Ridiculous things shops do

[LSWR Cavalier]

The small minority of shops (such as my local Morrisons) having charity people waiting at the shop exit to get you to sign up to their direct debit. Tends to lead me to shop elsewhere.

Chuggers? I used to be one!

 

[Yew]

I'm always annoyed when I see a closed shop with its big TESCO sign on, when the shop is closed. I understand that interior lights need to be on for staff to work after hours, but there's no need for that sign to intentionally confuse customers.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As an aside, why is it socially acceptable (even if not desirable) to ask tall people to help reach high shelves, but socially unacceptable to ask short people to help reach low shelves?

Is it? Is it not just more that tall people can bend down to access lower stuff so it is only needed for someone who has a disability and so can't?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

I very gladly fetch things from a high (or low) shelf if asked.

What I do not like is pushiness in the queue at the till, or people expecting to be let thru because they only have a couple items (and no trolley!).

I often only have a few items myself, but I always correctly take a trolley, as one is expected to.

 

[Lost property]

My local Tesco has stopped stocking the cheapest version of items.
So take for example a normal bag of sweets (200-250gm ish).
there used to be the branded ones like Maynards etc at about 1.20-1.30 a bag
then there were the normal Tesco branded at 85p
then Ms Mollys (Tesco own value brand) at 29p
The cheapest one has now been removed from sale, causing a 29p to 85p rise overnight, that's very nearly a 3x rise in price.
Similarly 2 litres of lemonade has gone from the cheapest (Stockwell, again Tesco own value brand) at 25p to normal Tesco brand at 80p, that's a well over 3x price rise.
There are more, has your local Tesco or whatever done the same?

Now that you mention it. Until very recently, they sold packets of ham £1 for 2 slices, £2 for 6 slices, £4 for 12 slices (could be wrong about the quantity for the latter) but then, suddenly..gone !..now selling smaller sizes and every pack individually priced. In essence, as I've said, it's profiteering by stealth....ASDA, rarely visited and only for sachets of Pal to feed Her Imperial Doggyship, are now more expensive than Tesco in some respects, certainly in the bakery dept.

 

[Iskra]

I very gladly fetch things from a high (or low) shelf if asked.

What I do not like is pushiness in the queue at the till, or people expecting to be let thru because they only have a couple items (and no trolley!).

I often only have a few items myself, but I always correctly take a trolley, as one is expected to.

How on earth is it ‘correct’ to take a trolley that you don’t need? And just exactly who is expecting you to do so?

- - -

Upthread, poor product labelling has been mentioned. I have noticed a deterioration in the quality and veracity of product labelling recently across many retail outlets. I put it down to shop workers not being able to keep up with the volume of constantly changing prices driven by the present economic turmoil.

 

[deltic]

Most of the points raised are not ridiculous from the perspective of a store trying to increase its revenue!

​

 

[Bletchleyite]

How on earth is it ‘correct’ to take a trolley that you don’t need? And just exactly who is expecting you to do so?

The German supermarkets used to prefer you to but they since got baskets.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

How on earth is it ‘correct’ to take a trolley that you don’t need? And just exactly who is expecting you to do so?

..

Many retailers ask customers to use a basket or trolley. I always take a trolley, I put it behind me in the queue to enforce social distancing.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Many retailers ask customers to use a basket or trolley. I always take a trolley, I put it behind me in the queue to enforce social distancing.

You're misreading the meaning of that. It means "don't put stuff in your own bags until you've paid for it else we will assume you intended to nick it".

 

[busestrains]

One thing that annoys me is the increase of self service tills and the decrease of manned tills. A lot of shops sometimes only have self service open. Many of the large supermarket chains are self service only in the evenings. This is one thing that really annoys me as i hate using self service tills.

 

[Iskra]

Many retailers ask customers to use a basket or trolley. I always take a trolley, I put it behind me in the queue to enforce social distancing.

Well, I routinely don’t use a trolley in the interest of efficiency and economy in the use of such resources and I’ve never had an issue.

