Broke Consumers Are Filling Up Carts And Leaving Them
This is a depressing phenomenon, if it's real. According to the Associated Press, consumers are ditching items before they buy them. They've always done this, of course, but now they are supposedly doing it more.
The AP acknowledges that there's little hard evidence for their theory:
Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but Burt P. Flickinger III, a retail consultant, estimates that in 25 percent of shoppers' trips to the store, they're ditching at least one item. In the recession of the early 1990s, it was 15 to 20 percent. In good times, it's more like 10 percent.
Ashley Nichols Guttuso of Midlothian, Va., dumped a red cardigan last week at the counter at the local Limited store after she found out she couldn't use a $15 store coupon on the $15 sweater.
She told the AP that she only went to the store because she thought she could get something for free. They also suggest that some people are going to the store so they feel like they are shopping, and then just ditching the cart. Other reasons given include new-found frugality, and having one's credit card declined.
What do you think?
More shoppers thinking twice in the checkout line [Baltimore Sun]
(Photo:cromonna)
Post a comment
Comments:
I do that every now and then - I get to the checkout and realize, "Eh...this can wait." or "I don't really need this."
The only time I've ever ditched a whole cart of items is when my bank card was cancelled over a fraud issue and I hadn't been notified yet. That sucked - sure had my heart set on some Honey Nut Cheerios that day.
I'm not a fan of just dumping purchases around the store rather than taking the time to put them back, but I think many people could easily re-evaluate their purchases and take out a few things they don't really "need".
Even my kids at 4 and 8 are saying, "Mommy do we need it or do we want it?
I'm ditching more, but not quite for the reason the article suggests... it's long, slow lines rather than money that make me put things down and leave the store. I find something I want, I'm willing to pay for it, but I'm not willing to spend 15 minutes in line waiting to do so. Shops need to hire enough employees to handle their customers in a timely fashion.
People always remove some items just before or during checkout. But, "They also suggest that some people are going to the store so they feel like they are shopping" now that's just demented.
@egoods: I think it's generally more prevalent in grocery stores overall no matter how good the economy is.
@vladthepaler: So essentially you just waisted, what, a half hour driving to the store, finding the product(s), and then driving home, only having to drive back to the store again at some point to actually purchase the item?
That's illogical.
I've done that, but not because I didn't have the money. I just hate to wait in line. I was at a store recently, and I had a cart full of stuff and I don't know what the fuck, some lady was paying with a check and she took forever, like more than 10 minutes or something. I was on my way to work and said fuck it and left the cart. My favorite stores are the ones with self checkouts.
Same. I hate people who are so lazy that they'll force someone else to do something they should do themselves.
I hope that Burt P. Flickinger III really is a guy's name. That is freaking awesome.
On topic though? I have noticed that phenomenon in myself. More often than I used to, if I have extra cash that isn't budgeted towards something or other, and I pick up a nice shiny new flashlight... I start thinking how much I don't need yet another flashlight. Eventually I set it down and leave the store completely empty-handed. Used to, I'd think, "You can never have too many screwdrivers, or flashlights!! Useful stuff!" Not anymore.
I've been doing this online with baby clothes all week!
kind of.
*fill up cart with everything I want*
*look at total*
*close window*
it's somewhat satisfying my need to nest and buy a bunch of unnecessary crap without actually doing it.
This is always something that got on my nerves. When I get something then change my mind, I take it back to where I found it. When I worked retail, you'd always be amazed at how lazy people are. They'd just throw clothes in the food isle, or whatever.
The big deals are when they take something that needs to be refridgerated (like meats) and just put them on a shelf in the chip isle. Well, now you just destroyed store property by letting that meat sit behind a bag of cheetohs for 7 hours.
@Mozoltov, motherfucker: Yeah, it's cool to walk in with the automatic doors, pick up the few things you need, pay for them at the self-checkout kiosk, and walk back out the automatic doors... you never have to talk to or interface with a single soul, any more than not running in to people. Some people might think that's a little sad, but to me it's f'n BLISS. (At least as far as coping with being in a Wal-Mart, for example, anyway.)
@aftercancer: I would say that is a great trait to instill in children. That's exactly how I was raised and it really does help you to determine if this purchase is needed or can wait.
@floraposte: Constantly having to reset the weight plate if you have a bunch of stuff is beyond annoying
@pattiesmart: Illogical? Maybe, but I have done it too. Sometimes you can just tell that it's going to be an eternity, and to make matters worse the person in front of you is going to write a check. I usually don't go back for the item though, in most cases these delays give me time to decide if I really need it or not. If it's not worth waiting around for, I probably don't actually need it.
I think you're a fuckin' retard if you have to go to the store to "pretend" like you're shopping, only to ditch the cart before you leave the store. The declined credit card I can totally understand.
@pattiesmart: Never ever make me wait to spend money. I'm with vlad the pale one, on this.
You've also made some possibly incorrect assumptions. It takes me all of 3 minutes to pop into a store on the way home, find the loaf of bread I need, and hit the checkout line. If I then have to wait 15 minutes, well, I'll just have mac and cheese for dinner instead.
Hell, why not? I have done it lots of times. If they make me wait 45 minutes to check-out or are rude to me or any number of reasons I make them pay. You better work, girl!
@stanner: You are probably a barral of laughs, aren't you? I hate impatient jerks. Life doesn't revolve around you.
