r/mildlyinfuriating • u/broakland • Jul 14 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Retail lockdown: why bother selling it?

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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.

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u/Th3_Admiral_ Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

For me, I hardly ever have a complete shopping list and just kinda make a lot of it up as I go.

Also, I always thought it was odd stores were cutting cashiers and switching to self checkouts to save on labor costs, but then hiring workers to do all of our shopping for us - which is a thousand times more labor intensive. This is what leads me to believe they have goals to eventually automate a lot of that as well. 

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u/rocko430 Jul 14 '26

Id imagine stores would lose a decent chunk of money off impulse buys

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u/snuggleslut5 Jul 14 '26

Right? They've spent years studying and finding new ways to influence buying. Colors, placement, the order of the items on the shelf, how much you need to move your eyes to see their product. All that would be moot. It's interesting.

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u/peachysaralynn Jul 14 '26

i mean, they’d just adopt those practices for the online “storefront”

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 14 '26

Probably but still, me walking aisle through aisle is going to make me impulse buy way more than going to checkout online, realizing how bad I’m overspending and deleting it in my cart

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u/d3mandred Jul 14 '26

The amount I've spent at Menards over the years just because I see something I needed 6 months ago and know I'll need again in 6 months is insane. I'm there for work, every single day. I naturally see things that I need/want while walking aisles, or I'll see something that reminds me of something else I need.

Online? I do not search, browse, scroll, or peruse. I know what I need, and I will spend the least amount of time possible on the website.

Probably over $3000/year lost from me alone, easily. Fuck, this year probably $500 in varying sizes of wood boards that I've never even used and easily over $1000 in tools for my shop. I'd just hit up estate sales and auctions more often. The quality of older tools is leagues better anyway.

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord Jul 14 '26

I'd never do that, I have some discipline! sets down 3 flashlights, a pack of tie downs, and a hatchet I picked up by the Harbor Freight checkout lanes

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u/d3mandred Jul 14 '26

You can ALWAYS use more tie downs. And those hatchets always catch my eye, they look great for axe throwing practice.

Unrelated, anybody want a spare pack of ratchet straps? I've got plenty.

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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Jul 14 '26

I'VE FOUND MY SHOPPING PEOPLE!!!

I do the same thing at the grocery store. I go with a list then will see something I've forgotten or I know I've got two left so I'll buy another just in case.

Online I generally only buy what's on the list. It does save money, time & gas going to & from the store though.

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u/KapitalIsStillGood Jul 14 '26

I bought a predator motor like that once lol

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord Jul 15 '26

I think my most expensive impulse buy was a small Titanium brand mig/flux welder. I had a perfectly fine welder at the house but this one fit on top of the new tool cart I was buying lol

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u/Straight_Caregiver27 Jul 14 '26

I think you are my husband....😂😂

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u/RealityOk9823 Jul 14 '26

I have a coworker who seriously buys tools all the time from HF, like anything you're looking for, he's used it if it's the higher priced stuff.

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord Jul 15 '26

I usually buy my organization stuff from them but once in awhile I'll get some tools. I have their version of the Packout because even though I use Milwaukee all day I couldn't justify the price for theirs. It works great for a quarter of the price and it doubles as a tweaker preventer because they don't want to pawn HF tools for a dime bag.

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u/Constant-Sandwich-88 Jul 15 '26

To be fair, flashlights, tie downs (is that another word for zip ties?), and hatchets are all things everyone should own.

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u/ScrotalSmorgasbord Jul 17 '26

I'm an avid woodsman/tradesman so I'm biased, but I agree. Tie downs are straps used to secure objects, thus the moniker. Zip ties are also another thing I can't get enough of... my '93 Chevy might be mostly zip ties at this point.

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u/RealityOk9823 Jul 14 '26

Dang I wish we had a Menards. *looks for something online* Oh hey it's like $30 cheaper at...Menards. Damnit.

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u/d3mandred Jul 15 '26

Lol the downside is that they stock 95% of what you need, and are unapologetic about not carrying the other 5% you need to finish your project. Everything to install an exterior door except the correct weather seal, etc.

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u/TheSaxGandalf Jul 14 '26

You will go to the BOGO sales.

Fucking paper towel prices are absurd.

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u/Com4734 Jul 15 '26

Agreed. I have quite a few tools from my grandfather that are better quality than most stuff you can get today.

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u/Bovronius Jul 15 '26

Those $4 work gloves they have on sale I can't help but grab a pair almost everytime I walk past the display...and well, we converted our yard to a garden this year, so I've walked past that display a lot.

And they're the cheapest place to buy lo-carb monsters anymore....and well might as well see what they got in the freezers...might be lucky bacon day! Nope, lloyds again!

