A photo from an aisle at an undisclosed TJ Maxx store from several months back looks like the manager tried a little too hard to get ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs when ordering merchandise. The overflowing scene was highlighted in a post on the r/TJMaxx subreddit.
In the image, shelves in the store are running over with stuffed animals, leaving no room for even Bluey.
The overstocking could be a manager's error. But The Boston Globe reported that tariffs — set to start April 2 — are causing inventory specialists to rethink their order strategy, including buying more product before the wide-ranging charges take hold.
As shoppers brace for potential higher prices, scenes like the one at TJ Maxx might be a little more common until the market settles. The Globe added that companies like TJ Maxx have made a business of buying loads of cheap products to resell at steep discounts. It's a model that could see some shake-ups.
"This is a time of significant uncertainty. It's difficult to predict, including which players in the system will ultimately absorb the costs," Monica Gorman, managing director of Crowell Global Advisors, said in the report.
The crowded aisle also highlights an overabundance common to the fast-fashion industry, which is based on quickly providing the latest styles in the form of cheaply made products. Clothing production emits more than a billion tons of heat-trapping air pollution annually. Worse yet, three out of every five outfits produced end up in a landfill as shoppers consider the low-cost duds to be disposable, according to New York market insight firm McKinsey & Company.
Stuffed animals, like much of our clothing, include microfibers that fall off the products and end up in our environment, where their detrimental impact is being studied. The Association of American Medical Colleges reported that the fibers, or microplastics, have been found throughout human bodies, too. The story cited inflammation and organ damage fears among the concerns being analyzed.
On Reddit, post viewers had some concerns about the photo, which includes a random shopper hidden in the heap of merchandise.
"Call OSHA and the Fire Marshal," one person wrote.
Another Redditor noticed a stuffed toy that was crammed into a shelf, seemingly looking around the corner. "This one peeking out like 'help me,'" per the comment.
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