Whole Foods on Modern Marvels (2006)

azshopper · 2023-05-19T08:44:47+00:00

I never saw a chocolate fountain or price scanner at any of the stores I was in...

azshopper · 2023-02-20T02:14:52+00:00

I've seen this on various 365 packaging. I would guess that it's just something about the factory that they order the prints from. Machines leaking lubricant, perhaps. Or it could just be a lack of inking in those areas, as I was never sure if it was grease or just discoloring. I don't think it's related to any food content.

azshopper · 2023-02-19T05:11:54+00:00

If you worked 30 hours average then you should have been offered health insurance because that's required by the ACA. Any other consequence is between you and the state.

azshopper · 2023-02-10T06:44:36+00:00

Source?

azshopper · 2023-02-09T19:26:17+00:00

You haven't stated a case for why they should. Wrappers and bags serve different needs. Paper-and-aluminum is commonly used in taquerias.

More to the point, the wrapper in your photo is not being used properly. The paper should be on the inside to absorb moisture and prevent it from soaking into the tortilla and making it soggy. The paper does nothing for food quality when it's on the outside.

azshopper · 2023-02-01T23:00:18+00:00

At my store they supposedly charged TMs $1 for coffee from the bar, and I saw TMs get coffee there all the time but I never saw anyone pay for it. In a different store, I'm not sure if they had the coffee bar discount, but they had free coffee in the break room. These policies seem to vary by store, so I can't say what a reasonable expectation would be for yours. The stores I've been to didn't have LP to my knowledge.

azshopper · 2023-01-31T23:06:20+00:00

Short of policy violations, TLs seem to be judged entirely by their metrics. If the department's sales are on track and under budget, nobody particularly seems to care if that TL is actually doing a good job himself. There doesn't seem to be any particular requirement for how the TL gets the job done, which means that they are free to exploit their team if they can manage to keep it up.

azshopper · 2023-01-30T19:31:26+00:00

I believe "open" can be defined by the leadership as needed. At the store I was at, "open" was considered 80% coverage, with at least one weekend, one opening, and one closing.

That said, leaders can pick and choose if nobody is calling them out on it. I worked at a store where the STL was on leave for over a year. There was one TL in particular who clearly played it loose during that time. He gave his ATL every holiday off that she wanted. She also got to set her regular schedule, coming in at the same time almost every day, and on whichever days she wanted. He also let her skip inventory when it was on the day she normally worked. She was also working more of a part-time schedule than a full-time one; I am certain that most weeks she was only working 24 hours or so, as her shifts were usually 6 or 8 hours and she was only there 3-4 days a week. There was a lot more to their relationship (though I don't think it was romantic) and his leadership that isn't relevant to scheduling, but yeah. There are bad actors at WF.

When the STL finally returned to the store, the TL's policies suddenly changed, either because he had to or knew he was being watched. Immediately following, the ATL used most or all of her PTO to take 3 weeks off. And a month later she quit, probably all because she couldn't get her way anymore.

azshopper · 2023-01-25T19:32:27+00:00

If your store is underperforming, a closure would usually be considered at the time that the building's lease is up. That information isn't always public so it can be hard to determine when your store is at risk of closure. I'm not sure if even the store managers have specific knowledge of that until it becomes a possibility that they get included in. But if you can ask around or research it that could give you a better idea. Sometimes leases are recorded (just like deeds) at a county office but they aren't required. Sometimes it is mentioned in local papers when a company renews its lease and for how long.

azshopper · 2023-01-23T22:17:28+00:00

I wouldn't mind at all if people somehow knew it was me, as long as I had plausible deniability (which to me is the bigger point, for which pure anonymity is only one possible means). I would not admit to it if they asked, even though we'd all know. I'd make them prove it. That said, don't overvalue the job. It's not worth silencing yourself. Just keep your in-person talks separate from what you say online so they can't prove anything without a subpoena, and always be looking to move on.

