A large vending machine with girl in front.
Vending machines could replace store shelves.
  • The methods retailers use to deter shoplifting can make shopping worse for customers. 
  • A vending machine company hopes to use its product to replace locked aisles of merchandise. 
  • The vending machines, or self-service shelves, eliminate the need to ask an employee for help.  

Shoplifting may or may not be getting worse. But retailers' methods to deter shoplifting certainly seem to be making shopping worse.