# Retail crap that's pissing me off **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620 "2012-05-11T15:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/141 "2012-05-31T11:28:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I think you attribute far too much control of shelving to the people you see at the grocery store. If it’s a corporate store, they get POP schematics in weekly, all designed by someone hired by corporate. The drones are just following orders. > > WhyNot, > Former Drone (Blockbuster Video; same deal, different scale) Where’s the Agree/Like button when you need it? SticksAndString, wife of a drone who’s in charge of that shit ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/142 "2012-05-31T14:04:31Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity or apathy. Stockers, for the most part, don’t particularly care if they put everything in exactly the right place. Employees who “face” or “zone” the aisles generally only check to make sure that things look pretty. I’ve stocked shelves at a mass merchandiser for the past 3 years, and I’m always fixing facings that are wrong, always obviously due to confusion about product sizes, types, or brands that are hard to determine from the shelf label alone unless you make some kind of effort. For what stockers are paid, effort is hard to conjure up sometimes. Add that to the fact that morning stockers are rushed to finish and get out of the store by penny-pinching managers, and a lot of mistakes happen. > > The above applies to my experience only, of course. While I understand what you are saying, there is still a large potential of ‘malice’. It is true what you say about stockers. However, the store somewhat benefits from this…and so may not be diligent about correcting it. I would believe that if the stockers doing this would cost the store money then they would crash down on the stockers and make sure it is right. Therefore, it is still ‘malice’ IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/143 "2012-05-31T14:33:17Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > While I understand what you are saying, there is still a large potential of ‘malice’. > > It is true what you say about stockers. However, the store somewhat benefits from this…and so may not be diligent about correcting it. I would believe that if the stockers doing this would cost the store money then they would crash down on the stockers and make sure it is right. Therefore, it is still ‘malice’ IMO. Wrong. It isn’t malice, and the store doesn’t benefit if a shopper purchases the non-sale item. Typically, the manufacturer reimburses the store for the discounted amount on manufacturer sales and coupons. Kroger doesn’t really care if you accidentally buy alphabet soup instead of the discounted chicken noodle. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/144 "2012-06-03T05:48:44Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I think you attribute far too much control of shelving to the people you see at the grocery store. If it’s a corporate store, they get POP schematics in weekly, all designed by someone hired by corporate. The drones are just following orders. In my lengthy retail career (including stints as a nightfiller and in management), we would almost always get the planograms from head office, look at them, realise they’d been designed in some alternate reality operating with different Laws of Physics, and then largely ignore them or only implement the significant changes. And even then a fair amount of work would be required to make the allocations fit (especially if there was a lot of stock being moved to a smaller shelf space). A significant part of nightfilling, stockfilling, and merchandising in general involved “cutting in” stock which wasn’t on the planogram or didn’t have an official space allocated to it. This happened _a lot_. As in, “all the time”. We’d do our best to make sure the new product went somewhere logical (like Raspberry Jam next to Strawberry Jam), but it wasn’t uncommon for brand merchandisers to come in and insist that Delicious Jam™ belonged in the “Spreads” section (with the honey, Mamite, Vegemite, and peanut butter) instead of the “Conserves” section with Yummy Jam™, Tasty Jam™, and Marmalade. To address the assertation that stock was ever put in the wrong place deliberately to mislead people: Not true. Not true at all, ever, in my IMHO extensive experience; > [@tellyworth](#): > > Retailers hate it when price labels are wrong, or get mixed up. Regardless of whether the price at the register is higher or lower than the label price (or the price the customer believes), the store loses money, either by giving out freebies or by losing sales. They definitely don’t do it on purpose. Basically for these reasons. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/145 "2012-06-03T16:10:41Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Just about every gasoline pump will ask you for your zip now, if you’re paying with a credit card. A block away, or halfway across the country. That’s actually for security purposes, not marketing. Well, both, maybe. When filling up recently, I brainfarted and gave the wrong ZIP code. The guy punched it in, frowned, and said, “Are you sure that’s the right one?”. So it was actually checked on the spot and rejected. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620/146 "2012-06-03T16:33:06Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > That’s actually for security purposes, not marketing. Well, both, maybe. When filling up recently, I brainfarted and gave the wrong ZIP code. The guy punched it in, frowned, and said, “Are you sure that’s the right one?”. So it was actually checked on the spot and rejected. Oh yeah, it’s definitely a security thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-crap-thats-pissing-me-off/621620.md?page=7)