Retailer Allowing Customers to Unlock Shelves With Their App

Have you been shopping for personal supplies lately? It seems like more and more items are under lock and key! Razors, deodorant, cold medicine, and more! To get what you need you have to page an employee, pray they have the right key, and then grab what you need. At least one retailer is giving customers another way to open those locked shelves.

The reason that stores keep so many items under lock and key is to cut down on shoplifting. But recently, the CEO of Walgreens said that the strategy has backfired because shoppers are actually buying fewer items. One of Walgreen's competitors, CVS, is trying something different. Gizmodo reports that the pharmacy chain is going to test a new system that will allow customers to unlock shelves themselves using their app.

There are a few catches. Gizmodo reports that you have to have the app on your phone, use the store's WiFi, and have Bluetooth turned on so the store knows which shelve your trying to get access to. But if you can figure all that out, you don't have to stand and wait for an employee to come over and unlock your razor blades.

Critics of the program say it's just an attempt by CVS to get more people to use their app. Others claim if CVS is willing to let customers unlock things on their own, why not just get rid of the locked shelves altogether? The new program is only in a few stores for now, according to Gizmodo.

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