@vladthepaler: I do it too, and for the reason you mention.
It just gives me pause, and I say "I don't want this stuff enough to wait in the line." And off I go.
I don't do it with groceries, if I'm picking out groceries, I need them.
@pattiesmart: Yeah, but vlad might be an impatient New Yorker like me and there are times when it shouldn't be a 'rush hour' scene at the market. The checkout area might not have been crowded at the time vlad entered the store, but by the time vlad arrived to checkout, maybe a couple of cashiers had gone on their breaks and no one was there to cover for them and now the lines were snaking up frozen food aisle? At that point, vlad decides to say good bye. Now Vlad being the good customer would return the item to its correct location before walking out the door.
Now, for me, I try to figure out when to do my shopping so as to not encounter those times, but oh boy when they do happen, I am faced with my version of Hobson's Choice. And so far I have accepted the offer.
@Saboth:
Either that, or someone just bought a can of milk that sat out in the cleaner aisle for two hours before being returned to its refrigerated shelf.
@arsenicookie: At least no one has to clean up behind you that way. Well, except for the internet gnomes.
My take is that yeah, it probably is happening more lately, but it is not nearly as depressing as you might think it is.
People are being frugal all over and often times they will pick something up (habitually?) but by the time they come to the check out, they probably make up their mind against it.
So the overall percentage might be up, but it most likely is one or two items that are being dumped, as opposed to someone filling up a cart and then having to dump it altogether. That would be just depressing.
@MostlyHarmless: Forgot too add:
It also happens that people have a fixed budget (no more than $50 worth of groceries on this trip), and at checkout they realize that they are going over that limit.
@stanner: I know the feeling exactly. There is a Super Target on my way home from work. Often my wife will ask me to pop in and get something... milk, fresh meat, something.
So I go in, grab these one or two items, then get to stand in line for 15 minutes? Now I go and check the lines, see if there is an express line open (there's almost never) and, usually, decide to just say "screw this" and call a local casual restaurant for to-go. By the time I get there, its usually ready. And that saves us time at home when we'd normally cook.
@egoods: Hm, it's definitely a known phenomenon. A local grocery store here actually puts discounts on filled carts that were left behind and displays them in-store. Interesting strategy, but I don't think I'd want to buy goods that someone else picked out for me.
I hate to be "that guy" but the headline doesn't match the article. People are leaving some items, perhaps more often than prior to the recession, but leaving filled carts? Not getting that from the AP article at all.
@krispykrink: The last time I did that, I realized that the black top I picked out was actually navy blue. I wonder if someone was watching my behavior and guessing about why I ditched the item?
Just love the folks that drop off ice cream, frozen foods, and meat everywhere BUT in a freezer case or cool case. These folks are costing us money!
Are online shopping carts being abandoned more? At least that's quantifiable.
@vladthepaler: U-Scans for the win!
As long as:
1) some person isn't paying with a jar full of change
2) a person who can't understand this newfangled "technology" that kids these days keep talking about isn't trying to figure out what "scan first item" means
3) you aren't buying anything alcoholic that requires an actual person to scan you through.
4) more than 2 of the four scanners are open.
@Saboth: yeah I was going to bring that up, that completely sucks when someone leaves an item out that needs to be refrigerated. How hard is it to just go back and return it to the meat aisle or dairy aisle?
@Mr_Human: Probably are. But then I would think that they already had very high rates of being abandoned. I must have emptied about 25 items from my carts across various websites before buying either of my computers.
I did that so I could get a final figure on what a purchase will cost me after taxes, discount coupons, and shipping. And how that will scale up against a different computer with slightly different specs.
Perhaps they left their cart unattended to go browse some shit in the next aisle. I swear that the inglorious basterds at Target have some sort of 3-minute rule in effect.
@Mozoltov, motherfucker: The problem with self checkouts is that when you're stuck behind the slow people, there's not even an impatient teenage checker trying to get them out the door.
I can't believe half of the people who hold up any checkout lines can survive long enough to eat most of the food they buy.
@nybiker: One of the few reasons I miss living in Prospect Heights was the huge pathmark on Atlantic Ave that is open 24 hrs. I am a night owl and would go there at 4 or 5 in the morning and shop. No lines, no people, store is nice and clean.
I think it's sad people will go to a store to shop with no intention of buying anything they pick out - they just want to shop. Is shopping so addictive that people actually go to browse and pick out things, only to not buy them? Doing this online, I get, and it's victimless. But the employees who have to pick up a pair of shoes in the coat section and return them probably aren't too happy with you.
@Mozoltov, motherfucker: You ditched all of your items because a woman took more than 10 minutes? That's a little extreme. My limit is 20. I'm pretty patient when it comes to some people. Ultimately, my time is important and even if I'm stuck behind a slow person, it's more time wasted if I left and came back.
@arsenicookie: I've been doing that with baby clothes to compare the amounts I'd spend at one online store vs. another. It's very handy! My friend is expecting, so I'm stocking up on baby things now.
This statistic is about as relevant to the recession as an accordion is to fly fishing.
Srsly.
@pecan 3.14159265: I don't know if it's sad--maybe it's just advanced window-shopping. But yes, it's better if they return stuff to where they got it. (Though I lack the folding skills for clothes--sorry, clothing-store people.)
When I worked in a grocery store this happened constantly. That was many years ago... so I don't buy that it's any more common now