Why are supermarkets so bad at managing inventory / adjusting for demand?

[CPA]

Very few people on earth buy distilled water, it sells like dogshit pretty much everywhere. It doesn't have any real place in the world anymore. It used to be bought by garages to service open-cell car batteries and little old ladies to use in steam irons. Nowadays, I think hardcare aquarium guys use it and that's about it.

It's good for steam cleaners and irons as there are no minerals to clog up the small tubes.

 

[Imp]

There's a No Frills down the street, but I have not gone into it yet. Maybe it would be worse, but the Metro is pretty craptastic. :hmm:

KT

Find a Super Walmart. Prices and choice are okay.

Metro nearby is expensive compared to Walmart and No Frills that I've been to.

No Frills don't take Visa, last I checked, so I avoid going.

 

[Ichinisan]

Just went there again.

It's supposed to occupy that whole vertical column.

 

[Ichinisan]

Or to raise prices.

Yes. That would also balance demand and allow the people who *really* want it to buy it. I would be perfectly OK with it costing more than "purified" water.

 

[Ichinisan]

Find a Super Walmart. Prices and choice are okay.

Metro nearby is expensive compared to Walmart and No Frills that I've been to.

No Frills don't take Visa, last I checked, so I avoid going.

I've only found distilled water at my local Super Walmart one time...ever.

 

[Ichinisan]

Very few people on earth buy distilled water, it sells like dogshit pretty much everywhere. It doesn't have any real place in the world anymore. It used to be bought by garages to service open-cell car batteries and little old ladies to use in steam irons. Nowadays, I think hardcare aquarium guys use it and that's about it.

It seems to sell pretty well here. They can't keep it in stock.

 

[Imp]

Very few people on earth buy distilled water, it sells like dogshit pretty much everywhere. It doesn't have any real place in the world anymore. It used to be bought by garages to service open-cell car batteries and little old ladies to use in steam irons. Nowadays, I think hardcare aquarium guys use it and that's about it.

We used it in high school chemistry.

I drink from the tap occasionally, but usually drink boiled water. If I were concerned about non-killable contaminants in my water, I'd get a reverse-osmosis system set up.

 

[DrDoug]

Because Kroger eliminated their night crews who did the restocking every evening. Then they fired their janitor crews who worked late night cleaning up the stores and replaced them with a couple of people from a janitorial service who are hour limited in cleaning up and never get the job done. Then they cut back on dedicated cashiers. Then they cross trained their daytime employees to be janitors and cashiers. On top of that, each day worker is to dedicate an hour to a particular aisle and stock it up between doing their regular job, being a janitor and a cashier, if they have any time left to do the stocking.

Shorter reason: Kroger has MBAitis. Profits now, problems later, if ever. Enjoy your shopping!

 

[KlokWyze]

Terrible!

 

[Carson Dyle]

It seems to sell pretty well here. They can't keep it in stock.

If it's never in stock when you go there, how do you know they can't keep in stock? Maybe they haven't even had it in stock for a while and there's some reason for that.

 

[tynopik]

It used to be bought by garages to service open-cell car batteries and little old ladies to use in steam irons. Nowadays, I think hardcare aquarium guys use it and that's about it.

CPAP machines

 

[Engineer]

I pretty much shop exclusively at Kroger and one thing I've noticed over the last 5 years or so is that they have been reducing shelf space and/or reducing the number of 'cheaper store brands' that they provide. I assume that this is to sell more, higher profit items.

Seems to have worked for management this year as Kroger's stock price was up over 60% for the year.

Their prices have been a non stop UP, UP, UP lately. Walmart hasn't been better though so with sales, it's just as cheap in many cases to keep shopping at Kroger.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I pretty much shop exclusively at Kroger and one thing I've noticed over the last 5 years or so is that they have been reducing shelf space and/or reducing the number of 'cheaper store brands' that they provide. I assume that this is to sell more, higher profit items.

Didn't Kroger just recently roll out three new store brands? I think it was mentioned in another thread. That doesn't strike me as trying to reduce the store brands. In fact, you'd think they'd want (need) to increase their visibility to compete with the likes of Walmart.

I would also think that their own store brands have comparable or better margins than name brands, despite their lower prices.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I pretty much shop exclusively at Kroger and one thing I've noticed over the last 5 years or so is that they have been reducing shelf space and/or reducing the number of 'cheaper store brands' that they provide. I assume that this is to sell more, higher profit items.

You assume way wrong. Margins on private label merchandise are almost always higher than the name brands, often by a HUGE margin. The store will make more selling a .69 cent can of their own label corn than they will selling a name brand at .99 cents. No store will willingly cut out space for the their own products, most are doing just the opposite. They're adding more SKUs and for some chains, bringing out a second line of private label products that are either cheaper than the regular stuff or positioned more as a "premium" generic to be more expensive than the store brand, but still below the name brands. You might even see three private label lines in the same store, normal, cheaper than normal and better than normal. Which as Carson just mentioned above, is exactly what Kroger did. They didn't cut back on the store brand, they more than doubled it and still managed to convince you that it was less than before.

 

[Engineer]

Let me rephrase that, Kroger didn't cut the main store brand as much as it did the low cost, Value store brand (Used to be called Value brand). It was the 'below store brand' that was cut. It was rebranded under a new name with a bunch of dollar signs in the title $$$$. There are now fewer of those items and they are of higher price.

Example: The $$$$ (don't remember name) hottog buns were $0.88 vs the $1.00 for the Kroger brand. Now, the $$$$ are $0.99 while the Kroger brand name is always $1.00.

