# Went to Costco This Morning. Was a Little Bit Scary. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 11, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294 "2020-03-11T18:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/281 "2020-04-03T19:21:39Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You mean once opened, right? There’s such a thing as [UHT milk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing). The shelf life for the unopened and unrefrigerated ones in my kitchen is a year and a day. Which in much of the USA can be hard to find and often overpriced. Was a surprise to me when I transferred from Puerto Rico where over the past 20 years UHT has become the go-to for many of us and has a huge presence in stores, about a third of the milk sold for daily use, and I used to buy it for the month. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/282 "2020-04-03T19:28:34Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I was surprised. The place was jamming. They had a system set up where they would take your name, put a numbered sign on your car, and direct you to a numbered parking spot. Then someone would come out, take payment, and deliver your order. There were 20-25 cars picking up their orders when I came in, and a long line waiting for numbers and parking spots by the time we left. I was just this morning talking to my friend in New Jersey. She described almost the exact same system at her local cannabis dispensary. Apparently home delivery is illegal there. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/283 "2020-04-03T20:13:39Z")
One thing I forgot to mention about my grocery shopping trip yesterday was the new plastic shields at the checkout. But … only a couple feet wide next to the scales. Lot of just plain old air on either side. Not really a significant barrier between the clerk and us. And the baggers don’t get even a token shield. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/284 "2020-04-03T20:34:26Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > One thing I forgot to mention about my grocery shopping trip yesterday was the new plastic shields at the checkout. > > But … only a couple feet wide next to the scales. Lot of just plain old air on either side. Not really a significant barrier between the clerk and us. And the baggers don’t get even a token shield. Sneeze guard? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/285 "2020-04-03T21:31:50Z")
Sneeze and cough guard. There’s no practical way to have the cashier do her job (which in many places also includes bagging) completely protected from the customers, but like ill-fitting home-made face masks, it provides \*some \*protection. It does prevent sneezes, coughs, and speaking from going immediately between people. Because the stuff doesn’t float for long, the idea (as I understand it) or the hope is that by the virus-laden droplets made it around the barrier they’ve dropped low enough so as to be unlikely to be inhaled by one of the people on the other side of the barrier. It keeps the customer from directly sneezing/coughing on the cashier and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/286 "2020-04-03T21:38:17Z")
Trader Joe’s has a rule that they will bag your stuff but only in their paper bags (at no cost) or you can bag your own stuff in your own bags. In short, they want to avoid touching customer stuff as much as possible. (And when I use a credit card, they never touch that either.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/287 "2020-04-03T22:31:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trader Joe’s has a rule that they will bag your stuff but only in their paper bags (at no cost) or you can bag your own stuff in your own bags. In short, they want to avoid touching customer stuff as much as possible. (And when I use a credit card, they never touch that either.) All markets are doing the same thing from what I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/288 "2020-04-03T22:41:02Z")
Winco here now has the shields, plus gates to herd traffic flow (problem for a customer like DH who is still recovering from a broken leg and can’t hike the perimeter of the store to get to items near the registers). Since you bag your own there, bringing a reusable was not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/289 "2020-04-03T23:21:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trader Joe’s has a rule that they will bag your stuff but only in their paper bags (at no cost) or you can bag your own stuff in your own bags. In short, they want to avoid touching customer stuff as much as possible. (And when I use a credit card, they never touch that either.) I haven’t personally confirmed, but I am told that the Trader Joe’s in the San Francisco Bay area don’t allow you to bring your own bags into the store. A friend of mine reported that her TJ’s ran out of paper bags and was giving away free reusable cloth bags. Yes, that would really suck if I rode a bus to TJ’s for half an hour carrying my bags with me only to be turned away at the door. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/290 "2020-04-04T00:07:40Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Sneeze guard? My grocery shop (national chain) doesn’t have sneeze guards, they have signs asking the customers to unload and wait at the far end of the conveyer. So that you crowd with all the people pushing past, instead of crowding the cashier. Although the numbers are so low in Australia that the risk is low, this irritates me out of all proportion to the risk, because 1. Everybody else is making a real effort to enable social distancing, including laws for the rest of us, and 2. They narrow the aisles with floor displays to crowd people up and slow them down in order to increase impulse buying. This irritates me even at the best of times. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/291 "2020-04-04T01:35:44Z")
> [@C3](#): > > I don’t understand this. If they’re dumping milk because it’s not being distributed to schools, etc., why are the plants at capacity? How do the plants function normally, when all of that milk has to be distributed to the schools, etc.? The news here said a big part of it is because restaurants and school lunches are big users of cheese and since they are closed… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/292 "2020-04-04T07:50:47Z")
You can warehouse cheese for quite some time. Unless, of course, the warehouses are full, but in that case they should send it to food banks and food pantries which are seeing an enormous jump in demand. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/293 "2020-04-04T20:33:11Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > You can’t store fluid milk for more than a few days as it quickly spoils. What!? Maybe if you didn’t reach towards the back to get a newer container. I don’t buy ordinary pasteurized milk anymore, but when I did I always found it would stay good, even if opened, until the printed sell-by date, even if it was ten days or two weeks in the future. These days we use so little milk that we have to buy UHT pasteurized milk (i.e. Fa!r Life), and this too lasts until the printed sell-by date even if it’s two months in the future. I’m usually surprised by how spot-on the sell-by dates usually are. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/294 "2020-04-05T13:01:30Z")
no issues finding food at Lidl today. I think it’s best to go as early as possible to get what you need. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/295 "2020-04-05T15:22:19Z")
I meant to add people are also buying up all napkins and paper towels and tissues. I guess they are getting desperate. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/296 "2020-04-05T15:38:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > You can warehouse cheese for quite some time. Unless, of course, the warehouses are full, but in that case they should send it to food banks and food pantries which are seeing an enormous jump in demand. You can definitely warehouse cheese for quite some time. That’s how the whole “government cheese” thing came from. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government\_cheese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese) ---
**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 5, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/297 "2020-04-05T16:10:45Z")
Well Walmart cancelled my online pickup order again, and once again cleared my cart of groceries. Guess they want people to actually go in to the store, so guess that’s what I’m gonna do. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/298 "2020-04-05T21:09:44Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > You can definitely warehouse cheese for quite some time. That’s how the whole “government cheese” thing came from. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government\_cheese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese) Keb Mo video; Government cheese [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7PWH8NXxEc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7PWH8NXxEc) ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/299 "2020-04-08T23:44:49Z")
Kroger, 4-8, 3:30 PM. Everything looked a lot better than my last trip, nearly 2 weeks ago. Kroger has installed sneeze guards at the checkouts and has instituted a one-way traffic pattern. In one entrance, out the other but nobody is caring whether you are going one way or the other inside the store. No sanitizing wipes in the cart area. I took my own. Beef, chicken, TP and paper towels available. Two things I looked for and were unavailable were 392 batteries to fit my digital thermometer and hand sanitizer. About 25-30% percent of customers were wearing some type of face mask. Saw many people with face masks pulled down off the face, around their neck. Forgot to check for Lysol type cleaners, I’m pretty well set for that. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294/300 "2020-04-08T23:51:58Z")
Trader Joe’s actually had TP in stock today, although strangely it was individual rolls instead of their usual 12-packs. I wonder if that got a new supplier during all this. I picked up 4 rolls; I wanted to leave some for other shoppers and that should be enough to last me a few weeks. Interestingly they had no spaghetti, but tons of linguini. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/went-to-costco-this-morning-was-a-little-bit-scary/849294.md?page=16)