It isn’t your place to enforce imaginary rules, and getting a trolley specifically to do that is rather bizarre.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

1. No signage or decent system at self-service checkouts at supermarkets to deal with items that need a security tag removed (Often as a customer you simply don't know that there's a tag on an item). I've been caught out a couple of times paying for stuff at the self-service checkout at my local Sainsburys, taking it home, only to discover an item was unusable until I returned to the shop to ask them to remove the security tag.
2. Some high street-based supermarkets around here have two entrances - one onto the local high street which practically all pedestrians will use, and another onto their store car park, which will be used only by motorists. And at some point early in the evening some of them close their pedestrian entrance so that anyone walking to the shop is forced to make an extended journey around to the car park. That seems to me environmentally completely irresponsible - penalising those people who do the right thing by not driving.
3. Supermarkets that make plenty of trolleys conveniently available at the store entrance, but which make much less effort about baskets. I've lost count of how many times I've had to actually walk to one of the checkouts to pick up a basket. Some stores have so few baskets around that it rather looks to me like a deliberate ploy to make people use trolleys (presumably on the assumption that they'll buy more).

 

[duncanp]

This is one thing that really annoys me as i hate using self service tills.

Particularly those ones which don't tell you whether the bagging area is on the left or the right of the scanner.

It wouldn't hurt the shop to put up a sign saying "Bagging Area".

 

[najaB]

It isn’t your place to enforce imaginary rules, and getting a trolley specifically to do that is rather bizarre.

Who said anything about rules?

 

[Iskra]

Who said anything about rules?

Call it what you want, but deliberately using a trolley to impede others lawfully going about their business is ridiculous. Even more so, when there are multiple other shopping options for anyone with genuine health concerns.

Anyway, getting back on topic: There are a lot of shops that still have out of date Covid measure signs, which is just conflicting information and shows poor attention to detail in the store.

 

[najaB]

Call it what you want, but deliberately using a trolley to impede others lawfully going about their business is ridiculous.

How is their lawful business being impeded?

 

[Iskra]

How is their lawful business being impeded?

Because people may wish to exit, having not purchased anything down a checkout aisle (usually narrow), and the poster has admitted he blocks this in interest of social distancing.

 

[Starmill]

Because people may wish to exit, having not purchased anything down a checkout aisle (usually narrow), and the poster has admitted he blocks this in interest of social distancing.

Is it more blocked than when anyone else is using it to unload their shopping?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2022 ==

You're misreading the meaning of that. It means "don't put stuff in your own bags until you've paid for it else we will assume you intended to nick it".

Indeed. For a start I can't think of a single supermarket near me that I've been in that doesn't have any baskets. I usually use one of these as I find it's quicker.

At selected supermarkets which have 'scan as you go' type services, you may now pack your own bags as you go around also. So the original meaning of those signs is falling away.

 

[ComUtoR]

There is a lot of psychology that goes into a shop layout. It's a very interesting subject. There are various reasons why shops constantly move shelves around but I'll go through a few of the main ones that have the greatest impact.

1. Promotions. The end of an aisle or some kind of 'dump bin' with goods dumped in are all about the promotion. This is actually good for the customer because they are there to save money. Yes, there is some market manipulation, and yes, its not often the best deal, but if you just looked at the aisle ends you can cherry pick your shopping and save confusion about what is or isn't included in the promotion.

2. Seasonal. Yep, Christmas is coming and its time to be hit in the face with seasonal goods. When I worked in a shop, we spent most of our time pepping and moving the store about for each seasonal event. Not even just the main events. The amount of shop space that goes over to Valentines is pretty immense. Everyone is in on it too. Your deodorants will suddenly get a new package with a heart on it, meals for two, and even heart shaped crumpets !

3. Brand awareness. One of the most restrictive things that happens in retail is how the brands control the in store space. There is a lot of money that goes into where they sit on the shelf and how much linear footage is given to a specific brand. One of the reasons why you see that bottle of Coke and Pepsi in the fridge is because they pay a metric ton of cash to be there. At one store I worked in had the fridge donated to us by Coca-Cola and every single product in that fridge had to be one of theirs, without exception. Proctor and Gamble are another dominant force, the amount of retail space they have is truly insane. They pay ludicrous amounts for the most visible spaces on the shelves. They also decide how many facings of each of their flavours they want. When they say jump, you better jump. If they put out a new flavour, it's coming with a promotional end, full range price drop and a mid shelf topper. The worst is when they change the bottle sizes. Those days made me cry.

Yep, its a huge drive to generate revenue but a lot more goes on behind the scenes than just the stores moving things about.

