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How about the real pictures from customers of bare shelves? Those should count just as much, or are they disgruntled as well?
by donarb 9y ago
How about the real pictures from customers of bare shelves? Those should count just as much, or are they disgruntled as well?
- slyall 9y agoThey say most of the pictures of bare shelves are from customers
- jrowley 9y agoHere's an anecdote. This week I was sick and went to whole foods like 3 times over 5 days to get soup. The soup shelf became more and more empty over time and didn't seem to be getting restocked which struck me as odd.
- ztjio 9y agoYou just explained that your behavior itself was odd (you are sick.) Have you considered that you've not normally done this and so you've never noticed that this is always what happens? My local grocery store has premade foods, like soups, and they get made in bursts and slowly run out over several days. So what you observed could be the norm.
- jrowley 9y agoI'm talking about the aisle, like the shelves being empty, not the premade section. But your point totally stands!
- tinfins 9y agoI don't find it hard to believe that a few stores ran out of bananas or whatever for a day. That's all it would take for a customer to snap a picture. The picture of a meat department cooler with empty slide racks was obviously in the middle of a reset - notice the lack of price tags on all the racks because they were just installed.
- gamblor956 9y agoThe problem isn't that a few stores ran out of bananas or one item for the day. Take a look at the pictures: entire sections like produce are basically empty. The only time I've seen shelves that bare were at Kmart and Sears locations before they went bankrupt and shut down.
- tinfins 9y agoI took another look at the pictures. Notice all those stores where whole sections are out are in the Northeast. Probably they missed a delivery or two because of the weather. Plus during extreme weather grocery stores get shopped hard. There was one picture of an empty banana set with a pineapple in the wrong spot - that's what I was referring to before. The sole picture in San Francisco was the reset I mentioned.
- onli 9y agoBut that's exactly the problem the article describes: That the moment something goes wrong the stores don't have any reserves anymore, because the system is too strictly set on reducing costs and spoilage, seemingly with a total disregard to consumer satisfaction and overall profit. Add to that crazy-sounding control schemes - which maybe is kinda normal in a country like the US without real employee protection laws, but is unthinkable in less free market capitalist societies. Not sure why you defend your employer here. If the problem is real - which I'm in no position to judge - it would be in his best interest to notice it.
- bearcobra 9y agoAnecdotally, I have experienced the same phenomenon at several major grocery chains in Canada. City gets hit with a winter storm and Safeway, SuperStore, & Walmart all had empty produce & bread sections. I've also seen it in certain stores during summer months in the run up to a long weekend. Not saying the new supply chain software can't be the cause, but there does seem to be other reasonable explanations.
- charlieflowers 9y agoYes, with catchy slogans, like "Hole Foods". Turn them into memes, let some go viral. That will get some attention.