https://www.businessinsider.com/grocery-stores-hide-supply-chain-product-shortages-2021-11

    • replybot [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      In bad country, they lie to the citizens to keep a false sense of morale going

      In good country, they lie to the citizens to keep them from realizing how bad the country is

      In the best country, they don't even know they're lying

      In the worst country, they lie when they don't have to

      In the second worst country, they lie when they do have to

  • zeal0telite [he/him,they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    While some of this is genuinely because of UK fuckups, I do find it funny that some people are talking about this like they've never seen "facing up" before.

    It's normal to make it look like everything is full. I did it every day when I worked at Tesco. It's easier to see and reach for customers, and more aesthetic in general.

    • alcoholicorn [comrade/them, doe/deer]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Why though?

      If you make it look like there's only one or two left, people are gonna be more likely to buy an item than if they know they can get the item any time.

      365 day a year "Sales" at full price work for a reason.

      • Nakoichi [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I worked at [massive corporate retailer] for nearly 6 years and was a manager for a few of those years, so I got to see all sorts of the insidious shit that goes on behind the curtain. One thing they spend a fuckton of money on (and this applies to big box stores grocery stores convenience stores etc) is market research.

        One of the things I was shown was how they've done research on buying habits exactly like your hypothesis above except it turned out the opposite was true. When there's only one or two of an item left it causes a huge dip in sales even if it's rapidly replenished, and there are two reasons it's suspected this happens; There are people that will think that there must be something wrong with the lone remaining items or are obsessive and nitpicky about for example looking for a longer expiration date or something, then there are also people (and I've encountered this exact phenomena) who feel guilty for taking the last one of a given item off the shelf.

        Another absolutely psychopathic corporate market research induced practice is that stores will deliberately move shit around and reconfigure item layouts of top selling items to get people to spend more time looking for shit and increasing the frequency of impulse purchases, or that they deliberately put candy and junk food at eye level for children.

          • Nakoichi [they/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Yeah that's all pretty standard over the decades, it's only more recent that they've been able to develop the more data driven targeted tactics.

            Another one is as you mentioned pricing.

            First there was the tactic of ending all prices with 99 cents, but people get used to that and just start to round up subconsciously so they learned to start doing % based sales or loss leaders (items sold deliberately at or below cost just to bring people in) then there is the practice of pricing luxury/premium items at flat dollar or even hundred dollar amounts because "you're such a baller you don't care about single dollar amounts and definitely don't care about coinage"

      • zeal0telite [he/him,they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        If there's one or two then the illusion doesn't work. You basically just bring everything to the front.

        It's all well and good to make it look like it's going fast but old people out for their weekly shop need to be able to access items quickly and easily.

        Every aisle has its own limited time deals on the end anyway so there's no shortage of FOMO throughout the store.

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I remember some chud doing a video about how most rows only had an item at the front and nothing behind them, and all the comments were dunking on them because this is how stores have always stocked shit.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Carpenter of heaven here. When the pandemic is suppressed and the chuds need a new source for their psychic frenzy, they're going to turn to the shortages as the most immediately observable thing that seems easy to understand/blame on Mr. China. All of the most insufferable things about anti-maskers will become people whose identity is consumerism being denied their treats. They're going to stand in the aisle like toddlers screaming that they can't get their favourite treat. Restaurants running out of ingredients even if they can coerce enough underpaid staff to serve the food will become a personal attack in the same way curbside service is.

    • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Still planning on rotoscoping British shit into that scene at some point. And changing the picture of imposter KJU into the queen or Boris.

  • RedundantClam [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Man, once they tell everyone the Queen is dead the UK is going to have a collective breakdown.

  • eduardog3000 [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Who tf makes the conscious decision that this is a smart or useful thing to do?

    • replybot [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Damn, I guess capitalism works after all,” said an unnamed North Korean official. “We’re going to start a country-wide ‘North Korean Fried Chicken’ franchise next week, and we’ll be making millions in no time.”

      The success of the “North Korean Fried Chicken” franchise comes just two days after the Kim Jong-un regime announced that it would allow foreign investors to create businesses in North Korea and earn profits.

      “We just need to get the Kim family’s approval, and we’ll be able to make billions of dollars from this business,” said the unnamed North Korean official. “We’re going to open up a lot of the country to foreign investment, and we’re going to provide a lot of benefits to foreign businesses, including tax breaks and other incentives.”

      “We’re also going to open up a lot of the country to foreign tourism, and we’re going to allow foreigners to buy property in North Korea,” he continued. “We’re going to build a lot of hotels and resorts and casinos and things like that.”

      The unnamed North Korean official also said that the regime is going to build a lot of golf courses and resorts and hotels and things like that.

      “We’re going to make a lot of money from the ‘North Korean Fried Chicken’ business,” he concluded.