I think people have fallen into this false dichotomy that if it’s not perfect, it’s useless. Sure, one way grocery store lanes aren’t going to end COVID single handedly, but it seems like a useful idea. Cross-traffic guarantees close proximity, but single direction traffic has the potential to negate a lot of proximity. You’re going to pass people going the other way every single time you go down a lane, but you may not pass someone every time you go down a lane and someone is going the same way as you. If everyone followed the directions and kept distance it would be at least somewhat effective and not really that inconvenient. It’s not a game changer, but it’s not hard to do and it will have some positive effect, so we may as well do it.
I’m not saying people do it, or even if that is the intent (I’m sure it’s not). I mean to say this is how it works for me. It would be nice if others could join me in this mindset.
I haven’t seen people arguing that in this thread. Rather, the question is whether it’s useful (even a little), or useless, or does more harm than good.It may “seem like a useful idea” to you, but to others of us it seems like it might not be.
I was hoping someone might have a link with some Actual Science either for or against.
Shoppers seem generally well-behaved around here, maintaining their distance and wearing masks which are now required in all indoor spaces. They’re also good at obeying the separation markers at the checkout. But the stupid arrows-on-the-floor thing is widely ignored. I make a modicum of effort to try to comply, but I won’t hesitate to go in the :“wrong” way if an aisle has no one else in it. I will also cheerfully ignore the arrows if they are in a very wide aisle (which is sometimes the case, inexplicable though it is) and in rare cases where they make it nearly impossible to get from point “A” to point “B”, like in one fairly small store I frequent that has a rather convoluted layout to begin with. There is an area in this store where, once you’re in it, the only way back to the section you just came from without violating the “one way” arrows is to literally do a circuit of the entire store.
One-way aisles would only approach working as intended if three conditions are met:
a) There has to a hard limit on the number of people allowed in the store at once. And it would be a fairly small number.
b) Ideally, the store would have been designed from the architect’s drawings and constructed to function with one-way aisles. Needless to say, this condition is essentially never met during the current pandemic.
c) Draconian enforcement with teeth. Society doesn’t really have an appetite for this – rightly IMHO.
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Another issue with one-way aisles is erroneous labeling/signage – arrows leading to inescapable corners, aisles allowing entry but not egress, etc. Also, as soon as a shopper stops to peruse a section (no shame – I myself do this frequently), it leads to an especially vexing back-up of the one-way system. IMHO, almost no one really shops in a quick station-to-station way – going straight to certain points, quickly identifying and picking up an item, and moving on. Most shoppers have come to rely on being able to hang out in a section for a few minutes, comparison shopping, checking on the best deals, taking note of new products or new packaging/sizes of familiar products, etc.
I wouldn’t tell you that. I resent the stupid arrows, and having to walk twice as far to get what I want far more often that seems mathematically probable, much more than I do wearing a mask.
The only plus is it’s helping get our 10k steps in.
This. The expectation, or at least design goal, was that people would try to keep 6 ft. apart. Since aisles are rarely that wide, one-way flow patterns were recommended. You weren’t supposed to pass people in the aisles, only in the more open spaces.
People, being who we are, can’t constrain ourselves that way.
My local Publix supermarket had these arrows but recently removed them.
I’m a team player. I wear a mask for others and oh-by-the-way me too. I don’t feel like a chump doing that.
When I go into a one-way groc store & try to follow the arrows I feel like a chump. Everybody has a mask, 90% are wearing it correctly, and 10% are following the arrows. Folks are continually passing others, whether same direction or opposite direction.
One-way might be scientifically effective, but it fails the real-world test.
Interesting. Publix are the only mainstream stores near me with one-way aisles. And with little compliance. I’ll be interested to see if they too abandon the effort.
They’d do a lot better to be more aggressive about limiting headcount in their stores, especially the smaller ones.
I don’t think it’s a particularly good way to stop the spread. Our stores still have the stickers, but no one enforces it and, really, if there’s no one in the aisle, why worry about which direction you’re going in?
I do go along with it for the most part, but am happy to do things the convenient way and don’t lecture anyone if they’re not going in the right direction.
That’s been my experience, too.
My local grocery store (Mariano’s, which is now part of Kroger) put directional stickers on the floors of each aisle back in March or April, but from what I’d see when I shopped there, they were either ignored or unseen by most customers. When I was in the store the other day, I realized that they had gotten rid of the directional stickers (though they still have stickers in the checkout lines, encourging people to keep 6’ of distance).
Our Safeway had them but were recently removed. I heard there were “conflicts” emerging among customers so they got rid of them, to reduce people’s stress levels. Also, because they are falling out of favor as more info emerges regarding their effectiveness, or lack thereof.