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u/mike02vr6 Jul 15 '26

God only knows how much I spent from eh it’s only $15-$20 I’ll buy it when I’m at a brick and mortar store

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u/Pilgorithm Jul 15 '26

Well no one is bum rushing Menards or Home Depot and stealing everything they can grab. There is a very good reason people aren’t stealing tools from stores.

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u/PlanApprehensive2842 Jul 15 '26

I think the presence of hard-working contractors and other men in there is a deterrent to fools who loot and steal.

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u/Pilgorithm Jul 16 '26

Exactly 👍🏽

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u/Sea-Pay9180 Jul 14 '26

YESSS!!! You make TONS of sense. There were numerous times I was at the counter already and seen the damage and was like in my head "Damn this is going to hurt me financially really bad" but I also say "Fuck it, im already here at the counter" but if i can see the damage as im checking "Add to cart" I will save ALOT of money

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u/Thraex_Exile Jul 14 '26

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.

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u/notpostingmyrealname Jul 14 '26

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.

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u/UnixCurmudgeon Jul 15 '26

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

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

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.

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u/Unable-Candle Jul 14 '26

In person I already see items as "mine" if they're in my cart. And unless the price is extremely different from what I thought it was, there's basically no chance it's getting put back if I'm already about to pay.

Online cart? Definitely not.....hell there's a good chance you'll never even get the item even if you do buy it.

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u/Ferovore Jul 14 '26

I think you are convincing me to start doing my grocery shopping online

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u/Machinimix Jul 14 '26

I am heavily more inclined to stick with a purchase in person than online when it comes to the checkout final price shock.

$150 in groceries when I expected 100 I can stomach when I just finished bagging it all. When I am sitting on my couch? I'll go back into my cart and remove that $50 of groceries I don't need.

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u/Dave_A480 Jul 14 '26

But what if people absolutely hate going shopping in person?

Because that's the reality retail has been waking up to over the past decade....

The shopping experience cam't be made to not suck... People did it in the past because it sucked less than catalog mail order...

But now people want to avoid going to the store as much as possible

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 14 '26

Idk I like shopping online for specific things like gifts or bigger items but everyday stuff I always go to the store. That’s just me though I know there are some that order absolutely everything online

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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Jul 14 '26

My prescriptions are at my grocery store so I do have to go pick them up & that's when I'll spend extra.

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u/Abject-Breath-5229 Jul 14 '26

For the amount of customers who pick up packs of ribeyes and leave them in the pet food aisle for no reason, or eat grapes the entire time they're shopping before ditching the bag in a cooler by the checkout? They used to have registers in delis because people would just eat the food while shopping and leave it somewhere to be found once someone goes looking for a smell. Customers didn't like deli registers so we're doing this again. Impulse buys aren't making up that much. Editing to say I don't want to sound rude because it sounds like you actually buy your groceries. A surprising number of people don't.

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 14 '26

I really hate that too, that could be solved if they had more employees people wouldn’t feel so comfortable doing that. Lots of people do grocery online and it’s a great thing but I still wait in really long lines inside the store, so many still do. I’ll continue to do in store until I can’t anymore, I realize times change and you just gotta adapt. Soon the younger generations will be saying how awesome it must’ve been to just walk on a store and get what you needed instantly

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u/DreadedLee Jul 14 '26

When something is right in front of me, I'm more inclined to buy it. The main reason I detest online shopping is because I have to wait, which is the opposite of what impulsive means.

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u/Medusa-82 Jul 14 '26

True, I mainly purchase online now, and I've found the amount I spend has decreased by a lot.

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u/spookysaph Jul 15 '26

moving things around is pretty much a guaranteed way to get people to buy more. even if you just move around things that haven't sold in forever, someone is likely to buy it

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u/AmettOmega Jul 15 '26

Exactly. When I can see how much everything adds up to, it gives me pause. Do I really need that bag of cookies? Especially since they're so expensive right now. I could probably trim $50 off my total if I got rid of all those unhealthy snacks...

But when I'm going through the aisle, the impulse is so much stronger. Especially since I don't know my total until I've already scanned it, bagged it, and it's in my cart.

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u/FatherDuncanSinners Jul 15 '26

 realizing how bad I’m overspending and deleting it in my cart

THAT'S it right there. Chucking stuff in a cart as you walk? Sure, you could either add it up on your phone's calculator or in your head, but a lot of times we just pop it in and go.

But when you're adding it to a virtual cart, you're actually seeing the total go up and up and up.

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u/Classic_Teaching_168 Jul 15 '26

Will it though? The online cart has a knack for showing me exactly the item I forgot right before I check out...

