Grocery Store Baggers

Pepper said:
Unless I'm at a self-checkout I refuse to bag my own groceries. No one is paying me for the job. I pay enough for things without working for the store, too. Haven't you noticed a lean work force is getting leaner, and the customer must do more?

A few months ago I was at Stop & Shop. The check out clerk refused to bag re: covid. It was not store policy, it was actually up to her! So............I said, "Are you paying me to do your job? No, you're not. Call the manager." The manager packed my groceries.

I don't go to a store to work. No one is paying me to do their work. Hire more people says me. Stand up and put an end to this new form of profiteering!
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I'm with you, Pepper. Our local Walmart (where my son works) has redesigned the store to have far fewer manned checkouts and more self-checks. So my son has to watch eight self checks at once and it's a nerve wracking job with half the eight needing help and the other half stealing.

They have never had baggers. They have one older man bringing the carts back from their huge parking lot, in all sorts of extreme weather. He had a heart attack last year but is back on the job, always pushed for greater speed by the managers.

It's all about Walmart saving money by only having to pay half as many fulltime employees and working the ones they do have to death. As if the Waltons needed more profit.
 
Pepper said:
Unless I'm at a self-checkout I refuse to bag my own groceries. No one is paying me for the job. I pay enough for things without working for the store, too. Haven't you noticed a lean work force is getting leaner, and the customer must do more?

A few months ago I was at Stop & Shop. The check out clerk refused to bag re: covid. It was not store policy, it was actually up to her! So............I said, "Are you paying me to do your job? No, you're not. Call the manager." The manager packed my groceries.

I don't go to a store to work. No one is paying me to do their work. Hire more people says me. Stand up and put an end to this new form of profiteering!
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Do you pump your own gas?
 

StarSong said:
Had you brought in your own bags? If not, I can't imagine her reluctance to handle the store's bags.

Many grocery stores banned customers' from bringing in their own bags during the first year or so of Covid.
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I don't remember whose bags they were, as plastic bags are now banned again. They had been banned already but that was rescinded due to covid.

I did see other clerks bagging. That was while I was leaving so it appeared my cashier was the only one.
 
Pepper said:
@Buckeye
I don't drive anymore, but yes, I did. I did like the few things I was able to do for my car.
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So, what's the difference? After I left Kroger, I worked at Sohio gas stations for several years, and pumping gas (and turning wrenches) was how I supported my family. But times and technology change. I find it odd that you take pride in bullying a grocery store clerk because she/he was concerned about Covid.

Have a great day.
 
You have a great day too @Buckeye

eta:
I wanted the help because I needed the help, not so I could make someone cry. And I didn't shout or yell at her, I politely asked for her manager.

I repeat: I NEEDED the help. I have to think of myself. It was not posted on the outer door and I saw other cashiers bagging. Fini.
 
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I don't get out to the stores anymore but when I did, I didn't tip. Now I order my groceries in, I do tip but most of the time my son buys groceries for us and periodically, I give him money for gas and for his service to us, roughly about a hundred a month.
 
At Winco, I bag and carry my own groceries out to my car. I consider it a form of exercise.

At another store I frequent, they will bag and take the bags to my car if I wish.
I'll just have them bag 'em, I take them to my car. And, they're really careful not to make the
bags too heavy. I appreciate that.
 
We have a Sav-A-Lot grocery store a few miles away, and we usually stop there for a few things if we're driving through that area....their prices are usually quite good. They Never bag the items...instead they ask the customers to bring a cart to leave at the checkout....and the customers put their items into the previous customers cart, which was left at the cashier. Then, they have a nice are of shelves and bags for customers to bag their own stuff. They've always had this policy, and the store is set up nicely to minimize the bagging "hassles".

On the "flip" side, we stopped at a Walmart several miles away, a few weeks ago, that had gone to all "self checkout", and that was a zoo for anyone buying more than a few items. They had several employees rushing around helping people bag their stuff, but it was still a mess. I don't see what that store thinks they are saving in terms of employee pay, etc. Needless to say, we Never plan to shop at that place, unless we just have a half dozen small items.
 
Pepper said:
You have a great day too @Buckeye

eta:
I wanted the help because I needed the help, not so I could make someone cry. And I didn't shout or yell at her, I politely asked for her manager.

I repeat: I NEEDED the help. I have to think of myself. It was not posted on the outer door and I saw other cashiers bagging. Fini.
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Here's what you said in your first post:

"So............I said, "Are you paying me to do your job? No, you're not. Call the manager."

Doesn't sound so "polite" to me.

You also indicated that you sometimes do bag you own groceries, but this time you NEEDED the help?

