to think that tidying up supermarket shelves

[Justforlaughs]

is something that should be done when they are as full as possible, and not "instead of" filling them? I don't know about you, but I've never not bought something because the shelf wasn't tidy and the stock wasn't pulled forward. I have however, far too often, not bought something because there was none on the shelf. I work in a supermarket and don;t understand the policy of " an hour before you finish your shift, stop putting stock out and make sure that it looks tidy" so AIBU or are THEY the mad ones?

do you have night staff to do replenishments?

Yes, that's THEIR policy as well. It doesn't matter how many cages of delivery that haven't been put out, priority is making it look tidy.

my local tosco seem to do neither

waitrose are very tidy and very beautiful, so I might be tempted to buy something else instead............

but you are right in that you cannot buy stuff that is not there.

It's called 'dressing the shelf' isn't it, to make things more enticing.

All shops 'face up' though.

I like a nice tidy shop.

Aldi always looks a mess

My local Tesco Express has the policy "put all the cages of stuff out in the narrow aisles, especially at pinch points, then fuck off for a tea break".
I wish they would leave stuff out the back until they actually need it - I often don't buy stuff because I can't physically get to the shelf do to blocked aisles.

How do you know they have stock? I work in a supermarket too and I face up at night if I'm doing an evening shift - because the stock is all worked and put out during the day and the next delivery doesn't arrive until after I've gone home.

mrscakes our Tesco express do this too!

We're also not alowed cages on the shop floor after 9am so working stock isn't easy then!

I used to work stocking shelves. We didn't always have replacements for what had sold. If you have spaces for 50 cans, but only have 30 in stock, you still need to make it look full.
We had 15 minutes to sweep and face, or you had to stay late.
I only did the jobs for 9 months, it was very physical, and fast paced. and poorly paid

All our local wait rose spend all day pushing cages around. I don't go there anymore.

Our local tesco seem to have taken notes on presentation - it's suddenly much smarter and tidier than I've ever seen it in 10yrs of shopping there and there are always a few shelf stackers tidying the veggies near the door. Something to do with Aldi, Lidl, Morissons opening at the other end of town perhaps.

Maybe a stupid question, but how does hiding stuff for later help shoplifters?

because they aren't seen taking it from its correct place, so they can say "I haven't even been in that aisle, I got this at another shop, check yoir cctv"

It's necessary for stock control and stock rotation.

It isn't just to make the shop look tidy.

Where i work it is called facing up and done by the day staff at the end of their shift before the night crew come in to work the delivery. Makes out lives easier if the shelves are tidy before we start and it ensures stock is rotated properly.

The staff facing also find the hidden empty boxes where shoplifters have taken the goods out of the packs to nick it.

That makes sense, thanks nickel.

Is it something to do with shopping psychology, with the way people 'read' and scan the items to find what they're looking for?

Our local Tesco seem to have a blitz tidy/stock with five odd people all working within a few meters of each other.

Fucking annoying trying to negotiate them when it's full and they don't notice you because they're busy yakking.

Which I'm sure you'd never do OP

I think it is helpful. The reason it seems pointless it because it's done regularly. If it was never done it until the shelf had just been refilled then you'd end up with stuff right at the back of the shelf that some people couldn't reach. And if everything was falling over itself because somebody wanted a particular one at the back then it can lead to stuff falling on the floor and getting ruined too.

In our shop we used to call it "merching" - I find it weird how many different names there are for it. There was also a "quick merch" (make sure everything's facing the right way and nothing's very obviously in the wrong place and there are no gaps, which means filling gaps with the wrong letter if possible) a "full merch" which means going around the whole shop making sure it looks good and a "100% merch" which meant go round every section painstakingly making sure every single item is in the correct place.

Our tesco express would always fill empty shelves with other similar items. So I would grab an item, glance at the price underneath and pop it into my basket only to find that the price is really much more than I expected (always higher...) I always wondered if it was something unique to our Tesco or if it was common practice.

I did learn to read the small print eventually...