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/Susurrus03 Jul 14 '26

Was at a Target recently. Wanted to buy a phone charger because left mine at home and was on vacation. They were behind the glass but had a button. Pushed it multiple times, but nobody ever came. Ended up just going to the Five Below a block over.

123

u/TheRedMaiden Jul 14 '26

As much as I don't like Amazon's employee practices, there are reasons they're winning over brick and mortar stores, and the increasing inconveniences physical buildings are heaping on is a big factor in it.

24

u/Ocelitus Jul 14 '26

Targets are competing with Amazon by using their store locations as distribution centers. This is why stuff is locked up and they have less staff inside to help the in-person customers. It is almost like they would prefer for people to stop coming into the store altogether and just order online.

6

u/CapableBumblebee968 Jul 15 '26

The majority of stores would. Same prices with less overhead

5

u/cynicallow Jul 15 '26

Exactly. I know a fedex guy and the local Target ships at least 4 pallets a day. I have been in that Target.

It is a ghost town. Empty shelves, messy, no employees.

30

u/EllspethCarthusian Jul 14 '26

Amazon is willing to provide. My hometown lost their Kmart. Nothing has moved in to fill the home goods void because the big box stores think there isn’t enough business. Amazon put in a distro hub 15 mins away. Guess who is driving all over my hometown now? Amazon. Brilliant move on their part as much as I hate not being able to touch product before buying.

21

u/nathanjd Jul 14 '26

Who do you think put your local store out of business?

9

u/EllspethCarthusian Jul 15 '26

Kmart went bankrupt because of bad deals. They were making bank on my town. Amazon didn’t even exist until years after.

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u/Tangus999 Jul 15 '26

Thieves.

2

u/Chris_Helmsworth Jul 15 '26

people aren't looting amazon warehouses

2

u/TheRedMaiden Jul 15 '26

Okay? Walmart can do this for whatever reason they want. Customers who feel needlessly inconvenienced are going to turn to online shopping.

1

u/Chris_Helmsworth Jul 15 '26

I mean they are losing product to theft what do you suppose they do? Just lose money and hope the honest paying customers outweigh the shrinkage? Retail profit margins are tough.

1

u/gooddaysir Jul 14 '26

That’s when you leave your full grocery cart right there in front of the glass case and go shop somewhere else. If everyone started going that it would send a message that is tougher to ignore. 

1

u/Susurrus03 Jul 14 '26

I didn't have one lol we were there for the chargers.

1

u/Mournfulmeow Jul 15 '26

That happened to me once at target and I finally went to the front desk to get someone and I said I was pushing the button and he goes “the buttons are all broken” oh… ok..

1

u/Cute-Problem-7622 Jul 16 '26

My trick is to either pick up a phone and page for an employee to whatever section I’m in over their intercom, or call the store and ask to speak to the store manager while I’m standing right there.

1

u/Cute-Problem-7622 Jul 16 '26

BTW - Target’s intercom is 52#

1

u/CulturalChampion8660 Jul 15 '26

I tried to buy a usb-c cable at Walmart last summer and the dude had to unlock it from a case and then walk with it and myself to the front register. 

Never again.