I’ve never seen this in any of the three supermarkets I go to. Costco, yes, but since they sell hardware it kind of makes sense to have people from the company there. They always look kind of sad when I ignore them. I don’t go to my local Target enough to know if it happens there, I don’t remember it.
Shelf space in supermarkets is vital for sales. The companies would have to be paying a lot to make up for the loss of potential sales from having less space for products.
QFT.
This is the reason. We as consumers will continue to be shat upon until we make it clear to management, by first complaining and then leaving, that whatever they’re doing is unacceptable.
Whether that’s AT&T salesmen chasing customers down the grocery aisles, or only 3 of 20 registers staffed at peak times, resulting in 15 minute waits to check out, they will keep doing it until we hurt their bottom line in return.
And make sure they know why they’re being hurt. With kids, as the saying goes, you can beat them every day because even if you don’t know what they did wrong, they do. That doesn’t work with dogs or managers. Because both those animals are too stupid to know or remember what they’re doing wrong.
You know, IIRC Target has a blanket policy of not allowing any form of solicitation outside their stores – no Salvation Army bell ringers, no Girl Scout Cookie booths, etc. (The local troop here sets up their booth in front of Jo Ann Fabrics, next door to Target, instead). So that makes me suspect the AT&T salespeople inside the store must have some agreement with Target that specifically allows them there.
It’s irrelevant whether the AT&T salesperson is authorized; if it annoys you that they’re there, let store management know.
I like those also.
I have never seen those. Maybe they are at Costco?
Same here.
No worse than any other cookie. And I prefer them there than knocking on my door.
I tell them: I live in a cave. Don’t need gutters and siding, anyone here with moisture abatement? Hook me up.
you know I never did no such thing, I pretend I would, tho’
Personally I hate hate hate the free samples. Everyone gets one but me. Well, one time I got a free drink of a glucose aid protein drink. I decided I would not be buying it. The woman knew nothing of her product. She actually thought they were for kids.
I see some of those clean energy ones all the time at a table inside the lobby of several AMC movie theaters near me. They are so damn annoying, I just totally ignore them and don’t make eye contact. Walking past people trying to ask me for stuff is a daily occurrence in NYC.
The worst I encountered were some circus folks who solicited for money to feed their animals in the winter quarters. So I thought to ask them about why they tell me that for the animals they exploit three times a day in their shows in the summer and put them in small cages and trailers or boxcars to travel across the whole country, why they don’t make enough money to feed those poor creatures in the winter and I should support their exploitation? I could have killed at that moment, but I just went by and said “no thanks”.
Anyway, that probably was 20 years ago, at a time when there also were many promotions for phone/internet services or newspaper subscriptions in supermarkets and also in-house sample giveaways, but I haven’t encountered it for years (in Germany).
AT&T Wireless has haunted our Costco for many years. I tell them, truthfully, that AT&T doesn’t work in my neighborhood. They standard reply is that they have improved their coverage and they have really competitive rates. I ask if they really think I should just switch and take a chance that it will work this time and they move on. (Yes, I know that I can ignore them)
The simple answer is: it works. Enough customers are happy to give their business to the sales people while they’re shopping for their groceries to make it worthwhile for both the sales people’s companies and the grocery stores.
One time at Costco, one of these clowns started talking to me as I was walking by. I hadn’t even looked in his direction, but he didn’t take that hint. I continued to ignore him as he approached me. He started to walk in front of my cart, and I wound up running over his foot (not intentionally). He backed off, and I kept going, never acknowledging his existence.
I was all on fire to talk to management about it. But, I mean, I was at Costco. By the time I’d done my shopping and gone through the checkout, I just wanted to GTFO.
I’ve never encountered what is being described in this thread at a grocery store or supermarket, but I’ve encountered it far too many times at airports.
They set up a short distance after the security checkpoint, so they’ve got you while you’re likely moving slowly, as you try to recombobulate yourself. They’re usually shilling for credit cards; and their approach is just as you describe: they start talking as you walk by: “Good morning sir, have you considered a Bank X Visa card? It’s got the lowest interest rate among the Big Six banks …” Sometimes, they follow you a short way down the concourse.
Listen, I can see your booth, Credit Card Signer-Upper, and if I was interested, I’d approach your booth. You following me down the concourse is not going to change my mind.
Those guys I just tell them I’m a renter and none of what they’re selling is up to me.
Last week AT&T came to update my router/modem. No complaint there, I figured the old one was at end of life, and the upgrade was free. What I didn’t realize was that the upgrade came with a guy trying to get me to switch to AT&T Mobile. Same story as above. “Oh, we use the Verizon towers no, so for sure it will work in your house.” The thing was, he was five years older than me, and I’m old.
Now, as an old Bell System person I’m better disposed to AT&T than most, but he really pissed me off, since I couldn’t really kick him out with the tech there.
I’ll take the ones in Costco any day.
Yeah, that’s where I learned it too. Living in the city teaches you some valuable life skills.
Same here. I grew up in downtown Toronto, and learned to ignore the requests for spare change, and just keep walking. Like I implied above, if I was interested, I’d stop and listen to the pitch; if I don’t stop; hell, if I don’t even acknowledge you, don’t bother trying one on me.
Though I do remember the one busker, who would say, “Sir, can I brighten your day with a joke?” He was friendly and personable, and while his jokes were of the “dad joke” variety; it was, as they say, all in the delivery.
He made me smile. At least he was offering something, and I always found him worth stopping for. I was always glad to give him a dollar or two, even if all I got was a dad joke.
“Saving money is bad for the economy, you unpatriotic scum! Why do you hate president Trump? Who’s paying you?”
Not all stores do this. The one I work for absolutely does not allow this - heck, they don’t even allow Girl Scouts to sell their cookies out front because of their blanket rule regarding not-their-company selling anything.
We do have some small in-store stores along the front (barber shop, eyebrow place, and another that has seen a variety of things over the year from shoe repair to coffee shop to now bathroom remodels) but they stay strictly in their stores, they don’t wander around hawking their business. Pretty sure that’s not what the OP meant.
I agree, pushy, insistent sales people are a really annoying. I don’t understand why some stores allow third-parties to basically harass their customers.
Neither have I. I shop in Giant, Safeway, Weis, Trader Joe’s, occasionally Food Lion and Harris Teeter. And Publix when we’re in Florida visiting the in-laws.
ETA: Someone upthread mentioned encountering them in Wal-Mart. I’ve never run into anything like this in either of the two local WallyWorlds, or the one we shop at in Florida.
The short answer is : MONEY. As a parent, I’ve even told my kids repeatedly, “If you don’t know WHY businesses (or people) do what they do, more often than not the answer is money.” In fact, there are really only 5 major factors that influence virtually all human decisions. In no particular order, they are Money, Sex, Power, Territory, and Reproducing.