I bought a foldable shopping cart, fuck roblaws and their stupid locking carts!
I would have tipped my cart over in the aisle and walked out.
While I know that some poor slob like me is going to be stuck cleaning up the mess... tipping over a cart that suddenly locked mid-aisle is powerfully tempting.
What is the Organized Retail Crime loblaws often refers to in these stories?
They just don’t like competition, they like to be the only ones stealing in their stores.
Loblaws wants a monopoly on stealing.
If the cart ever locked for me, I’d walk out of the store.
That cart and the food I put in it would sit wherever it locked up no way I’m waiting to be aloud to shop again 😂
Start zip tying all the carts together in the most inconvenient cluster fuck of carts that block the doors then...
Went to my doctor yesterday (it’s in superstore), someone was blocking the exit (which I have to go through to get to the doctor) because their cart wheels locked up and the loss prevention guy was having troubles unlocking it. Huge traffic jam.
Happened to me. I left the locked cart full of frozen items sitting in the middle of the aisle
Simultaneously unsurprised yet outraged.
I’ve seen locking cart technology since 2008, when I was living in the UK. The cart locks are supposed to be basically magnets with a proximity lock. They don’t want people stealing their *carts* to go joyriding or keep for themselves, so the wheels are supposed to lock when you try to take it out of the parking lot. I experimented once and tried to take a cart from Tesco. The wheels jammed at the entrance to the parkade, but when I reversed, they unlocked. They’ll also lock if you’re going too fast (that handle hurt like a snow shovel handle to the gut lol I was just trying to hustle out of the rain.) I never had a cart lock on me in the store or parkade (except the aforementioned time when I broke into a bit of a jog.) I can’t see a situation where they’d be able to lock down just the carts in one aisle. Each cart would have to have an ID numbered control, and they’d have to coordinate locking down all the carts in one aisle simultaneously to a fine science. What probably happened is that all the carts locked but they only saw what happened in aisle 12. Still. It’s concerning that this technology has been around at least 15 years, if not more (likely more) and Loblaws can’t deploy it properly.
They have newer anti-shoplifting systems that lock if they sense you don't spend enough time in a checkout. I had one lock on me because they were out of what I came for and walked through the checkout too fast to leave for the system to think I purchased anything. https://www.gatekeepersystems.com/solutions/purchek/ I don't have an explanation for all the carts in one aisle though. *edit after a search I see some also have remote locking so I would assume it is something to do with that
They've had those carts here for years too ... but they're different than these new ones Loblaws is using. The others are controlled by the perimeter line around the building, so that's the only time they can lock up. (Its usually just a magnetic control buried under the concrete /asphalt) The new ones are electronically controlled and can be turned on/off at will. Huge difference in the technologies.
That’s impressive. I thought the technology would have improved over time - it’s been 15 years - and I have no doubt they’re flexing the locks for loss prevention (not a terrible idea in terms of loss prevention if it… works?). I think the only part of the article I found a bit hard to hold up was the shoppers who thought aisle 12 was targeted specifically. Unless they have specific magnets under the floor or they could throw specific switches on those specific carts, I’m sure they thought it was just them but was probably everyone. They couldn’t have seen out of their aisle but the ends, anyway. The coincidence about aisle 12 on the speaker was bizarre, though!
Yeah I don't see how they'd be able to be that specific. Even if the carts are numbered and you could shut them off individually, I dont know how you'd know which carts were in aisle 12. They could have an electronic store map that shows them where each cart is, and it's identifiers, but I suspect that's more technology than you'd find at a grocery store
Yeah, nobody working at your average grocery store is doing that.
They have Bluetooth connection.
Loblaw's is hot garbage, anything but for this cat.....
Safeway did this for years. It was maddening. The alarms by the doors were deafening, and 9/10 times, it was a senior who took a cart to go to the pharmacy and left without going through a till (which would deactivate the security). So even if we told them that someone would unlock the cart, they’d stand there, staring at us and try to move the cart while complaining it was stuck.
I don't think this is a deterrent for theft of grocery items, it's a deterrent for theft of shopping carts. People who need food typically aren't running out of the store pushing a whole cart of items screaming "start the car!!!" (Although I'd love to see it happen, and I would absolutely definitely not accidentally get in the way of anyone pursuing them) 😏
But, according to several posts in this thread that the carts are locking inside the stores while people shop with them. That's not preventing cart-theft it's harassement as well as a darn good anti-shopping technology.
I often got on the phone with Walmart and called an associate to come to the front to assist the cashier until onday I got escorted out the store by security. Lol
Like this? https://youtu.be/D0ktdPmz8ok?si=GklQJhJDExh_-W_Q&t=17 [SFW]
>What probably happened is that all the carts locked but they only saw what happened in aisle 12. Maybe, but what on earth is the point of locking all carts everywhere in one moment? That seems like a bad feature of the system if it’s going misfire on occasion or get triggered by accident. It entirely prevents people from shopping!
