“I would have just went somewhere else”: CVS shopper heads to freezer aisle for some ice cream. Then she finds it locked up
A CVS shopper is going viral for calling out an unlikely item now under lock and key: ice cream.
TikTok user @queendotugc, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, said she was stunned to find that grabbing a pint at her local CVS wasn’t as easy as opening a freezer door. Instead, she had to push a “customer service” button to summon an employee, who unlocked the case after confirming her selection.
“Y’ALL GOTTA BE STOPPED,” @queendotugc said, calling out shoplifters whose antics have forced stores to get more aggressive with anti-theft measures.
“Why I gotta push a button for some ice cream?” she asked. Her video had racked up more than 1.7 million views.
Since when is ice cream under lockdown?
Turns out, this isn’t just a Florida thing—and it’s not unique to CVS.
Back in August 2023, NPR reported on a New York City grocer who slapped lid locks on individual pints of ice cream. This made them impossible to open without employee help, and helped crack down on theft. With pints running $5 to $6 apiece, the grocer said they’d become easy targets for grab-and-go crime.
A month earlier, Outkick reported that grocery stores across New York had started locking up ice cream amid a spike in shoplifting and petty crime. Not because crooks were desperate for cookies and cream, but because they could swipe it without consequence.
“To help maintain the lowest possible cost, a protective lock has been placed on some units of ice cream,” read a sign at Fairway Market. The store had outfitted some cartons with bolts or locking devices that only staff could remove.
A CVS spokesperson told the Daily Dot that theft remains a widespread issue in retail, and locking up items, while inconvenient, is sometimes necessary.
“Retail theft is a challenge for all retailers,” the spokesperson said. “We know keeping products locked up can be inconvenient, but it’s important that we keep products in stock and available for our customers to purchase. Different products experience different theft rates, depending on store location and other factors, and our product protection decisions are data-driven. Locking a product is a measure of last resort.”
It’s not just the frozen stuff
Ice cream may be the latest surprise, but it’s far from the only everyday item getting locked up. Retailers have long put things like razors, laundry detergent, baby formula, and teeth whiteners behind protective glass.
Stores argue they’re responding to a real uptick in theft. Some say organized retail crime has surged since the pandemic, with thieves targeting high-value items that are easily resold. In 2022, nearly 70% of retailers reported that organized crime contributed to as much as $69 billion in losses, according to Forbes, citing statistics from the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Buy Safe America Coalition.
These aren’t one-off incidents, either. “Retail gangs” reportedly perform coordinated thefts, making off with massive hauls they can flip for millions.
But not everyone’s convinced the shoplifting wave is as widespread as retailers claim.
The Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, analyzed trends in 24 major cities from 2019 to mid-2023 and found that shoplifting actually declined in more than two-thirds of them. The exceptions were New York and Los Angeles, both of which have seen notable spikes, particularly in thefts under $950, per the Los Angeles Times.
Whether the risk is real or overstated, the result is the same for everyday shoppers: more buttons to push, more hoops to jump through—and apparently, less spontaneous ice cream.
@queendotugc THIS IS INSANE!!! Yall stealing just anything at this point! #CVS #StopStealing #fyp ♬ original sound - QueenDotUGC
Viewers urge compassion for CVS worker
In her viral TikTok, @queendotugc expressed frustration with CVS’s decision to lock up ice cream—and seemed to direct some of that frustration at the employee who came to assist her.
“Y’all gotta lock up the ice cream?” she asked the worker who unlocked the freezer door.
But many viewers were quick to jump in and defend the staffer, reminding @queendotugc that retail workers don’t make the rules.
“Workers don’t make these decisions, higher-ups do,” one commenter said.
“Don’t get annoyed at the employees for things they can’t control,” another added. “They have to deal with this more than you do; it’s not their fault.”
“She’s probably over it, too,” a third viewer wrote.
Still, not everyone had patience for the ice cream lock-up policy. Some said they would’ve simply left the store.
“I would have just went somewhere else,” one TikTok user wrote.
“I would have left out that store immediately,” another chimed in.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @queendotugc via a TikTok comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post “I would have just went somewhere else”: CVS shopper heads to freezer aisle for some ice cream. Then she finds it locked up appeared first on The Daily Dot.