Tonight my family and I found ourselves at Raley’s on Folsom Blvd (in the “famous colleges” part of town–Raley’s is actually between Notre Dame Dr and Julliard Dr). After a very successful weekly shopping trip with our two young ladies, we finally made it to the checkout stand, where we found ourselves second in line. And that’s when I noticed that the customer ahead of us was purchasing about a dozen of a certain item, and that said item was being kept by Raley’s in a plastic security device (like they used to use for CDs) which had to be unlocked by the cashier using a specialized tool. This was going to take some time, time that I no longer had. Now, there are a lot of dangerous and/or highly stealable items in your average supermarket–gallons and gallons of liquor, mens magazines, prophylactics, duct tape–so it’s no surprise Raleys would need to take some precautions. This particular item? Infant formula.
The only thing I could think is that, like every single food item in the entire store, infant formula lends itself to being opened and secreted out of the store using all manner of cloak-and-dagger shenanigans, like putting some of it in a bottle to feed your baby because you’re broke and desperate. Is it common to use security protections on infant formula that are not used on any other food item in the store? Is this Raley’s corporate policy, or was it borne of the genius of this particular store?
(And if you’re wondering: no, I’ve never even cracked the cover of 1984. But I think that’s pretty obvious since I think I’m mangling the reference.)
The Sac Rag 
I think they track which items are being stolen every year and that’s how they base what to secure. Kind of scary that baby formula made the cut but not that surprising. I’d be curious to see what Raley’s PR response to this would be if you asked.
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They’d say the poor welfare moms would rather “purchase” chips and malt liquor with WIC funds than waste ’em on food for their kid(s).
YES I KNOW you can’t really get smoo malt liquor with WIC programs. So:
They’d say that society is now shallow enough that woman are more concerned about their figures & convenience than giving nutrition to their babies. Thus “formula” is in high demand among new moms who want to forget the teet, and give the easy treat.
Idiots. Humans & other mammals survived for thousands of years without “formula” and now people are conned into buying into the “formula” fad? They should at least try to milk their cats before resorting to BUYING nutrition for their kids.
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it’s about time somebody just put it this way: Squirty Tip, you suck.
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Oh my gosh. SquirtyTip is so special. I bet he gets a lot of chicks by emphasizing that breasts = food. Anyway word on the street is that powdered formula is stolen and used to cut drugs! Also apparently stores have large quantities of formula stolen by folks who then return it for cash with which to buy drugs. Drugs presumably cut by formula. Who knew such an item could be so well circulated on the black market. I personally steal it to flavor my coffee. Screw you, Starbucks!
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The Raley’s at Walnut and Fair Oaks has a security guard that works in the evening. This guy obviously enjoys his job, he cheerfully greets every customer as they enter the store. I think he’s just happy to have conversation, he probably doesn’t get many visitors at the nursing home. He’s gotta be in his 80’s. If you tried to steal something on his watch, I’m sure he’d give you the frowning of a lifetime.
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