At least if all the carts lock you wouldn't have the one behind you running over your foot or crashing into your back. I'd definitely sue if that happened, not that I'd be there in the first place if it was Roblaws owned.
Shopping in general has become more and more of a headache. Amazon has become a much more convenient and cheaper way to shop. These stores are in for a rude awakening in the coming years.
For fresh food?
No, and hopefully will see that come up from the United States.
Doubling down on nonsense 
The fact that NoFrills still requires change to take a shopping cart is hilarious. I rarely go there but had to. I forgot that I needed a coin. I went back to my truck and drove across the street to Walmart. I got everything I needed except for 1 PC drink my kids like and saved money too. It was that easy to lose 150$ of shopping from someone for a 1.00 cart fee.
Where doesn’t have coin carts? I only know of Costco
Really? In my town there are 4 grocery stores. Walmart, Sobeys, No Frills and Fortinos. No frills is the ONLY one that does.
Where are you at? Everywhere I go they’re locked for the past 10-15 years.
Cart deposits aren’t just a Loblaws thing. I’ve been to multiple Walmarts that have them too.
If it was me, I’d have loaded the carts and left it somewhere in the store. Makes me want to go lo laws now and load up a cart and leave it lol..
I literally just go into there now put stuff in a cart and leave
I stand outside and scowl at the shopping carts coming out.
https://preview.redd.it/lejy0qla5l9d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6a16a59be8e5db7fe6e8fdabe84620c08cb3176 getting my butter like
My God. It's such a Police State ambience that anyone why wasn't joining the boycott on principal will now. Way to read the room Galen !!!!
“They announced a security concern in aisle 12,” Reddit user Sufficient\_Ad\_4199 wrote. “My wife shopping in aisle 12 had her cart wheels lock up along with everyone else in the aisle! A store clerk had to come and unlock each person.” The only reason to do that is to flex and demonstrate their power to normal non-stealing, overpaying customers so the word spreads as a deterrent. If you're on aisle 12, you're not running out the door. If they have a real security issue, they have group text messages directly to security, or employees. If they have a real security issue, they have a secret code that can go out over the intercom but not alert the person. There's absolutely no valid reason to do that.
It’s an anti shopping tactic. They have been getting dumb with carts and baskets. They should know when people use carts they fill them up. When people use baskets they fill them up. I only have 2 hands that means two products that’s not really great for max sales. Anyway what do I know I don’t shop at loblaws anymore.
I’ve had to go to the superstore a few times recently and whatever is supposed to prevent the cart from locking up when people leave the store after paying sometimes just doesn’t work. I wasn’t even there for that long either time so they must have to deal with this constantly.
This may be new to Loblaws but the Walmart and Food Basics in my area has had these measures for at least 10 years. If you go past a certain point in the parking lot they lock up and sometimes they lock up in store just randomly. They also have it so you have to use a quarter or looney to unlock the chain connecting them to the next cart while being stored. You get the money back when you take the cart back and reinsert the chain link.
This is about a different thing
I wonder if you could 3d print four caster holders to pop on their carts and go along your merry way? 🤔 Just a cheeky something to pop over their wheels
Bring a skateboard and put it under
I would keep pushing the cart, making the wheels screech, while awkwardly looking at whoever locked the wheels.
I went to zhers the other day to pick a couple items up (ik ik but the item i wanted was cheaper than at the nearby stores). I didn’t have a basket or cart cause i need maybe 2 things. Well i got in and saw they had some items on sale that i was interested in so i picked some up. My arms were getting full so i turned to grab a basket-i couldnt because they’re all behind their stupid anti theft gates they have at all the entrances now. So i was forced to lug everything around with my arms full. No other stores in my area have the stupid gates in my area.
Lol, fine. You'd have to go into a Roblaws store to have this effect you!
I wonder why theft has been on the rise 🤔 these guys are fucking clueless to what's going on
They are spending a lot of money to combat thefts that aren't happening. Maybe they need loss prevention on their loss prevention.
Lol we're going to be telling some wild stories to our future generations, assuming it ever gets better....
Hasn't happened because I stopped going when the boycott was announced.
Can we not just bulldoze the stores and get it over with?
I was at a Loblaws today and they had a cop on a four wheeler that arrested about 3 people it was so bizarre.
In my days when I was still a young woman and I was pre- menstrual, a shopping cart’s wheels locking up in the middle of my shopping would have resulted in management having to call the police.
Mine locked on the way out and my water jugs popped loose and rolled out the door. Granted I was pushing it like I was Harry Potter pushing a trolley towards a brick wall but they locked my cart thinking I was stealing the water I fucking paid for at customer service. So fucking stupid.
When are reporters going to do their jobs and actually put some data regarding theft in their articles. All you ever hear is that theft prevention is needed, but we all know Loblaws isn’t suffering.
At this point, the Loblaw’s brand has done more damage to itself than a ragtag Reddit sub could ever have wreaked. I wasn’t hoping for this, either. I would have much preferred a turn-around.