We need a standardized grocery store organization system. Like dewey decimal.
Hank Green gave a half joking presentation on this topic
This was my favorite Smartypants segment.
What makes you think stores would want that. The reason they reorganize stores to increase profits. They identified certain areas of the store that sell better and move product that they want to increase sales there.
Yeah, but fuck them. That’s why we have laws.
How does this work? Do people not already know what they’re going to buy before going into the store? Does nobody make a list?!?!
I second this notion
I motion to pass
“GO AROUND”
Aye.
Two Ayes here
The soft drinks and sports drinks used to be right next to each other, now they’re 3 aisles apart. What were they thinking?!
sports drinks are a ‘health food’ now their sales are going up
soft drinks are a ‘bad food’ and their sales are going down
so they must be separated
so they must be separated
Marketing
i don’t get angry because they rearranged the store, i get angry because they ONLY rearranged the store so some worthless, nepo-baby dipshit can justify their existence at the company because they came to the conclusion–after 25 focus groups-- that it’d increase shareholder value by $0.0003 to move the pasta to aisle 3
I figured they just do it regularly so customers have to look at more extra shit they might impulse buy, rather than based on some study of product location adjacency.
Having worked stock in a grocery store, this is part of it. After asking alot of different people at different levels, the consensus is that shelf space is also paid for by many brands, and what space goes to who is decided way above the store level. So once in a while the stockers get paperwork that moves a ton of stuff around, and no one who works in that location has the authority to say no. Sure, sometimes a manager will do that anyway, but they always have a reason, and it’s usually something about the reality of the store configuration, like not putting too many cold items near warm areas, to keep humidity down and reduce spoil.
I think you vastly overestimate the size of grocery store’s budgets
The worst one is the eggs, which could be fucking anywhere (except in countries where they’re in the fridge because they’re bleached or some insane shit).
You mean washed…? They literally are the same but keep longer. That’s the only benefit. They literally just last longer.
They last just fine if you leave them alone - washing removes the protective cuticle. Also, meat shouldn’t need chlorinating.
Downvoted by international big egg
The new Aldi layout at mine is terrible. The vegetables are right at the entrance, which clogs things up because everyone browses vegetables. Plus basically all the regular groceries are in one aisle now, so its all crowded.
You know the worst part of it? The reason why is to encourage the “hunter, gatherer” mode in your lizard brain. It’s basically a trick to get you to do impulse purchases.
I just don’t understand why the international foods are a separate aisle. Can those sauces not sit next to the other sauces? Can all types of noodles not co-exist in the same aisle? Why can’t masa flour live next to wheat flour?
The more I think about this, the more it annoys me.
There’s a lot of time and money spent analyzing where to put things to maximize customer spending. It’s why milk and eggs are usually at the back of the store, so that you have to walk through the entire store to get them, and you may find something else to buy on the way there. It’s also why “low-interest” items like international foods get put together in their own low-traffic aisle.
The most accurate description of my pain. Thanks, family-grocery store that I loved.
This is why I can’t fuck with Trader Joe’s.
I swear Trader Joes does this specifically to make you walk the whole store. It’s small enough that you’re probably walking the whole thing anyway, but I can never just run in and grab what I might need.
Am I the only one feeling super unconfortable seeing these types of memes when the next article in my feed is about how 25% of people worldwide don’t have access to clean water?
No, you are not. The vast majority of people here and anywhere else on the Internet live in a luxury bubble compared to most of the world and a disturbing amount of them will never realise that.
The older you get, the less excited and more annoyed at New for New’s Sake; the yoots either find it normal (everything is new when you’re brand new) or thrilling and exclusive (“Look, something changed! Wow! I bet fewer (older) people understand this!”)
When I go to the grocery store I’m not looking for an adventure, I just want to buy the things and leave. But that’s not as profitable.
isn’t struggling to deal with change one of the classic autism traits?
Yeah but also its incredibly normal to get mad when the shop changes layouts. They do it on purpose, creating extra work for the workers, extra time and effort for you, because they’ve pushed some bullshit charts around a table and have scientifically deduced that they can squeeze an extra couple of quid out of you.
Actually infuriating.
It’s also normal to become less accepting of change as you age. I think this has to do with decreasing neural plasticity and the “crystalized” intelligence (accumulation of information) that comes with age even as “fluid” intelligence (processing speed, etc) declines.
Synaptic strengthening happens as you age - you will lose neuronal density, but the neuronal connections you still have are stronger and more efficient. The myelin sheaths around these neurons thicken well into middle age. The distracting neuronal channels, things that didn’t serve you over your years of experience, have died off leaving only the most effective connections.
So, you’re old, you know how stuff is supposed to be. You work well within that framework. When things change, it’s harder for you to keep up with it. It puts your brain under proportionally more load.
So you get mad when the bread aisle moves.
The effect (aversion to change) is similar to autism, but the cause is basically the exact opposite (autistic folk have higher neuronal density, older folks have less than they used to).
In effect, autistic people don’t like when the bread aisle moves because they have to parse that information through a much more complicated and dense web of neuronal connections, which causes overstimulation and increased cognitive load. Old people have to use old dusty disused neurons, which also causes cognitive strain, and not their nice efficient, highly myelinated neurons.
changing the grocery store aisles is annoying because you can’t shop from habit anymore and you have to figure out the new layout. after you adapt by going a few items you forget about it. it’s annoying to go to aisle 4 for bread and then it’s all chips and you have to figure out where they moved the bread, and it’s on the other side of the store.
it has nothing to do with autism. normies get annoyed when they change it, and i was annoyed as a child when they changed it.
That’s my life.
The things that irk me are: Narrowed aisles / space between the shelves and reduced selection.
The local Wally World was the worst about all of the above, but the grocery store in town also remodeled recently and seems to have done the same thing.
I think one of the reasons it irritates me is because it makes no logical sense to me, they’ve moved the shelves closer together and reduced aisle space so they can fit in more shelves, wouldn’t that theoretically mean there’s room for a bigger selection of items? How is it even possible that the aisles are smaller and yet so many of the brands/items I bought regularly are no longer available?
Actually, in the case of Walmart, I think I know the answer. The main aisles used to be wide enough for 6 - 8+ shopping carts minimum, except from September through early January when all the displays of holiday junk would be placed out. Now, they’ve placed a mix of seasonal and non-seasonal displays in the center of all the main aisles year round, using all that space people could use to traverse the store more quickly.
Most of the year, those displays are filled with the exact same brands and products that are also sitting and taking up regular shelf space as well. Heaven forbid if I want some Marie Sharp’s hot sauce. They’ve got 8 types of Texas Pete, and a display of Texas Pete hot sauce in the main aisle, and a smaller display on an end cap near the meats. If I want some Dolly Parton cake mix and icing, there are 4 places in the store that they keep it. Suppose that’s also why they stopped carrying my preferred flavor/brand of gum.
YELLING AT CLOUDS
Never gotten mad or irritated about this. The only times where it happens, at least here in Sweden, is when they renovate/expand the store (which very much isn’t often). It only happens when it’s a good thing. And I like walking around and discovering the new layout and see what they did with the space and modernised tech.
In the states it can happen several times a year for many stores
