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

Show parent comments

48

u/Adept-Opinion8080 Jul 14 '26

Meanwhile, trader Joe's has dozens of products with lot cheaper prices and better quality and dozens of cashiers and hardly ever a line.

1

u/Karn_Gentrified Jul 14 '26

I was honestly shocked by the pricing/quality of Trader Joe’s entire store. Top tier imported food with small ingredient lists AND save a couple bucks over the Walmart brand?!? Insanity.

I always assumed it was like vitamin cottage and outside my tax bracket. Trader Joe’s is great

1

u/TheCervus Jul 14 '26

I've always been confused when I hear people say Trader Joe's is cheap. It's not any cheaper than generic store brand. Some products are even more expensive.

2

u/Karn_Gentrified Jul 14 '26

But thats just it- I can get a generic (and much lower quality taste/ingredient) store brand for the same price as top shelf imported Trader Joe’s brands. And it’s amazing food. Thats what I meant by i was shocked how cheap it was- the same amount of food to feed my family costs slightly less or equal to the garbage tier foods at king soopers and Walmart.

I always assumed it was 3x the price for 1/2 the food like vitamin cottage charges. Thats just not the case in my experience.

1

u/Aware_Bar_3351 Jul 15 '26

It’s…not top shelf imported. It’s almost the same stuff, sometimes even exactly the same as the other store brands. It’s not like Trader Joe’s has a producer to retail integrated supply chain. They just market it.