Will this stop blind bag thieves?

[LittleSpiffy]

Those cases are genius.

[sailorstitch]

A few weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart and I went to check the blind bags. When I got there, there was a grandmother and granddaughter ripping bags open looking for a particular pony. I was horrified! The grandmother kept telling her granddaughter "It's not stealing if we pay for them." The granddaughter knew what they were doing was wrong. She kept looking around to make sure nobody was watching them. The grandmother kept telling her to relax. I needed to stop this! They already had half the box in their cart. If they kept going, by the time they found the pony they were looking for there wouldn't be any left for me. The grandmother was very chatty and quickly started a conversation with me. I quickly mentioned the codes on the bag and asked who they were looking for. The little girl wanted Fluttershy. I pulled out my phone, looked up the code, dug through the box until I found Fluttershy and handed her to the girl. They left and I was able to check codes in peace. I really hope I don't run into them again.

sailorstitch

[rosierjay]

gleef. that's aweful!
i can't even drink a soda till i've paid for it.

one consern is, now that they some have such intense security will someone who doesn't know what they are, think they're worth more and still them to resell?

[gemini_pony]

I still can't get over all the people saying how many opened blind bags they find! I've never found a pre opened one ever!?

Wow I have seen this at every single store that carries them in my area.

[Rosencrantz]

I could use those cases for stuff.

* Rosencrantz yoinks, leaves the ponies

PSA voice: Don't steal, kids.

[CupidStrikes]

I still can't get over all the people saying how many opened blind bags they find! I've never found a pre opened one ever!?

I've seen none in England, but since going on holiday in North America, every box I've found has had at least one opened bag O.o I'm surprised the Tesco went to so much trouble over some £2 toys, to be honest.

[Niksilp]

I live in a college town and I usually only see open blindbags during the school year. Really sad. :/

[hathorcat]

That picture has been posted before and unfortunately as I mentioned then I have seen this exact thing in a couple of my local stores as well It is a Tesco end cap and the same thing was in 2 [or maybe 3] Tesco stores that I have been in. DVD/CD/Game cases with individual blind bags.

Its a lot of effort to go to for a £2 toy and finding so many spare security cases in store is impressive [not to mention it gives a false pricing impression - a lot of people will assume that item is more expensive than it is and perhaps pass it by]. To go to the effort of displaying them this way, it has to be a serious issue for the store. Its not just the thefts, its the fact that if they are opened and then left on the shelf [i.e. people open to find what they want and then just take the ones they need], the store will not be allowed to sell them and the supplier will certainly not take them back - so they will simply head for the rubbish/recycling tip.

In the long run its a little worrying. If a retailer has a cheap and probably not massive money making product which is causing this level of problems at a lot of stores, they will simply stop stocking it. It will be a calculation of wastage/stock/profit and whether they are financially viable.

It is 150% wrong that people think its acceptable to open items like that let alone steal them. But I can also say opening things in store is surprisingly common. My friend is a manager at a local supermarket, the volume of stories she can tell you about the number of people who open fruit, bakery goods, crisps, etc, on a day to day basis in her store is staggering in quantity. And half those people then have eaten what they should be paying for and conveniently "forget" at check out. They get an awful lot of wastage and lost stock this way.

On the other hand...stocking a collectible product with no way to tell what is inside and only a crappy 1 in 24 chance of getting the character you like if you dont know the hidden codes [the same codes Hasbro have changed the style of a couple of times and that they do not publicise even to collectors] is unfortunately kind of asking for this kind of nonsense.

[Star Spark]

I only see open bags occasionally at the stores near me, except for one of the more distant Wal-Marts where literally every bag was opened to check the pony (this is also by far the worst Wal-Mart in the area, so I don't go there much.) I just assumed it's unscrupulous older collectors who don't know that there's a pretty easy code system that can be looked up on-line. 

[BabiChuld]

I have to admit, I didn't realize this was a big problem until seeing this- I've seen the free gifts nabbed from the front of magazines many times, but blind bags? That's just so odd does nobody see these people opening all of the bags? o_0 Certainly if it's a thing that happens a lot, like keep an extra eye out in that aisle maybe?

[June]

I've never seen blind bags in security cases in stores I shop and, luckily, not many things seem to be in these cases. But I sometimes see opened stuff on the shelves and it really annoys me 

The most interesting thing I've seen in a security case were kinder milchschnitte. I really wondered why would a $1 snack be the only secured item in the store, when my friend suggested that it's probably due to the fact that A) there are several schools around the store and a lot of kids probably go there to buy lunch B) they are on a refrigerated shelf which is right next to the entrance and cannot be moved somewhere else.
I'm always the last one to figure out how to exploit