New York

I Tried Using an App to Unlock Cabinets at Drugstores

Published

10 months ago

February 25, 2025

I Tried Using an App to Unlock Cabinets at Drugstores

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll find out about an app that lets customers open locked cabinets in three CVS stores in Manhattan without having to seek assistance from an employee. We’ll also get details on revenue for the first month of congestion pricing.

The locked cabinet opened when I held my cellphone over the lock. The trouble came after I took the exfoliating cleanser off the shelf and put it in my shopping basket.

I was in the CVS store on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, using an app on my smartphone that is supposed to make shopping easier. It does, when it works. Does it make shopping faster? I’m not sure.

CVS, like other chain drugstores, moved to fight shoplifting by putting lockable cabinets in its stores in New York City — and putting everyday items like toothbrushes and over-the-counter pain medications inside. A shopper has to press a button, which triggers an announcement over the store’s public address system — “Customer assistance needed in the skin care department,” in my case. An employee then walks to that aisle, unlocks the cabinet and waits while the shopper picks out the exfoliating cleanser. The employee then closes and relocks the cabinet.

Last month CVS updated its app, adding a feature that lets shoppers at three stores in Manhattan unlock the cabinets with their smartphones. No customer assistance necessary.

The marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower said there was a 17 percent increase in downloads of the CVS app in January. Sensor Tower said the jump might have been driven by shoppers who wanted to use the app in the three stores, where shoppers with the app can do what I did.

When everything goes smoothly, the app allows shoppers to avoid having to wait for a store employee to appear. And that’s good for business, as restricting access to products deters thieves but also shoppers.

“When you lock up your products, you lock out your customers,” Brittain Ladd, a strategy and supply chain consultant, said last month, adding that CVS and Walgreens “have really gone wild in terms of putting Plexiglas all throughout their stores.” A CVS spokeswoman, Tara Burke, said as much when she told me that “we know keeping products locked up can be inconvenient.”

But she also said that shoplifting remained a problem. Theft from CVS stores has increased 30 percent since 2020, she said, adding that locking up products was “a measure of last resort.”

CVS introduced the app as a pilot program at the store on Bleecker Street and two others: at 630 Lexington Avenue, at 53rd Street; and the one I tried first, at 540 Amsterdam Avenue, at 86th Street. I was looking for cough syrup and razor blades.

I logged in but couldn’t get the app to open the cabinet with the cough syrup. A store employee who had walked up the aisle to help someone else saw me holding my phone over the lock and said, “Here, let me.”

I moved on to the razor blades, where the app opened the lock on the cabinet.

But I got messages about an “unexpected error” a couple of times, so I logged out and then in again. And at least once a message appeared saying that the unlocking function was not available in that store.

I left wondering if the app was really ready for prime time, which is why I decided to go to the other two stores.

At the one on Lexington Avenue several days later — when I needed more cough syrup — the app did not open the cabinet despite several tries. “Sometimes it works,” said the employee who unlocked that cabinet for me.

But the app did unlock the cabinet next to the one with the cough syrup. I didn’t need anything from there, but I’d been curious to see what would happen.

Things went better at the Bleecker Street store. I started with the exfoliating cleanser, and the app unlocked the cabinet on the first try. But when I tried to lock the cabinet after taking out the item, it wouldn’t lock.

It took me a minute to see why: The other sliding door in the cabinet had slipped open. I closed it. The lock clicked.

In Aisle 8, I got an “unexpected error” message. I logged off and logged in again. That time, the app unlocked the cabinet with unexpected fanfare. A bell rang and a recorded voice said, “Thank you for shopping at CVS.”

I went on to Aisle 10. At the toothpaste cabinet, there was another “unexpected error.”

That was when I noticed that the cabinet I was trying to unlock was already open.

Weather

Today, expect a mostly cloudy sky and a high near 53. Tonight, the sky will turn partly cloudy, and the low will be near 39.

ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING

In effect until Friday (Losar).

