If you’re strong and healthy more power to you, and if a customer wants me to get everything into one bag I’ll do my best, but I have to accommodate the weak, frail, sickly, elderly, the people with bad backs and/or shoulders…
If someone gives me a monster-size Aldi bag I’ll ask if I have to worry about weight or not, then go with what the customer says.
Who says I ain’t?
Btw I stop my roll when I utilize the phone. Scuse me pardon me 1000 apologies for staying in my lane you’re free to pass thank you have a nice day
But do they? I’m willing to bet that the money they would pay employees goes right to the bottom line. Do you get a discount for using self-checkout? You don’t at any grocery store that I’ve ever shopped in.
No, I am not looking at my phone when I am shopping. It stays in the car for when and if I need it, and I don’t need to rely upon it for everything. It is a tool I sometimes use, not my master that I must have. But that is the trend we are moving toward.
Self check-outs are still way too stupid for me to use. Got produce? Look up the item number. Got beer? Wait until someone comes over and unlocks the terminal. Does your app do away with the age ID issue? I didn’t think so.
If the only lane open is the 15 items or less line then I will happily plug it up with my 45 items while you wait. Your time is not that important, no matter who you are or what you do, it just isn’t. You can wait.
Why not just order your food over the phone and have it delivered? Because then you do not get to pick it out or consider and chose, someone else does, and they are not trying to get you the best. They will give you the best deal for the store, always. I just ordered some lumber to rebuild my deck. Comes delivered for only a few dollars more. Wonderful? Except that the crappy pieces were on the bottom of the stack, knots, warped boards, previously rejected wood that has been relabeled so many times that it is full of pricing staples.
Every handy app eliminates more jobs. People cry to raise the minimum wage to a livable rate. Why? There still needs to be an actual job there. You know, so you can get that livable wage.
I wonder and worry a little bit about what would happen if the internet and smart phones ceased working for even a few days. Mass casualties and deaths probably.
People who have downloaded the Farm app will still be ok.
They’re empty because you’re only going to be parked there for a few minutes while your order gets brought out.
These good for nothing kids and their cars. What, a horse and buggy isn’t good enough for you?
I think this should be our new motto on SDMB:
Fair enough. I think only shopping at the Commissary or local to Southern Maryland stores that both bag the stuff for you in plastic bags may have skewed my opinion. 
Sure, but why do you always have to stop right in front of the item I want to grab???
The far bigger question imo, is: “Exactly what is being harvested by the app you installed on your phone?”
Here’s an article on Slashdot detailing over 1000 apps that continue to harvest data from your phone, even after you remove permissions or disable them.
My policy is to refuse any business that requires downloading an app. So far I’m managing OK with this, but recognize I may have to bend in the future to continue some forms of commerce.
Whoever complained about shoppers having their phones out needs to remember that for many of us, our shopping list is on the phone!
I have a shared list with my boyfriend to coordinate what we need. So much better than a paper list, which I may not have with me when I realize we’re out of X or that I’d like to pick up some Y. Phone is always handy, plus the other partner has the same list. Whoever has a chance to stop at the store 1st grabs what’s needed.
In Bavaria, mainly what he can get is either packs of 6 boxes (1L each) or packs of bottles (1 or 1.5L each), conveniently packaged with a handle and all; the packaging on the pack can be cardboard or recicled plastic. No additional bag needed. I don’t know if the commisary does provide gallon jars but if they do it’s economic absurdity on a truly amazing level.
Mind you, why the fuck would anybody use one (or even two) plastic bags to hold one jar, and only one jar, which already has its own handle, is something which has long confused me. I think some people are just so used to bagging everything that it’s automatic.
I don’t use a cell phone. So what am I supposed to do?
Get in line for the cashier to handle your transaction. The line’s end is back there somewhere.
I’ll admit to loitering in the condiment aisle, so many choices! But I’m looking for chutney, fig spread and capers, can’t lay my eyes on them can you help?
This is nothing new; it’s been going on ever since the Industrial Age began. A hundred years ago the village idiot could get a job as a carrot picker, and fifty years ago he could still get a job as a pancake stacker. Not anymore.
For a long time now stores have had self-checkout aisles, where you scan/bag your own items. Typically you have one employee overseeing four or more checkout stations - meaning that three cashiers have been put out of a job by that system. The scheme the OP is describing is just the next step after that, in a long progression that started before any of us was born. To suggest that we should patronize a particular business because they deliberately operate inefficiently so as to employ more people is…an unusual position to take. The economy of the future will be weird, and probably will involve paying unemployable people some sort of basic income so that they sit quietly on the sidelines.
Yea, the commissary does have the normal (normal for the US) gallon milk containers. I don’t drink milk, though. A normal shopping day would include four 24-packs of Coke Zero which have slits in the top for carrying. Those don’t get bagged, yet they take up a large portion of the cart. Then I get about a dozen loose 16oz Monsters and a dozen 17oz Sparking ICE lemonades. The Monsters and Lemonades normally take 4 or 5 plastic bags to hold them without tearing at the handles. Instead, they can all fit into a single Aldi reusable bag. Then I get a crap ton of different meats, bacon and steaks, all of which normally have to go 2-3 each into plastic bags. Those plastic bags may have a certain theoretical volume, but they just can’t handle much weight without busting open. All of these meats, the drinks, and whatever random stuff I had to get that day (toiletries, laundry soap, etc) can almost always fit into the reusable bag together. I just throw all of the plastic bags into the Aldi bag that’s already in the trunk. So it ends up being two trips from the car when I get home. One trip carrying the four cases of Coke Zero. The other trip carrying the Aldi bag full of everything in one hand, and maybe a large pack of paper towels or something in the other. Sometimes maybe a 5th case of Coke.
I do like getting the plastic bags, though. Like most Americans, I am accustomed to using them for small waste baskets around the house or to dispose of dog waste. I use the small biodegradable doggie bags for outside, but he uses training pads inside the house (he’s tiny). So, I put the used pads in the plastic bags before throwing them out. It’s probably not the most environmentally friendly way of handling waste, but give me a break. I’m recycling and I even have a compost pile outside. I’m not doing too bad.
I just learned something interesting. I was thinking about your comment, and how it certainly would be absurd to ship gallon milk over to Europe from the United States. It’s not quite that bad. Apparently, the fresh milk we get in gallon jugs come from The Netherlands. I guess they have a huge dairy industry there. And they package it in gallons!
Shipt is the shopping app you’re talking about. I think it would be a great side hustle for out of work cashiers!
Walmart attempted Scan as You Shop and failed. They’re focused using on Alphabot to help automate picking items for call in orders.
Amazon is trying just walk out” technology. Turns everyone into a shoplifter. 
Everything you stick in your pocket or bag gets automatically charged & paid.
Personally I’m a bit disappointed that shopping is becoming automated. I enjoy browsing the store and checking out. It’s one of the few routines in my life that hasn’t been turned inside out by technology.
I adapted to U Scan a decade ago. I guess I’ll adapt to the new trends too. Don’t expect me to be thrilled about it.
I am excited about the option to preorder groceries and have them loaded for me at the store. That will be very helpful to our senior citizens. I’m currently doing my mom’s shopping because she can no longer get out to shop.