Comment by lucidguppy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lucidguppy | Hacker News Reader

I was at Dick's sporting goods and the cleats section was this special "app" area where you could either enter in your search criteria or scan shoes so associates would approach you with the shoes in hand.

The app was slow as f - and only really worked if you brought up and scanned the shoes.

Was there any instruction? No - you had to figure it out yourself. To be honest if felt like you were playing myst.

Why was this done? IDK - to stop shoplifting?

Why was the old way so bad that you had to add all this crap. They're goddamn shoes - put them in boxes and let people try them on like we've been doing for 40 years. Creating an app is not going to improve the experience 10x.

If it's not going to improve the experience 10x - why are you doing this? WTF?

These are the instances where I understand a Steve Jobs type blowing their lid.

… I was also recently at Dick's, and witnesses this same stupidity. Am I supposed to … what, have the attendant haul out pair after pair while I attempt to determine what my size in this brand+model is, or if, like so many shoe stores, they even carry my size? Let alone whether I like the look.

… the best shoe store I even went to, hands down, just had all the boxes laid out in stacks upon stack on the floor, where you could go through them.

… stores should be destroying online purchasing in this category by allowing me to try the damn thing on. If I can't … might as well order online? It's just as much of a gamble. (And sometimes, Amazon retailers provide a size chart with a conversion to mm. Although sometimes they also provide multiple size charts with conflicting information, too.)

(Also, a.) America, can we start measuring shoes in some actual unit, like mm or cm? … that there's a kids system, and women's is just inane. b.) Shoe companies would do well to have a standard sizing. You'd think that would be a thing. And yet, as someone with an odd foot, I can tell you that for some companies, it is, and for some, it isn't. I bought Nike for a while, since it was, and I knew any shoe in my size would fit comfortably. It was a magical few years … until Nike changed something. Why?)

You're not wrong, but you should know that the "kids system" are just mens sizes. Womens sizes are the outlier.

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