The latest New York news

The money from congestion pricing is rolling in

Of the $48.6 million, the M.T.A. counted $37.5 million as net operating revenue, money that will go toward financing a number of major transit repair projects. The rest will pay for expenses related to installing cameras and other equipment to record and process the tolls.

Jai Patel, the co-chief financial officer of the transit agency, said that 95 percent of the tolls were recorded in the peak period, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. “That seems like a big number,” Patel said, “but the program itself is to reduce congestion, and so peak tolls would be best.”

She also told an M.T.A. committee meeting on Monday that congestion pricing was expected to generate about $500 million in revenue during its first year.

The M.T.A. will leverage the money, borrowing significantly more in municipal bonds. Its planned projects include modernizing subway signals, some of which were installed during the Depression; making stations more accessible for riders with disabilities; and extending the Second Avenue subway line to East Harlem.

Those projects may be put on hold if the Trump administration succeeds in rescinding the congestion pricing program. And a protracted legal fight with the federal government could scare away investors, said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a civic watchdog group.

“The market may have a different take on how risky they consider congestion pricing now,” she said, noting that it was unusual for the federal government to renege on an agreement for a program like congestion pricing. The Biden administration approved it in November, after President Joe Biden lost the election.

METROPOLITAN diary

Halloween on the A

Dear Diary:

It was Halloween a few years ago, and I was on an A train traveling from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Most of the passengers in the car were in costumes that included Prince, Elvis, Madonna and a stuffed toy. No one was talking, and everyone seemed to be traveling alone.

At one point, three young men carrying a boom box got on the train and took positions as if getting ready to put on a show that was most likely going to include somersaults.

As soon as the boom box clicked on, all of the costumed passengers jumped up and started to dance. The would-be acrobats clicked off the music.

No, no, sit down, they said. We are trying to make a living here.

Everyone sat back down, laughing. Then the box clicked on again, the costumed passengers jumped up to dance again and the acrobats asked them to sit down again.

The sequence played out three more times before the young men finally gave up and went to another car.

We all kept laughing.

— Carol Williams. Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.

Click to comment

New York

Vote For the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry of 2025

Published

3 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Vote For the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry of 2025

Every week since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has published stories by, and for, New Yorkers of all ages and eras (no matter where they live now): anecdotes and memories, quirky encounters and overheard snippets that reveal the city’s spirit and heart.

For the past four years, we’ve asked for your help picking the best Diary entry of the year. Now we’re asking again.

We’ve narrowed the field to the five finalists here. Read them and vote for your favorite. The author of the item that gets the most votes will receive a print of the illustration that accompanied it, signed by the artist, Agnes Lee.

The voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21. You can change your vote as many times as you’d like until then, but you may only pick one. Choose wisely.

Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.

Two Stops

Published on Feb. 16

Dear Diary:

It was a drizzly June night in 2001. I was a young magazine editor and had just enjoyed what I thought was a very blissful second date — dinner, drinks, fabulous conversation — with our technology consultant at a restaurant in Manhattan.

I lived in Williamsburg at the time, and my date lived near Murray Hill, so we grabbed a cab and headed south on Second Avenue.

“Just let me out here,” my date said to the cabby at the corner of 25th Street.

We said our goodbyes, quick and shy, knowing that we would see each other at work the next day. I was giddy and probably grinning with happiness and hope.

“Oh boy,” the cabby said, shaking his head as we drove toward Brooklyn. “Very bad.”

“What do you mean?” I asked in horror.

“He doesn’t want you to know exactly where he lives,” the cabby said. “Not a good sign.”

I spent the rest of the cab ride in shock, revisiting every moment of the date.

Happily, it turned out that my instinct about it being a great date was right, and the cabby was wrong. Twenty-four years later, my date that night is my husband, and I know that if your stop is first, it’s polite to get out so the cab can continue in a straight line to the next stop.

— Ingrid Spencer

Ferry Farewell

Published on April 6

Dear Diary:

On a February afternoon, I met my cousins at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Their spouses and several of our very-grown children were there too. I brought Prosecco, a candle, a small speaker to play music, photos and a poem.

