A Sainsbury’s customer criticizes the supermarket’s latest anti-theft measure, claiming it renders chocolate bars unsellable by blocking easy access on shelves.
Anti-Theft Shelf Design Targets Shoplifting
Sainsbury’s has rolled out plastic sliders, also called pushers or dividers, in front of select high-value items across multiple UK stores. These devices aim to stop shelf sweeping, where thieves grab entire rows of products in one swift motion. Comparable systems appear in other chains like Tesco.
Customer Encounters Access Issues
A frustrated shopper posted on X highlighting the problem: “Hey Sainsbury’s, you’ve not only made the chocolate unstealable, it’s also unsellable. Can’t even get it out without ripping the product to pieces. The whole shelf has these plastic sliders, so there are no gaps to slide them out of the way.”
The accompanying video shows the customer struggling to extract a chocolate bar, as the sliders fully cover the shelf with no gaps. The X user @stormcab notified store staff, then observed three employees repeatedly fail to free the item.
Online Discussion and Clarifications
Responses poured in on the post. One user speculated: “So is the idea that they’re supposed to leave one of the slide flaps off on the row and you push the entire row to the left and the other side to the right? So only one chocolate bar on the row is available at any time?”
@stormcab replied: “If there was one gap, then you would only be able to slide everything by one. So everything more than two spaces away from the gap is not accessible.”
Additional comments included a shopper noting an alarm triggered but security waved them through, a joke about bending or breaking the plastic, and frustration over the design: “I fail to understand how stupid some people are. For those suggesting sliding – where will he slide them to? The whole row has the covers end to end, meaning you can’t slide them.”
Sainsbury’s Official Statement
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson responded: “We want shopping with us to be as simple and convenient as possible, so we’re sorry this customer had difficulty using the shelf-edge protection device. It’s designed to be easy to use and, as clearly labelled, the plastic screen just needs to be slid across the shelf to access the product.”
