A SHOPPER has come up with a theory for why customers were supposedly “treated like criminals” when leaving stores.

X user, formerly Twitter, Lauren (@trillxlauren) shared her idea after seeing a retailer’s anti-theft policy.

Lauren claimed that her store had shut its self-checkouts and placed a household essential behind an increasingly common anti-theft measure. 

In a post, she said: “They really put the giant gallon jawns of laundry detergent behind glass & shut down the self checkout.”

She added: “Yall really be stealing huh, smh.”

In a follow-up post, Lauren theorized as to why the self-checkouts had supposedly been removed.

Lauren said: “Many ppl was buying them coming in again with the old receipt pretending to check out in self checkout with it & now we’re all being treated like criminals.

“& I have to wait to check out with an actual cashier for 1 thing, smh.”

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Policies to combat theft, like receipt checks and placing items behind plexiglass, have become more common at large chain retailers. 

Several Walmart locations in one city had totally removed their self-checkout sections and reverted back to face-to-face checkouts.

Walmart did not confirm if this change was made in response to retail theft.

Three stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico have been remodeled and customers were left divided by the change, The US Sun has previously reported.

One customer slammed the conversion and mirrored Lauren’s point about extended checkout times.

They said: “I spent a good 15 minutes in line and I only got a couple items.

“So I think it’s just challenging for shoppers because, especially for people who just have a couple of items have to wait in the long lines with the cashiers.”

Another customer praised the social aspect this change would bring.

She said: “It’s more personable, you interact with someone.

“And there’s jobs for people.”