We were there to recreate the wedding cruise of my mother, Monica, and my stepfather, Peter. They had gotten married at City Hall in August 1984. She was 61, and he, 71. It was her first marriage, and his fourth.

I was my mother’s witness that day. It was a late-in-life love story, and they were very happy. Peter died in 1996, at 82. My mother died last year. She was 100.

Peter’s ashes had waited a long time, but finally they were mingled with Monica’s. The two of them would ride the ferry a last time and then swirl together in the harbor forever. Cue the candles, bubbly, bagpipes and poems.

Two ferry workers approached us. We knew we were in trouble: Open containers and open flames were not allowed on the ferry.

My cousin’s husband, whispering, told the workers what we were doing and said we would be finished soon.

They walked off, and then returned. They said they had spoken to the captain, and they ushered us to the stern for some privacy. As the cup of ashes flew into the water, the ferry horn sounded two long blasts.

— Caitlin Margaret May

Unacceptable

Published on May 4

Dear Diary:

I went to a new bagel store in Brooklyn Heights with my son.

When it was my turn to order, I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel with whitefish salad and a slice of red onion.

The man behind the counter looked up at me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do that.”

— Richie Powers

Teresa

Published on Sept. 14

Dear Diary:

It was February 2013. With a foot of snow expected, I left work early and drove from New Jersey warily as my wipers squeaked and snow and ice stuck to my windows.

I drove east on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was tied up worse than usual. Trucks groaned on either side of my rattling Toyota. My fingers were cold. My toes were colder. Got to get home before it really comes down, I thought to myself.

By the time I got home to my little red bungalow a stone’s throw from the Throgs Neck Bridge, the snow was already up to my ankles.

Inside, I took off my gloves, hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and snow boots. The bed, still unmade, was inviting me. But first, I checked my messages.

There was one from Teresa, the 92-year-old widow on the corner.

“Call me,” she said, sounding desperate.

I looked toward the warm bed, but … Teresa. There was a storm outside, and she was alone.

On went the pants, the sweater, the coat, the scarf, the boots and the gloves, and then I went out the door.

The snow was six inches deep on the sidewalks, so I tottered on tire tracks in the middle of the street. The wind stung my face. When I got to the end of the block, I pounded on her door.

“Teresa!” I called. No answer. “Teresa!” I called again. I heard the TV blaring. Was she sprawled on the floor?

I went next door and called for Kathy.

“Teresa can’t answer the door,” I said. “Probably fell.”

Kathy had a key. In the corner of her neat living room, Teresa, in pink sweatpants and sweaters, was sitting curled in her armchair, head bent down and The Daily News in her lap.

I snapped off the TV.

Startled, she looked up.

“Kathy! Neal!” she said. “What’s a five-letter word for cabbage?”

— Neal Haiduck

Nice Place

Published on July 20

Dear Diary:

When I lived in Park Slope over 20 years ago, I once had to call an ambulance because of a sudden, violent case of food poisoning.

Two paramedics, a man and a woman, entered our third-floor walk-up with a portable chair. Strapping me in, the male medic quickly inserted an IV line into my arm.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his partner circling around and admiring the apartment.

“Nice place you’ve got here.” she said. “Do you own it?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, all but unconscious.

Once I was in the ambulance, she returned to her line of inquiry.

“Do you mind me asking how much you paid for your apartment?”

“$155,000,” I croaked.

“Wow! You must have bought during the recession.”

“Yeah” I said.

They dropped me off at Methodist Hospital, where I was tended to by a nurse as I struggled to stay lucid.

At some point, the same medic poked her head into the room with one last question:

“You wouldn’t be wanting to sell any time soon, would you?”

— Melinda DeRocker

Illustrations by Agnes Lee.

New York

They Witness Deaths on the Tracks and Then Struggle to Get Help

Published

5 days ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

They Witness Deaths on the Tracks and Then Struggle to Get Help

‘Part of the job’

Edwin Guity was at the controls of a southbound D train last December, rolling through the Bronx, when suddenly someone was on the tracks in front of him.

