Plastic boxes are not an uncommon sight in UK supermarkets nowadays. Often high end items get placed into them and you need to ask a member of staff to remove them at the till when you pay
Co-Op supermarket has started using GRP-tracked security boxes in one of its supermarket stores in a move to deter thieves.
Plastic boxes are not an uncommon sight in UK supermarkets nowadays. Often high end items get placed into them and you need to ask a member of staff to remove them at the till when you pay. However, these ones are a little different as they have a GPS tracker in them.
Items which have appeared in the boxes include lamb chops – priced at £6 – and sirloin steaks worth £3.99. Rump steaks worth £4.75 can also be found boxed up in the Co-op branch in Hornsea, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire. The boxes have labels on them that read: “Caution. Security device. Must be removed at checkout before leaving the store.”
One Co-Op shopper, Dyan John, 46, said the move was “bonkers” noting he had never seen anything as “crazy”. He told Need To Know: “Talk about a steak out. I’ve never seen anything as crazy as lamb chops being protected by GPS tracking. “I can just imagine boffins at NASA sitting in front of a big screen showing the UK. And little dots moving around showing where the lamb cutlets are. It’s bonkers.”
Has your local supermarket implemented more security measures? Email us: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
Supermarkets across the country began to implement new security measures across stores when prices started to rise back in 2022. Measures included things such as adding security tags to items, putting products in security boxes, placing empty products on shelves, limiting items on shelves, and customers needing to scan receipts to leave stores.
In the year leading up to September 2023, around 402,000 offences were recorded according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was a significant increase from the 304,459 recorded in the previous 12 months and the first time since records began in 2002 that the figure rose above 400,000. Shoplifting levels are now at their highest in 20 years with around 50 crimes logged every hour in England and Wales.
A spokesperson for Co-op, said: “The safety of colleagues is a key priority and security cases form part of a range of preventative measures to deter retail crime which is driven by repeat and prolific offenders and is all too often a flashpoint for violence, attacks and anti-social behaviour towards shopworkers.”
