i think the way we have to condition actually makes the shelves look less full. i thought the basic idea of all shelf stocking was to make sure the product was fronted and faced to make it appear to be full. this blocking stuff looks sloppy to me
The head frozen clerk at my store, when first told about this type of new conditioning, asked when was this ideal started. He was told it's been in effect for two years. They forgot to tell a lot of people it seems!
You think that's bad? In the bakery department they want all the labels on the back of the product facing away from the customer. They say they want the customer to see the product, not the label. Frankly I think they're just embarrassed to show the prices. Besides, people want to see the name of the item they're buying and how much it costs. Whoever came up with that idea to face the labels to the back is an idiot. They also want all the packages on the shelves to be at an angle rather than lined up straight. They say it looks more upscale. I say it looks sloppy and wastes space. You can't get as much out as you use to because it won't fit.
As more people are leaving for dollar stores, local competitors and country markets, corporate retailers are scrambling to reverse that trend and recapture the lost share. New ideas are being implemented so fast there's no way to know if they'll work. It's a real crap shoot.
The next couple of years are gonna be really interesting. . . . .
yes they are. The first day i started work i conditioned how i had been used to at other stores and got a small scolding about it. why bother conditioning if it looks how they want it after the customers destroy it. Half the time i say screw it and skip conditioning only to hear " hey it looks good over here."
i work night shift as well. conditioning is by far the biggest thing that annoys me besides the hours. i would ask to be moved to day but they hired in some teenagers for the day spots so im stuck there for now.
At my store, if you're a competent and mostly sane stocker, you're tasked with ordering your own aisles. This kind of conditioning (or blocking, if you're a Fry's schlub like me) makes it much easier and quicker to take stock of your current on-hands and order as necessary. Or at least it used to. With the new ordering system implemented last week, the computer will just order everything so everything looks faced and you have 17 pallets of backstock for two aisles in the back room even though all your allocations/mins/on-hands are correct.
But otherwise, it also makes stocking and blockin--err, conditioning--much easier and quicker, at least for me. (I stock my store's can aisles.)
But yes, it doesn't look as pretty or as hour-milking as full facing.
