Walmart customer reveals $1.50 item big box retailer is now locking up in latest shoplifting crackdown

A frustrated Walmart customer has revealed the latest item locked up on the store floor during the anti-shoplifting crackdown – and it costs just $1.50.

Victoria Damor, 22, from Las Vegas, made a TikTok detailing her harrowing experience at the big box retailer last month.

Her video, which she posted under her handle @toridamorehas already been seen by almost 90,000 people, who have flocked to the comments to share their outrage.

Speaking to the camera, the customer exclaimed, “This is the future of Walmart. I can’t even walk into Walmart and pick up a $1.50 nail file because it’s locked.

“And since everything is locked, there is of course an employee ready to help anyone who needs it to unlock it.”

She panned her camera around to show her followers the glass boxes where all the cosmetics were stored – some had prices as low as $1.57, $4.12 and $1.68.

If customers want to buy something behind the glass separator, they must notify an employee who will pick it up for them.

Victoria continued: “And he’s rude to the customers who need help because it’s locked – like it’s an inconvenience to him.

“Walmart, you can lock up your stuff, but it’s not the customer’s fault that you can’t stop people from stealing from you.

‘The entire time I was in the cosmetics department, the employee followed me.

“Every time I stopped to look at something, he said, should I get that for you?

‘There, sir, I don’t want it anymore. Like, I don’t want to bother you. Sorry, I have to go shopping.’

Hundreds of angry customers rushed to comment, calling the safety measures a “nightmare.”

One user wondered: ‘I moved abroad five years ago and I’m shocked when I visit the US now. What is going on???’

Another added: ‘I literally had someone on the till and a security guard. Like I don’t even feel comfortable snooping around anymore.”

Meanwhile, a third agreed: ‘This is why my husband and I almost always do pick-up. If we go in, we’ll never get what we need because everything is locked down.”

A fourth chimed in: ‘Half the time you have to wait forever to find an employee to unlock the door. One time I waited 20 minutes for 1 item, while it took 2 seconds to get it.’

And nail files and cosmetics are not the first items to be protected from shoplifters.

Victoria’s video comes as stores are increasingly keeping items under lock and key due to an increase in thefts.

In January 2024, Walmart and Target began locking down underwear and socks in some locations.

Shoppers at stores in California’s Bay Area reacted with surprise to the move by two of America’s largest chains.

“It’s getting to the point of how ghetto it looks that they have to lock up the socks or whatever they have under the key,” shopper Olga Leon said. NBC Bay Area.

One customer who wanted to buy boxer shorts waited ten minutes for an employee to open the suitcase inside.

Meanwhile, a Walmart store in the Hilltop area is also locking down underwear. The staff there say they are hit by shoplifters every day.

Just last month, another woman shopping at Walmart expressed her frustration and shame about carrying locked items.

Esme, who goes by the username @kultruz on TikTok, said she understands if major retailers want to self-lock makeup, which can be quite pricey, but says makeup wipes are a step too far.

The brand she bought retails at Walmart for just over $6.

“I’m embarrassed to carry this around,” she said, showing the product wrapped in a metal wire.

This controversial system means shoppers sometimes have to wait up to 40 minutes to buy basic essentials such as baby food and body wash.

Inside Edition reporters visited five Targets, five Walmarts and five CVS stores in New York and New Jersey and determined how long it took for employees to remove various products from glass containers.

During the experiment, a manager had to apologize after a 15-minute delay when purchasing baby food.

The extreme measures big box retailers are taking come as shoplifting continues to be a major crisis in the US.

And in America’s two largest cities, it’s even worse: Thefts have risen 64 percent in New York City and 61 percent in Los Angeles over the past four years.

The Council on Criminal Justice said that while shoplifting in New York dropped slightly in the first half of 2023, the number is still high with more than 90,000 incidents through Nov. 5, 2023, according to the city’s crime statistics.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, remains a mess, with a shocking 109 percent increase in shoplifting in the first six months of last year, the highest increase in the country.

The National Retail Federation reported that both internal and external theft accounts for an average of 65% of losses for retailers, and that retail crime is hitting the sector at ‘unprecedented levels’.

U.S. retailers lost $112.1 billion in 2022, up from 2021 losses of $93.9 billion, according to NRF data.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told The Street: “We think action needs to be taken in some jurisdictions here in the U.S. to protect people from crime, including theft.”