Why do they do this? ( a rant)

[Grayfox]

I don't like grocery shopping. Its probably right near the top of my list of least liked chores. But, ya gotta eat. So what can ya do?
Because I don't like to do it, I buy the bulk of my groceries once a month. I might have to make a quick stop for bread, milk or whatever during the month, but I get the vast majority of it on one trip. Over and done.
I actually got to two stores. I hit Sam's for bulk items and then pick up the rest of it at the local Kroger. Today was the day.
Aside from the usual problem of only two check outs open , Sam's went pretty well.
But then I walk into Kroger and nothing is where its supposed to be.
It seems like just about the time you learn where everything you need is located so you can get in and out quickly, they rearrange the whole damned store! And they seem to do this quite often.
So instead of gettin' in and out, I have to spend twice as long walking up and down every isle diligently searching for the stuff I need.
AARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Why, oh why do they do this?

 

[Big Cholla]

It is an age old grocers marketing ploy. The last thing the management wants is for you to become so familiar with the locations of what you usually buy that you don't have to walk around in the store and look for them. The grocery stores live and die on impulse purchases. If you know where the usual is, you won't see the impulse items they want you to purchase. The solution for them is to relocate everything possible on a regular basis. The solution for you is to subscribe to a personal shopper business and let them look for your items. ................

 

[Farmer17]

After my divorce I was living alone and I never went to a grocery store. In Oklahoma we have a chain of stores called "Braums" and they mainly sell burgers, chicken fingers, and ice cream cones but they also have a small grocery section. It only has four small isles and it has fresh produce, their own excellent brand of meats, frozen foods, and dairy products, and most every thing else a very small grocery store would have. I could run in, get what I needed for the week, and be out in a few minutes. It was wonderful but now my new wife likes to shop at this gigantic grocery store called "Crest". If you forget something its a hundred yard hike to the other end of the store to get what you forgot. The place has great prices but the average grocery shopping trip with my wife there lasts over an hour and it is pure torture fighting the crowds.

 

[Doug627]

Next time, find an employee and make them help you find your items. Might as well waste their time while they are wasting yours.

 

[gunnails]

This must be one of those "First World Problems" I've heard about.

 

[ATF]

Think of all the exercise you're getting. How much do you weigh

 

[PatriotX]

I'll trade shopping for groceries AND cooking the meal for not doing the dishes, every time.

Is there a Peapod or similar shopping service available to you ?

 

[wyccad915]

yep. totally marketing ploy there. this way you're forced to walk by stuff you don't necessarily need, but might see and then want.

 

[tbgunner88]

That doesn't bother me nearly as bad as the people who stand and have 10 minute conversations in the middle of the aisles.

 

[Arik]

It is an age old grocers marketing ploy. The last thing the management wants is for you to become so familiar with the locations of what you usually buy that you don't have to walk around in the store and look for them. The grocery stores live and die on impulse purchases. If you know where the usual is, you won't see the impulse items they want you to purchase. The solution for them is to relocate everything possible on a regular basis. The solution for you is to subscribe to a personal shopper business and let them look for your items. ................

Usually impulse stuff is by the checkout counter. All the chain stores here all always same. I can walk into one near my house and then drive 5 hours away and walk into the same name store blindfolded and find what I need. Most people shop after work while wanting to get home and relax. If you change stuff around and force people to spend time and get aggravated they'll loose customers.

Sometimes things change because either the product isn't available at the moment or it has been replaced by something else. And the previous product relocated. But they don't change to keep you guessing otherwise you'll go somewhere else. People are creatures of habit they don't like change

 

[pineappleshooter]

.....you are all missing the mark. I am a dairy manager in a large chain grocery store. The actual store employees have no say about what goes where on the shelf. Our corporate HQ tells us where things will be located. The main driving force is money, you pay us the most money, your product gets the best placement. It is also sales driven, we add, subtract, or move items based on sales volume. The whole "making you walk past things" strategy you are talking about is addressed in the basic layout of the store. All of the big money items, i.e. produce, dairy, deli, carryout food, dairy, are around the perimeter of the store while the grocery stuff everyone needs tends to be in the center so you have to walk the entire store to get the basics of your shopping trip. Dairy is usually in the rear of store so you have to walk all the way through the store to get your milk.