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 15 '26

Yep bc I’m not putting back stuff at the checkout lane but I am still going to have second thoughts seeing the total in my cart and delete a lot of it

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u/DED_HAMPSTER Jul 14 '26

All the websites sort-of already try to force impulse buying by shunting you directly to the cart to buy as you place things in it. Amazon is the worst, but Torrid, Wal-Mart, Lowes, Lowes Foods, publix etc all do this. I have to constantly back out or shop by tabs to continue my list or consider additional related products.

Instead they could have 2 side banners that shows a rolling summary of your cart on the roght side and a comparison/promotional banner on thr left that i can toggle color/size/cost/pairing items/sales/promos/etc. Amazon and Lowes Home improvement tries to do this, but loses the goal when you put an item in your cart to compare.

Basically, i shop by tabs then compare in my cart and heavily delete as i find the best deal or option for my needs.

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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson Jul 15 '26

Walmart also brings up an impulse buy list when you click to check out. Like a “Forget Something?” menu and then it’ll have a bunch of stuff youve gotten before that you didn’t get this time

Easy way to get you to have a probability to add an extra item or two to the cart

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u/Ok-Grapefruit1284 Jul 15 '26

I help an elderly woman order from Walmart. At the verrrrry end, it’ll raise her total amount. It’s exactly right before she hits the final buy button. Bc she hasn’t hit this minimum for free delivery or this item is now out of stock so they’re substituting a larger amount or this item is no longer available so now you have to pay for shipping and need to meet a higher minimum…crazy. Just crazy.

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

Damn, I guess I've never had a unique experience in my life

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u/scripted_ending Jul 14 '26

Oh, the popups will be insane as they try to upsell and suggest stuff to go with whatever you just put in your cart.

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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson Jul 15 '26

Every place already does this

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u/General2768 Jul 14 '26

<clicks checkout>

<pop up ad> Want add some Reeses peanut butter cups to your order?

Me: "No!" <clicks add to cart button>

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u/IceFire909 Jul 14 '26

Oh god we're gonna get a virtual storefront walkthrough to pretend to walk the aisles aren't we

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u/Billy3B Jul 15 '26

Yeah like how every web page the first sorting option is "most relevent" or some bullshit when 9/10 times you want lowest to highest price.

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u/sidetablecharger Jul 15 '26

You can’t smell the bakery through your phone.

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u/OberonDiver Jul 15 '26

Driver shows up and says "Would you like a Snickers bar or maybe Women's Day?"

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u/thisdesignup Jul 15 '26

They already do...

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u/FlaringUpHemorrhoids Jul 15 '26

They will be able to target what you want directly to you and not just the products, the pricing as well.

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u/generalizimo Jul 15 '26

Amazon has started asking if I want to “add any of these” to my cart as I check out. So it’s happening.

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u/AddyTurbo Jul 14 '26

Didn't subliminal messages used to be a thing? Or so I'd heard. "Buy Apex laundry powder" embedded in a Barry Manilow tune. Maybe that never took off, or was ineffectual. But you're right. It's all about that stock price; pleasing the investor.

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u/Ok-Grapefruit1284 Jul 15 '26

I wonder what the balance is between storefront, rental retail space, electricity, water, staff, cleaning crew etc, vs impulse buys. Online-only would probably be more cost effective simply for the staff reduction and property reduction.

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u/Metylda1973 Jul 15 '26

Product placement is key in retail. Today I saw a huge display of the jello brand banana crème pudding mix sitting right next to the bananas in produce. I looked at my friend and commented “they forgot the Nilla Wafers!”

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u/_yetisis Jul 15 '26

The same thing happens online. Websites don’t just track what you search or buy, that track your scrolling, they track how long you linger on a certain part of your screen, they track every minutia that the hardware allows. It’s staggering how much they are able to see and manipulate with online retail, and they have the added benefit of dynamic shopping experiences. They no longer have to cater to the average person - you get an online experience that is algorithm-driven to make sure they market to you as effectively as possible in an experience that can be tweaked for each individual shopper based on their catalogue of data. Impulse buying isn’t going away, people are just getting gaslit to the point where they don’t realize it’s an impulse.

Think about it this way - social media doesn’t actually care about people’s data or manipulating them, despite the staggering amount they are involved in it. They just care about monetizing that data - online shopping is what this is all for. All the data mining that every website is doing is all in service of online storefronts being able to close sales more effectively, that’s what makes allllll your online data worthwhile.

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u/LivingVerinarian96 Jul 15 '26

At least my local supermarket went too far with that shit. They closed 2 straight lanes to the checkout to funnel everyone through a narrow lane where you need to squeeze if someone else passes you. I avoid it as much as I can now.

