People who don't bag their own groceries are the most irredeemable scoundrels

Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi, FYI.

it was bought by one of the aldi brothers but it is an entirely different operation separate from the aldi north american chain

What the fuck happens at other places, everything is scanned and put to the side, and then bagged?

Yeah, in some places it's exactly like this!!

Anyway, there have def been NYC scandals where stores were having baggers work for little or no wages, and only being paid in tips. Pretty sure it's not legal to do that, but whatever they're getting paid, tipping still isn't unusual here, and management sure as HELL doesn't discourage tipping because there are tip-buckets right there on the counters.

So maybe it's just different in other places. MAYBE. You all are still disgusting irredeemables.

one of the grocery stores i go to has baggers, also has a sign saying, 'please do not tip the baggers'

you know what's awesome is that Boston-area Super Stop & Shops have handheld scanners which you can use if you have a S&S card that allow you to scan and bag your groceries as you go, and then just scan you S&S card at the checkout counter

POOF all your shit pulled up at once, then you pay and GTFO, I kind of refuse to shop anywhere else now

that is so civilized!

they prob body-scan you on the way out tho

probably a nudist supermarket

I don't use the self-checkout unless I'm shopping late at night and only have a tub of icecream,

they keep the self-checkout open late at night? they don't do that where i live, probably due to theft potential

when self-checkouts first got going here they were full of loopholes and bugs - so many people got so much free stuff. i was a poor student; it was a sweet time. that was also before bags cost 5c each. and before the body scans.

boston u so nude

the 24 hour Safeway here between 11pm and 3am is really enlightening in terms of the true base nature of humanity.

I try to get my shopping off the checkout area and leave within a few seconds of getting my change and it really pisses me off when someone is sighing and rolling their eyes and barging into me even within that short time. (Especially since checkout staff like to give you yr change in the least conducive arrangement to putting it in your wallet, it seems.)

Last week I was paying by card (again, I try to pay by cash, but I can't always - this shop is in an area with no cash machines) and I'd just typed in the first digit of my PIN and the woman behind me decided to barge past and drive her trolley RIGHT into me, even though all her shopping was still waiting on the conveyor. I'm p. easily startled because the spell of PIN-typing was broken and I completely could not remember the other digits, thereby holding her up a hell of a lot more than if she'd just waited. Felt pretty fucking dumb though.

We have Aldi

Ek. I went to one recently for the first time in my life. (This is weird, cause most of my friends tend to shop there.) Guess I am a snob. It's freaking depressing there. No wonder we have a song here "Crap from the Aldi" in Flemish though).

It's freaking depressing there.

Is it 'cause there's no music? I actually like being able to shop somewhere and not hear fucking "Drops of Jupiter"

i resent the expectation, or even the suggestion, that I am supposed to be bagging my own groceries most of the time. Particularly when I've just spent $120 on three fucking bags of food for my family and my 4 year old is yelling at me and all I want to do is leave. There are baggers at the store for a reason. TJs doesn't have enough of them, no, but they should have more.

S- otm , sounds like the setup in our supermarkets is unusual but the actual cashier does the bagging as they go here. It's quick, efficient and part of the flow, and I hate Aldi cis they shove all yr shit down a little conveyor thing an no bags and I was v confused and annoyed. Also the aldi staff were the most zombified dgaf staff I've EVER been served by ugh.

So is Aldi the only grocery chain in the US, Europe and Australia?

i like people to work for me sometimes when i am paying way too much for things

hahah

Wmc I wonder if it might be yeah! Well, there is safeway but I think those are diff safeways in each country.

Wait, no Tom Thumb in England??

I was flat-out amazed to see IGA's smack-dab in the middle of suburban Sydney. Where I'm from, they're in the middle of the sticks, probably sell grape Nehi in bottles and possibly have a bait vending machine out front for pre-dawn service.

they keep the self-checkout open late at night? they don't do that where i live, probably due to theft potential

At the 24-hour giant Tesco in Drogheda the self-checkout is the only one open after 10pm, and if you avail of the "24-hour" service you spend your whole shop being tutted at by shelf stackers.
Oh, and while we're on the supermarket subject, I am the customer. You step out of my way, not the other way round, staff member. I'm not saying you have to tug your forelock or anything, just get out of my way.

There is this grocery store in the Northwestern U.S. called WinCo, which is cheap and great and I <3 and miss it. You bag your own groceries, though, to keep your groceries ¢heap. I had applied for a job there when I was 17, and a few days later, I found a WinCo uniform polo shirt for sale at a thrift store. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea, to dress in it and go to the WinCo and start bagging people's groceries to show I was a "highly motivated self starter," as they say in the classifieds. This did not go over well. I got a manager called on my immediately, and they threatened to ban me from the store forever if I didn't leave right away. Didn't get the job. This is the anecdote I tell to cashiers when I stand around bagging groceries for myself.

