A few years back, Safeway switched to much thinner plastic for their milk bottles, which I'm sure was intended as a way to cut costs but immediately led to a significant increase in damaged bottles on the shelves at the store I shopped at the time. Now, it seems their milk walk-in case has followed suit, with the typical framed glass doors replaced by frameless plastic ones that feel super flimsy and leave huge gaps for cold air to escape. While these look cool, I really don't understand that choice, especially when they used doors that are at least somewhat more substantial on the traditionally open cases on the other side of the aisle! And these doors don't even look as nice as
the ones they've used in previous new-build stores -- note the rather old-fashioned door handles in the previous picture. Yet again, I just don't get it.
Ugh, those flimsy plastic doors! The one my local Blue & Grey Market Krogertsons has plastic doors like that which they installed in 2017, but they are more like the ones in your Flickr link I think. Anyway, as you say, they don't fit well, they scratch very easily, and they frequently become completely broken to the point that Kroger has to tape cardboard to the doors to make them solid. Maybe they've improved those plastic doors by 2023, but from your description of them, it doesn't sound like it!
ReplyDeleteThat is a tight aisle! That surely requires some 'excuse mes' to get through with carts!
Kroger started using redesigned plastic milk jugs a few years ago, but I don't think they are any more flimsy than what they used before. I wouldn't say that damaged bottles are a big problem at Kroger, but what is a problem is milk residue which somehow gets on the bottles. It's not a big deal really. I'm still a bit upset that Fred Meyer in Portland has a better inventory of milk and better best by dates than what Kroger offers for sale in Houston! Oh well, at least our bottles are okay, lol.
Safeway's current milk bottles look pretty much the same as normal ones (unlike the bizarre, difficult to use ones Costco uses), they just have thinner plastic! It seems like milk bottles are a regional thing at Safeway, though -- half gallons are in plastic bottles in Oregon but paper cartons in Washington, for example.
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