Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

JP4CY

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Fareway employees haven’t worn white dress shirts in 3-4 years. Moved to red polos. Assistant managers wear gray or black. Store managers wear white dress shirts. Employees prepping food either need to wear a hairnet, paper hat, or black baseball cap to keep hair off the food. Manager sits above the produce section to be able to see over most of the store while doing bookwork. Safe, money drawers, sensitive employee records, etc are in the Manager’s office so being elevated makes sense as it’s harder to break into.
When it comes to the managers office it probably comes from years ago when they'd be the ones to call out for extra baggers too.
Trader Joe's has the same type of setup but they aren't elevated, they are just in the corner.
 
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GMackey32

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When it comes to the managers office it probably comes from years ago when they'd be the ones to call out for extra baggers too.
Trader Joe's has the same type of setup but they aren't elevated, they are just in the corner.
It allows them to keep an eye on the front end pretty easily. It also helped with keeping an eye on the store before video cameras became more readily available, they just kept the same design because it works. Are able to store stuff below the office to keep things put away and not look cluttered.
 

alarson

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I like HyVee and grew up going to one but I like Fareway better because it is much easier to get in, get my things, and get out. Hyvee's have grown so large now and I spend more time walking throughout the store had having to park farther away.
Most of the time I just want a grocery store. Not another super store.

Yeah, convenience is the main reason i go to fareway when I do. The fareway is pretty close to me and its easy to pop in and out if i'm just grabbing a few things.

Ive noticed that fareway moves product slower though, making it so the expiration dates are often a lot sooner than at hyvee. Especially for things like bread.
 
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Rabbuk

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It allows them to keep an eye on the front end pretty easily. It also helped with keeping an eye on the store before video cameras became more readily available, they just kept the same design because it works. Are able to store stuff below the office to keep things put away and not look cluttered.
Pretty sure hy-vee's manager offices are elevated too at some of the crapids stores, ive met with a few store managers as part of an old job and it is either their office or their conference type room in at least 2 of them.
 
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jcisuclones

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Pretty sure hy-vee's manager offices are elevated too at some of the crapids stores, ive met with a few store managers as part of an old job and it is either their office or their conference type room in at least 2 of them.
I remember the Jordan Creek Hyvee used to have the managers office elevated in the front of the store. Pretty sure that's moved now. More room for bath bombs that way :jimlad:
 

Trice

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Yeah, convenience is the main reason i go to fareway when I do. The fareway is pretty close to me and its easy to pop in and out if i'm just grabbing a few things.

Ive noticed that fareway moves product slower though, making it so the expiration dates are often a lot sooner than at hyvee. Especially for things like bread.

And beer.
 

GMackey32

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Yeah, convenience is the main reason i go to fareway when I do. The fareway is pretty close to me and its easy to pop in and out if i'm just grabbing a few things.

Ive noticed that fareway moves product slower though, making it so the expiration dates are often a lot sooner than at hyvee. Especially for things like bread.
If you’re buying store label bread, that’s the managers fault. If you’re buying name brand bread, that’s the outside vendors fault.
 

KidSilverhair

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It's not about guaranteeing at least one day off every week. It's guaranteeing at least one *weekend* day off, which is more challenging to do if the store is open all weekend. As someone whose job can create really weird schedules, not having a day off on the weekend blows. What good does having a day off on Tuesday do? Nothing's happening on a Tuesday.
When I worked at the newspaper in Rochester around 1990, they had the weirdest publication schedule. First, it was an afternoon paper - who does that nowadays? Second, they didn‘t put out a Sunday paper - Saturday afternoon was their big weekend edition. For a lot of my time there, that worked out pretty neat … I’d have Saturday/Sunday off one week, then Sunday/Monday the next. Yes, I guess that meant a three-day weekend every other week, with a one-day weekend the other.

After that I joined the FAA and worked air traffic control, which has to be up and running 7 days a week (at least my facility wasn’t open between 11:30 pm and 5:00 am, so it wasn’t 24/7). That schedule had days off that moved back every four weeks - you’d have Friday/Saturday off for four weeks, then Thursday/Friday for four, then Wednesday/Thursday, etc. We eventually changed that to a six-week rotation, which actually worked pretty well. Every six weeks when your days off changed you had a four-day week (except when you went from Sunday/Monday to Saturday/Sunday, then you’d work five, get Sunday off, then work another five before your weekend).

Some people tended to complain about this schedule saying it was impossible to plan things (having apparently never discovered the concept of a ”calendar”). Towards the end of my career we changed the system so people bid on their days off by seniority, so the most senior controllers got days off around the weekend all year and the least Senior ended up with Wednesday/Thursday all year (and therefore had to work every Friday and Saturday night).
 

carvers4math

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For real? So everything is in a plastic container?
Yep. Maybe styrofoam with plastic on top. They did keep a deli counter for lunch meat. So you frequently can’t find the amount you want. I haven’t been in there since my soap bomb health scare. Went to pick up husband’s meds, had both an asthmatic reaction and broke out in hives from perfume allergy.
 

GMackey32

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Same with pop although I don't think that is ever in any danger of expiring.
Yep. Pop, beer, bread, snack cakes, frozen pizzas are all outside vendors. If any of that stuff is in danger of expiring, it’s because of the vendor, not the store. That goes for all stores (Walmart, Target, HyVee, Fareway, etc).
 

alarson

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Outside vendor. Stores don’t have any control over that.

While this may be true, it still means differences for the customer. The vendor isn't going to pull stuff that isn't past its sell-by date off the shelves, but that means if you're buying it from fareway it'll be stale a lot faster. That may not be much of a concern for a family that goes through stuff fast, but as a single guy it affects my purchases.
 

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