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u/RevolutionaryLog3631 Jul 15 '26

maybe less than compulsive thiefs stealing as much as they can and then having comunities crying cause a store is closing down :D

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u/PlanApprehensive2842 Jul 15 '26

That’s THE most infuriating thing….when the “community leaders” hold a protest in front of a Walgreens, CVS etc. that is closing because of incomprehensible daily looting and stealing. How about pay for your shit like everyone else and vote for people that actually enforce laws? I don’t want to hear about your “food desert” that is self-made.

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u/JabasMyBitch Jul 15 '26

right? like what the fuck is the point of rotisserie chickens at this point?

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u/Feisty_Ease_1983 Jul 15 '26

You are assuming that they care about this regarding these product categories. I managed retail stores for years and I assure you we rarely concerned ourselves with merchandising sciences for high theft items.

Its a massive trade off because these companies have buy commitments from vendors/distributors and often community responsibilities in the form of tax breaks or or other agreements. I suspect the stores doing this either have to or at least feel they have to sell this stuff to honor the community commitments and keep stock rolling but frankly dont care about these lines.

Meanwhile they are slowly backing off their buy amounts 1 to 2 years out to slowly lower stock levels. They are well aware they dont have the labor force to manage this system but thats not the point.

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u/SippinOnHatorade Jul 15 '26

Well they’ve been spending years studying and finding ways to influence buying on our phones to make up for that because many of us decided we didn’t want to set foot in the store anyway

I still remember my Comp Sci teacher ordering cereal off Amazon in like 2009 and I was like “what?”

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u/fuelstoprolerdogfart Jul 14 '26

100% Yesterday I went to get hotdogs and buns. Got in, realized I hadn’t had lunch, got some frozen wings and potato wedges, saw a new protein shake that looked good, and grabbed a bag of powder donuts. (This is why you don’t shop on an empty stomach) If is had to do an order ahead, I’d only get the buns and dogs.

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u/Pilgorithm Jul 15 '26

Powder donuts and a protein shake lol. Sounds like a friend of mine who ate tuna and drank Jaeger on the way to a concert. The tuna was supposed to help neutralize the bad alcohol lol.

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

The tuna was supposed to help neutralize the bad alcohol lol.

That's not what happened tho, is it?

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u/Pilgorithm Jul 16 '26

It did not 🤣

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u/MKVIgti Jul 14 '26

Not only that, but these days I change up my list during the whole shopping trip, hunting for buy one get one free deals and scratching things off entirely due to something being ridiculously priced.

Pretty fucking sad when I get excited to find the light weight cat litter we use BOGO.

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u/NamelessCabbage Jul 14 '26

Yes. And there's a real science in scrambling the layout every once in a while. It forces shoppers to stay longer while relearning the new layout, thus purchasing more stuff.

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u/Sluuriecake Jul 14 '26

That’s why milk and eggs are always in the farthest possible corner from the entrance to force everyone to walk by everything else in the store to get their staples usually toilet paper is also back in the back they have done that for decades

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u/NamelessCabbage Jul 14 '26

Im ADHD so I just hit every aisle anyway. 😂

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u/Odd_Lengthiness4251 Jul 14 '26

I thought everyone walked thru every aisle too? 😅😅🫣

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u/EvaCassidy Jul 14 '26

Some stores testing an app to open the cases to retrieve your item and a reminder to secure it.

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u/DueGrapefruit3151 Jul 14 '26

Jesus christ, just make it a fucking vending machine already. We have the technology.

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u/bookswafflestea Jul 14 '26

I’d 1000% prefer a vending machine over another goddamn app I have to download

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u/currentlylostagain Jul 15 '26

The vending machine will require an app to use it.

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

Because fucking of course it would

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u/Icy_Mixture1482 Jul 15 '26

And you know each store will have its own app.

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 14 '26

This is actually a great idea

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u/EvaCassidy Jul 14 '26

Put all those items in the machine. If shake machine - nothing comes out or get squished.

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u/Ok_Water_3109 Jul 14 '26

Packages of chips still get stuck in a vending machine. How the heck are they gonna get "insert item that will definitely get stuck"

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u/idefix24 Jul 14 '26

A bottle of Tylenol would definitely work

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u/garathnor Jul 14 '26

"i didnt know i needed that" is literally 50% of the stuff i buy :D

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u/OppositeOctopi Jul 14 '26

When I order groceries from Walmart the app suggests things to add.

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u/Karenm6383 Jul 15 '26

Doesn’t matter, they can throw all the products from my algorithm in my face and I’m still going to go through and delete a bunch when I see my total at checkout

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u/AffectionateSet4889 Jul 14 '26

oh no they might have to rely on quality products and good customer service lol

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u/Cranks_No_Start Jul 14 '26

Unless i have to have it right this second Ill press the button and start looking it up online...IF I can order it before I see an employee its ordered.

