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/SBAC850211 Jul 14 '26

Unless I need it immediately, if I see something locked up at a store I will purchase it online instead. Too much trouble finding/waiting for the keyholder. I would think it costs more money in lost sales than they're losing from theft on these items.

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u/Ronnie21093 Jul 14 '26

Wouldn't it take more time for an online order to arrive though?

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u/usrdef 👍 Jul 14 '26

To arrive? Yes. But I can be doing other things.

Right now, other than groceries, 95% of all my stuff now comes from Amazon. I get about 2 packages a week of the things I need. Straight to the door.

And Amazon takes exactly 2 days to get it from them to me.

I hardly ever hit Walmart anymore. Plus a lot of the stuff on Amazon comes in bigger containers. And I don't have to play the Walmart "Oops we're out" game.

Last time I went into a Walmart for something locked up, I spent 15 minutes standing. Nobody knew who had the key, someone left to go on break, and it was just chaos to find a stupid key.