Dude, as someone that worked, briefly, in retail at a corporate level, the agreements between the major players like Coke and Pepsi and the big boxes are like some Van Halen “no brown M&Ms” level shit on both sides of the equation.
I have seen emails describing what happens when a coke representative walks into one of those stores and finds that their product is not merchandised within X feet of X aisle or is out of stock on the shelf and there are serious financial sanctions for that shit. Something is minor as a customer setting a 12 pack of 7-Up on top of the stack of Sprite has gotten escalated to levels that would be ludicrous to a layman.
Everything, every single shelf or peghook or rack in that store, has a dollar amount attached to it, and the sums of money being exchanged over whether your product is placed at eye level or down on the bottom shelf is unreal.
I’m fine with capitalism when the responsibility and expectations are proportionate with the compensation for a given job.
The problem is they’re not, somehow the higher up the chain they get and more money they make, the less they actually seem to fucking do, and worse, the more insulated from their own decisions they become.
“It was a bad call, Ripley”
“Bad call!? 15 plant workers died because you denied a request for additional CO2 monitors in the processing shed!! What was your bonus for cutting that?!?”
Except unlike in Aliens, we don’t even get to enjoy seeing the xenomorphs eat the assholes at the end.