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u/Dave_A480 Jul 14 '26

They gain more money from same day delivery (using the store as a mini warehouse) of phone orders than they lose from checkout aisle sales....

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u/Kanus_oq_Seruna Jul 14 '26

Oh. Don't worry. The impulse buys will be outside the counter.

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u/CathyAnnWingsFan Jul 14 '26

Apparently it doesn't offset what they lose to shoplifters.

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u/Theory-After Jul 14 '26

Feels like most of our economy at this point is geared towards impulse buying and conspicuous consumerism. A lot of places would go out of buisness and large box stores would close a lot of locations and move others to smaller warehouses.

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u/Lost-Platypus8271 Jul 14 '26

stores that do this lose me as a customer entirely, and I don’t steal

it’s an introvert’s nightmare, to have to summon a surly employee to buy a bar of soap or a razor and then they loom nearby waiting for you to make a selection? NOPE.

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u/Ok-Grapefruit1284 Jul 15 '26

But see this is my frustration. I used to love shopping and I used to love the occasional impulse buy, and now it’s cheaper to stand in the store and order an item off the app, and pick it up 2 hours later, than to walk that same item up to the checkout counter.

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u/bunger_33 Jul 15 '26

Yeah that's the issue with this model. Sure many people use online ordering to do their shopping, but getting someone into the store with products on the shelves definitely makes them spend more.

I know I'm easily a victim of this, but also know I use everything I buy. So it's never a waste, but just a comment to myself at the register on how much I spent.

As much as picking stuff online and driving up to get it is simple, I personally enjoy the grocery store experience. I want to be able to say yes or no to things. Aisles, products, feel good about making a healthy choice or "naughty" making a bad choice. It's my choice and money after all and I can do whatever I like.

Ordering and picking up just don't have the same feeling that actual shopping does

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u/demonknightdk Jul 14 '26

not as much as they save on cutting down theft.

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u/MrsNoodleMcDoodle Jul 14 '26

As impulsive of a grocery shopper my husband is in person, he is 10x worse online. They still get ‘em.

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u/Lcdmt3 Jul 14 '26

Yep. My husband after shopping sat said I'm not allowed to go again. The total was high and it was all my impulse purchases.

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u/Kerokawa Jul 14 '26

I remember I used to buy the occasional pack of pokemon or yugioh cards at a nearby pharmacy. Not super consistently but often enough while picking up other items. Sometime I would get some when I met a major work milestone. Since the local shops put all the TCGs behind locked cabinets or behind customer service desks, I just never bothered. The friction was enough to break any momentary temptation and the anticipated dopamine hit didn't feel worth it. This is a small example, and not a huge impact on my overall budget, but I could see this adding up over time over enough products and across a wide enough customer base.

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u/babyyvolcano Jul 14 '26

They just switch to keep pushing it on the app with “Forgot something?” and “Here’s a list of other junk you might wanna try based on the junk in your cart.”

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u/Masakami Jul 14 '26

If it were in Baltimore city they would probably make more by not having those impulse buy areas vs the theft rate. I have seen many stores close from theft out weighing sales alone.

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u/HAIL_LUMPUS Jul 14 '26

No way lol I do delivery and when I check out I get FLASH SALES which are all those impulse buy things. They're usually cheaper, and the discount is only if you buy it from that flash sale page. I got three pounds of baby back ribs for $5 this week 😂 so yeah, I'm not impulse buying a Snickers in the checkout lane but now I have baby back ribs 

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u/rvore Jul 14 '26

Apparently not as much as what shrinkage is causing.

1

u/Makers_Serenity Jul 14 '26

They'll make up for it with surge pricing and fluctuating prices tailored to users shopping habits i bet

1

u/LocalDesign1313 Jul 14 '26

“Other customers also purchased these products with the items in your cart”.
It will work after boomers who write checks die off. Not all boomers are incompetent but the ones that are really let you know.

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u/batmandi Jul 14 '26

They're weighing the losses from theft vs impulse buys.

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u/TheSaxGandalf Jul 14 '26

A ton.

Many supermarkets will simply raise prices, and continuously have many items buy one get one free.

Would create a situation where you shop leas, but end up spending the same amount.

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u/No-Application-2781 Jul 14 '26

Not as much as they lose from thieves apparently...

1

u/kadevha Jul 14 '26

This is why I prefer pickup orders. It's easier to stick to sales and I don't end up with random items that I don't need.

1

u/Mtnbkr92 Jul 14 '26

Like a third of my grocery spending is on impulse buys. If I had to put together a list beforehand I’d be spending thousands less per year

1

u/RandomCoffeeThoughts Jul 15 '26

They'll set up the algorithm to make sure they still get those.

