Oh! There's actually good reason!

If you have an Extracare card, in some markets, you can self-unlock the locked display cabinets with the CVS app (because they have your identity via the ExtraCare card which adds inherent trust).

It's powered by the Invue smartlock platform. https://invue.com/smart-locks

https://abc7ny.com/post/cvs-testing-new-nyc-shoppers-open-ca...

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therein 21 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Very interesting. But I'd imagine they aren't doing proper KYC to get an ExtraCare card, I bet it is very soft KYC. Like phone number verification or card payment which you can get anonymously, so it won't necessarily do too much to find the perpetrator. I wonder if it works through throttling and blacklisting so the loss and damage radius are reduced.

	▲	HumanOstrich 11 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I don't think KYC is relevant here.
	▲	kotaKat 17 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		At the same time, though, the thought is "a criminal won't give out their business burner's cellphone number" to sign up for a card/unlock a case. There's still an additional level of self-selection required to be honest enough to want to acquire the loyalty card that a "dishonest" person does not want to spend time doing (they want to snatch and run). Same reason Walmart gated the self-checkout Scan-and-Go-via-phone system behind a paid membership on Walmart+, criminal's not gonna burn fifty bucks to steal a couple times if they have to hand over anything vaguely close to PII, even if it's burner PII.

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ButlerianJihad a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah, are you telling us that while people were outraged about rampant theft and pointing to all the locked-up merchandise as emblematic of the corporate response to rampant theft, even while there wasn't enough staff to unlock the cabinets... but the lockups are also a way to entice customers to install the app, sign up for an account, and enable Bluetooth all the time?

https://youtu.be/zS9U3Gc832Y?si=BmVOHE6ahKLbw82c

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mjdiloreto a day ago | parent | next [-]

Are you telling us we're being increasingly policed by technology?

Yes! This is part of the Flockification of everything.

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kotaKat a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean, I didn't go to the worse version. Step right up to the little display, enter your phone number, smile for the camera, and the case unlocks magically!

https://indyme.com/solutions/freedom-case

The CV footage just adds that extra comfortable feeling, doesn't it?

https://indyme.com/hubfs/E6A61CF7-E252-4994-91E1-0FC0E88781F...

It's "freedom" for "honest shoppers"!

	▲	gs17 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Even better, they have a model called the "Freedom Cage"!