Ziploc Suicide Waiting to Happen

[Department stores *sigh*]

The thread about customers not asking for assistance to reach hard to reach items reminded me of a common trend I am seeing this week.

Where I work we set up what we call "The Fence" where we put our sale items and such at for impulse purchases and easy access. The way this fence is set up is we have a "back wall" where we stack about 7-10 pallets ontop of eachother and then place a full pallet of merch. We then place a full pallet of merch infront of this"back wall" and then stack more merch so we can cover the pallets behind it. In the end we end up with about 13ish feet of straight product if your looking at it straight on.

This week we have ziploc bags on sale. So our "back wall" pallet is a full pallet of ziploc boxes. We are selling this item FAST so our front pallet tends to run low or even run out over the course of the day. So what do people do? Do they inform us that its out so we can get more stock out? Do they ask an employee to grab from the top or how long the wait is for the new stock on the ground? Or do they reach up and grab from the bottom layer of a full pallet.

A cookie if you guessed what they usually do.......

One day I walked by to check on it and I saw something like this.......this would be a side view of the pallet..


|________|
|________|
|________|
|_____|

the right side being the front of the pallet

Do people think its a bad idea taking from the bottom when there is a full pallet of this stuff 7-10 ft in the air? Apparently not........ When this whole thing topples over on someone guess who is going to get sued... *sigh*

/endrant

[ebonyknight]

While I do believe in Darwin, that is a dangerous set up.

Sometimes you have to not tempt fate and realize that there are stupid people out there that will do dumb stuff like this and account for it.

I dare say that if someone did get hurt and sue, they wouldn't be submitting such a frivolous lawsuit as you might think.

[rerant]

For as stupid a move as it is, I can see why someone might do this.
This past Christmas I was at Zellers (like Target, for you non-Canadians) getting a microwave cart for my mother. The boxes were about 50Lbs each, on a shelf about a foot above my head, and the colour I wanted was at the back of the shelf.
I wandered through that entire store trying to find someone, ANYONE, who could help me get the item down from the shelf.
After about 15minutes of searching and not finding even one employee (as well as waiting for someone after asking a cashier to page someone to the department - someone who never came) I gave up and used whatever sturdy boxes were around me as a makeshift stepping stool and did it my damn self.

[Shangri-laschild]

It's not just the customers. When I worked at the gas station, the employees would do that with the the stacks of stuff for the cooler all the time. They never seemed to see a problem with it.

[bainsidhe]

Hmm, methinks they should rethink their stocking process for the ziploc special. Most of our pallets come shrink-wrapped. Maybe leaving the wrap on the back pallets would be a good way of deterring customers. Though after hearing some of these stories, perhaps not

[Dark Psion]

When I read the title, I imagined a customer trapped inside one of those extra large storage Ziplock bags.



At least he would be fresh for CSI