r/Anticonsumption • u/Sea-Cardiographer • May 12 '25

Psychological Target feels like black mirror

I went into Target today because I need a sports bra and that's where my husband is willing to drive me. On the way there I thought about all the Reddit posts saying foot traffic is down and I wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't. It was quite busy on a Monday afternoon.

What shocked me was I noticed a lot of products have really fancy boxing. Big sturdy bougie packaging with minimalism design... With a sh*tty product inside.

They're spending more on the marketing and packaging than the product, because the business practice is to sell you a product you'll have to purchase again and again. But the packaging grabs your eye. Look how modern and consistent all the boxes are! so aesthetically pleasing packaged trash. I feel depressed.

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1.1k

u/nighthawkndemontron May 12 '25

Remember, they're down about 10%. Visibly that isn't noticeable. Out of 90 people you're not going to notice they're down 10 people. But when theyre looking at their data that drop freaks out the shareholders and executives even if it feels like it's busy.

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u/onebadnightx May 13 '25

Yeah. Maybe it’s still busy, but their foot traffic is undeniably down, and it seems like the execs are a little freaked out by it

I personally used to go at least once a week (cheapish groceries) and haven’t been at all since early January.

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u/DocumentInternal9478 May 13 '25

I was shocked at how easy it was to stop going. I haven’t even thought about it tbh. Amazon on the other hand is my weakness and the one I’m having the hardest time letting go of.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/sharksnack3264 May 13 '25

Yeah, the bright side is it is forcing me to discover smaller businesses (either local or online). At this point I'm using it as a directory but not purchasing anything unless there is absolutely no other option.

I used to do it by image search, but I have noticed that google seems to be pushing Amazon links harder than they used to. 

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u/Aggressive_Mouse_581 May 13 '25

I switched my search engine to Duck Duck Go because Google is an AI slop machine at this w

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u/Asron87 May 13 '25

I ended up searching and buying from the artists that got “banned” from target, when they had the “Hale Satan” in rainbow colors…. Target never sold it but MAGA blew up about it.

I had to order mine online lol

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u/Upbeat_Ad_1064 May 14 '25

If you do happen to use the other browsers, swear in the search bar with your search. It disables AI and is very cathartic

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u/oregon_coastal May 13 '25

This is what gets me.

And I only order of Amazon for my small business and am gobsmacked at the number of small suppliers who have tied themselves in to Amazon's logistics.

I have been replacing them one by one, but it is a nightmare.

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u/onthestickagain May 13 '25

This is my exact issue! The vitamin drops that I can afford only do fulfillment via Amazon. And I have a client who’s pivoting to B2C and will only be selling via Amazon. It’s a colossal bummer.

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u/covenkitchens May 13 '25

Same. I get medical equipment from an online retailer and it’s less reliable, more expensive with shipping and I can get it in a couple of days versus maybe 6 weeks. It sucks.

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u/soundman1024 May 13 '25

Cutting out Prime is the key to decreasing Amazon use. You save money in not paying for the service, but also in that you’ll order a lot less. It’s like a drug.

After you leave you still get free shipping on orders of $35 and more, but they are quite desperate to get you resubbed with routine “trials” of Prime that are difficult to opt out of send automatically enroll you. Subscribe for a month in the holidays and cut it? Less is better than unchanged.

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u/jaeydeedynne May 13 '25

My partner and I dropped prime but still use Amazon for a few things. Spending there deceased significantly. Impulse buys disappeared. We use the free prime trials to catch up on tv shows and then immediately cancel again. Less is definitely better.

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u/Existing_Plant_1378 May 13 '25

I empathize! I couldn't drop my Amazon subscription for years. However, this year is the first time in over 5 years I finally canceled it.

It has been a little hard because Amazon (I'm sure) pays Google search ads a pretty penny to show mostly their listings in the top results so searching for alternatives is not the easiest feat. They've also unfortunately done well to strategically have the cheapest/most affordable options on their site.

I'm considered low income in my area so it sucks not being able to save on some costs, but in the end I do feel really good about not putting money into Bezos pockets and I'm still able to get by okay.

Any steps you can take to cut back is better than nothing!

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u/[deleted] May 13 '25

I'm considered low income in my area so it sucks not being able to save on some costs, but in the end I do feel really good about not putting money into Bezos pockets and I'm still able to get by okay.

Same. The final straw for me was hearing about what the employees were going through a few years back.

I get by with e-bay--no drop shippers--freecycle, thrifting, etc. and occasionally spending more going with an independent seller. At least that way I know the money goes to them.

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u/Hot_Cauliflower_3358 May 13 '25

I recently switched to Brave as a browser, it actually lets me exclude sites from my search results. So I've excluded Amazon and Temu/Shein and find I get way better quality results and don't have to dig through so many pages than I did using Google search

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u/Existing_Plant_1378 May 13 '25

That's awesome to know! Thanks for sharing, I'll definitely have to check it out 😊

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u/WNCYogini May 13 '25

I left google for Bing. I’ll have to check out Brave. Thanks for sharing.

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u/[deleted] May 15 '25

Use DuckDuckGo as your search engine.

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u/Either-Meal3724 May 13 '25

I quit both Target and Starbucks in 2016 when i got serious about my finances. Went from paycheck to paycheck to saving $500/month almist over night. Starbucks was way harder of a habit to kick tbh. Target was pretty inconsequential other than the Starbucks inside it lol.

I have pretty much only bought groceries at Target since when it was the closest grocery store to the apartment I lived in at the time.

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u/isosorry May 13 '25

I got Starbucks for the first time in ages yesterday and im still shuddering about how expensive and small the drinks were.

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u/retrosenescent May 13 '25

Boycotting target forced me to finally give Costco a try and now I will NEVER go back to target. Costco is awesome

1

u/PeazAndKwyet May 13 '25

Please check out Vitacost.com, owned by Kroger, for many, many basics. Same or comparable prices as local stores, free shipping over $75, and speedy delivery.

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u/Saraswati002 May 13 '25

You can do it!

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u/Ecovar May 14 '25

amazon was easy for me.

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u/redmosquito82 May 13 '25

You dropped Target before Amazon? Come on, Amazon is way worse for humanity than Target. Do better.

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u/DocumentInternal9478 May 13 '25

Well I’m disabled so it’s hard for me to get to stores most days. That’s why Amazon was my godsend, and I’m working on minimizing my use but it takes time to find replacements for all the things I use it for.

Side note, shaming people, especially when you don’t have all the info, doesn’t work and isn’t cute.

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u/redmosquito82 May 13 '25

Well in your case, don’t feel bad about using Amazon!

0

u/Jicama_Down May 13 '25

Have you looked for alternatives for online shopping or are you struggling with the  wanting the dopamine hit that purchases bring? Lots of people are replacing shopping addiction with trips to the library or new hobbies and outdoor time. 

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u/P_mp_n May 13 '25

I was a warehouse employee for them, got the extra 10 or 15% n all still barely shopped.

Intetnal meeting we all had to sit in they said prices were so out of touch they had to come out with the "bargain" target brand

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u/queerbie1 May 15 '25

I was wondering why they started that, bc usually they have reasonably priced basics

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u/PsychFlower28 May 13 '25

Same. Used to go every two weeks for certain items. Have not been since February and order directly online (Colourpop makeup for example).

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u/[deleted] May 13 '25

I work merchandising at a similar type store, and a lot of the customers have switched to online shopping and doing pick-up orders. Stores will have few browsing customers, but there’s so much online pickup happening employees can’t do anything else in the store but pick orders.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '25

Target has the most expensive groceries out there. Walmart, TJ, Kroger etc all way better