There's a Quick, Easy Way to Unlock Your Toothpaste at the Drugstore
Just kidding. It still sucks.
I’m going to be honest. I’m sitting at my computer this morning, reading articles about the retail industry, and shaking my head. I’m sighing. I’m rolling my eyes and thinking, the bad ideas keep coming.
I’m going to need more coffee today.
2023 presented a heap of bad ideas. Here are two.
Companies rushed to implement self-checkouts like they would revolutionize shopping and overdid it. It sucks. People hate it.
Drugstores decided to lock most of their inventory behind plexiglass and make customers press a button to get toothpaste to cut down on shoplifting. It sucks. People hate it.
2024 doesn’t seem to be off to a revolutionary start in the “great ideas” category, friends.
Let’s get into the latest not-so-great tech “solution.”
Use your phone to unlock your toothpaste
Yes. That’s the big idea. So, everyday items are still locked up. Customers cannot access them easily, but now - wait for it - they get to download the retailer’s app, hand over their phone numbers, access a thing called Freedom Case, and receive a four-digit access code that lets them unlock their toothpaste.
That sounds awesome and not at all confusing.
Either that or customers can still call an associate over to unlock the case. Cool. We all have time for that - especially the employee who is probably the only person overseeing a five thousand square foot section, including the self-checkout registers.
The retailers testing this assure us they will not use our phone numbers for any purpose other than unlocking the case. Okay, maybe. But we still have to go through five steps before getting to our toothpaste.
Rad.
I hate to say it, but I’ll buy it on Amazon. Why wouldn’t I?
This whole Freedom Case process sounds like a massive waste of time, causing continued frustrations for customers and an added responsibility for store staff. Customers will absolutely have questions about this process, and overextended staff will have to show people how to use it.
Now, frontline workers will have to train customers how to check themselves out, and they’ll have to train them how to use an app to unlock a case.
Perfect.
The bigger problem
Rampant shoplifting, organized retail crime (ORC), and an uptick in violence are the symptom of a society under strain.
There’s too much going on here to cover in one edition of this newsletter, but the rise in this kind of crime signals that people feel like they have nothing to lose.
The cost of housing has skyrocketed, pay hasn’t kept up, inflation has gone off the rails, and companies understaffed their stores to save payroll. Here we are. Now, toothpaste is under lock and key, customers are annoyed, and staff is still spread too thin.
Communities in the United States have declined, third spaces are almost nonexistent, and people don’t even talk to their neighbors anymore. Shoplifting is part of a much, much bigger societal problem. One that will not be solved with plexiglass jails for toothpaste.
Let’s do better, together
I don’t know the answers here, but I suspect that there are many. It will take more than cell phone tech to solve the rise in shoplifting.
It will take leadership. It will take leaders who care about people to solve this problem. It will take creatives, architects, merchandisers, and revolutionary retail leaders.
It will take community. It will take living wages.
It will require companies to let go of greed.
Shoplifting is a complex problem that will require work from all of us.
It’s not our fault that our toothpaste is locked up, but we also shouldn’t have to download another app, hand over our phone numbers, and punch in an access code to get it out.
Let’s do better together.
Catch up on more articles from me:
Two Decades in Retail, and NRF Remained a Mystery. But Now, I’m Heading to the Conference.
New Tech I Saw at NRF That May Be a Waste of Money
Based in Southern California, Kit Campoy is a former retail leader turned freelance writer. She covers Retail, Leadership, and Business. Download her free ebook today.
Couldn't agree more.
Yes! All the "answers" to the current problems are ones that fall on the employee. So true! And, no thank you.