Like QuickSilver and grayhairedmomma, we do the same thing. It saves us a lot of time when we get home putting things away. It’s actually kind of automatic when unloading the stuff in the cart onto the conveyor- because as I’m walking through the store, like items are near each other in a specific aisle so end up in the cart in the same area. I don’t get meat, then go down another aisle and get bread, then go get milk, the eggs, the chips, then back for another package of meat - I get all the stuff I need in that general area at once - so my meat is all in the cart in the same area, ends up being put on the conveyor in the same area and bagged together.
I haven’t seen a bagger in years. The clerk bags the groceries. Also, plastic bags? Those were outlawed here a while ago. If you don’t have reusable bags, you pay an extra nichol for a paper bag.
The store I go to does have low level employees, some of whom are challenged. They pick up carts in the parking lot and help take groceries to one’s car on request, but they don’t bag.
I try to put multiple instances of the same item together because in the good old days, before UPC scanners, it made it easier for the checker, especially if you had a discount on multiple items deal.
Paper bags make me nostalgic for the first day of school, when we used the paper bags from the grocery as book covers. It was a skill you learned back then.
I just wish they’d all stop putting my bananas on top of my frozen foods. Seems like every damned one of them does that. I see the point of putting them on top so they’re not crushed, but directly on the frozen stuff is just as bad.
But you’re doing it WRONG… by using the wrong sort criteria.
The ‘correct’ way of putting objects on the coveyer (in this regard) is: one paper bags worth of cans or heavy items, one bag’s worth of medium weight things and then a remainder of that bags worth of light, delicate things.
Repeat.
I’ve seen baggers that would give you (as you describe loading the conveyer) 2-3 bags that’r heavy as hell and prone to rip or burst and each subsequent bag slightly lighter and lighter.
I bag my own groceries (since the cheaper stores don’t do it for you here).
It works out great. Everything is put in so it’s easy to unpack when I get home and nothing is too heavy or awkward.
However, I am apparently the only person who only shops once a week since I am always still in the way packing my stuff when the next person is ready to.
Indeed. Here in Portland, OR you don’t have to pay but they make you feel ashamed for asking for bags. “I didn’t know I was coming here when I left the house! I’m sorry!!”
I had this one recently:
Cashier: “Do you like Kumquats?”
Me: “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever even tasted one.”
Cashier: ::silence::
Me: (feeling uncomfortable) “…are they on sale or something?”
Probably not, because then it would probably just blow up all over the place when I stabbed it. Also, I’m not sure the cheapass plastic cutlery is strong enough to do the job.
That’s what I do, although I have noticed that most cashiers fill the bags in reverse order of size so the smallest bag ends up packed while the largest one (which had all the other bags) only gets 1 or 2 items.
When did that happen? I have a friend who lives in the bay area, first in Pleasanton, then in Dublin, and I’m pretty sure there were plastic bags at the Safeway every time I visited. I certainly don’t remember seeing a charge for paper bags (she has the reusable kind, but like me, doesn’t always remember to bring them in).
I like the plastic bags, because I reuse them for cleaning the cat box.
Most grocery stores here now offer reusable bags for 25 cents. It’s really common to see the majority of people using them, or their own totes. The change wasn’t all that difficult to make. What a strange and hostile attitude the cashier had.
They really do shame you, don’t they?