# How to grocery shop (Since there seems to be some confusion): A rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 3, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663 "2012-04-03T03:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/61 "2012-04-03T15:40:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I work in a very large (106,000 sq. ft.), very busy, very low-price grocery store. There is a low-price grocery store near me. I pass by it and drive another few miles to get to the more expensive grocery store. IME far more rant-worthy stuff happens at the discount place. I’d like to save a few bucks, but it isn’t worth it. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/62 "2012-04-03T15:54:16Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’m surprised WalMart hasn’t instituted this - they could get rid of their parking lot cart jockeys. Given the size of the average WalMart lot and the size of many WalMart shoppers, it could even be money earner for them (or the enterprising person who gathers them up (ala _The Terminal_)). Twenty-five cents is an insignificant amount, but it’s a pain in the ass if you don’t have a quarter on you. Many people don’t bother carrying change with them. Those people will shop somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/63 "2012-04-03T15:55:42Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > Twenty-five cents is an insignificant amount, but it’s a pain in the ass if you don’t have a quarter on you. Many people don’t bother carrying change with them. Those people will shop somewhere else. I keep an ‘Aldi Quarter’ in my car’s sun visor for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/64 "2012-04-03T15:59:16Z")
Great rant. But if it was up to me, I’d add “Use a card, not a actual check, please” And, I’d like to ask the cashiers to please be sure to put those lights on when their register is open. Fair dinkum? I also ask my fellow shoppers to do one thing I do- if you are shopping and see frozen or cold stuff out in a non-cold area, please put in back into whatever temp case it needs to go into. Now, I am not going to ask or think we should go around reshelving things for other customers. But if you just pass by something cold, there’s two bad possibilities: it will get thrown away (thus making everyones bill higher) or it might be put back after it thaws and some shopper might not get safe food. Taking it up to a employee is also OK. I would like to ask Grocery stores to forgo a tiny bit of revenue. Yes, I know putting displays that block the aisles can add sales of that product. But they also piss customers off, and trust me, one pissed off good customer is worth more than a whole months sales of cheesy-poofs. And, one other pet peeve, which isn’t really the stores fault. Some CC swipers allow us customer to swipe during the transaction. Others require the swipe afterwards. Can we standardize these? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/65 "2012-04-03T16:02:03Z")
You know that slow moving queue you just went through to get through the entrance and into the store? Why do you imagine that you were the last person in said queue? It works better for everyone when you move clear of the bottle neck before stopping dead to rifle through your purse and find your shopping list and coupon stash. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/66 "2012-04-03T16:10:18Z")
> [@](#): > > they could get rid of their parking lot cart jockeys. Given the size of the average WalMart lot and the size of many WalMart shoppers, it could even be money earner for them (or the enterprising person who gathers them up (ala The Terminal Years ago, I worked at a mall which had these giant strollers you could rent for a few bucks from a machine. I think it was like 4, 5 bucks to rent the damn Cart o Death (as we called them…saw more than one kid take a faceplant to the tiled floor by standing up on the seat) but when you returned it to the machine, you got half of that back. If I had time after my shift, I’d make a quick check of the surrounding area and/or the parking lot where I’d parked to see if anybody’d left their Death Carts out which I would then happily return and collect the money. > [@](#): > > The store closes when the store closes. Don’t walk in 5 minutes before the posted closing time and think you can shop for an hour This goes double if the store is closing early due to a holiday and/or bad weather. We want to go home and see our friends, family, etc. Or we’d like to get home before the weather gets much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/67 "2012-04-03T16:20:28Z")
I want all of my groceries in one bag. But I don’t the bag to be heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/68 "2012-04-03T16:38:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I also ask my fellow shoppers to do one thing I do- if you are shopping and see frozen or cold stuff out in a non-cold area, please put in back into whatever temp case it needs to go into. Now, I am not going to ask or think we should go around reshelving things for other customers. But if you just pass by something cold, there’s two bad possibilities: it will get thrown away (thus making everyones bill higher) or it might be put back after it thaws and some shopper might not get safe food. Taking it up to a employee is also OK. Ugh, please don’t put it back! You don’t know how long it’s been out! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/69 "2012-04-03T16:53:34Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > . . . Don’t stack my change, and the receipt, on top of the bills when handing it to me. Give it to me one at a time. See, I only have one hand, and I have to put down my wallet to separate the pile into what goes where. . . I don’t think that’s going to change. It’s become standard. It reduces direct skin-to-skin contact, lowering the spread of germs, and it makes it harder for a smarmy customer to do rubby grabby things to the cashier’s hands. For slow counters, it puts everything in view at the end, but I don’t know if that’s any part of the reasoning. > [@aerodave](#): > > . . . “Well, that shopping cart thing was a bigger deal than you thought, apparently.” > > I’ve always said that if I ever suffer a psychotic break, it will take the form of camping atop a Wal-Mart with a sniper rifle and picking off people the moment it’s apparent that they are abandoning their cart. . . What about if I put it back pretty much where I got it, and make sure that it’s blocked or wedged so that it can’t move? (Putting the front wheels over a landscaping curb works best.) Would I get to live? ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/70 "2012-04-03T17:10:48Z")
