I had not heard that about the high shelves at Fry’s. What about the ultra-high shelves at Costco, Home Depot, et al?
Costco and Home Depot are different, they post signs saying that higher shelves require associate assistance. Frys didn’t want to do that or couldn’t get away with it.
Also, the stocking shelves (the ones above the retail shelving at HD, Costco, etc) are usually crated and/or palletized objects so there’s a lot less likelihood that someone’s going to go up and try to get something down.