Kroger has the regular store brand, which isn't always cheaper even vs name brand and then they have the VALUE brand which is the one that was cut in both quantities as well as price hikes.

Edit: The p$$$t that Carson displayed above replaced the Value brand, which used to be in more quantities as well as cheaper.

Anyone denying that Kroger prices are going up doesn't shop there enough to know.

Kroger here in Lexington has been trying to reinvent itself in the Target mode. Higher end stuff to lure higher paid shoppers in to the store. Adding jewelry stores and furniture sections (failed and replace now with clothing) trying to do exactly what Target has done and appeal to higher income shoppers. Maybe it's my local stores that cutting the p$$$t (Value) brands and not a national thing.

Edit: I noticed that someone mentioned that Kroger lowered the number of employees, even down to the janitor level. I have seen people cleaning up around the store are no longer Kroger employees and are instead contractor services. Not sure how this saves much money though.

 

[Brovane]

Very few people on earth buy distilled water, it sells like dogshit pretty much everywhere. It doesn't have any real place in the world anymore. It used to be bought by garages to service open-cell car batteries and little old ladies to use in steam irons. Nowadays, I think hardcare aquarium guys use it and that's about it.

I only use Distilled water in my CPAP machine humidifier. Help keeps the water chamber clean of mineral deposits if you only use distilled water. I don't have a issue getting 4-6 Gallons at a time from my local Albertsons.

 

[marvdmartian]

I spoke with the produce manager at my local store, a couple years ago, when they went to fully automated re-ordering of produce.

Used to be, if he saw that something wasn't selling well, he could mark it down and try to clear it out. If he saw something was selling out really quickly, he could place an order and get more of it in, so they wouldn't sell out.

Now the computer does it all....and depending on who programmed it, and what setpoints they made on when something is re-ordered, it's usually either that the produce section runs out of something before the new order arrives, or they end up throwing out stuff that wasn't selling well, because it didn't get marked down quickly enough. The produce manager told me that with the computer doing all the ordering, he's throwing out more spoiled produce now, and running out of popular items more often than before.

Same problem might be going on at your Kroger's, with distilled water.

 

[HeXen]

Only problem I have is making it to the registers before it gets crowded cause it's rare to see more than 2 open yet every store has like 7-20 registers. I just don't get it.

 

[Ichinisan]

Only problem I have is making it to the registers before it gets crowded cause it's rare to see more than 2 open yet every store has like 7-20 registers. I just don't get it.

When there's a line for the self checkout machines, some people go line up at the other checkout lanes. That's actually dumb because there are 6-8 self checkout machines in that one little area and I rarely have to wait longer than 30 seconds for one to become available.

I often see people waiting for the self checkout, even though there are 1 or 2 already available. They think they're waiting for the people directly in front of them to clear out. That seems to be worst at Walmart.

 

[Engineer]

When there's a line for the self checkout machines, some people go line up at the other checkout lanes. That's actually dumb because there are 6-8 self checkout machines in that one little area and I rarely have to wait longer than 30 seconds for one to become available.

I often see people waiting for the self checkout, even though there are 1 or 2 already available. They think they're waiting for the people directly in front of them to clear out. That seems to be worst at Walmart.

Now that the stores have you checking yourself out and bagging your own stuff (at same prices), the next step is for you to stock the shelves too! :biggrin:

 

[Red Squirrel]

You know who is the WORST for this? Canadian Tire. "XYZ item is on sale!" You go in, it's out of stock. Every single freaking time. I think they order like 2 and make a sale, just to get people in the store... and it works. If I'm going to drive all the way there it wont be for nothing!

Seems odd that distilled water would keep running out like that though. Maybe the local telco is buying it all up to maintain their batteries. :awe: But if they're going through that much that fast they have bigger issues. 😱

 

[CZroe]

Why does everyone think distilled water is only used for car batteries? It is used for purity all the time. Aquariums, radiators, electronics servicing and cleaning, chemical dilution, and, yes, batteries. It's also more pure for drinking than a reverse osmosis filter. Adding minerals for "taste" is dumb. It's not supposed to have a taste!

I have 100% pure isopropyl alcohol for cellphone repairs. This stuff is hard to find locally. There is no water nor laolin added like typical rubbing alcohol. I can dilute it with distilled water if I want to clean a PCB, LCD, or a bunch of pins or something without worrying about what minerals might be reacting with what metals and such. I've seen sloppy people clean the glue from disassembled cellphone LCD assemblies with rubbing alcohol and I consider them lazy unprofessional slobs (you can see the streaks that will be sealed under the new glass forever).

I'm not putting spring water in my motorcycle radiator. I'm not going to put mineral water in my PC liquid cooling setup. I'm not going to clean one hundred NES cartridges with spring water and rubbing alcohol. Distilled water is useful for EVERYTHING, even drinking, so it's what I buy. If only pure isopropyl was available at Kroger.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

^ Love my analytical grade IPA.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Why does everyone think distiller water is only used for car batteries? It is used for purity all the time. Aquariums, radiators, electronics servicing and cleaning, chemical etc. etc. etc. etc.

Sales for all of the uses you're talking about, combined, don't come anywhere close to approaching the sales of drinking water. Yeah, I suppose some people do drink it, but few people who enjoy and recognize the taste of fresh water will enjoy drinking distilled water.

 

[Ichinisan]

Now that the stores have you checking yourself out and bagging your own stuff (at same prices), the next step is for you to stock the shelves too! :biggrin:

I don't mind the self checkouts. They malfunction a lot, but I don't wait in line nearly as long as I used to in the '90s before they had these things.