I understand the idea behind them, to reduce exposure to other people. I like to reduce my exposure by finding what I need and getting the hell out of the store. If I am at the end of one aisle and the product that I need is 20 feet, the wrong way, up the next aisle I am going up to get it. I am not going to walk all the way around and back down the aisle, likely exposing myself to more shoppers.
The arrows on the aisle plan would have me patiently following a zig zag pattern through the store, wait, wait, wait, 6 feet behind the people in front of me, who seem to have all day to spend in the store.
I am not going to do that and I see little compliance from the other shoppers either. I guess that makes me a bad citizen. I do dutifully wear my mask cause I am used to that since it is required at work too. Even though I feel the masks are only slightly less silly. But that is another thread.
The Harris Teeter where I do almost all my shopping does not have arrows. Last month I went to Food Lion and had walked around the store for about 5-10 minutes before noticing that there were signs at the ends of the aisles. The store was practically empty and no one had said anything to me about going the wrong way, but once I realized there were one-way aisles I tried to follow them.
The arrows don’t work with the way I shop overall. Instead of buying one each of, say, 40 different items, I’m more likely to be picking up a half dozen or more of the eight items that are especially good buys that week. And it seems that I will inevitably be at the north end of aisle 5, be able to see the peanut butter I want six feet down the aisle, but the traffic is supposed to go from South to North. On the other hand, I’m not looking to buy anything on aisle 4 OR 6, but I’d had to walk the full length of one of those aisles to get to the south end of aisle 5 and then back up the full length of five to get back to the peanut butter. At least doubling how long it takes me … and I’m simply not going to do it.
I’ve identified a time span (about 6:30 pm) when the store is virtually empty (I guess most people are cooking/eating dinner then) when I shop and pretend I simply don’t ‘speak arrows.’ So far nobody has said anything to me, and the few other shoppers around then don’t seem to be paying attention either.
Point (a) is, in fact, in force around here, but most grocery stores (and places like Home Depot) are big enough that there has never been a need for crowd control that I’ve experienced. The two places I’ve experienced lineups are the local liquor store and my favorite little upscale grocery store, which is quite a bit smaller than a typical supermarket but man, do they have wonderful stuff! I was just there today, in fact.
I was able to walk right in, but by the time I left about half an hour later, there was a lineup of 20-30 people. That’s a primary place where I ignore the arrows or I’d be stuck in a sort of unintentional maze. They seem to have designed the one-way system with the assumption that people will navigate the store in a prescribed order, and then the arrows end at the checkouts, which may have a lineup. In reality, I like exploring this place with all its fantastical goodies, and often want to backtrack or think of something that forces me against the arrow dictates. And if I do end up in the checkout area, I might have to sort of force my way through the carefully spaced lineup in order to finally break the maze and get back into the store. It’s all kind of silly. The store insists that everyone wear a mask (even before it was legally mandated), that everyone uses the big Purell machine at the entrance (which cleverly dispenses the sanitizer whenever a pair of hands is presented, no touching required), and no outside re-usable or other bags are allowed into the store. I am happy to comply with all of that. But the arrows are stupid.
Points (b) and (c), of course, are pretty much non-existent everywhere.
I haven’t seen the arrows on the floors here in at least a month, probably longer. Another dumb thing about them was the awkwardness that comes when properly distanced lines for cash registers extend into the aisles. You’d have to stand ‘against the arrow’ in half the lines.
50% should be following the arrows at any given time purely by chance.
But I agree. Our store has close to 100% mask usage, good distancing at checkout, but people have stopped following the arrows. Plus, the rear and front aisles of the store (with meat and dairy) and the produce section don’t have arrows. I followed them for a long time but I’ve given up.
Bad idea for me. I walk faster than basically everyone. If I’m going 3 mph and others are going 2 mph in the same direction, then I pass them at only 1 mph. On the other hand, if I pass them in the opposite direction then our relative speed is 5 mph. I therefore spend much less time in the vicinity of others going against the flow.
It’s also means others are more likely to move out of the way when they see me coming, maximizing the distance between us.
What a bunch of whiners. Is it really that hard for y’all to follow some arrows on the floor. Are you that self important, or lazy, that walking down one extra aisle to get to your precious cheerios instead of going directly to them, is an affront?
The arrows on the floor are outdated guidelines, it’s true, but most of you are saying you dont comply, not because of that, but because it’s an inconvenience.
Sorry that this global pandemic, which has caused almost a million deaths worldwide has made your shopping experience such a bummer.