My local grocery store from the Safeway family of stores has Bluetooth beacons that crashed my old phone. Now I turn my phone off as I have to assume these are to track where I am in the store and for how long so they can further target their ads.
Actually downloading their app is 100% a no from me. I’m moving to local stores wherever possible because I can afford it, and to be honest, the grocers raised their prices so much, only certain items are more expensive bought local.
What kind of inefficent shitscape is your business that adding a new app functionality is easier, cheaper and faster than hiring more, better paid people?
Hold on, maybe this is a method of appeasing the stock holders to improve trust in them, backing out might cause people to back away
Wait, this could also be a temporary measure as they hire more people, although the damage has already been done and will show itself next quarter
The answer is never “make service better to attract customers”, it’s always “extract as much value as possible from the ones that remain”. Shitty short term number go up mentality.
CVS wants me to stop shopping with them.
I’ll just goto a fucking supermarket. It’s faster. Yes, even with the checkouts.
Many supermarkets are enshittifying/rent seeking too though
I’ve been looking into the local veggie co-op. You pay for the season and you can pick up a box of veggies once a week, all locally sourced. I’d go to the farmers market, but I’m worried it’ll just be a bunch of people selling marked up veggies they got from the grocery store.
Or, just maybe, they could adequately staff their stores instead of constantly running skeleton crews. If they were actually sincere with their cries of high theft, more employees on the floor could deter would-be thieves, while also giving them time to help customers when needed and pack out product so the place doesn’t always look like an obstacle course left in the wake of a hurricane, with piles of stuff on the floor blocking half the aisles.
Any place that requires an app for me to shop at is a hard no for me, much less all the other nonsense they want to include.
Yeah but the engines of capitalism & infinite growth in a finite world gotta go brrr.
The poll in the article…
Would you use an app to unlock retail store displays?
-
Yes. If it speeds up shopping, that’s a win for me.
-
No. I don’t need an app to shop, and will just find and employee to unlock it.
Where’s the option of “no, I didn’t need it as much as I thought I did”
Or, “No, I’m not bothering to shop at CVS anymore because that’s a hassle.”
-
The “shit being locked and nobody comes to help when you press the button” bullshit is why I bought some spare keys for the universal barrel locks most stores use. 9 times out of 10, these cabinets are locked with a lock that’s key is just a circular bit with a single tooth.
And you carry one of these around with you? How often are you visiting stores with these locks?
Yes, and weekly; every time I do my shopping.
Why the fuck aren’t they just dropping this shit off at my door?
Why do I need to go into a convenience store when there’s no convenience?
A. Bug an employee even where this system is implemented.
B. If I had no other choice than to use the app: Open the cabinet, take a dozen products, close the cabinet, “decide” against buying some and leave them on an adjacent shelf.
(Edit) C: just “forget” to close the shelf. I’m not trained to handle their BS system.
D. Staff just leave them unlocked because it’s in a “dead” network spot and nothing reliably connects or store requires users to be on their Wi-Fi
My first choice of action would be to walk out the door. My second choice of action would be to walk out the door.
D) Turn around and shop elsewhere
Just take the shelf apart. I’m sure it’s just some shitty plastic flap with a crappy lock. Cheapest crap they can get.
If the Walmart/target cases are anything to go by, it’s a basic universal tubular lock. You can by a decoder/pick for like $10
Yeah but they’re a little tricky to use, you can’t just bump them.
Also I would not recommend doing it at all in the first place.
You’re right but it’s funny to think that you could be hassled for breaking into a box with the intention of purchasing its contents.
Hey, no shop…ing?
I swear I’ve seen people use bump keys on high quality tubular locks before.
Depending on where you live it is illegal to possess lock picking tools unless you are a licensed locksmith. Something about “intent to commit a crime.”
Yeah, but that’s a key, not a lockpick
How 'bout no?
This new system with the app is a hydra
Fuck the very idea of buying anything at CVS other than a prescription. Their prices are predatory high.
And I wouldn’t install their fucking app on Bea Arthur’s phone.
Some stores have started requiring the app to get your prescription. Happened to me. They actually made me install the app before they would fill my Rx. I stopped using that store and went to another neighborhood.
Hard no to that. As if they are denying people medicine because they want to harvest your information.
Should be illegal. But corpos own this country so here we are.
Depending on how primary care works where you are
tell your doctor too
Sometimes they don’t hear about the problems with pharmacies or other places they refer people to. Letting them know means that they can send people elsewhere
This is dystopian level privacy nightmare.
I pick up a client’s meds as part of my job. It’s through Safeway, and I can’t get text notifications anymore when they are ready for pickup, I have to use the app, and I have to have push notifications turned on, so more than half of the notifications are some BS ad for safeway, trying to tempt me into buying bread or some shit. The guy takes over twenty medications, so it’s kind of a nightmare.
That’s almost worth having a dedicated burner phone for.
I just got a prescription yesterday and that didn’t happen so hopefully they don’t roll it out everywhere. I would find a different pharmacy.
Sounds like it’s time for a new pharmacy.
Your options are:
Walgreens
Some pharmacy on the other side of town that’s failing because they’re getting overcharged for drugs (if you’re lucky)
Costco, and lots of online ones
We use our grocery store. Seems to work well. My store doesn’t even have an app, just a website, and the loyalty card isn’t needed for discounts, only for points I’ll never use so I don’t bother with it.
Yes, this is the problem. Not much choice, and most of the corporate ones are moving to various shitty practices. Oddly enough, many of the big corporate chains are now closing locations en masse, such as Rite Aid
Succinct, I would like you to consider becoming CVS’s next CTO.
Or, now hear me out, I stop shopping there.
I’m just not gonna shop at CVS
That’s a no from me dawg
How about I just don’t shop there?