 

[geoffk]

What's the law on buying alcohol if you've got a child with you? I remember quite recently a guy in an off-licence being refused as he had his 17-year old daughter with him, even though he wasn't buying booze for her. Many customers must have children at home or perhaps waiting outside the shop.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What's the law on buying alcohol if you've got a child with you? I remember quite recently a guy in an off-licence being refused as he had his 17-year old daughter with him, even though he wasn't buying booze for her. Many customers must have children at home or perhaps waiting outside the shop.

This is a very common policy. The law is simply that you must not buy or sell alcohol to or on behalf of a minor. Because the penalties are so swingeing (loss of licence can mean the end of the business) most shops have a policy that if a teenager is present they won't sell (no shop has to sell to anything to anyone) so best they stay outside a decent distance from the shop.

 

[najaB]

What's the law on buying alcohol if you've got a child with you?

The law says that it is an offence to sell alcohol to a person under 18 or for a person to buy alcohol on behalf of a person under 18. It says nothing about buying alcohol in the presence of a person under the age of 18.

As @Bletchleyite says, since the supermarket can't easily tell the difference between "on behalf of" and "in the presence of" the easiest thing they can do is refuse the latter in case it is the former. They are less likely to object to a bottle of wine in amongst a weekly shop than they are to a bottle of spirits and some mixers by themself.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Trying to flog you something extra at the checkout

‘Want some chocolate for a quid?!’
‘Want a lottery for tonight?!’
etc

Haven’t used Argos in years but they used to ask if I wanted insurance and put it on a high APR Argos credit card for literally every electrical purchase even as low as £20!

Online is the sane experience I guess but it’s a lot easier to say no to a computer screen than a poor member of staff trying to hit their targets!

Quite a few years ago (probably the 1990s) Currys (well Dixons Group) made more profit from the extended warranties than they did from the actual product. So money for old rope.

It's quite deliberate - if you spend more time looking around then you're likely to spend more.

Or you give up and leave !. I now avoid my main Sainsburys because I cannot find stuff. This is in part due to an alarming number of empty shelves. Worse it is harder to find a missing item as you have to get up close to the shelf edge labels to check if it WAS there. The risk is my visits are infrequent enough that too many moves have occurred since the last time I visited.

How on earth is it ‘correct’ to take a trolley that you don’t need? And just exactly who is expecting you to do so?

- - -

Upthread, poor product labelling has been mentioned. I have noticed a deterioration in the quality and veracity of product labelling recently across many retail outlets. I put it down to shop workers not being able to keep up with the volume of constantly changing prices driven by the present economic turmoil.

Many retailers ask customers to use a basket or trolley. I always take a trolley, I put it behind me in the queue to enforce social distancing.

I have done that.

1. No signage or decent system at self-service checkouts at supermarkets to deal with items that need a security tag removed (Often as a customer you simply don't know that there's a tag on an item). I've been caught out a couple of times paying for stuff at the self-service checkout at my local Sainsburys, taking it home, only to discover an item was unusable until I returned to the shop to ask them to remove the security tag.
2. Some high street-based supermarkets around here have two entrances - one onto the local high street which practically all pedestrians will use, and another onto their store car park, which will be used only by motorists. And at some point early in the evening some of them close their pedestrian entrance so that anyone walking to the shop is forced to make an extended journey around to the car park. That seems to me environmentally completely irresponsible - penalising those people who do the right thing by not driving.
3. Supermarkets that make plenty of trolleys conveniently available at the store entrance, but which make much less effort about baskets. I've lost count of how many times I've had to actually walk to one of the checkouts to pick up a basket. Some stores have so few baskets around that it rather looks to me like a deliberate ploy to make people use trolleys (presumably on the assumption that they'll buy more).

I have also noticed that as Supermarkets have got larger and moved out of town the trolleys have got larger. If you use a basket you will only buy what you can carry. A trolley helps you fill up your car in the car park.

Call it what you want, but deliberately using a trolley to impede others lawfully going about their business is ridiculous. Even more so, when there are multiple other shopping options for anyone with genuine health concerns.

Anyway, getting back on topic: There are a lot of shops that still have out of date Covid measure signs, which is just conflicting information and shows poor attention to detail in the store.

In my shopping centre I recently noticed a sign from the early Covid-19 era. Reminding us of the risks of travel from China !.

Because people may wish to exit, having not purchased anything down a checkout aisle (usually narrow), and the poster has admitted he blocks this in interest of social distancing.

The trolley is just as much a blockage whether it is in front of the customer or behind the customer. I have had someone coughing their lungs up right behind me and not even trying to catch anything with a hand.

