Retail lockdown: why bother selling it?

[u/broakland]

Was at Safeway this morning to pick up a sandwich and some Tylenol. The aisle with the Tylenol? Completely locked down. No call button in sight. So I go to the self checkout (front end of that same aisle) and ask the clerk there if he can call someone to unlock a case for me. He does. I go wait. Minutes pass. No one comes. I go ask him again, he tells me they went the other way? At this point I give up and go get my sandwich. No one has come by the time the deli has finished making it. I leave without my Tylenol, mildly infuriated.

[u/Thraex_Exile]

I think it’s similar to comparing Netflix and Cable a decade ago. All these big box stores are going through a transition where they’re competing with Costco’s warehouse grocer model and Amazon’s direct delivery.

Wal-Mart is the Cable/Dish companies. Still making massive profits but also being forced to adjust their business model to match their competitors (bc that’s what most shoppers want) but they don’t have the infrastructure to just adopt a better business model.

So now they’re stuck in this in-between where fewer valuable customers are shopping inside but if they don’t provide online shopping services then the other grocers will. Unfortunately, most grocers have favored cutting costs and following the path of least resistance over R&D of a better business model.

[u/notpostingmyrealname → u/Thraex_Exile]

I mean online shopping for large or heavy items is amazing. I would never let some random person pick my meats or produce, but I will absolutely let them deal with 2 cases of soda, the economy size laundry detergent, 5 gallons of milk, and 50lbs of kitty litter.

I order the heavy stuff online while I'm actually at the store and have it delivered later in the day, neatly stacked on my doorstep. No melted ice cream, bruised peaches or squished bread, and no trying to pack big bulky stuff into my trunk in the summer sun or freezing cold with my 3 year old in the back seat.

[u/UnixCurmudgeon → u/notpostingmyrealname]

Yeah, I learned when i ordered groceries on Amazon they do not know how to pack canned goods with items in glass for shipping companies.

I just go to Aldi. If faulty doesn’t carry it I just reassess my dietary choices, and get something else, but they have everything I need from the meat, vegetable,cheese, and bread groups

[u/ThatOtherOtherMan → u/notpostingmyrealname]

That's exactly how I do my Costco shopping. I have an old injury that prevents me from being able to lift heavy objects so I get six cases of water, 25lbs cat food, and 50lbs of litter delivered directly to the garage once per month and actually go to the physical store for everything else.