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

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

hottest checkout chicks

Online grocery ordering/delivery is the bawmb. But the Coles here realised it was losing them money (they started with suprisingly cheap delivery fee and no min spend), so now theres a min $50 spend and the delivery fee's $10+

Worth it for some occasions tho, like the other week for my party, I ordered a ton of bottles of soda, and heavy shit like catlitter and canned things. When you dont drive thats a godsend. WOuldnt do it on the regular tho, you cant get decent fresh food that way for starters (they'll sell it but I'd never buy vegetables off the interwebs)

Are Trader Joe's clerks required to take Ecstasy at the start of their shifts?

No they snort lines of powdered Acai

Trayce OTM – grocery store delivery is a godsend for carless drunks like me. I started a thread about it once.

Read that as careless drunks and envisioned you drunkordering 20 cases of Tide, a bag of cat litter and a slab of 4Loko and then wondering a day later why it all turned up on your doorstep =)

trayce the other negative about coles delivery is that *nothing* is on special and in some cases they add a premium to products without mentioning as much. i did some sums and my standard $200 shop was something like $280 w/ home delivery :(

Yeah I had a suspicion that was the case.

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.

Living the dream.

I do most of my grocery shopping online now anyway. My local supermarket doesn't have a lot of the fancy dan things I buy, but the big delivery depot one half an hour away does. So let them bring those things to me. I'm lucky enough to work from home, though, so I can avail of the half-price off-peak delivery charges.

Is it 'cause there's no music?

No, it's the way it's done very very cheaply. I understand why, but I found that one place I went to VERY depressing. It was a rundown one in some depressing location.

http://www.powned.tv/images/fotos/Aldi_gr.jpg

My nearest Aldi is, I think, the one that Corey referred to as being sleek like ikea, but strangely it's in a rough-ish part of town. Their baked tortilla chips are very cheap and good. Also the nuts, both snack and baking.

ugh 2.19 for verse snijbloemen?!?!

lol

Would hate to go grocery shopping with you guys.

In Britisher land the cashier will grudgingly bag your groceries if you're a disgusting savage and don't do it yourself. I usually have my own bags and want to pack them myself anyway as I'll be cycling.

wow that aldi also has three feet of water on the floor.

And only €2.19 for Verse Snijbloomen

Liabilities have gotten so ridiculous that the poor baggers just do whatever the managers specify, which is why you end up with a double bag with three things in it.

I worked in a supermarket as a cashier a million years ago and I swear those bags were thicker (double bagging was for heavy loads like a gallon of milk) and we were required to fill the bag. It was an art, I was actually trained in how to pack the bag.

First time I was in a Dutch grocery store (not to be confused with the sexual act "Dutch Grocery Store"), I noticed the cashiers were sitting on stools (because why not? It's a shitty job, and there's no reason for them to be standing), and not only do they not provide bags, but you have to bag your own shit. I was down with this, but wish I'd known it before I had to walk four blocks carrying an armful of bagless groceries.

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.

This is a great story. We used to do something like this when we were making bets. Basically we had to wear a Wal-Mart uniform (a buddy of mine used to work there and kept the uniform), fake up a nametag, and try to work the "night shift" (11PM-7AM). Myself and a friend of mine had to do this and we both got booted after a couple of hours. A few times I had to try to direct customers around; I didn't get caught then because Wal-Mart employees are always clueless, but I got spotted by a manager who gave me the "who hired you?" line and I was kind of like..."uhh...I don't remember?" Luckily the cops didn't get involved.

I loved Winco when I lived in Redding. Each register had a divided bagging area so they could get right to the next customer's checkout and not wait for the previous customer to finish bagging.

Ye olde supermarkets used to do that here too. A nice big sweeping divider that allowed the cashier to just go "a-a-and we're finished with YOU" and start in on the next person while you pack your shopping away as god intended.