Anti-theft vending machines could solve one of our biggest shopping frustrations

• The methods retailers use to deter shoplifting can make shopping worse for customers. 
• A vending machine company hopes to use its product to replace locked aisles of merchandise. 
• The vending machines, or self-service shelves, eliminate the need to ask an employee for help.  

Shoplifting may or may not be getting worse. But retailers' methods to deter shoplifting certainly seem to be making shopping worse.

Over the past few years, many shoppers have increasingly found merchandise locked behind walls of plexiglass, been stopped by employees checking customer receipts, and in some cases encountered shopping carts that lock in place if they are moved too far from a store.

Some stores, like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, have even stopped selling items that are frequently stolen.

Now a vending machine company wants to make one of the most popular anti-theft methods — locked aisles — a bit more tolerable.

David Ashforth, the founder of Digital Media Vending International, told an NBC affiliate in the Bay Area his idea grew from his own frustration while shopping.

Ashforth had a shopping experience that's likely familiar to many. He wanted to buy an item at a drugstore that was locked up.

"I had to find someone with a key, and it was at that moment when the lightbulb went off," he said during the segment.

Ashforth's huge modular vending machines with robotic arms can replace a store aisle's shelving units, according to the segment. Customers can pay in advance online or in store. They receive a code or receipt and use it at the vending machine.

While it's not terribly convenient to go through the process, it is faster than waiting for a manager to unlock a case of merchandise. Ashforth told the NBC affiliate that items in these "self-service shelves" are retrieved by the robotic arm inside one of the machines in 15 seconds.

Ashforth said during the segment that he's speaking to 44 retailers about his products. Some retailers are inquiring about using bullet-proof glass on the vending machines to combat smash and grabs, according to the segment.

But don't expect an entire store made of these vending machines, he said. He said his vending machines would hold the 10% or so of most commonly stolen items.

Would you prefer shopping through a vending machine or locked aisles? What is the worst anti-theft method you've encountered while shopping? Email Gloria Dawson (gdawson@insider.com).