Thank you, Guinastasia, for your valuable insight into the economics of grocery stores. From your list, I choose number one and number three. One of the many reasons I do not shop at your former employer.
This bagging debate is very interesting to me, mainly because of this post. I guess it’s a regional thing? In Utah, it was very touch and go. Sometimes I bagged my own, sometimes I didn’t. It really wasn’t a big deal. Usually there was 1 bagger per three or 4 lines and he just moved where he wa sneeded.
When I lived in the Bay Area, it was pretty much the same situation.
Since I moved to So Cal, I have never, ever been in a situation where it even came up. Every single store has a bagger in every line.
I guess that means the folks in So Cal are just lazier than the norm…
No offense, even sven, but there’s also the possibility that he doesn’t want to get you in trouble by doing your job. There’s four different stores I usually go to. One is a bag it yourself place, one is a little market, and the other two are more traditional chain markets. At both the chain markets, I’ve started bagging my own stuff when I’ve bought a large amounts and I’ve been asked not to by the cashiers, who have told me that their managers will take it as they’re not doing their jobs fast enough (paraphrasing-not their exact words). I don’t know if that’s common, but now I don’t even think of bagging my own stuff. I guess I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
Peace-DESK
even sven, apologies if that last post seemed snarky. That certainly was not my intent.:smack:
Peace-DESK
Fuck off, you troglodyte.
Esprix
I would be interested in knowing the ages of the persons on either side of this issue, becuase I’m old enough to remember when your groceries were always checked, bagged, and brought out to your car. ALWAYS. And funny thing is, in those days groceries didn’t take as big a bite out of the family budget, either.
lorinada - We have one market in town that I know of that still does it. It is, to me, a real treat and it is the type of service that when I require groceries of their specialty I will pay the higher price each and every time to get that service.
Guin - Not to be snarky but I really do not understand your comment. They will laugh at me for what exactly? I didn’t say I expect the corporate world to notice my little position and do anything. Generally speaking I just remain completely indifferent to the emotional well-being of those in line behind me as the source of their rage should be more accurately placed upon the store for not having baggers, not me for failing to do the job of the employees.
Oh, and as for choosing two - I agree with This Year’s Model in selecting Good Service and Quick Shopping. Perhaps there is a reason your former employer is in its current position?
Probably. But the customers we did get wanted all three-and wanted the prices even lower to boot.
FWIW, I do agree with you that it’s better to get something good and pay more for it.
Although I personally prefer the self-scans. After years of working retail, I find I’m much faster than other cashiers and I usually get out much quicker.
Yea, I love me some self-scans, especially when you are trying to buy a case of soda and get behind the “Feeding a Regiment” shoppers. (Yes, once a month I am a Feeding a Regiment shopper). Though what I do like is the “Every lane open” thing Kroger is doing (here, at least), it really speeds things up.
And I don’t care who bags it, honestly. I really have better things to do than create a doctoral thesis on the economics and morality of who bags my friggin’ Pop Tarts.
You’re putting the cart before the horse. Customers have told grocery stores, through choosing where to spend their money, that they are willing to suffer a little inconvenience to save a buck. If store A can shave 10 cents off the price of pig snout by ditching baggers and does so, people go to store A to save their 10 cents, even though store B offers ‘better’ customer service in the way of baggers. Enough people do this so that store B has to cut the 10 cents to remain competitive, and store B too cuts prices. Yes, some people will choose the better service, but history shows it is not enough (see also airline industry)
Two other things to note: (i) generally speaking, margins in supermarkets are razor thing. It is definitely a “we’ll make it up in bulk” business; (ii) as an minority owner of a supermarket (as are any here who have diversified 401(k), pension, and/or college saving plans and/or own equity mutual funds), I don’t want to hear that net income is down because you increased customer service. You only increase spending on customer service if it will increase your bottom line, not because of warm and fuzzies.
When I buy something, I expect it to be put in a bag. Groceries are no exception.
Honestly, how the hell did this get to be the burden of the customer? Up until a few years ago, every grocery store in my area had a bagger for every lane, and they were fast enough that you couldn’t help even if you wanted to. Bagging your own groceries was simply unheard of. Now the only store that still consistently bags for you is Publix.
Guess which one I shop from. 
I don’t know why, but I find myself so amused by this thread. The snarky responses over bagging groceries must have something to do with it.
To bag or not to bag, that is the question.
< BTW, I prefer to use the U-Scan, it usually goes very quick. >
When I go to a diner for breakfast, there is a waitress or busboy who’s job it is to refill my coffee cup. If I am sitting on the inside of the booth, I will, if possible, slide my cup towards the aisle when they go to pour my coffee. I could sit back and let them reach out over the table, full pot at arms length, but I don’t. It is their job to refill my coffee, but I can, with this minimal effort, help make their job just a bit easier.
So it is with bagging. The minute you spent bagging your own makes that minimum wage cashier’s life a little easier. The minute you spent picking your nose did not.