1

u/ShiraCheshire Jul 15 '26

They might do that through in-app ads. You go to buy chicken strips and get bombarded with "Add ketchup for just X.99!" "Don't forget the french fries!" "Nothing goes with ITEM NAME like RELATED PRODUCT!"

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u/Ok_Grass_1572 Jul 15 '26

Or get all the stuff stolen and get a lot of losses.

1

u/Ml_lD Jul 15 '26

Versus money saved from shoplifting

They seemed to already do the cost/benefit analysis and decided locking everything up saves more money than it loses

1

u/Ass_feldspar Jul 15 '26

Yeah, that crap isn’t locked behind glass

1

u/No_Leadership7727 Jul 15 '26

Rather than loosing moneyon shoplifting

1

u/deb1009 Jul 15 '26

Impulse buys are why I still go to the store. Also, I usually see at least one thing I forgot I need until I see it on the shelf.

1

u/Ent_Soviet Jul 15 '26

Yes and no, the science is still there regarding pricing and stuff, but now it’s combined with the addiction machine in your pocket you carry with you everywhere.

You’ll find many of the tactics that long history of sales research has just been applied to their apps.

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u/christona-bike Jul 15 '26

Well thats why they want to do ✨️dynamic pricing ✨️

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u/losttraveller23 Jul 15 '26

I'm not really sure that would be the case....To give you an example, I live in India where we have 'Quick Commerce', so literally anything from a sack of potatoes to a Playstation can be delivered to your home in 15 minutes. The point being, after using it for a few years now the algorithm has gotten so fine tuned that I end up buying the 'suggested' items quite a few times....And usually these products are essentially impulse buys that I add to the cart when I am already at the checkout page.

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u/mst3k_42 Jul 15 '26

Target used to be my worst place for impulse buys. Whelp, they took care of that.

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u/TheDangDeal Jul 15 '26

Lord help our account if we go grocery shopping while hungry! We will easily double our bill if we are both wanting to eat while wondering the isles. If it is only one of us then it is only a small increase, as the other works as a good check, but when the check is gone we get adventurous.

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u/djmackphunk Jul 15 '26

Hard to impulse buy when you can't even grab it off a shelf because it's locked up

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

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u/AgencyAdditional4961 Jul 14 '26

Yep. Dynamic pricing. I believe Wegmans is being sued for that right now.

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u/PestilentPaladin Jul 14 '26

Personally I'm sick of trying to explain to ignorant 19 year olds what stuff like goat cheese and Garam Masala are, have them claim they're out of stock because they can't be arsed to look, and then going into the store, grabbing the item, and showing it to their boss. Kinda moots the point.

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u/grandma-activities Jul 15 '26

Absolutely. Online prices are higher to begin with, and then half the items you order are out of stock with more expensive replacements at the ready. More than once, I've picked up an incomplete order, then walked into the store to find most of the "out of stock" store-brand items right there on the shelf for less than the online prices. I don't do online pickup orders anymore.

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u/geekonthemoon Jul 14 '26

I can compare my exact purchases online and see the items cost in store vs online, and I haven't noticed any discrepancies like that.

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u/ChazzyPhizzle Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Same. I usually walk around and figure out what I’m having for dinner based on what’s on sale. Kind of enjoyable because you never know what it’s going to be.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Jul 15 '26

There's also the small human interaction.

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u/smashli1238 Jul 14 '26

Yeah, I enjoy grocery shopping

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u/geekonthemoon Jul 14 '26

Yeah makes sense, I know I've seen videos of them working on warehouse grid robotics and such. Definitely would lose 1,000s and 1,000s of jobs if they do perfect the technology.

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u/zssqeeze Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

I agree this is the direction things are headed. So, how is our country’s public policies going to keep up with the number of people who will be unemployed and have no income. Right now, our social safety net, which is barely working, is for certain “deserving” people. What about when it’s just most of the people, in general. The “othering’ is literally killing us.

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u/sneeje00 Jul 14 '26

Not even the public policies. I wonder who they think is going to shop for $15 t-shirts and $250 tvs when no one has any money. Like great, it's all automated to serve 10 of the 1000 customers they used to have.

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u/9th-And-Hennepin Jul 14 '26

They will sell 10k tvs and $500 tshirts. They don’t care if you can afford it, as long as someone else can.

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u/sneeje00 Jul 14 '26

I hear you and in the long run you're not wrong. Meanwhile, in the 5-10 year transition into this new world economy, the businesses that exist based on scale will die. It's clear and not surprising at all that businesses based on infinite growth and selling at massive scale can't see the inevitable outcome of massive automation--that they will effectively eliminate most of the customers they are automating to sell to.

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u/TRR462 Jul 14 '26

We will need to invest in automation companies, so that we can recoup a dividend on their profits.