 

[b_san]

Dairy is usually in the rear of store so you have to walk all the way through the store to get your milk.

Which is why I pick mine up at the corner stop and rob, not only is it quicker to grab but it's usually cheaper too and it all comes from the same cows...

 

[pineappleshooter]

Which is why I pick mine up at the corner stop and rob, not only is it quicker to grab but it's usually cheaper too and it all comes from the same cows...

You are correct about the same cows. Every jug of milk has the dairy it came from identified on it. It is usually a random set of numbers close to the date such as 042-15 or something along those lines. Here in Philly the two big milks are Lehigh Valley and Rosenbergers. Our store brand (Giant Foods) and Lehigh come from the same dairy and arrive on the same truck. Rosenbergers arrives on separate truck but has the same code on it as our brand and Lehigh. Lo and behold Lehigh recently bought out Rosenbergers and continues to ship using trucks marked Rosenbergers with the same labels Rosenbergers have always used. Rosebergers is the most expensive followed by Lehigh and then Giant brand. I have pointed out to customers that they are all the same milk but they still opt for the more expensive milk saying "it tastes better". To keep his gun related, I spoke to an employee at one of our LGSs and he told me he was retired from a bottling facility. He told me to bottle different milks they just stop the line, switch cap colors and labels, and restart the line.

 

[johngalt]

That's not as bad as getting stuck behind someone who decides the cash register is the appropriate spot to sort through their giant bag of coupons. Then they wait until the clerk has finished ringing everything up and bagged it. Then finally the decide to write a check, dig through their stuff looking for it, and finally write it. " oh, we need to see an ID".... More digging...

Or the guy who only had a $20. "That will be 21.38"... Ok, take out this ... "18.47" ... Ok, put that back and take out this ... "20.56" ... Try this instead...
Playing Price is Right trying to get as close as possible to $20 without going over by swapping every item in the basket.

 

[hoc9sw]

The thread is amusing in a sick way.

I'm a stage 4 cancer guy, and a trip to the store is several things:
- exercise
- contact with humans
- contact with sick humans who have minor problems that will kill me (which is why I go at off hours)
- the opportunity to say "thank you, yes" when they offer to carry out a load of bags I could not get ten feet with
- the pharmacist who tells me about the latest news on the meds I take, and busts his arse to find coupons to help me with the bill
- and yes, I go through the coupons at checkout. A $ saved is one I can spend on ammo

I might be the guy who let you shoot my 9mm tonight, and refused your offer to replace the five rounds that the coupons let me buy.

 

[LVSteve]

Which is why I pick mine up at the corner stop and rob, not only is it quicker to grab but it's usually cheaper too and it all comes from the same cows...

Might be the same cows, but all the stop and robs here charge an arm and a leg for milk and OJ.

 

[hoc9sw]

johngalt,

When I see someone taking the milk out to find that last dollar, I give a quick glance at the cart. If it is real, I pass a dollar up to the clerk. I am bad off, but others are so much worse ...

 

[Ranger514]

johngalt,

When I see someone taking the milk out to find that last dollar, I give a quick glance at the cart. If it is real, I pass a dollar up to the clerk. I am bad off, but others are so much worse ...

You're a good man. I hope you have a support group to help you through this hard time.

 

[hoc9sw]

You're a good man. I hope you have a support group to help you through this hard time.

I'm not, but I do. My "immediate" family is very distant, in so many ways. Without a very few, but very close, neighbor friends, I would not survive. They, and several real support groups through my hospital family, help me keep my head above water from one day to the next.

And that is something any of those reading this who have friends / acquaintances with cancer should remember - a DAY, a single 24 hour block, is progress. Not being DEAD in the morning is the ultimate bonus for us, but at the same time WE must find a use for the day, lest it escape, as a signal to whatever gives us the next, that we no longer care to live another. That is the true end.

I'm not there yet. My adapter for the suppressor on my 22 compact is not yet perfect. But I have a couple of hidden goals beyond that. EWK, watch out! An engineer is coming!