 

[Iskra]

Is it more blocked than when anyone else is using it to unload their shopping?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2022 ==


Indeed. For a start I can't think of a single supermarket near me that I've been in that doesn't have any baskets. I usually use one of these as I find it's quicker.

At selected supermarkets which have 'scan as you go' type services, you may now pack your own bags as you go around also. So the original meaning of those signs is falling away.

It is if the person has the attitude that they have an entitlement to a safe distance around them and won’t therefore stand aside.

 

[Peter Sarf]

This is a very common policy. The law is simply that you must not buy or sell alcohol to or on behalf of a minor. Because the penalties are so swingeing (loss of licence can mean the end of the business) most shops have a policy that if a teenager is present they won't sell (no shop has to sell to anything to anyone) so best they stay outside a decent distance from the shop.

My partner has a rather young looking son. She got really angry over that and I had to explain to her. It is very serious for the shop if they are not careful. Same with Knives - I know of a good diy store that ceased trading over that because of an untrained temporary staff member.

 

[najaB]

Or you give up and leave !. I now avoid my main Sainsburys because I cannot find stuff. This is in part due to an alarming number of empty shelves. Worse it is harder to find a missing item as you have to get up close to the shelf edge labels to check if it WAS there. The risk is my visits are infrequent enough that too many moves have occurred since the last time I visited.

Oh, no doubt empty shelves are a problem. But re-merchandising is aimed more at the weekly shopper than the 'grab one thing and go' person - they're going to be in the supermarket for a while anyway, so moving items around to catch their eye pays off over all.

 

[Iskra]

Quite a few years ago (probably the 1990s) Currys (well Dixons Group) made more profit from the extended warranties than they did from the actual product. So money for old rope.

Or you give up and leave !. I now avoid my main Sainsburys because I cannot find stuff. This is in part due to an alarming number of empty shelves. Worse it is harder to find a missing item as you have to get up close to the shelf edge labels to check if it WAS there. The risk is my visits are infrequent enough that too many moves have occurred since the last time I visited.



I have done that.

I have also noticed that as Supermarkets have got larger and moved out of town the trolleys have got larger. If you use a basket you will only buy what you can carry. A trolley helps you fill up your car in the car park.

In my shopping centre I recently noticed a sign from the early Covid-19 era. Reminding us of the risks of travel from China !.

The trolley is just as much a blockage whether it is in front of the customer or behind the customer. I have had someone coughing their lungs up right behind me and not even trying to catch anything with a hand.

I’ve been on lots of buses, planes, cruise ships, and trains recently and there is a lot if coughing going on currently, and yes some people are very disrespectful in not shielding it. I have observed some other passengers becoming visibly uncomfortable about this, but the persons in question just carried on obliviously.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Oh, no doubt empty shelves are a problem. But re-merchandising is aimed more at the weekly shopper than the 'grab one thing and go' person - they're going to be in the supermarket for a while anyway, so moving items around to catch their eye pays off over all.

Yes it has to be accepted that moving things round does encourage sales of unplanned items. The shops would not do it if they saw no increase in sales.

I’ve been on planes, cruise ships, and trains recently and there is a lot if coughing going on currently, and yes some people are very disrespectful in not shielding it, I have observed some other passengers becoming visibly uncomfortable about this, but the persons in question just carried on obliviously.

How things have changed. Gone are the days when someone coughing their lungs up was merely put down to smoking. And, of course, since Covid-19 many are a lot more cautious about hygiene and distancing. I wonder how many years it will take before we lower our guard and can then catch flu willy nilly. We are probably healthier now we are more cautious except that there maybe some side effects (being a bit more isolationist).

 

[Gloster]

My local Morrison’s has two external entrances: a main one out to the car park and a second towards the town. However, they have recently put in gates which can be shut when a till is closed, which means that when you come in from the town you have to walk all the way to the other end to actually get into where the merchandise is. It is particularly annoying if you want to look at the ‘Today’s chilled reductions’ section before doing any other buying, as you have to walk all the way back to near the town entrance.

Morrison’s has recently split the chilled vegetarian and vegan produce. The snack and sandwich component type of stuff (slices of imitation ham, etc.) are still where they used to be, but ready meals have been moved to the meat aisle. Yes, the meat aisle: somewhere that vegetarians avoid or dash through with their eyes closed.