Fini indeed.
 
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Buckeye said:
Here's what you said in your first post:

"So............I said, "Are you paying me to do your job? No, you're not. Call the manager."

Doesn't sound so "polite" to me.

You also indicated that you sometimes do bag you own groceries, but his time you NEEDED the help?

Fini indeed.
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What's this? The thoid degree! (as in thoity thoid & thoid). I don't bag my own groceries, period. One or two items, maybe, but not a cartful. If they gave me as little as 2% off I might try, but I'd be holding up the line forever.

I'm in the store to give them money in exchange for food items. That doesn't mean I'll shelve cans for them. What next are they going to require me to do?
 
Here in Mexico, the "Mercados" don't even supply plastic bags for our groceries. They expect the customer to buy the cloth bags the stores sell. However, now that Covid has become less frightening to most people, the elderly female baggers are back. And, yes, I do tip them.
 
My local grocery stores (Publix and Kroger) both have baggers who do all the bagging for me if it's more than a few items, otherwise I use self check. I bring my own reusable bags, empty my cart by category with spaces in between (all the cold stuff together, same with fruits and veggies, meats, deli etc. It gets packed pretty much the way I lay it out. I don't sweat the small details.

I also shop at Aldi and their protocol is different than Kroger and Publix. They ring them up and I bag them.
 
I'm a fool to get in between Buckeye and Pepper, but I can't stop myself...

What did the clerk even mean when she said she couldn't bag Pepper's groceries because of Covid?
By the time those groceries get to the checkout they've been handled by the people in the factory, the truckers, the people at the distribution center, the vendors, the shelf stockers, and the cashier herself as she held each item to the scanner. What's one more touch? If she's worried about Covid she should keep her hands clean and her mask up and, of course, have her vaccinations.
 
What's a grocery store bagger? we haven't had them around here for over 10 years. Most stores only have self-checkouts where you have to bag your own. :mad:
 
Jules said:
Do you still have someone that bags your groceries? Or someone who helps taking them to your car?

We haven’t had this service in years. The cashier does it. Some stores make you pack your own bags. I hate packing so it’s very rare that I go to those stores except for a few things.

Out of curiosity, if someone helps take your groceries to the store, do you tip.
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We actually do have someone who bags the groceries. Occasionally, there won't be enough staff and the cashier will do it. Usually, however, there is someone there helping. Today, that person asked if I needed help to the car. That happens occasionally but not all the time. I suspect that I could always get help if I wanted it. We use Publix Supermarkets, which is my personal favorite. I think that they are just in Florida and Georgia.
 
StarSong said:
I've been lining my vehicles' rear cargo areas with laundry baskets for many years now. First started when my three children were young and I was in the minivan stage.

They're lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive, a manageable size, have handles, contain things well, the empties stack easily, and they hold enough to be efficient but not so much that I overload them.
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I told my daughter about this. I basically quoted your second paragraph. Thank you!
 
Pepper said:
What's this? The thoid degree! (as in thoity thoid & thoid). I don't bag my own groceries, period. One or two items, maybe, but not a cartful. If they gave me as little as 2% off I might try, but I'd be holding up the line forever.

I'm in the store to give them money in exchange for food items. That doesn't mean I'll shelve cans for them. What next are they going to require me to do?
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lol - per the bolded, you don't bag your own "period" except when you do. And then it really wasn't that you NEEDED (your emphasis, not mine) the help like you said in your second post (#33). It's about the $$, as you indicated in your first post (#22) and now again in this one. And you keep trying to deflect away from the fact that you were rude to the clerk over a couple of nickles and dimes and came on here to brag about it.

Fini, really.
 
It varies dependent on where I’m shopping as to whether I’m permitted to help bag or not. If the bags are hidden behind the counter, the conveyed message is that the cashiers will bag, and customers are not expected or wanted to. “Dedicated” baggers if they exist at all are rare these days; if a bagger is present, they often “float” between lines to where demand for their help seems to be the greatest.

I really don’t mind helping to bag as doing so means I’ll be out of the line faster, plus when I’m granted a measure of control I won’t suffer having bags overloaded or underloaded, or experience a salad tray packed sideways… 🙀
 
Buckeye said:
lol - per the bolded, you don't bag your own "period" except when you do. And then it really wasn't that you NEEDED (your emphasis, not mine) the help like you said in your second post (#33). It's about the $$, as you indicated in your first post (#22) and now again in this one. And you keep trying to deflect away from the fact that you were rude to the clerk over a couple of nickles and dimes and came on here to brag about it.

Fini, really.
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Mon Dieu!!
 


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