"Seniors only" shopping hours, is it fair?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Some stores around here are giving "seniors only" shopping privileges during certain hours of business. Do they have any more right to this than a single-mom with 4 children to provide for?

Opinions?
 

Walmart is doing this in our area and I did take advantage of it. I was thinking the same thing deb, but they were limiting items even to the seniors . I think it is a way of making sure we all have enough essentials. Seniors generally can't store as much food as the younger generation. The younger ones buy and then take it back to their cars and go in again.
Maybe alternating special hours for families with young kids would help. But then I don't know how they would check that.
Now that the schools are closed the parents have to take the kids with them when shopping, which means more exposure for them and us.
No easy answer.
 

It's 6:00 am for seniors here also. Too early as it's still dark out and people are driving like lunatics. I have nothing to do all day anymore so I go when I want. I don't think it's unfair to allow seniors to go early if they want to. Stores here have set limits on how much of anything you can buy and it's working. Today, I found both toilet paper and chicken in the same store. That hasn't happened in weeks.
 
I spoke to an older couple yesterday that I see often at the park, they went to a supermarket with a 2 hour window for seniors to shop. They hated it, it was crowded and said they were on the check out line for 45 min.

I told my husband if I had to go, I'd just go during regular hours.
 
It makes no difference to me.

IMO it has little cost and little value but it creates the illusion that big business has a heart.

In my community, the senior citizen buses are still making regular grocery runs in mid-morning, as usual, to assist the seniors that live in retirement communities.

We have one large family-owned store that has always taken senior citizen shopping seriously by packaging meat, bakery items, produce, etc... in small packages on senior citizen day. IMO that is much more helpful than just setting aside a single hour for older folks to shop.
 
Our grocery stores have the special hour but actually less crowded if you go later in evening. Friend went to early hour in Florida and said it was packed. Turned around and went home. Went back later during regular hours.
 
uk. is doing it here - some stores only 2 allowed causing big ques - we have senior times too.. which is a good idea ,
this where patients kicks in /
 
Well my very limited experience is that it's not worth the effort. We have a couple of items that we buy at Publix (their senior hour is 7-8 am), so we decided to give it a try, it was crowded, the folks were not practicing social distancing, not much in stock. Went later in the day, no problems, had what we needed.
 
I think its a good idea under the circumstances
Last week my close friend Marcia&I went to a local grocery store,TOPS where I usually shop.On Tues&Weds,the store hrs for seniors is 6-7:30 am. We were there at 7am,finished 15 min later. I saw a couple other customers there too.
 
I like that they are doing it. Most hours I've seen are so early that single mom's with 4 children may not be able to make it out the door that early. Plus stores are rationing now so hopefully that will help that mom and others get what they need. But you brought up a good point Deb.
 
Sunny said:
All the senior hours I've heard of around here are 6-7 AM. I don't know a single person who wants to shop at that hour. I wonder how many people they actually get.
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I agree. I USED to shop those hours, but only because I worked nights and shopped on my way home. Who wants to shop at 6am, especially if you're old and your body aches when you wake up. I'll take my chances at 9am as usual, use a washcloth damp and with alcohol for disinfecting cart handles etc, none of that gunk sanitizer for me.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I spoke to an older couple yesterday that I see often at the park, they went to a supermarket with a 2 hour window for seniors to shop. They hated it, it was crowded and said they were on the check out line for 45 min.

I told my husband if I had to go, I'd just go during regular hours.
Click to expand...

I can just see the check out line with 25 of us old farts trying to remember our PIN number. :LOL:
 
They have 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. senior shopping here at one of the local grocery stores but it's too early for me because I won't able to find a parking space when I get back although I am up at that time now.
 
Our senior/disabled time tends to be 7-8 a.m. The stores weren’t normally open then. We were just in there with the stockers. Now that the mad panic is over, I try for 8:30 - 9:30. It hasn’t been too bad.
 
My husband and I drove by the grocery store on Tuesday on our way to an Imaging Center (it was around 6:30 am) and the parking lot was filling up.
 

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