The Safeway store on Webster was recently photographed after installing receipt scanners to counter shoplifting. It’s not known if this has been implemented nationwide, but recently different stores in other parts of the country such as Portland have also done similar.

In short, this is because too many people were shoplifting and walking out with goods that they hadn’t paid for. The technology used works by effectively gating people in, who are then released after scanning their receipt which opens the gate.

Overall, you could argue that this seems a little excessive, but then if you had a business that was being constantly stolen from, you may do similar. If anything, this says more about the San Francisco public, rather than Safeway as a company.

As a result, this move was mostly met with positivity, whereby one local commented, “Mission Bernal Safeway added this a while back along with a one-way entrance gate and full time intimidating looking security guard with like a vest full of a bunch of gear. Brazen shoplifting appears to be way less common to me, this made a much-improved shopping experience.”

In fact, others argued that this practice had been done in Europe for years, and claimed that it made for a more pleasant shopping experience due to having fewer dodgy characters in the store. So, this looks like a rare policy change where almost everyone is on board and everyone seems to win as a result.