Is this the future of shopping? Tesco customers left fuming as they spot new feature in stores that could make shopping take longer
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Tesco customers have been left bamboozled by the high street chain's latest attempt to stop thieves - that makes their shopping trip longer.
Artificial intelligence-style locked security cabinets have been installed on alcohol aisles which require a 'four-step process' to open the cabinets.
Believed to be called the Freedom Case, the anti-thieving gadgetry has the ability to track when items have been removed, how often the cabinet has been opened and for how long.
It can also send alerts to staff if 'suspicious behaviour' is detected.
While the devices have been around since last summer, some stores are only just testing out the new anti-theft devices which will make the average customer's shopping experience much longer.
The Freedom Cases have been rolled out across a handful stores - one of the first being in Purley, south London.
But shoppers in Fforestfach, Swansea, have recently tested out the screens, adding 'I presume it's to try and stop people stealing stuff but I'm not quite sure how it stops them completely as you can still access the alcohol - you just have to wait a few moments before you can.'
The customer also told WalesOnline: 'You have to press a button - then there is a countdown, then it tells you that you can open the door.
'Perhaps when you press the button the CCTV watches you and stops someone just casually sticking a bottle underneath their coat as they walk down the aisle.'
In a video posted online, the screens instruct customers to the new, drawn-out procedure by telling them 'hello. The cabinet is locked for security reasons. Please tap the arrow below for access'.
Once their request is finally underway, the device responds 'thank you for your patience, the cabinet door will open shortly. Thank you for shopping with Tesco'.
The British Retail Consortium says theft from stores is 'out of control' costing shops £2billion a year.
And their study in March found nearly a quarter of the UK population have witnessed shoplifting in the last 12 months.
Despite these shocking statistics, shoppers were left in uproar when the anti-theft mechanisms were first introduced.
Broadcaster Lorraine King wrote on X, formerly Twitter: 'Popped into Tesco to buy a bottle of champagne for my friend's birthday and was confronted with this.'
Another poster added: 'I would guess the security guard is looking at a camera rather than it being facial recognition but still, very obnoxious by Tesco.'
Mary N-T said: 'With police no longer bothered about shoplifting this is what supermarkets have to do.
'Thieves are walking into shops and brazenly taking booze off the shelves and walking out, tags and all.'
Sammie Lloyd said: 'Tesco is becoming more tyrannical, with their use of technology. This is not good.'
Martyn James, an independent consumer champion, said: 'Is there a sadder indictment of society than this - the fact that buying a bottle of booze is now like getting into a high-end luxury jewellers?
'If the epidemic of shoplifting and aggressive customer behaviour is not dealt with firmly and definitively, then we face a future where everything we buy is behind bars or plastic screens.
'That's not a future I want to live in.'
Recently customers in Wales seemed to welcome the change as they highlighted 'camera just above it. Uses facial recognition software to prevent loss. Signs on way in'.
Another explained 'if the door stays open for a few seconds or more security are alerted, shelves are "weighted" so Tesco knows what bottle has just been removed'.
'Also checks door is closed. For pricey alcohol only cabinets.'
Tesco declined to comment but have previously said that they do not use facial recognition or that the taking of photos is used to operate the cabinets.
These screens are not the only attempts to shtop the huge wave of shoplifters blighting Britain's high streets.
Plastic contraptions have also been positioned loosely in front of items and in footage uploaded to social media shows them being freely slid from left to right to uncover the goods.
A strange creaking noise is also a feature of the appliances which in the video shield boxes of chocolate like Ferrero Rocher and Milk Tray.
Taking to TikTok, many users had strong opinions on Tesco's latest initiative.
One person said: 'How does this stop shoplifting?'
Another added: 'So you can slide it over and get what you need. So how is going to stop shop lifters?'
Others said they believed a solution would be to make the items more 'affordable' rather than upping the security.
Someone said sarcastically: 'Let's not try and just simply make this affordable so people buy instead of stealing.'
Others feared the devices looked flimsy and that they could easily 'snap'.
One person commented: 'Thieves don't care, they'll just break them off or take longer to take things. Doesn't matter whether barriers, gates, these, tags. They'll steal if they want to steal.'
But not everyone was so critical. George Young claimed he used to have the devices in his store and they 'definitely work'.
He explained: 'They definitely work as someone who had these in their store it takes the thieves longer to get to everything so they might steal 10 bars instead of 30 and if they do go for more it gives security time.'
Another added: 'It's a deterrence mechanism, individuals are less likely to come in and make a quick theft from Tesco because of those stupid slidey things so they will go elsewhere.'
Fuming shoppers also complained they felt like criminals as they were 'herded like cattle' through Tesco's giant trolley scales - another anti-shopping lifting initiative.
One shopper emerged close to tears after the weight of the trolley did not match her self-scan receipt and she suffered the 'humiliation' of having her bags re-scanned.
