Irritated, Then Sympathetic

A thief can remove the earbuds easily with a small scissors.

The Sony earbuds were on sale for $14.99 at Target, but the rack was locked. It took 15 minutes for a clerk to return, get the key, and process my purchase.

I said that it would take a thief less than a second to cut the top of the package; it did cross my mind to do the same and take the earbuds to a front register. "You shouldn't do that," the clerk said loyally.

By locking down even cheap items, it seemed to this observer that the store would lose more profits from lost sales (because of the wait and extra steps) than it would to shoplifting. Obviously, Target would not have inconvenienced its customers and staff unless theft was a big problem. They have my sympathy.