I’ve been using Tesco’s new locked alcohol cabinets… and I don’t understand how it will stop shoplifting

It’s no secret that Britain is facing a wave of shoplifting crime.

In short, there has been a huge increase in thieves simply walking into shops – large and small – and coming out with armfuls of goods, without fear of being caught.

Usually on Friday nights my boyfriend and I buy a bottle of wine from the local Tesco Express to have with dinner.

If I’m feeling fancy, I might have a bottle of prosecco.

It’s a quick, painless task that I don’t think about much.

Until I saw that Tesco had recently installed locked vending machines to discourage shoplifters.

The idea is that drinks are already stored before the door is unlocked remotely, without having to wait for a Tesco employee to come by and unlock the door.

A store in Perivale, West London, went semi-viral on social media for its cabinets.

TikTok users are stunned, Twitter users are furious, with many saying it’s a sad indictment of the times we live in.

I decided to go to the store myself to see the cabinets with my own eyes.

This Tesco supermarket is located a stone’s throw from Perivale station, between a Costa Coffee and the listed Hoover Building.

It’s a typically quiet London suburb and not a place where you’d expect to find an epidemic of shoplifting.

The store is huge and, in addition to the standard range of food and drinks, it also offers clothing and a pharmacy.

I maneuver through refrigerators and aisles filled with bottles and cans of alcohol, some unsecured, in open refrigerators.

I wonder if the alcohol cabinets have been removed because of the negative comments, but eventually I find them in the back of the store.

It is understandable that Tesco has chosen to only display sparkling wine, champagne and spirits for the time being.

I speak to a Tesco employee who says the cabinet replaced a faulty one and was installed about six months ago.

They say there are a lot of shoplifters and the problem is not just with alcohol but also with food, drinks and even electric toothbrushes and the cabinets don’t seem to make much difference.

I am trying to open a refrigerator with an electronic locking system myself. It is quite simple: they are locked until I press a button on a screen, wait 10 seconds for them to open and I can get the bottle I want.

I do not need to show my club card or ID.

Tesco says it is trialling a new display case in a small number of large stores to reduce theft, but I’m not convinced.

The employee I spoke to thinks it helps against serial thieves, but Tesco claims no camera or facial recognition software is used.

That is surprising, since many supermarkets and retailers now film us at self-service checkouts, for example.

So the question is: what is the point?

If the door opens automatically after a few seconds, what’s to stop customers from grabbing a bottle and walking away?

On Wednesday afternoon the aisle is empty, but I imagine it would be a lot busier on Friday or Saturday evening.

Once the door is open, a shoplifter can lean over and grab a bottle.

If someone is desperate enough, they will find a way.

This store also has plenty of wine and beer available, which is not hidden behind a screen or door, making it easy for shoplifters to take away.

At my local Tesco Express in East London, some of the more expensive and popular bottles have been moved to a small cupboard behind the tobacco section, much like how supermarkets used to keep their spirits behind the counter.

This makes much more sense. Customers are forced to ask a staff member to retrieve a bottle and can watch them scan it through the self-checkout machines.

However, the new vending machines also show that there are fewer tasks where people have direct contact with customers. The Tesco employee I speak to is filling the shelves. This can be seen, for example, in the arrival of self-service checkouts.

If theft of spirits and sparkling wine is such a problem, why aren’t they behind a counter that only employees can access, instead of having to wait for an automatic door?

I am grateful to Tesco for doing something about the wave of shoplifting, even if it has only caused a minor inconvenience to regular customers.

A study by the British Retail Consortium earlier this year found that the cost of theft is set to double to £1.8 billion by 2022/23, with more than 45,000 incidents occurring every day.

Supermarkets lose a lot of money to theft and will likely have to spend even more to prevent it.

Tesco declined to comment on how much it costs to install the cabinets, nor how many stores it will have in the future.

But if they are serious about it, they will have to install much more than just an automatic door.

Have you seen any new methods to stop the shoplifting problem in a store near you? Get in touch: editor@thisismoney.co.uk