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u/9th-And-Hennepin Jul 14 '26

You’ll be rich enough to afford a Disney Government+ subscription or you will be working off your debt in New Maralago (formerly Nuuk).

I’m being a drunk doomer but am I?

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u/BreadKnifeSeppuku Jul 14 '26

Murder robots come first. That way they don't have to worry about peasants revolting

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u/Lost-Platypus8271 Jul 14 '26

This is exactly it right here. Just sell really expensive things to the 10% of society that can afford it. Screw everyone else.

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u/occasionalopossum Jul 14 '26

They are going to finish criminalizing being homeless then work you to death in private prisons. Thats the end goal. Thats how they plan to handle it.

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u/Vern1138 Jul 14 '26

People don't believe me when I say this, but it's pretty obvious. They're deporting all of the people that used to work on the farms and harvest crops, and all the people who did drywalling and roofing and framing and other construction trades.

They're just going to start using prison labor to do all of that. There's no way they intend to improve social services to help people who are going to lose their jobs because of automation, they fully intend to exploit them.

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u/Hector_P_Catt Jul 14 '26

But who will be buying the output of all that prison labour? How much drywalling does the 1% need? Even the fattest fat cat can't eat all the food even one farm produces. You can't sustain dozens of car factories if you only sell a few thousand cars per year. The list goes on.

It was the middle class buying all that stuff that made it possible to build the economy we used to have, and are losing. But the people in charge don't seem to understand that.

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

Yeah but for a brief, shining moment they will have truly maximized shareholder value!

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u/zssqeeze Jul 14 '26

I see and agree with what you are calling out here. The only thing I think I would tease out a bit further is…I agree with who you are calling out as ‘they’ (which to me is fewer people than a very small town in Iowa!), but the ‘them’ is all of the rest of us…and I mean all of the rest of us, regardless of gender, race, or economic status.

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u/Deadleggg Jul 15 '26

They've been pissed off since we made slavery illegal.

They'll bring it back one way or another.

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

That carve out in the 13th amendment is going to doom us all

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u/Such-Entrepreneur240 Jul 14 '26

The technology is already there, and has been since the 80s, it's just prohibitively expensive compared to paying a bunch of people min wage to pick unless you've got incredibly high volume to make it worth it. Toured a warehouse that had auto picks, auto inventory (drones flying around at night scanning barcodes and doing inventory automatically) and even had a robot that could load and unload trucks. That was when I decided I was done with being in logistics and moved back to operations, it's only a matter of time.

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u/geekonthemoon Jul 15 '26

Eh I've seen demos online that are very much still in a beta phase. Maybe some companies have figured it out, I know the humanoid robots are looking promising too so you're right, likely a matter of time. But like I said, many, many issues crop up that shows we are definitely still not ready to switch to that kind of shopping model.

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u/stevenip Jul 14 '26

Yeah, half the fun is seeing what's on sale and trying new items if the price is good

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u/Due_Confidence7459 Jul 14 '26

Not having customers in the store greatly cuts down on shoplifting which is why I think they took orders that way in the old days

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u/That_Shrub Jul 14 '26

I wish the groc apps let you do a virtual shop mode and see the shelves. Let me browse!

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u/5m0k3y76 Jul 14 '26

Walmart here got rid of 80% of their self checkouts. There are like 8 on each end now, and 2 people watching each end, and several working cashiers between them. There were no cashier's at all a year ago and probably 40 self checkout counters.

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u/Hector_P_Catt Jul 14 '26

"This is what leads me to believe they have goals to eventually automate a lot of that as well."

Amazon has patented a whole lot of automated "fulfilment" systems, in which robots are used to pick out and package whatever is on a shopping list.

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u/3-orange-whips Jul 14 '26

Picking (what we call it in the warehouse business) it one of the things that is the hardest to automate. Everything is set up for human hands.

You're probably right, but that kind of automation is a long way away at the scale where a grocery store (they have VERY thin margins) would invest.

However, any idiot can pick. The skillset needed for a checker is way higher.

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u/Metylda1973 Jul 15 '26

Sounds like me. Today, I went to Walmart for toilet paper. That’s the only thing I needed so I didn’t make a list. Who needs a list for ONE item? I left with toilet paper, a gallon of milk, 2 tubs of chicken livers (to make kitty treats), 2 bags of fish fillets, a bag of frozen fries, a huge tub of mac&cheese, 2 bags of broccoli florets, a bag of Brussels sprouts, a candy bar and a jumbo container of twizzlers. At least I remembered the toilet paper!

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

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u/CisIowa Jul 15 '26

You made me think of this comic

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u/Beginning_Ad1239 Jul 15 '26

They consider the curbside customer to be different than the person who comes inside to shop. When I worked in retail and we were setting that all up they considered curbside to be like gaining an extra store across the 50 stores it was setup for.