So, did anybody else have a mom who sent them up ahead to help other people with bagging? When I was a 8-10ish kid we always went to the cheap grocery stores with no baggers at all. If there were unaccompanied people ahead my mom would slap the back of my head and tell me to go help them. If there was a little old lady in another lane my mom would sent me over there, and volunteer me to take their stuff to the car. The more I read about normal people the more I realize my family was strange.
At the Albertson’s I shop at, they usually have two or three baggers for five or six lanes. The baggers dart from lane to lane as needed. Most of the time, by the time I’m finished paying, there’s someone there bagging. Every once in a while, when I buy a lot of stuff and the baggers are tied up elsewhere, I’ll realize too late that I should probably be helping. Most of the time, I couldn’t bag even if I wanted to – the bagger is there before I have finished paying, and they’re done before I get my receipt. So mostly I just don’t think about it.
If I was in a crowded store, with a long line and no baggers in sight, I would of course bag my own stuff.
You tip waitpeople (I hope), which is the standard for people who do something that you could do yourself. If cashiering ever becomes a tippable position (which it won’t, because while it is always good to give the customer a good experience, the primary job a a cashier is to get your ass through ASAP before the whole line turns rebellious) then I guess I’d be okay with cashiers bagging your groceries while you sit there grinning like a happy catatonic.
Maybe people just have misconceptions about cashiers. Unless the store is pretty much empty, a cashier is not really a customer service position. A cashier is not there to help your find obscure items. A cashier is not there to explain store policies to you. A cashier is not there to “look in the back” or carry crap out to your car or do whatever. A cashier’s job conduct a transaction in which money is traded for stuff as fast as they can. Why? Because a cashier has to deal with The Line, and every extra bit of time causes the line to get bigger and people to get angrier.
People will not happily sit longer in line even if it means they get the best customer service in the world. When people are in line, their primary goal is to get out of line. You wouldn’t believe the stares, comments and dirty looks people would give me when a line piled up and I was doing simple transactions with speed and efficiantcy to get them through. Any semi-complex transaction, like a return or complicated coupons, is almost always met with a barage of “This is ridiculous” and “can’t you open another register” and lots of very loud, heavy sighs.
I’m sorry. I can’t do everything at once. I can’t conjure up extra cashiers from thin air. I can’t convince the store to hire another cashier for a fifteen minute rush. There is only so fast that it is humanly possible to scan things. And I am not responsible for the fact that people choose to not prepare their checks beforehand, dig around in the wallets for ten minutes so they can avoid getting extra change, or talk on their cell phone instead of paying attention to what is going on.
Paying for something is a two way transaction, and just because you are a customer does not mean that you can do whatever the hell you want. You have an obligation to your fellow customers and the cashier to try to get through the transaction as quickly as you can. Paying for stuff does not rid you of the basic social obligation to be corteous, respectful and to take an active role in the transactions you initiate. If you can’t handle the fact that every interaction with human beings- payed or not- comes with responsibilites then you ought to stay at home.
even sven-you just brought back memories of my own experience working at Kmart. I used to have panic attacks regularly and I STILL have nightmares about having to go back there, or back to Shopper’s Choice. (In fact, I had one last night!)
People would piss and moan like you wouldn’t BELIEVE. I could have processed things with the speed of light and they’d STILL complain! And then, if you went so fast you made a mistake, they’d complain about THAT.
It was a nightmare. shudders And I’m so determined never, EVER to go back. I couldn’t afford it in the long run.
On the other side of the coin:
The grocery store I go to has baggers. When it’s been busy, there won’t be a bagger available so I’d just start helping the checker bag my groceries.
At least once, the manager has come over when I’ve done this and started bagging himself, and then given the next bag person who comes by a look which I interpret as, “why did you let this customer bag groceries – why aren’t you doing your job??”
Now I don’t know whether next time I should help bag, or not bag so I don’t get someone in trouble.
To take you so-called “points” one at a time:
-
My mom has been dead for over a year, and she always had everything ready to go.
-
If it takes you a hour to cut out coupons or anything from the newspaper, you are either very uncoordinated or you still have to use those “safety scissors” that you got back in kindergarten.
-
If you only use your credit and debit card, despite what you appear to believe, that fact doesn’t make you hip or cool or with it. Far from it.
-
You may not be a woman or gay, but apparently you are a bigot who stereotypes with an extremely broad brush.
Whoa.
Be aware that FWIW, that doesn’t fly in the groceries around here. If your management consistently upheld all what you’ve just posted, no problem.
It might be a regional thing. I’m used to groceries in the Deep South (mainly New Orleans), where many things are done the way they’ve been done for the past 50 years or so. The ethic that pervades the management and employees in our grocery stores (and indeed, in most of retail) is a very conservative ethic that looks back upon the past as a time when things were as they should be. Therefore, change in this ethic – even when the business conditions have changed – has been painfully gradual in coming.