It wasn’t when I worked at one. Of course, I am just speaking from the experience of one employee in one supermarket.
1 Like
I’ve seen it happen at Woolworths and Coles. It’s not a bizarre moment as it is fairly common.
2 Likes
Well, Coles did warn us that things were going down, down…
2 Likes
Classic “dad” joke. 
1 Like
When I worked at Woolies throwing empty boxes into the cage was pretty common, but this was the online warehouse at Mascot so no customers. Brazenly throwing stuff around with customers walking about would be a different story!
1 Like
Yep
Probably no need to exaggerate if you take a video.
3 Likes
The Cadbury Flake choclate bar is really crumblie but the mini 12 packs are the opposite, they are much bigger and harder to bite !
So, BUY the real thing and not the FAKE !
It must be a slow news day.
What annoys me more than that is if I go to my local Coles post 8pm on any given night, the aisles are completely blocked with the huge crates stacked up with boxes and for most there is nobody around doing anything with them. It’ls like they just go and dump everything down all the aisles that are going to be done that night before starting on any of them. Sometimes it’s impossible to get a trolley passed and it’s frustrating.
5 Likes
It’s the same on Tuesday nights when they are readying the aisle ends for the next weeks specials (that start on Wednesday) and they have all the stock out but at full price with no prices displayed knowing that from the next day they’ll be half price.
3 Likes
They do this every night at my work the problem I have with this is their neatness and being courtiuous of customers. We try and keep boxes lower than the fridge doors so customers can still open them. Yes their is moment’s when boxes are chucked down the isle but you need a certain amount neatiness to be affective
1 Like
Two common reasons for this: there’s only so much room in the back dock, and often one or two people will work to split and drop the load before the full nightfill team arrive.
1 Like
Exactly what Coles does, normally there’s 2 (sometimes 3) who split from pallets at around 3pm. Everyone else normally turns up at 8. The rollcages are dragged out at the same time because the storeroom is so small it would be impossible to drag out drink/chip/cereal/ pet food/cleaning pallets with these cages in the way.
Most of the customers who come at that time of night are regulars and know and understand what we’re doing.
3 Likes
Well I only occasionally do my big shop at night but last time I vowed to never again. Not only were some of the aisle’s inaccessible but they also just recently stopped having the 1 register open that they usually do at night and it is 100% self serve now. So not only did I waste time manoeuvring the aisles but also took double as long to check out my groceries because the self-serve checkouts are not fit for a full trolley of food. There are always issues that makes me need to call the assistant over. 
7 Likes
I can shop first thing of a morning, cages everywhere. Rock up at night (6pm-7pm) and cages everywhere! Shop in the middle of the day and customers everywhere. Can’t win really 
I wouldn’t have a major issue with it if they kept the cages in a stationary place that didn’t impede on being able to walk around a store without it being like an obstacle course. Some people leave it smack bang in the middle of an aisle - why not leave it in the middle of the main path way along the aisles so people can still pass through freely ?
Different retail environment but when we fill at our store our pallets or cages are kept in the middle along the “action aisles” (aka main pathways) and the boxes are then carried to the aisle the boxed items belong to.
I had to dodge a few cages in Coles a while back. I was questioned upon my exit as to why I took the path I took. My only response was I would have carried on walking in a straight line if they didn’t have so many cages blocking the pathway. I normally walk through the main entrance go straight to the bakery section (which is a straight line) then take the same straight path back to the registers and then walk out the entrance/exit). I had to do a few walking loops in the shape of an 8 (criss crossing different aisles AND the fruit + veg section) instead.
Shop at your local IGA if you live near one. I’m in and out in 10 minutes!
1 Like
Have the online shopping carts gone from Coles and Woolies? Or just not where I am having recently moved to Melb from Perth?
Coles at Sunshine Plaza Maroochydore is full of online carts, they’re worse than the roll cages.
Coles only does online out of selected stores, I’ve never seen one in Perth at any of the Coles that I regularly go to because I don’t shop at the one that is used for online orders in my area.
1 Like
I grab the occasional thing from IGA as there is one on my street but it is too expensive to do a big shop there (and it is a lot smaller with limited options). I do like that they have some different brands though but they are always on the pricier side.
2 Likes
I’ve never found it that expensive at all and yet people keep saying this. In my mind it’s servos and convenience stores that are expensive. Maybe it’s different elsewhere but when I worked at Coles and understood different prices quite well I used to compare a lot with IGA and never found it to be significantly different