Target customer blasts policy that’s ‘destroyed’ shopping experience – and it’s not even related to self-checkout
A TARGET consumer has attacked the store, pointing to a particular rule that they say has made shopping unpleasant.
With thousands of locations nationwide, the retailer is frequently criticized for how it handles retail theft.
Retailers have had to take extreme steps to combat theft because it has become an epidemic.
Target is one of the shops that has implemented regulations that affect customers and closed stores.
Some things have been placed in cabinets by bosses, requiring customers to press a button to get a worker’s attention.
However, the security precaution has caused conflict.
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Californian Meaghan Halligan is one of the many customers who have expressed their anger.
According to The Wall Street Journal, she recalled how her favorite pastime used to be going to the supermarket.
However, she asserted that the shopping experience has been totally ruined by having to wait for products.
Halligan bragged about how internet purchasing has improved.
Although Target customers are used to seeing products locked up in cases, Brian Cornell made an effort to reassure them that the features would not be permanent.
To be clear, he told Yahoo Finance, “We like running stores and we want to keep our stores open, but we don’t like locking up products.”
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Cornell expressed his hope that Target would eventually be able to remove locked cases.
Consumers who have experienced locked cases while shopping have vented their anger on social media.
One customer reported that they had to wait seven minutes for someone to open a cabinet, according to anXpost.
Another customer said, “I detest Target’s decline.”
Target’s anti-theft measures
To combat criminality in the store, Target has put in place a number of anti-theft systems.
Customers have reacted negatively to the retail behemoth’s decision to put some items behind closed cabinets.
There were rumors in April 2024 that it intended to equip its self-checkout registers with TruScan cameras.
In an effort to prevent theft, Target also equipped its self-checkout registers with weight sensors.
For example, everything in my store is now behind secured cabinets.
They were upset that it seemed like store employees were observing them choose things like undergarments.
Since then, customers have disclosed that they would rather utilize services like Amazon than wait for a staff member to access a cabinet.
On social media, irate customers have berated policies like keeping stuff under lock and key as ineffective and humiliating.
Although Cornell claimed that customers were thanking him for implementing the policy, Target has come under fire for it.
Cornell told CNBC last year that the anti-theft measure had received excellent feedback.
“We receive a lot of gratitude from the customers because we have the brands they require when they shop in our stores,” he said.
Target has been contacted by the U.S. Sun for comment.
Additionally, Walmart supermarkets and CVS pharmacies have locked up their merchandise.
Additionally, as The U.S. Sun has exhaustively chronicled, the businesses have faced criticism, just like Target.
However, Target customers have been irritated by more than just the problem of locking stuff in cabinets.
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Target’s self-checkout rules have also drawn continual criticism.
Express lanes, which let customers only buy ten things at a time, have caused controversy even if business executives support them.
Latest self-checkout changes
In an attempt to decrease theft and expedite checkout times, retailers are changing their self-checkout approach.
When self-checkout lines at many Walmart shops were restricted to Walmart+ members, customers were taken aback.
Other customers complained that more cashiers were available during certain hours and that self-checkout was closed during those times.
A Walmart representative disclosed that store managers are merely experimenting with ways to enhance checkout throughput, despite consumers’ fears that the improvements were motivated by stealing.
An RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would eliminate the hotly debated receipt checks was one of the strange experiments.
That test run has been tapered out, though.
There are fewer items available at Target for self-checkout.
For further convenience, the brand surveyed 200 stores last fall about new express self-checkout lanes with 10 items or less.
This strategy has been extended to 2,000 US retailers as of March 2024.
Customers have also observed that local Walmart stores limit their self-checkout system users to 15 items or fewer.
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