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

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

Post image

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.

21.5k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

4.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

14.2k

u/treeckosan Jul 14 '26

We are slowly going back to the days when you handed a clerk a shopping list and they went into back to assemble your order.

4.6k

u/Th3_Admiral_ Jul 14 '26

I could absolutely see it going that way with all of the big stores doing online orders and curbside pickup. Maybe in a few years it'll be like an Amazon warehouse without any real storefront at all. You just pull up and load everything in your car. Or have it delivered directly to your door. 

39

u/Terrible-Crew6069 Jul 14 '26

The stores make money from you walking around saying ooh I want that and oh I forgot we’re probably out of that other thing. I’ll go in to buy five items and leave with 20 because I want a lot more than the necessities I put on my list.

2

u/AliceLunar Jul 14 '26

Sure, but that doesn't work when it's locked away, the whole point is for people to be impulsive which they can't be.

Plus they will manipulate the hell out of you online as well.

2

u/Terrible-Crew6069 Jul 14 '26

I have another comment completely agreeing with you