Walmart shoppers stunned to discover elaborate new anti-theft measure on meats
Is this a mis-steak?
A dismayed Walmart shopper has gone viral after sharing a video online depicting the store’s butcher aisle barricaded by tiny wire cages.
Viewers of the video with over 1.9 million views have expressed their shock to learn the extreme lengths the grocery store goes through to protect their products.
“That’s when you know it’s bad,” TikTokker @solid_soul83 said in the snippet posted April 8.
But this isn’t a new tactic. The clip is similar to one that went viral back in 2022 — showing how long the store has clamped down on security.
In the TikTok video posted by @oakwood19136, a man holds a pack of Angus ribeye steaks priced at $20.83 locked in a sleeve of metal wiring.
“Yo, you gotta be kidding me. Walmart now has the steak locked up. Holy sh-t. It’s come to this,” the man said in the video.
“This is getting bad now.”
The TikTok, ostensibly based in a Florida store, has amassed 8.1 million views and tens of thousands of comments as people express their outrage and assumptions about why a common grocery item would be locked away.
Viewers agreed that the high security measures are “insane,” “unbelievable,” and “sad.”
“Is this for real?!?!?!” someone asked.
“A whole prison fence and ankle monitor for 2 steaks,” another commented.
Caging items to prevent theft and fraud is now a common practice among other popular chains, including Target, CVS and Walgreens.
Major retailers across the country began testing new measures, such as locked display cases and electronic tags, to combat rising shoplifting rates in recent years, with mostly negative reviews from both shoppers and top executives.
In 2022, stores in NYC locked even cheap meat like Spam in anti-theft cases.
Walmart did not immediately reply to The Post’s request for comment.
However, earlier this year, Walgreens’s CEO admitted the anti-theft measures hurt sales.
The top executive at Walgreens lamented the loss of sales from putting items like toothpaste behind lock and key to crack down on rampant shoplifting that has plagued pharmacy chains around the country.
“When you lock things up…you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively,” Tim Wentworth, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, told investors during an earnings call.
