My main supermarket typically has only a cashier per lane. Regardless of the size of my purchase I like to help the person by just tossing my shit into bags.

I figure it saves them a step and helps the line move.

Sometimes it seems as though this insults them, other times they seem appreciative.

What is the standard procedure in this situation?

9/23/2014 6:26:23 AM

definitely not. Well, in Germany there aren't any baggers so you have to do it yourself. When you aren't fast enough, they just start chuckin the next persons shit on top of your shit as a little bit of passive aggressive motivation, cuz you know, you can't be rude and say something like hurry the fuck up.

9/23/2014 7:54:24 AM

I don't know man. I'm torn. At The self checkout, I view it as just that....a self service type of deal.

But at the full register, a large part of me expects the same service that my 14 year old self provided....bagging groceries for customers. I feel that by in large, grocery stores have shifted the workload onto customers in the name of convenience.
Having said that, sometimes I help bag too.

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 7:59 AM. Reason : pewts]

9/23/2014 7:57:59 AM

Most grocery stores around me don't have baggers and I bring my own bags occasionally.

So yes.

9/23/2014 7:59:30 AM

no, that's what the bag jockeys are for. I also make them take my groceries to my car.

I don't tip them either. while wearing cargo shorts.

9/23/2014 8:00:20 AM

I bring my own bags too. Maryland has a $0.05 bag tax. I used my own bags before they instituted that tax though

9/23/2014 8:04:39 AM

We usually bring our own bags, but we don't help bag.

9/23/2014 8:19:22 AM

Definitely don't help bag my own groceries. I'll load the bagged groceries into the cart, but that's the most I do.

9/23/2014 8:22:44 AM

My main motivation is to get the fuck out of there. I’m not particular about bread and eggs being bagged separate or chicken being away from the vegetables.

I’ve never thought ab the logic of the store pushing the convenience of bagging the shit on the customer. Perhaps i’ll take Forte’s approach going forward.

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 8:23 AM. Reason : never]

9/23/2014 8:23:16 AM

My Harris Teeter is set up so it's hard to bag your own groceries. The way the lanes are, there is a bag rack right by the scanner so the cashiers just scan a few items, bag them, and place them back into the cart. I'd personally rather them send the items down the belt and let me bag considering i worked at an HT for 4 years and can probably still out-bag anyone in the store.

9/23/2014 8:38:57 AM

Back in my prime, I made it to the southern regional semi-finals for bagging. I would have advanced, were it not for that damn Scott Jinkman... That kid could stack boxes in the bag like he was playing Tetris, and could dislocated his wrist which made for an amazingly fast dismount.

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 8:43 AM. Reason : j]

9/23/2014 8:43:04 AM

no I don't. I watch the screen to make sure the prices come up right, and then i concern myself with using card reader and paying while the cashier bags.

unless i go to the self checkout, which i usually do.

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 8:48 AM. Reason : ]

9/23/2014 8:45:01 AM

there used to be this ornery older man that would come in every week to our store. He always demanded paper bags and he was always critical about how you bagged and what items you put together. Baggers would dip out of sight when he would come through.

9/23/2014 8:45:57 AM

9/23/2014 8:51:16 AM

If I'm done paying, of course I do. What the fuck else would I do? Sit there with my arms crossed, smirking at the poor kid? This kid who is actually working, in an age when middle class kids expect automatic allowances and poor families could just try to coast on wellfare? You're goddamn right I'll help pack the groceries. What kind of disgusting, entitled little shit would actually just stand there doing nothing?

9/23/2014 9:14:45 AM

No. I pay when the little machine is ready and by the time I'm done my groceries are bagged. If I helped it would just delay me from doing my part in the transaction.

I don't buy giant carts full of groceries though.

9/23/2014 9:26:08 AM

Quote :

"If I'm done paying, of course I do. What the fuck else would I do? Sit there with my arms crossed, smirking at the poor kid? This kid who is actually working, in an age when middle class kids expect automatic allowances and poor families could just try to coast on wellfare? You're goddamn right I'll help pack the groceries. What kind of disgusting, entitled little shit would actually just stand there doing nothing?"

That.

Having worked at Food Lion during college I have nothing but sympathy for these folks. The only time I don't bag them myself is if they come up and ask to do it or if my children are running off or something.

9/23/2014 9:56:30 AM

The people that stand there and wait for the cashier to bag their groceries after they pay, while there are people in line waiting to be rung-up disgust me. It's not that hard, you entitled POS.

9/23/2014 10:04:31 AM

I don't know that I've been in that situation too often...where I'm finished paying, and just standing there while the bagger/cashier does the bagging. Usually it's me paying and completing the transaction while the groceries get bagged. Of course I'll take the bagged groceries and place them in the cart.

9/23/2014 10:07:08 AM

It happened to me a few weeks ago. It's one thing if there's a bagger doing it, but sometimes it's busy and there isn't a bagger for every lane. I don't expect the cashier to do it.

9/23/2014 10:08:48 AM

I bet the grocery store manager is all like "I will cut down on payroll costs by scheduling fewer baggers to work. Let the customers bag their own shit if waiting bothers them that much, lololol"

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 10:24 AM. Reason : SWISS SWISS BEATS]

9/23/2014 10:23:22 AM

Yeah, I don't think anybody is suggesting that you should help bag before completing the transaction. You pay first, even if this may mean that you stand around doing nothing for a minute while everything gets rung up. Got to make the payment go smoothly because that's where the longest delays can occur.

