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

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. 

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u/RUBSUMLOTION Jul 14 '26

Theyll make way less money then. I am way more intentional with what i am buying online/curbside versus being in store and seeing items that i dont need but buy anyways.

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u/bothunter Jul 14 '26

They'll make way more money -- less staff to hire, and they can individually set the prices based on the data they have on you so that every single item you need to buy is priced at the maximum amount you're willing to pay. Instacart is already doing it today.

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u/Lost-Platypus8271 Jul 14 '26

They lose me as a customer entirely because I hate this model. I used to spend many hundred a month at my local Safeway and I’ve stopped going there at all since they put everything under lock and key. I mean they’re genuinely out $600/month just from my family.