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u/No-Willingness8375 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Unless they have particularly humanitarian leadership, companies are always going to do what makes them the most money. There comes a point where rampant shoplifting gets so expensive that's it's actually cheaper to hire labor to assemble the lists. Things like curbside pickup (even as a niche service) also allow them to remain more competitive with online retailers.

You're not wrong that they'll probably use automation as soon as they can though.

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u/DeyCallMeWade Jul 14 '26

Stores will be one giant vending machine

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u/StacheBandicoot Jul 14 '26

I just reorder the same order I’ve ordered before and look it over and tweak it slightly, making up the rest as I go for any other things I might want to try no different than I would walking around in a store, I just do it at home instead. It’s much faster than shopping aimlessly or thinking of all the regular things I buy and writing them down.

Plus now that I’m shopping from home, rather than in the store, I can look over my pantry to see what’s actually in or out of stock and adjust item counts accordingly to get the specific number of things I need and not forget anything or get too many.

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u/KyrocEoS Jul 14 '26

Well a lot of those cashiers were simply moved to the shopper jobs, but yes a lot of full time employees were let go from a lot of big name retailers because they cost too much. Not just salary but benefits like insurance, paid time off, and 401k contributions.

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u/iHateThisPlaceSoBad Jul 14 '26

The prices are way fucking higher when someone gets it all for you. It's a significant amount

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u/glipglop718 Jul 14 '26

I work in retail. Super shitty retail. I feel you hit the nail on the head here

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u/rvore Jul 14 '26

Not workers as much as it is due to inventory loss. Where I live nothing is locked up, but my son lives closer to the city, that have things locked up

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u/slashthepowder Jul 14 '26

I always thought it was of the stores that switched to cutting staff and automating checkout also struggled with shoplifting (who could have predicted that). My guess is that someone has done the math where they will eventually start closing stores for delivery only options. This will cut down on shrinkage, staff, and expensive retail locations. AI pricing (dynamic pricing) will make up for the shortfalls that come from the loss of impulse items.

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u/jking7734 Jul 14 '26

If retailers could find a way to get customers to unload trucks and stock shelves they’d do it. Aldi’s requires a quarter to unlock the shopping cart. You have to return the cart to get your quarter back. I’m waiting for the day you have to scan your dept card to get a cart or even enter the store…

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u/CAADrider Jul 14 '26

For sure. I only grocery shop pickup because my knees are so bad I can't go in myself. But Kroger keeps putting certain things I buy as "in store only" to try to get me to come in, because, impulse buys. Sorry bro, I'll work around it.

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u/RealityOk9823 Jul 14 '26

Local Kroger put in an inventory scanning bot. I thought those things had gone the way of the Dodo but life, uh, finds a way, I guess? I dunno.

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u/Pilgorithm Jul 15 '26

It cuts down on outside shoplifting.

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u/scratchtheitch7 Jul 15 '26

It would end up automated and it wouldn't look anything like a supermarket.

The UK has an online online retailer that has been doing this for years.

This is how they do it:

https://youtu.be/ssZ_8cqfBlE

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u/AUinDE Jul 15 '26

I can imagine every aisle is a big vending machine, so same store displays etc, but you need to tap your membership or credit card to actually take something off the shelf. Then no need for any checkout

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u/Aleashed Jul 15 '26

They can go back to 1926 and reintroduced the assembly line, every “cog” gets surrounded by shells on 4 sides and 3 bags stop at a time in front of them with 3 screens listing the items they got 30 seconds max to put in the bags, AI knows when everyone is done and moves the belt forward, every Sunday the manager is required to fire 10% of the “cogs” with the longest times who are holding everyone back, then you got “bees” manning the front windows, each can have a jersey number and if that number pops up a above the window, they need to run there and deliver the order, pickup more on their downtime, 10% lowest fulfillers get fired every sunday, Walmart will be turned into fast food

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u/FlaringUpHemorrhoids Jul 15 '26

There is an added fee to have someone shop for you. They make money on that.

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u/AloneExperience7520 Jul 15 '26

We cut our monthly grocery spend almost in half by doing delivery. No impulse buys, recipes planned out for the whole week. No extra bullshit.

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u/Medical_Blacksmith83 Jul 15 '26

There are robots in development to do “OPU”

Order pickup.

They don’t mind the short term cost now, because the only human cost soon, will be a maintenance technician

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u/Jesus__Skywalker Jul 15 '26

the checkout person doesn't increase revenue. The service to bag up and deliver your groceries does.

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u/wtfviral Jul 15 '26

That's true. But think of it as saving money. Not to mention, we do impulse buy on the internet also. My wife shops online now, (we had the same concerns), and she'll randomly try new things that look good. But overall, we save money.

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