To be fed up of high shelves in supermarkets?

[PoliteCritic]

I am 5ft 3, so not tiny, but I am increasingly unable to reach lots of things at the supermarket, even in the fresh fruit and veg section. People always say just to ask someone, but I literally have to ask about 5 or 6 people in a normal supermarket shop.
I normally shop at ALDI and M and S, are there any supermarkets that do not stack food so high? I am really so fed up of it.

Me too.

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 This is difficult to get too and get more out of date stuff.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

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

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 🙄

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

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.

I have a bad back. I used to climb shelves, but not any longer.

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.

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.

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.

@xsquared maybe they think it is no big deal asking someone else to help. They do not realise how much longer it takes to shop when you have to keep finding someone tall enough to ask for help. And also just how wearing it is.

Ask people. I’m nearly 6ft and have people ask me all the time. I just get what they want.

@Tgjjl I do. When I went shopping last night I had to find 3 different people to ask. It is wearing. I left one thing as I could not find anyone close by taller than me and I had had enough.

I am curious as to what you think the solution should be.

Supermarkets place the most desirable (and expensive) items at eye level.

Supermarkets are not engaging in some form of heightism with how they lay the shelves out.

OMG I’ve been meaning to write this post. Since Aldi “improved” it’s shelving it’s driven me mad! Not only can I not reach things but it’s so cramped and always a crowd around the doors trying to get at things. Having the doors opening out is a total nightmare.

What I find amusing is there are several short staff at my local Aldi and I’ve heard them complaining about stacking shelves. Recently the short ones tend to be on the tills while the tall ones (mainly men) who use to be on the till are refilling shelves.

@XenoBitch go back to how it was a year or so ago. This is new.

4ft11 here too. I particularly hate that so many shops put the smallest shoes sizes highest. Shops should have at least 1 step stool per aisle so you can reach high stuff down if they insist on using such high shelves and not moving stock forward regularly. Never a member of staff around to ask either. If it is a light item I am pretty good at climbing &/or hooking it down, but a bit risky with things that are heavy or breakable.

My dream is clothes shops offering free alterations on site. Buy stuff in one shop, have it properly shortened (not just hems taken up) while you browse in others, pick it up before you go home.

Tradeoffs, innit.

The choices are:

Have higher shelves (short people complain)

Have less choice of stock (everyone complains)

Expand the size of supermarkets (nobody wants to build anything)

Have supermarkets that go up on more than one floor to create more floor space, with an escalator (we have a lot of multi-floor supermarkets in Tokyo, dunno how popular this would be in the UK)

On the plus side. It did stop me from getting the chocolate ice creams I definitely didn't need, when they were on the top shelf of the freezer and pushed right to the back in Aldi. Although I did stand and debate for a while whether or not I should A climb onto the side of the freezer or B try and find something to reach it with and knock it down. In the end I decided my arse and thighs would thank me later by not buying them full stop.

Maybe we could take one of those grabber things people use to pick up rubbish. Obviously you wouldn't want to use it for something breakable, but might work for packets etc.

Not so amusing when it is causing you physical pain. I work in other peoples homes, so kitchen cupboards, etc are often not organised in a way that makes it easy for me to reach stuff. At home I have light or rarely used things like snacks, storage boxes and medicines on high shelves, usually in baskets so I can reach them down in one go then find what I need. I also keep steps of various heights in the kitchen. Over the past couple of years I have had a lot of pain in my right shoulder and the back of my ankles triggered mainly by over-stretching to reach things. The pain quickly disappears if I am on annual leave for a few days.

Shouldn’t leave them lying around with no signs saying so then!

@GreenTeaLikesMe this has changed in the last year or two. Do you really think lots of people were complaining?
And women are much more likely to do the shopping. I am not short, 5ft 4 is the average height for UK women. So having shelves that re too high for the average woman is crazy.
Its not like going into B and Q where I go occasionally. I go to the supermarket twice a week.
I have just ditched ALDI for my next shop and done an online shop.

Five foot and half an inch (but TBH I think I’m starting to shrink now) - hate this carry-on too. Every time, every store, it’s either ask for help or stand on bottom shelf. I’m always expecting to be ticked off for climbing up. Local Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi all have the high freezer cabinets set back over the wide chest high open ones - far too much of a high stretch over to get products.

However, worst of all are the sports clothes shops JD etc. Absolutely no chance of checking sizes or prices as three rails high. 😡