Supermarkets using security barriers to protect staff from desperate shoppers snatching yellow-label items
2 November 2022, 16:38 | Updated: 2 November 2022, 17:38
Supermarket staff have been putting up security barriers to protect staff from desperate shoppers snatching discounted yellow-sticker items from their hands as they stock shelves.
Photographs emerged of workers tagging the reduced items behind the bright yellow barriers with signs that say ‘do not enter’.
I know us Brits love a bargain but the poor lad in Tesco has had to barricade himself in whilst he does the reductions! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/pUAIRpYR29
— Saul Mearns 🌱 🐝 (@SaulMearns) December 17, 2020
According to The Sun, some supermarket workers at a branch in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, have revealed that they don’t feel safe as they do it.
The barriers were first introduced during the pandemic to give staff a safe socially-distanced space to work but they have been pictured ever since – including now, at a time when shoppers are even more desperate to save cash in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
It's 'constant fear' living on benefits
It comes as official figures from a retail trade body showed that everyday grocery items have jumped by more than 10% in the cost-of-living crisis.
Essential purchases like pasta jumped from 38p to 61p and vegetable oil also soared from £1.56 to £2.58.
Tea bags, milk and sugar also rocketed, according to the British Retail Consortium.
The price hikes have been put down to several reasons including higher business costs for ingredients, energy and fuel costs as well as worker shortages and higher wages to those who are working like lorry drivers. The war in Ukraine is also pushing prices up with Russia being a big export to the UK for sunflower oil, wheat and plant fertiliser.