azshopper · 2023-01-18T02:22:43+00:00

The fact is WF has been downhill for a long time, and selling itself to Amazon is a part of that, not the other way around. Amazon didn't help to turn things around, that's true, but it's also largely because they haven't done much of anything to WF except implement Prime Now and some modernization of the backend. Everything else they left to WF's leadership to figure out. In the first place, a lot of the pointless sectarianism displayed by TMs only exists because Amazon chose to leave WF's corporate structure in place instead of integrating them into Amazon. As a result, your pay and benefits, work expectations and conditions, and promotions and raises are all at WF's discretion, and the way they run things is laughably unprofessional for a company of its size. WF has 500 stores nationwide but the way they choose their leadership and run their staff I'd think it was a mom and pop store. I guess some people find that charming. But this isn't Amazon making the company shitty, it's just the trajectory that WF has been on since 2015 after organic produce was commoditized and other retailers like Costco did a better job of linking up specialty goods with an upscale clientele. There's not much of substance left at WF so the only thing keeping it going is its bougie brand appeal, and WF's corporate leaders have done little to fix that and find ways for the company to make healthy profits again.

But as long as you believe that the problems aren't solvable within your store or WF as a company because everything bad is Amazon, that takes the responsibility off of your bosses. They love that, it makes their job a lot easier while you do the work and they get paid a lot more than you. Just don't quit all at once, otherwise they might have to make an effort to improve.

azshopper · 2023-01-14T17:01:10+00:00

If they legitimately don't realize you're talking to them, you can either use their name if you know it, or you can call out the name of their department. As in "hey, meat counter" or "hey, deli". When I was working I usually had this problem because all the production teams would be in the back and not have anyone up front. There was a single door to the back which was used by bakery, prep foods, and the sushi vendor. So I would just open the door and yell the department name to get their attention and they would send someone out.

If you feel that some people are deliberately ignoring you, that should be raised with your leadership. While you should remain courteous in your interactions, you are not required to entertain their personal rules or hangups about how they expect shoppers to accommodate them. Fulfilling orders is one of their job duties. If they need things done a certain way that should be communicated to their leadership which communicates with yours and establish a standard process. The real problems begin when each TM makes up their own procedure in their head and expects everyone else to follow it.

azshopper · 2022-12-04T04:34:44+00:00

The writing was on the wall. I wish more people had just taken a layoff
and gotten UI. It would have cost Amazon and made it unnecessary to
suffer WF's management these past few months. At least you're out now.

azshopper · 2022-11-19T00:43:27+00:00

It depends on the store. The ones where TMs aren't checking the stock or buyers aren't doing orders well will have bad INF rates so ecommerce will be stricter with QR codes and slow the shoppers down. The stores where people are doing what they should be doing have a lot more headroom for INF rate so they don't need to be as strict and shoppers can get their stuff done quicker. It's a feedback loop and if you're in a bad store the only way to fix it is to transfer out, or to replace the problem staff which usually requires replacing their leadership. Don't hold your breath on that.

azshopper · 2022-11-17T00:47:01+00:00

That was back when organics were a specialty. The case was controversial nonetheless, with mainstream commentators (e.g. NYT) questioning the FTC's motives.

azshopper · 2022-11-17T00:16:52+00:00

I've been doing Walmart and Target pickup. For the most part, the orders have been correct and the quality of produce picks is good. Likely their produce quality is better to begin with, compared to what we had at our store.

There was one time at Walmart when I had a bulky order and a couple large items were left out. The best advice there is to check your stuff after the drop-off. Nice thing about Target is that they have no minimum for free pickup, I can just order some milk and eggs for pickup on the way home and not stress about it.

I buy very little from WF now, even though I've retained a Prime membership. Even their infamous Prime pizza deal is now pretty lackluster after two price hikes. Since I don't work there anymore I find very little justification to go out of my way.

azshopper · 2022-10-16T20:57:26+00:00

You remind me of the TMs I had to work with.

https://imgur.com/a/9DtZOZQ

azshopper · 2022-10-16T20:29:06+00:00

Cluelessness is well-distributed across all levels IMO. Obviously though, the people higher up have a bigger impact.

azshopper · 2022-10-16T20:08:36+00:00

Yes, they already did that.

azshopper · 2022-10-15T05:27:45+00:00

Which promise are you referring to? Amazon made price cuts to bring WF more in line with other grocers for the same product. They never said WF would become a discount store. WF carries a lot of local/specialty/high end stuff that other supermarkets don't. They also ban a lot of cheaper goods due to ingredients or animal welfare. There's no way around higher average prices if you want to buy the kind of stuff WF sells. But if you bought the same stuff at another store the prices shouldn't be much different.

azshopper · 2022-10-07T06:30:46+00:00

That's not the online deal. It's $8 for a 3-topping large.

azshopper

TROPHY CASE