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I shop supermarkets that have everything from milk to underwear and fresh salmon to car polish. Last time I was there they had boxes stacked hit and wide in the main aisle of canned fruits and vegetables. (Right next to them they had blenders on sale.) That's why the call them SUPER markets.
And depending on the time of day one shops, that happens EVERY DAY. Store stockers work every day ... usually at night, and I would naturally assume that the OP also has been in a grocery store more than once, and knows this rather predictable pattern as well. Why would you assume he needs you to explain that? Why would you think you need to explain it to me? I've been shopping in grocery stores for 40 freaking years ... I even worked for a chain of them for a few years, as did several family members who worked for Safeway and Giant Food. In fact, I was just at one 2 nights ago, and the isles were clogged with pallets of products ... just as they are EVERY NIGHT after 8:00 pm, as the night stockers come in for their daily restocking duties.
But if I went in to that store at 3:00 pm, and the isles were similarly clogged with pallets .. that would be unusual, because that is usually not when these activities occur. Do you not understand the difference between usual and unusual?
Now unusual doesn't automatically mean something sinister or secret is occurring ... just something unusual. Have you never experienced something unusual and wondered why? It seems to me that is a rather common thing. If you came home from work and found three police cruisers in your driveway, would you not consider that unusual, or would you think nothing of it?
Funny how some people find it easier to believe a conspiracy theory than something as straight forward and logical as stores are making room for holiday merchandise and/or its just the normal flex of seasonal stuff that people like to stock up on for the coming winter. Paranoia is running high in this country.
What conspiracy theory? Are we on the same thread?
Somebody notices something and ask a question? Do you even know what a conspiracy theory is? Who seemed paranoid?
GuyNTexas: What I described is not just stock for the night workers to put on the shelves. The supermarket chain I go to has a huge two week sale every fall on canned goods where two dozen or more pallets sit in the main, promotional aisle all two weeks with sale signs plaster everywhere.
They also stock shelves around the clock, being a 24/7 store and I am very much aware of what is 'normal' and not normal during different times of the day including in the middle of the night. Plus I can beat your "40 freaking years" of shopping in grocery stores by nearly 3 decades and so please quit being so condescending just because my experiences in grocery stores is different than yours. Where you assume the OP has the exact same experience shopping that you do, I assume he/she is too young to have noticed seasonal flexes before or is a person who sees conspiracies around every corner.
What conspiracy theory? Are we on the same thread?
Somebody notices something and ask a question? Do you even know what a conspiracy theory is? Who seemed paranoid?
yep.
what i saw was a rather innocuous question, looking for responses, followed by a short liberal pile on.
clean up in aisle 2.
for the record, personally i think the shelves are getting really stocked high because they are putting out the halloween stuff, the thanksgiving stuff, and the christmas stuff all at once.
i guess they are just hoping that someone will buy something.
Nope. not making room for anything.. the store is full. No empty shelves. I am talking unopened boxes stacked so high it looked dangerous.. I was like Wow!
look ... shut up .... these people know better than you do about what is actually unusual for your store even though they couldn't find it on a map, and have never been there. It's your imagination ... trust the stranger on the internet that lives a thousand miles away .... you were just seeing things, you paranoid conspiracy theorist.
There is a perfectly natural explanation for everything .... those boxes stacked to the ceiling are probably just lots of stuffing mix for Thanksgiving .... because all stores begin stocking for a Holiday 7 weeks in advance ... just watch how all those flags and things for 4th of July start showing up in May.
Of course, I'm being sarcastic. The terrible truth, and it is a truth, that few stores can carry more than 3 or 4 days worth of stock, which is not a good scenario in an emergency situation, as without that constant flow of goods, shelves would empty faster than you could say FEMA. We don't realize this because the stores are constantly receiving products and busy every night restocking shelves so that there are plenty of supply for the next day shoppers, during the times we aren't normally in the stores to see that activity.
But I get what you were saying ... you're saying that you observed an unusual difference with high stacks of boxes that you hadn't noticed before. There is most likely a rational explanation ... like an erroneous shipment received in error, that was delivered and now is taking up space that normal excess stock sits, awaiting it's turn for the shelves, and so they had to improvise.
But there is nothing at all wrong with being aware and noticing the unusual. It's actually normal to do so, and completely abnormal to think it isn't.
What conspiracy theory? Are we on the same thread?
Somebody notices something and ask a question? Do you even know what a conspiracy theory is? Who seemed paranoid?
The OP said this is his first post: "I also wonder if the government has the power to tell the stores to fill their shelves." Do you see that as just asking a simple question, no traces of paranoia that something bad is going to happen that the government isn't telling us about?
CHRISTMAS is coming. When you shop at Christmas, do you notice how many of the major brands have labels especially for Christmas? Santa Claus on the Coke bottles. Oreo cookies with Christmas wreaths on the label. MM's and the many other candy manufacturers that have special flavors and labels just for Christmas. The specialty candy, and cakes that come out just for the holidays. The stuffing mixes and spice cake mixes. The big displays. It's not a conspiracy. It's the holidays. All that stuff starts getting delivered in late September into October. And they have to put that stuff somewhere. It doesn't fit in their regular storage areas. So they stack the shelves higher than normal. On Halloween, they'll start moving the Halloween merchandise and displays out of the way, putting whatever they have left in clearance. And they'll start putting out the Christmas merchandise. Which groceries, like any retailer, have much of.
Screw the Commies, this is a CHRISTMAS conspiracy! Be very careful around suspicious looking jolly old men dressed in - you guessed it! - RED!!!
Wow!! 7 pages on a made up or imagined conspiracy just because the store had more stock than normal. I'm going shopping tomorrow. I'll be sure to post all the conspiracies I see going on.
The OP said this is his first post: "I also wonder if the government has the power to tell the stores to fill their shelves." Do you see that as just asking a simple question, no traces of paranoia that something bad is going to happen that the government isn't telling us about?
Actually, I know (and I really can't say how I know, so you'll just have to accept my word on that) that such planning for essential security is part of what we are supposed to be paying for with our tax dollars.
And yes ... in the greater scheme of things, food security is a significant part of planning at levels that exist outside of yours and the general public's awareness. And local and regional authorities as well as police are routinely given intelligence information not to be distributed to the public. Heightened security for a special event deemed to be a risk, or general alerts for such things ranging from a prank threat, to a real one can involve different preparations that could certainly involve communicating with executives of corporations that operate the community's largest food distribution chains. And that could include plans which may apply to national, regional, or local levels.
Grocery stores are one of the main issues, along with electricity, water and banks that have the greatest impact on communities, and therefore are all part of emergency planning focus, and yes, there are channels of communication and information sharing and coordination with these entities. That's just a reality .. not a conspiracy theory.
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