"You're not going to kick me out of the store now, are you? lololol have a nice day"

S- otm , sounds like the setup in our supermarkets is unusual but the actual cashier does the bagging as they go here. It's quick, efficient and part of the flow, and I hate Aldi cis they shove all yr shit down a little conveyor thing an no bags and I was v confused and annoyed. Also the aldi staff were the most zombified dgaf staff I've EVER been served by ugh.

― Borads of Candida (Trayce), Monday, March 28, 2011 3:21 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

its amazing they can replicate this experience thousands of miles away. fuck bagging your own if the cashier is right there.

ps I was a bag boy and cashier. pps always thank your bagger.

baggers are cool, no more underrated skill than bagging quick and smartly...so many halfassed baggers in the mix. theres a couple of dudes at my grocery store that I seek out bc they know their shit, and are ninjas!

when i was a supermarket cashier 27 years ago (the A & P) we were expected to bag as well. sometimes a customer would do it, it wasn't explicitly discouraged as there weren't designated baggers, but anytime it got busy stockboys would be called up to help you bag, or the delivery guys. anyway, 90% of the time i did the bagging, no biggie either way.

Two things I don't understand about the baggers at my store:

1.) They never leave room in the cart for the small child I just pulled out of there and is currently sitting up on the counter, ringing the "Good Service" bell.

2.) They don't ever bag the cat food. Not even the little 3.5 lb packages. I carry those up steps too, ya know.

you people who feel you can bag better then the baggers must go to grocery stores with much crappier baggers than the baggers at my local trader joe's

Ppl bagging my groceries took me aback a bit when I first moved here, but 9 times out of 10 there's someone specifically there to do it and it's a hell of a lot faster than most of the customers would do it themselves. Also here, you can SWIPE YOUR CARD and enter your PIN while the cashier's still scanning things - just need to push a green button at the end. So you can have your wallet put away and your groceries handed to you as soon as the cashier's done.
The whole process should be a team effort imo. A particularly efficient transaction means a high-five between all participants.

The over-priced, kind of crappy supermarket on my block has few baggers and the stations are set up in a way that doesn't allow bagging your own groceries. So I wait.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S MOST RIDICULOUS (but unrelated)?? They don't have the little divider things for the conveyor belt. Actually, I did see one, once, but never again. WTF. I hate that store.

jerks who dont put out dividers for the person behind them in line: savages

Oh, and while we're on the supermarket subject, I am the customer. You step out of my way, not the other way round, staff member. I'm not saying you have to tug your forelock or anything, just get out of my way.

I was at a more decent supermarket a while back, pushing my cart through a bottleneck of other shoppers when a store worker came up and stood in front of my cart and said (in a polite tone) "Excuse me." I had almost come out the other side and I had to back up in order to let her pass. I made some kind of comment to her that I can't remember, and she looked back and said with a wounded tone, "I said excuse me!"

lol @ ppl who buy their own groceries

who buys yours, lamp?

r u a grandmother lamp

lamp is a bajillionaire imo

Lamp grows all his groceries

just boxes of Cheerios sprouting up all over his yard

The Brooklyn Trader Joe's isn't really set up so you CAN bag your own groceries -- they kind of take all the stuff and do it behind the register. Plus they always have the nicest clerks and I like striking up a conversation with them. Which I guess has nothing to do with who bags. Otherwise I like to do it if only to get out faster.

I'd prob go to Trader Joe's more often if the clerks weren't so friendly. Yes I've tried these choc covered edamame before, yes they're pretty good, now stfu, wish you were an automated kiosk.

jerks who dont put out dividers for the person behind them in line: savages

― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, March 28, 2011 10:17 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark

YES. THANK YOU.

"Sir, is this broccoli yours?" "Let's see, so far you've scanned my box of Bugles, three pints of Ben & Jerry's, Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos, and ranch dip. NO THAT'S NOT MY FUCKING BROCCOLI."

i buy lamp's groceries

and then sell them on ebay

also kind of hate the "leave your stuff in the carry basket" move. only exception is if there is no clear place to leave it...but even then, i usually take my stuff out of it at least.

The cashiers at every Trader Joe's do a great job of packing groceries! I just hand them my tote bag.

But local stores like C-Town and Associated and Key Foods -- no. Usually the cashiers have nails so long they can barely type on the registers, and they bag your stuff at a snail's pace and put avocados and salad greens on the bottom. Just no.

worst bagging recently: frozen mac and cheese on bottom; hot sandwiches on top, bottle of olive oil plonked on top of sandwiches. wtf

lol @ ppl who buy their own groceries

― em.pty HOLD (Lamp)

in canada the government delivers vegetables to yr igloo