Aldi has added security tags to packets of sweets worth as little as 85p in at least one of its UK stores. The yellow stickers, which activate the store's security system if stolen, have been pictured on the low-cost items at a branch of the budget supermarket in Catford, south London.
Such a precaution would have been thought almost unimaginable just a couple of years ago. Security tags were, until recently, only ever attached to luxury items like alcohol, razor blades and electrical goods.
However, after rising reports of shoplifting as households struggle to cope with rising inflation over recent months, the practise is becoming increasingly commonplace in retailers across the UK. The Telegraph reports how an aisle of the cheap confectionery items was covered with the tags at the Aldi store in the Rushey Green area.
Among the products adorned with the security devices were bags of Maltesers, Minstrels and Revels costing £1.35; packs of five Cadbury Twirls priced at £1.05; and Skittles available for purchase at 99p. The tags were even pictured on Kinder snack bars priced at 85p. A sign on the side of the shelf tells customers "please be aware that Product Security Tagging is in operation".
Asda attracted headlines earlier in the year when it attached security tags to tubs of spreadable Lurpak in some of its stores after the price of a 1kg tub exceeded £9. Shoppers reported that tags had been added to four-pint cartons of milk at a Tesco store in Cornwall last month, although the supermarket claimed this was a result of human error.
The trend has been described as "extremely worrying" by consumer champion Martyn James. Quoted in The Telegraph, he said: “It’s a complete overreaction to be tagging items of exceptionally small value and gives the completely wrong impression of society that we are going round stuffing our pockets.
“The increase in shoplifting in recent months has been for necessity, because people are struggling to afford to eat. In many cases supermarkets are giving shoplifters a warning but turning a blind eye when it comes to prosecution and that is the human approach.”
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