Hi James.

This morning, at a Whole Foods Market in NYC, the cashier and I spoke briefly about the fact that I was picking up some items before work.

I told her it was a good time to shop, but a drawback was that they regularly did not have everything out yet. Today, for instance, there were no bags of potatoes.

I told her it used to be that stores restocked over night. She asked, "Really?" I said, "Yes, back in the 70's."

In NYC, WFM restocks during the day, while the store is open. They open usually at 7AM, but most meat is not out by then and numerous produce items have yet to be brought out. They also restock throughout the day, so you may or may not have to step around a cart or a ladder while shopping.

[Getting people out of bed to open up a morning business, meaning rising at 4 in the morning, has suffered a great deal with the increased postmodern ennui. Having clerks stocking during business hours is a huge liability issue. The best reason for night stocking is to keep granny from tripping on equipment and stock. Liability is the number one concern of retail food directors at the site. The fact that this has been overridden by lesser concerns points to a crisis in cost control and/or labor supply.]

Not sure if this is just in NYC or if grocery stores all over have cut out overnight stocking.

[This is everywhere and started in Baltimore in spots 15 years ago. I see it everywhere across the country I go and am amazed. Many chains still have night crews, yet the size of these are reducing and stock is being done more during the day. The main factor seems to be a switch from male to female staff, with women less likely to agree to working overnight due to safety and child care concerns. There is also the cost of an over night premium of a 1$ or so an hour. Since available labor are not very urgent and productive, paying an extra buck an hour for them still not getting the job done is not desirable. Dollar stores and drug stores, taking up more of retail food sales, have never been able to staff night crews due to low wages. Also, when crime becomes more of a problem, the night crew has to end, because the employees will be targeted by hood rats going to work. Their cars will be vulnerable on the lot while they are locked in the building, etc.]

Maybe it is just NYC. Maybe it is just Whole Foods Market. Maybe both.

Far as you know, is overnight stocking at grocery stores still the norm?

[Over night stoking is falling off everywhere I shop. The pool of young men does not exist for this work. The secondary pool, after desperate single mothers, is older men and women working after losing or retiring from some other line of work. You will have night crews of decreasing size until the old Gen-X hands retire or expire. Eventually I see night stocking being used only to prep for a holiday or other expected peak sales day. This is in part due to the increased vast size of the most profitable retail outlets, which makes truck to floor pallet display feasible during store hours. It could be that the danger of law suits has been addressed in some way I do not know about from this unsealed tomb.

[This trend existed before 2020 and has accelerated, along with increased pay for clerks after a 30 year pay freeze. Other businesses have still not returned to pre-2020 hours, with opening times still later and closing times earlier. Early morning and late night hours were always marginal volume slots. I, if still active, would suggest, a small, 2 to 3 man night crew for taking in deliveries, staging the work, and doing the high liability stocking, like front door displays, and having a part time crew start at 6 and work until 10 A.M. Note that vendors, soda and chip people, all stock during store hours. But, if Tyrone trips and falls on a box of chips, the chip company takes the legal heat.]

No reply necessary, but any reply is welcome, of course.

Take care,

Barry Bliss

Thank you, Barry.