A customer revealed that her Walmart has removed all of its locks on cosmetic goods in her local store. The reason she thinks why? Theft is less expensive than people not purchasing anything.
She says this is due to customers not wanting to wait for an employee to open up the cosmetic containers. In a video with over 130,000 views, @tailynk discussed anti-theft prevention cases—and how ineffective she thinks they really are.
“I’m gonna guess that nobody was buying anything,” she says. “Nobody feels like waiting for somebody to get them some three-dollar [expletive] brow gel.”
“Cosmetics are largely impulse purchases. Take away the ability to act impulsively and I’ll bet sales were [probably] way down,” inferred one commenter on @tailynk’s video.
Another TikToker added, “No one wants to wait 30 minutes for an employee to show up huffing and rolling their eyes while you pick out a lil $8 foundation! I walked right out and went to Ulta.”
So, do these anti-theft containers actually save companies money? Or are they a quick and easy way for companies to alienate their customers?
Why is Walmart implementing anti-theft policies?
People everywhere have noticed some big changes at major grocery chains, with Walmart being one of them. In 2022, stores in New York locked away even the cheapest meats like Spam to prevent theft due to inflation. Similarly, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Target have picked up on anti-theft policies for certain locations and items. Recent news stories in May 2025 highlighted an uptick in anti-theft policies—such as locking away everyday items like beauty supplies—in stores nationwide. Shoppers noticed everyday items like socks and toothpaste behind locked glass containers, leading them to needlessly ask a store employee for access to basic goods.
Some stores, like the one @tailynk highlighted, gave up within a very short period on these anti-theft measures. Others have continued to keep up with these measures, despite frustrated customers.
Are these stores supposed to drop their anti-theft measures?
There are a variety of reasons why a store may discontinue an anti-theft policy. It doesn’t mean that @tailynk’s reasoning on why is necessarily true or false. Ultimately, it may be in the best interest of that store not to lock up cosmetics for that particular time. If the store is changing out its anti-theft prevention strategies, it may eventually implement something different to protect cosmetics.
While Walmart doesn’t release its month-to-month sales numbers for household goods, it’s also possible that the measures were preventing some stores from selling key items at the same rate as before, leading to a discontinuation of the policy.
@tailynk @Walmart was the profits down??????? #walmart ♬ original sound – TaiLyn K
The Mary Sue has reached out to Walmart’s press team and @tailynk for comment.
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