A Ross worker highlighted how her store is flooded with out-of-season products. This hasn’t stopped more and more items from coming in. This, she says, has culminated in the location she works in being flooded with products.
Caitlin (@meaux53) posted a viral TikTok detailing why she believes shoppers aren’t flocking in to buy these items.
Overconsumption?
“The overconsumption that we have, is insane,” Caitlin begins. “So I currently work at Ross part-time and today when I came into the store it was…it was so bad.”
She explains a chaotic over-abundance of products at the retail location. “Nothing is on racks, nothing is on shelves. Everything is just literally on the floor,” she says. “What makes it worse is that we keep getting more things.”
To make things even more overwhelming, Caitlin says, is that the store still has an overstock of seasonal items. And there’s even more coming in. “We also still have stuff from Thanksgiving. And from Halloween, and we’re now getting Valentine’s Day things,” she continues.
The biggest issue, according to the TikToker, isn’t that there’s just a bevy of items constantly coming into the store. It’s that they’re just not selling.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if people actually bought all of this stuff,” she says. “The working class does not have money to go out and buy things like we used to.”
In this economy?
Furthermore, Caitlin states that shoppers will often ask her to remove items from their order once they’re at checkout.
“I can’t even count how many customers asked me to put things back because they couldn’t afford it,” Caitlin shares. “And you would think that it’s like hundreds of dollars worth—no. This is under a hundred dollars that they’re telling me to put back because they have like a $40 budget. And that’s a lot of them.”
She explains how Ross used to mark down items right after the holidays so folks began purchasing it when it was on discount. However, the “corporations” didn’t like it, so Caitlin says items are marked down months later instead.
Product flooding
“Like we still have stuff in boxes that we can’t even open. Cause there’s nowhere to put anything,” she says. “And there’s still trucks coming in every single day. It’s literally a joke. And it’s crazy to think that majority of this is gonna be in a landfill.”
At the end of her video, her clip transitions to footage of a Ross location that’s jam-packed with products. Boxes upon boxes stacked on tables flood the store. There are so many that they inhibit the view of other retail sections.
Caitlin explains in an additional overlay: “We literally just had to stack everything on top so it wasn’t on the floor during closing shift. And it all just falls once someone touches it so shopping is a nightmare.”
Other retailers have leftovers, too
The Daily Dot has previously reported on other social media users who were shocked at the sheer amount of products in store. One Walmart shopper highlighted a mass number of Black Friday deals that were left untouched. While not as flooded as the Ross Caitlin presented in her video, the Walmart patron showed numerous bins throughout the retailer. Boxes and boxes of various items, which she noted weren’t significantly marked down, lined aisles.
Another Walmart patron also documented their surprise at seeing just how uninterested or unable people were in scooping up these items.
Retail pile-ups also seem par the course for specific business models, it seems. One Dollar Tree customer documented what it was like walking through a store bombarded by incoming products. A worker for the budget retailer also slammed employees for not keeping up with inventory unpacking. After taking some days off and returning to the store they showed just how quickly things got out of hand. The stock room, in their inventory, was deluged with boxes filled with products that needed to be placed on store shelves.
Retail consulting firm McKinsey & Company published a blog post detailing how US consumers are spending less. The firm referenced a study that detailed how even the sales of grocery spending dropped by 2% from the 2022 holiday season compared to 2023. Health, beauty, and household purchases also experienced drops from across the board. The business doesn’t attribute this to an infrequency of shopping excursions, either.
This means folks are going out shopping and visiting places just as much as they did before. However, they’re spending significantly less with each outing on average.
TikTokers weigh in
One commenter also echoed Caitlin’s sentiments. They stated that previously, they noticed Ross stores were empty by the time the holiday season rolled around. However now, it’s a different story. “I’ve noticed that this season Ross is overly packed bc no one is buying. Usually by this time Ross is empty,” they said.
Another postulated the trade deals proposed by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration may ultimately prove effective: “Maybe the Tariffs will be a good thing, and some of the overconsumption will stop.”
Others complained that the aesthetic of Ross stores has negatively affected their shopping experiences. “Ross, Marshall’s, TJ maxx. I can’t even go in there anymore without being over stimulated. It’s so much stuff and it’s EVERYWHERE,” one wrote.
Another replied, “The folding tables. It’s so overstimulating. I don’t go at all anymore.”
For others, they said they’re not shopping because they feel as if they’re consuming too much.
“I am definitely starting to feel the overconsumption. things are just starting to feel like stuff,” one wrote. “I don’t have room in my home for more stuff. If it’s not functional I don’t want it.”
One Ross employee echoed Caitlin’s concerns: “I work at Ross and this is true, my store is full of merchandise. And trucks arrive daily with up to 250 boxes. It’s sad because there are not as many customers as last year.”
@meaux53 It honestly makes me sad thinking about it and how people can destroy the world and be proud of that. #retail #holidayshopping #ross #rossdressforless #landfill #fyp #retailproblems #capitlism ♬ original sound – Caitlin🦋
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ross via email and Caitlin via TikTok comment for further information.
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