To be fed up of high shelves in supermarkets?

I'm astonished by nearly a third of the votes were for YABU. Just why, given most people have agreed on the thread.

I usually use something close by to nudge the item forward, but I've also had some kind taller shoppers getting an item for me when they see me struggling to reach.

I was going to say about these freezers too!
I'm generally ok if they are fully stocked but struggle if there are only a few items left on the top shelf.
Sometimes they were fine if the shelving was open and you could reach underneath and work things forward but I think Tesco have recently switched to more solid freezer shelves.

Yes,this annoys me too,and I'm no shorty at 5 ft 5 in! Equally annoying I find are things low down in the backs of fridges (I'm looking at you Poundland). I am disabled with painful shoulders and hips and usually have to ask the nearby security guard to retrieve the bottles of drink that are right at the back on the bottom shelf of the fridge.

5ft 2 and good at climbing.
Also perfected the art of hoiking my body up then dangling upside down into deep, nearly empty chest freezers,and pivitoting back to my feet.

Unlike DM, I've never had to be pulled out of a freezer

The one that pisses me off is Sainsbury's and Rocks squash. First I have to make a special trip there because no one else sells orange squash without being contaminated by sweetners. Then they stick heavy glass bottles out of reach on the top shelf which is a fucking nightmare to reach after the first layer is taken. I'm less brazen about climbing and nudging stuff around when there's a risk of glass smashing from a great height.

🤣🤣🤣 Mum walked off. She doesn't walk odd.
Yet.

Sorry, I'm just chuckling my tiny mum in Sainsbury's many years ago... She wanted an iceberg lettuce, she was getting an iceberg lettuce...
Stood on the bottom of the display, reached up, pulled down 2 shelves of about 50 iceberg lettuce. Popped one on her trolley and walked odd 🤣

I have been asked loads of times to either reach stuff over the freezers at Aldi, or reach down for the last packet of frozen salmon - anywhere any supermarket.
It's usually elderly ladies or men, I feel sorry for them and happy to help.

I was just thinking that nobody my age (48) has asked me, maybe it's too embarrassing? I wouldn't know why though.

I'm hear to reach both up and down for anybody regardless of age, sex, orientation, skin colour, possible whiffiness, bad teeth, holey socks.
Disclaimer:
ND, ADHD, Dyspraxic - You probably won't be able to get rid of me once somebody has retrieved me from the chest freezer with a 4 pack of yellow smoked haddock and a grin for engaging 😁

Fucking hell, reading that I might just wear a badge saying "Don't. Honestly, it's for the best. Walk away".

Would you like some middle aisle colouring books. You'll like them!

Ah fuck, I've been here before and my own thread got taken down because I was talking to myself 🤣

I am taking a break now to put my energy into the washing up 🙄

Just to inform you that those stools are for staff use only. If you get injured, you are not insured

We have these things called pushers.

They may look good on the shelves but filling, code checking takes longer.

Also with these pushers, customers pick a pack of ham, noticed that the date is rubbish and fling it at the back. This is difficult to get too and get more out of date stuff.

My store manager thinks 100% of damaged and stuff on the shelves is our fault!

Another reason why I absolutely hate my store manager. As well as bulldozing low morale by his bullying

Me too.

Nice idea. If you can find any member of staff to help. They do have a remarkable habit of disappearing out of sight when you need something.

Just ask someone 😁

4'11" here (🙄🤨) and yes - I agree! I always have to get someone to reach for top shelf bits, so frustrating.

I'm 5 2 and usually climb on the bottom shelf, at 43 I'm used to being small now

I am 5.1. Yes it’s a pain the ass all the things up high. I have mastered the wine aisle in Tesco though. If you lift a bit of the shelf at the front you can slide bottles at the back of the shelf to the front. As long as I get the wine it’s all good 🤣

I’m 50, & do regular yoga which helps with the freezer climbing!

You are probably younger than me. I'd rather vote with my feet and find another supermarket than go climbing up freezers!

Those chest freezers do tend to be strong enough to climb on though.

And if they’re not, then it’s the supermarket’s fault for making products difficult to reach.

I’m 4ft 11” and a wheelchair user. I have to ask someone for the majority of what I buy, but it’s wearing. I often come out of the shop without half of what I wanted because I just couldn’t muster the energy to chase the other customers around asking them to get everything.
M&S’s freezers are completely impossible to get anything out of from a wheelchair. It’s frustrating.

They do the same thing with shoes - small sizes up on the high shelf and my size 8s on the bottom shelf. Surely the other way round makes more sense?

“Or use another product to knock the thing off the shelf that I want”

This is my go-to method. Going in M&S, hooking boxes of stuff down using a tube of paper cups and watching the members of staff come running is my favourite Friday afternoon activity.

I'm 5'6" and have this problem too, especially when something is low in stock and right at the back. I'm happy to ask for help but often there's no one to ask and often top shelves are too high for almost everyone. I find bottom shelves tough too, again especially when they're nearly empty, but at least I can physically get down on my hands and knees, whereas I can't levitate. Keeping stock levels good would really help on both counts though.

My late mother, who was 5'1" and whose disinhibitedness has been celebrated before on MN, used to use her walking stick to just hook things down. If they came within reach, that was ideal; if they went flying, she'd just leave them where they fell (she couldn't bend much either). If challenged she'd just shrug and say it was someone's job to pick fallen things up and she was keeping them in work. It was mightily embarrassing to go shopping (and indeed much else) with her, but the older I get the more sympathy I feel for her behaviour.

I love the pp's idea of a Yo Sushi style supermarket! It would take ages though so you'd need tea and cake while you did your weekly shop!

It’s shite isn’t it. I’m 5ft 7 and I often have to
climb shelves. I might get one of those long shoe horns IKEA sell and start taking that shopping.

Yep I'm 5'4 so just about average UK woman and still can't reach a lot of supermarket shelves, so annoying!