 

[johngalt]

I'm not, but I do. My "immediate" family is very distant, in so many ways. Without a very few, but very close, neighbor friends, I would not survive. They, and several real support groups through my hospital family, help me keep my head above water from one day to the next.

And that is something any of those reading this who have friends / acquaintances with cancer should remember - a DAY, a single 24 hour block, is progress. Not being DEAD in the morning is the ultimate bonus for us, but at the same time WE must find a use for the day, lest it escape, as a signal to whatever gives us the next, that we no longer care to live another. That is the true end.

I'm not there yet. My adapter for the suppressor on my 22 compact is not yet perfect. But I have a couple of hidden goals beyond that. EWK, watch out! An engineer is coming!

I can't imagine what you are going through, and I have to admire you for having such a positive outlook on life. Sounds like you have some really interesting projects going on.

 

[chaparrito]

Motorized scooters and the folks who drive them. I swear most (not all) of these folks look like they NEED the exercise. Blocking the aisles and getting in the way. Recently a full figured gal had one in the way in the meat dept. at Safeway. Its battery died. She got off it, picked up her items and purse, walked all the way to the front of the store and got another one.

 

[Laketime]

I agree with what you say and would like to include the following.I am so tired of getting hit by women with shopping carts as they run out of the side isle onto the main isle without looking.This hurts your ankle.

 

[snubbyfan]

This must be one of those "First World Problems" I've heard about.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cl7TY92rd4[/ame]

 

[UncleEd]

I am blessed with Publix, rated one of the top 5 grocery stores in the U.S. for customer service, quality and pricing.

Lots of employees, plenty around to help you, and if they are in the aisles stocking, they stop and ask if you need help.

Aisle signs are prominently placed so you can read them from store end to end.

And the checkout people get to know their customers and always ask if you forgot something, can they send a runner for you.

And the Publix stores are all virtually laid out the same way so it's easy to go to one you don't often frequent.

Kroger down the way, eh not so good except for meat products.

No, I do not have any affiliation in any way with Publix. It's just first rate.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Amazon sells groceries. If you are a once a month quantity shopper, it might work well for you. Personally, I always enjoyed going marketing in the European style.

 

[gunnails]

My local grocery store is Fred Meyers, they are now owned by Krogers, They have nice wide aisle, great prices, helpful employees, and very clean. But the gun department is way way back in the corner by the paint, and some time I walk all the way back there and all they have is Ruger's in the display with maybe only 1 or 2 new model 66's or 642's, and they limit you to only 2 boxes of bulk .22 ammo a day. FML.

 

[the ringo kid]

I don't like grocery shopping. Its probably right near the top of my list of least liked chores. But, ya gotta eat. So what can ya do?
Because I don't like to do it, I buy the bulk of my groceries once a month. I might have to make a quick stop for bread, milk or whatever during the month, but I get the vast majority of it on one trip. Over and done.
I actually got to two stores. I hit Sam's for bulk items and then pick up the rest of it at the local Kroger. Today was the day.
Aside from the usual problem of only two check outs open , Sam's went pretty well.
But then I walk into Kroger and nothing is where its supposed to be.
It seems like just about the time you learn where everything you need is located so you can get in and out quickly, they rearrange the whole damned store! And they seem to do this quite often.
So instead of gettin' in and out, I have to spend twice as long walking up and down every isle diligently searching for the stuff I need.
AARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Why, oh why do they do this?

WMin my area,is in the midst of doing that too.

 

[the ringo kid]

You're a good man. I hope you have a support group to help you through this hard time.

AMEN to that. You guys and gals are great helping me out but--your a bit more needier. Prayers sent to help you out.

This is for hoc nine saw--since it didnt list your name.

 

[Jessie]

The wife and I just got done putting in potatoes and peas. Between the weeding, tilling, prepping, fertilizing and planting, the grocery doesn't sound like such a bad idea.
We have many more rows to do. It's fun and tastes great, but it is WORK!

 

[italiansport]

johngalt,

When I see someone taking the milk out to find that last dollar, I give a quick glance at the cart. If it is real, I pass a dollar up to the clerk. I am bad off, but others are so much worse ...

I've done that as well as long as their cart doesn't contain any liquor or cigarettes.
Jim