He jammed on the emergency brake, but it was too late. The man had gone under the wheels.

Stumbling over words, Mr. Guity radioed the dispatcher and then did what the rules require of every train operator involved in such an incident. He got out of the cab and went looking for the person he had struck.

“I didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Guity said later. “But this is a part of the job.”

He found the man pinned beneath the third car. Paramedics pulled him out, but the man died at the hospital. After that, Mr. Guity wrestled with what to do next.

A 32-year-old who had once lived in a family shelter with his parents, he viewed the job as paying well and offering a rare chance at upward mobility. It also helped cover the costs of his family’s groceries and rent in the three-bedroom apartment they shared in Brooklyn.

But striking the man with the train had shaken him more than perhaps any other experience in his life, and the idea of returning to work left him feeling paralyzed.

Edwin Guity was prescribed exposure therapy after his train struck a man on the tracks.

Hundreds of train operators have found themselves in Mr. Guity’s position over the years.

And for just as long, there has been a path through the state workers’ compensation program to receiving substantive treatment to help them cope. But New York’s train operators say that their employer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has done too little to make them aware of that option.

After Mr. Guity’s incident, no official told him of that type of assistance, he said. Instead, they gave him the option of going back to work right away.

But Mr. Guity was lucky. He had a friend who had been through the same experience and who coached him on getting help — first through a six-week program and then, with the assistance of a lawyer, through an experienced specialist.

The specialist prescribed a six-month exposure therapy program to gradually reintroduce Mr. Guity to the subway.

His first day back at the controls of a passenger train was on Thanksgiving. Once again, he was driving on the D line — the same route he had been traveling on the day of the fatal accident.

Mr. Guity helps care for his 93-year-old grandmother, Juanita Guity.

M.T.A. representatives insisted that New York train operators involved in strikes are made aware of all options for getting treatment, but they declined to answer specific questions about how the agency ensures that drivers get the help they need.

In an interview, the president of the M.T.A. division that runs the subway, Demetrius Crichlow, said all train operators are fully briefed on the resources available to them during their job orientation.

“I really have faith in our process,” Mr. Crichlow said.

Still, other transit systems — all of which are smaller than New York’s — appear to do a better job of ensuring that operators like Mr. Guity take advantage of the services available to them, according to records and interviews.

An Uptick in Subway Strikes

A Times analysis shows that the incidents were on the rise in New York City’s system even as they were falling in all other American transit systems.

Source: Federal Transit Administration.

Note: Transit agencies report “Major Safety and Security Events” to the F.T.A.’s National Transit Database. The Times’s counts include incidents categorized as rail collisions with persons, plus assaults, homicides and attempted suicides with event descriptions mentioning a train strike. For assaults, The Times used an artificial intelligence model to identify relevant descriptions and then manually reviewed the results.

Bianca Pallaro/The New York Times

San Francisco’s system provides 24-hour access to licensed therapists through a third-party provider.

Los Angeles proactively reaches out to its operators on a regular basis to remind them of workers’ compensation options and other resources.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has made it a goal to increase engagement with its employee assistance program.

The M.T.A. says it offers some version of most of these services.

But in interviews with more than two dozen subway operators who have been involved in train strikes, only one said he was aware of all those resources, and state records suggest most drivers of trains that strike people are not taking full advantage of them.

“It’s the M.T.A.’s responsibility to assist the employee both mentally and physically after these horrific events occur,” the president of the union that represents New York City transit workers, John V. Chiarello, said in a statement, “but it is a constant struggle trying to get the M.T.A. to do the right thing.”

New York

Video: Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid

Published

2 weeks ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

Video: Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid

new video loaded: Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid

transcript

Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid

Nearly 200 protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving a parking garage in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. The confrontation appeared to prevent a possible ICE raid nearby, and led to violent clashes between the police and protesters.

: [chanting] “ICE out of New York.”
Advertisement

Nearly 200 protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving a parking garage in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. The confrontation appeared to prevent a possible ICE raid nearby, and led to violent clashes between the police and protesters.

By Jorge Mitssunaga

November 30, 2025