We’ll compromise. You get to be half lazy, and I get to just wound you. I say a shot in the leg sounds fair. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/71 "2012-04-03T17:18:12Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > What about if I put it back pretty much where I got it, and make sure that it’s blocked or wedged so that it can’t move? (Putting the front wheels over a landscaping curb works best.) Would I get to live? Why not just walk it back to the entrance of the store or in the cart corral? I’m sorry, but leaving it in the parking lot, even wedged in somewhere, strikes me as sheer laziness. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/72 "2012-04-03T17:23:52Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > What about if I put it back pretty much where I got it, and make sure that it’s blocked or wedged so that it can’t move? (Putting the front wheels over a landscaping curb works best.) Would I get to live? Ugggh. I got annoyed at this yesterday…I parked by an ‘island’ in the lot, and when I got back to my car, there were 3-4 carts ‘parked’ just like this. The corral was 6 cars’ distance away. Seriously, take the cart back. Oh yeah, on the topic of carts again…nasy f\*\*ers that leave their goopy sample cups in the carts and then put them back in the rack. Nothing like getting the kiddo strapped in and then realizing there’s a cup covered in residual cheese/salsa/yogurt/shampoo dripping out the bottom of the cart. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/73 "2012-04-03T17:34:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And, I’d like to ask the cashiers to please be sure to put those lights on when their register is open. Fair dinkum? AND turn them off when they leave. There was one store I used to go to where there was a 50 percent chance of the light actually meaning that that lane was open. I’m with everybody about returning carts. Admittedly there are a few shopping centers that either have no corrals or don’t have enough. At the very least, shove your cart with the other ones, preferably nestled. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/74 "2012-04-03T17:51:35Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > The corral was 6 cars’ distance away. Seriously, take the cart back. Oh, please, you think that’s bad? My town is littered with shopping carts people just wandered off with and abandoned on the sidewalk or in yards, sometime a mile from the store. When I see someone wheeling their groceries away from the store in one, I tell them, in a concerned voice, “You better be careful. the police are ticketing people for stealing those.” They invariably get huffy and say “I’m not \*stealing \*it!” at which I laugh and say, “of course you are!” ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/75 "2012-04-03T18:00:41Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh, please, you think that’s bad? My town is littered with shopping carts people just wandered off with and abandoned on the sidewalk or in yards, sometime a mile from the store. > > When I see someone wheeling their groceries away from the store in one, I tell them, in a concerned voice, “You better be careful. the police are ticketing people for stealing those.” They invariably get huffy and say “I’m not \*stealing \*it!” at which I laugh and say, “of course you are!” Back when I lived in an apartment complex I saw a man with some kind of contraption on the back of his pickup that held shopping carts. He made money by going around and collecting the carts randomly left around. For the life of me I can’t remember how much he said he got from the stores for bringing them back, but apparently enough to buy a thingamajiggy to put on his truck. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/76 "2012-04-03T18:16:15Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > **The store closes when the store closes**. Don’t walk in 5 minutes before the posted closing time and think you can shop for an hour. Yes, coming in and shopping after 900PM can be great, and frankly I would encourage people to do it. There will be no crowds, no old people, no children, and you’ll more frequently than not have no wait at checkout. However, if the store closes at 1100PM, _that’s the time you need to at least be checking out_. I don’t care that you walked in the door before closing time, it is now past that time and I am going to either check you out right now, or I will lock you in here with the nightstockers (who can’t check you out) and leave. Your choice. Oh yeah. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to wait on people who showed up 5 minutes until closing, and then figured that they could spend the next two or three hours browsing. A few would actually purchase a significant amount, the others “just couldn’t find anything” and might buy one or two small items. If I mentioned that it was half past closing, I was huffily informed that Las Vegas was a 24 hour city, which obviously meant that all shops were supposed to be open 24 hours as well. If I told someone that we were closing in 5 minutes, I was assured that they just wanted to take a peek at a few things. People who are last minute browsers almost never buy anything, no matter how late they stay. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/77 "2012-04-03T18:48:04Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > That’s so bizarre. If a store accepts debit cards, why wouldn’t it accept credit? Grocery store profit margins often run less than 1%. an ACH debit transaction only costs like $0.35 a credit card transaction is at a minimum around 1.5% or $2 on $100 in groceries It adds up in a big hurry, we love pin debit here in the shop because selling a $1000 computer and someone whips out their “super rewards visa” that charges me 2.75% I costs me $27.50 for the privelege of them swiping a card. In addition reversing an ACH pin debit is alot more difficult than a credit transaction as that code is not to be shared. Thus less prone to fraud, etc. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/78 "2012-04-03T18:51:24Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Back when I lived in an apartment complex I saw a man with some kind of contraption on the back of his pickup that held shopping carts. He made money by going around and collecting the carts randomly left around. For the life of me I can’t remember how much he said he got from the stores for bringing them back, but apparently enough to buy a thingamajiggy to put on his truck. I have seen a guy here locally who does this and he actually has a 20’ or so trailer that he loads them onto. I asked a different guy about 10 years ago what the store paid them and it was like $2 per cart. It was a grocery store with a bunch of large apartment complexes around it, so most of it was probably just from policing up carts a couple hundred yards away. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/79 "2012-04-03T18:54:24Z")
What, nothing about the “boomerangs”? This is someone (or groups of someones) who fill a cart, get in line, and then as they are about to get to the checkout, run off for six or seven items they forgot, they’ll “be right back!” The variation is the bit where one of the group gets in line and the rest of the clan fans out to do their shopping, bringing their items back one at a time to the mother cart. I pray that when they have to pay that they don’t have enough money/card doesn’t work/have to put things back, because then at least I get to be really mad at them. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663/80 "2012-04-03T18:56:43Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > I have seen a guy here locally who does this and he actually has a 20’ or so trailer that he loads them onto. I asked a different guy about 10 years ago what the store paid them and it was like $2 per cart. It was a grocery store with a bunch of large apartment complexes around it, so most of it was probably just from policing up carts a couple hundred yards away. There are signs all over our Shop-Rite saying that the Dept. of Public Works charges them $25/cart to pick them up and bring them back, so \*please \*do not take the carts off store property. Does not even slow people _down_. Thieving, littering bastards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-grocery-shop-since-there-seems-to-be-some-confusion-a-rant/617663.md?page=5)