9/23/2014 10:24:53 AM

I get kind of irked if I'm buying say, toilet paper, a bag of frozen chicken wings, some apples, a box of ice cream sandwiches and some soap, and the cashier doesn't put the wings and ice cream in the same bag. I mean, putter frozen shot together, b.

9/23/2014 10:26:15 AM

I try to bag myself when I can, mainly because we are forced to use paper bags (or our own) out here and most baggers insist on sticking like 3 things in a bag and then starting a new one, meaning instead of using 2 bags I end up with 5 or 6. If there's just the cashier there I'll get started while they are ringing things up and swipe the cc and then finish bagging, making it as quick as possible. I guess it's also the reason I prefer self checkout everywhere I can. I can get it all done much quicker than the employees usually can.

9/23/2014 10:37:52 AM

I order it on the belt how it should be bagged. Then if I'm done paying before bagging is done I help out but normally don't have to because either a) I don't buy that many groceries or b) publix always has enough baggers working.

9/23/2014 10:38:13 AM

10 years ago, I doubt I would have said 'yep, we will be talking about grocery store bagging etiquette on tdub'

9/23/2014 10:43:04 AM

^ a damn lively discussion, at that

9/23/2014 11:10:21 AM

Aha, true

9/23/2014 11:11:55 AM

Quote :

"I order it on the belt how it should be bagged. Then if I'm done paying before bagging is done I help out"

if you don't do it like this, you're doing it wrong.

makes things SO much easier when you get home

9/23/2014 11:18:15 AM

i've never found putting away groceries particularly difficult... regardless of what bag different items are placed in.

9/23/2014 11:21:33 AM

just got back from getting a sub for lunch at HT; it's basically impossible to help bag groceries there with the way the lanes are set up. considering I do my shopping either there or at Publix, which insists on bagging your groceries and taking them to your car for you, I've deduced that you people advocating bagging your groceries must shop at poverty stricken grocery stores like shitty kitty or aldis.

9/23/2014 11:26:31 AM

sometimes i get self conscious about what i'm putting on the belt...particularly on those trips to the store where you just gotta grab two or three things. like, i got people waiting behind me and i'm putting nothing but a case of beer, toilet paper, and some cheese or some shit on the belt

[Edited on September 23, 2014 at 11:28 AM. Reason : ^yeah it'd be hard for me to bag groceries at the stores i shop at.]

9/23/2014 11:27:23 AM

I just do self checkout wherever available and typically avoid any place that doesn't have it

9/23/2014 11:29:56 AM

self checkout's cool if i only have a couple of items and other lines are long. but with a full cart of groceries, no way i'm scanning and bagging them myself. i'll gladly wait in line for an employee to do it for me

9/23/2014 11:33:59 AM

You just have to own it. You gotta walk up to that register, throw your cucumber and Vaseline up on the belt, and just stare down the cashier as they ring up your purchase. Be sure to breathe heavily throughout.

9/23/2014 11:42:30 AM

"yep that's it, just the cucumber and vaseline...damn right i got my mvp card"

9/23/2014 11:50:14 AM

I do not

Also do not like using self-checkout. I am not on the clock so I let them do it all.

9/23/2014 11:55:15 AM

I often get a 12-pack of beer, a half-gallon of milk and a few bananas.

9/23/2014 11:59:12 AM

As a former bagger in high school, I learned early on that it was very asshole-ish to ask for paper. Now, as I get older, I enjoy paper, as I only have at most, 3 bags to carry. Since asking for paper is a dick move, I bag the groceries myself.

9/23/2014 1:09:44 PM

people who use the self checkout with a cart full of groceries should be burned at the stake.

9/23/2014 1:14:44 PM

Never. Instead I thumb thru the magazines like a dope. Man, that joe manganiello is looking good"

9/23/2014 5:12:23 PM

Quote :

"I bet the grocery store manager is all like "I will cut down on payroll costs by scheduling fewer baggers to work. Let the customers bag their own shit if waiting bothers them that much, lololol""

Grocery stores operate somewhat like large warehouses. My first job out of college was for a software company that did retail planning & supply chain management. This shit is mapped to the T. At many stores the managers don't even decide when to schedule people. Its all done by a central scheduling system that determines when people should work based on previous sales & prediction algorithms. They just put in when people request off and try to adjust it if there are any gaps. Most chain restaurants have a similar thing. I worked at Kroger for a bit in college as well and it got to the point where there were LCD screens up in the ceiling that told customers how long it would take on average to get in and out of the store, which lane to go to, etc. What a waste of engineering.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

9/24/2014 11:57:29 AM

I guess things have changed a great deal since I worked in a grocery store. It was definitely the GM or customer service manager that wrote the weekly schedule, based off of their prediction of how much traffic we would have.

9/24/2014 12:25:06 PM

Yeah, when I worked retail there was a manager who made all the schedules. A computer program gave each store the amount of hours they could use every week or month or something, but the managers still made the schedules.

9/24/2014 12:29:17 PM

Quote :

" I learned early on that it was very asshole-ish to ask for paper"

what? why is that?

9/24/2014 12:33:59 PM

Paper bags are just more difficult to work with in general than plastic. More cumbersome to pick up, open, and stack neatly the items inside, without the flexibility of plastic.

9/24/2014 12:37:22 PM

Yeah, but when I try to wear a plastic bag on my head to express my dissatisfaction with sports teams, I die.

9/24/2014 1:49:42 PM

Why the fuck are we talking about this? Is this what TWW has become? lol

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

9/24/2014 1:55:18 PM

this is important

9/24/2014 2:02:16 PM

set em up

9/24/2014 2:04:19 PM