(Daily Mail) With robberies up nearly 40 percent in New York City, it’s perhaps no surprise that a local pharmacy has taken the extreme steps of locking up cases of Spam.
Twitter user Willy Staley noticed the tins of $3.99 processed meat sealed in a theft-proof plastic container at the Duane Reade inside the Port Authority bus depot in Midtown Manhattan – known as one of New York’s grimiest areas.
Staley also found a $3.49 tin of Celebrity ham, which retails for a similar price, protected with the same measure.
The New York Post caught one shopper who remarked: ‘I’ve never seen that before’ while laughing at the anti-theft measure.
While this is not a city-wide policy or one maintained by every Duane Reade in the city, other products are often locked up at other locations.
One employee at the Duane Reade in Times Square on West 44th Street said that they lock up ice cream.
The area is a mecca for vagrants, sparking speculation that ready-to-eat items have been locked away because they’re a popular target for thieves.
One Twitter user noticed the new policy, where the meat substitute that sells for $3.99 is sealed in a plastic container at the Duane Reade inside the Port Authority bus depot.
Many blame everything from 9.1 percent inflation to a spike in crime of 37 percent across the Big Apple – as well as the aforementioned issues with homelessness, which have grown worse since COVID hit the USA.
