Capacity Limits... in the winter

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storewanderer
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Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by storewanderer »

In NV, it has been pretty cold lately.

Went to Trader Joe's. Since it was pretty late, there was no line up outside. Well, something new. The line up is no longer outside. You walk in and instead of walking straight into the store, there are ropes and cones up to direct you through a winding line up-space inside the store. They roped off space against the front wall around produce and the line-up is now INSIDE the store. The employee explained that they have a 50 customer limit and after that people have to wait in line inside the store in the front of the store (the waiting area was at least six feet from any product displays).

I think they previously had an 85 or so customer limit so I think they did adjust their limit to account for the number of people who are having to wait inside.

I am not sure about this set-up. If you have 50 people in the store and another 35 in close proximity waiting in the front corner of the store in line to get in... you still have 85 people in the building. If you are letting people in maybe they should just be allowed to shop?

This definitely seems to be a scenario where they need to implement a 1-2 people per family limit on going into the store so fewer people are kept waiting.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by reymann »

with thanksgiving fast approaching and cases rising rapidly, i could see a situation where stores could be ordered to offer curbside/delivery only to keep people home and away from gathering.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by BillyGr »

reymann wrote: November 12th, 2020, 2:55 pm with thanksgiving fast approaching and cases rising rapidly, i could see a situation where stores could be ordered to offer curbside/delivery only to keep people home and away from gathering.
Not sure that's possible with grocery stores since it doesn't seem legal to prevent people from getting needed supplies (not everyone has ways to order through these online sites). It was done with other types of stores early on, but not those with "essential" items.

Trader Joe's is a bit odd with the small size of stores and their popularity - most "regular" grocery stores (and other stores that sell grocery type items) have far more space and rarely would need to limit people coming in.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by reymann »

i could also see a situation where essential retailers could ban minors from entering the store to keep capacity down. purple tier only allows 25% capacity in those businesses.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by babs »

Oregon just capped grocery stores at 75% of capacity.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: November 13th, 2020, 5:07 pm Oregon just capped grocery stores at 75% of capacity.
Grocery stores should have been self imposing a limit like that in the first place just to protect their staff.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by Alpha8472 »

Perhaps there should be a reservation system where you take a number and wait in your car. When it is your turn, a lighted sign would show your number.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: November 14th, 2020, 5:50 pm Perhaps there should be a reservation system where you take a number and wait in your car. When it is your turn, a lighted sign would show your number.
This would be a good way to push people to do online orders.

Does Trader Joe's even do any online ordering or third party services?
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: November 13th, 2020, 5:07 pm Oregon just capped grocery stores at 75% of capacity.
Looks like WA is going to limit grocery stores to 25% capacity for the next 4 weeks. This is probably about right and you may as well just make the painful cut now vs. not do enough now and then have to impose futher restrictions in another couple weeks.

For once I agree with something there.

My county in NV was at under 3k cases at the beginning of this month and clocked in today at 5k cases. Ouch. No new restrictions here in NV yet. The governor threatened NV citizens in a broadcast last week to either reduce COVID spread or risk new restrictions in 2 weeks. I think 2 weeks may be too long to wait.

Not to go too far off topic here but I noticed most new cases here are the age 20-age 29 age group. Those are the age groups most likely to be working in restaurants, stores, etc. I am afraid.
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Re: Capacity Limits... in the winter

Post by babs »

Washington is about to announce a capacity limitation of 25% in all retail stores for four weeks. I'm sure there will be a bunch of happy campers waiting outside stores in the rain and cold.
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