Shoplifting is becoming such a huge problem in New York City that even pints of ice cream now have special locked lids on them in some places.
Fairway Supermakert, on the Upper West Side, has placed locked lids on their Haagen-Daz pints. The lids can only be taken off with a certain device attached to the cash register.
“To help maintain the lowest possible cost, a protective lock has been placed on some units of ice cream. This lock will be removed at checkout by a store associate,” a sign in the store’s freezer section read.
In the first quarter of 2023, there were 13,738 incidents of shoplifting recorded at retail stores in the city. During the same time span in 2019, that number was 8,750.
In the last couple of years, ice cream thefts have risen in NYC.
Last year, a man was accused of stealing ice cream from several stores around the city. When he was finally caught, he had 20 pints of stolen ice cream in his possession.
In 2016, four people stole 1,249 frozen treats from several stores in the city within 10 months.
One store owner has now taken matters even further, as a result, and has padlocked his ice cream freezer doors.
