Another shopping bag vent

[LBIJim]

I prefer to do my own bagging and the cashiers are usually grateful for it. Most markets here rarely have a separate person to bag.

The other night I was at a Shop Rite which I rarely visit. Apparently the policy there is for the cashier to bag as she scans. I told her her that I'd bag, but she started to bag the items. She appeared in her late 30s and looked tough as nails so I didn't dare argue.

She did an amazingly great job. I stocked up on lots of canned goods during Shop Rite's "can-can" sale. She put a paper bag inside the plastic one, then laid the cans down on their sides inside the bag. Several rows high of cans. They all stayed nice and neat and didn't start wobbling around. I never would have thought of that idea.

In general I keep like items together: produce, meat, frozen, non-food, etc so that like similar items are bagged together.

I'm also anal that my cart has to be neat and tidy....I cringe when I see people with products just dumped in any which way. 12 packs of soda on top of boxes of Yodels

Plastic market bags are re-used in various small trash/garbage cans in the kitchen are other areas of the house.

Jim

 

[mom22belles]

In the city I live in there is a 5 cent bag tax. So for each of those bags you would be paying 5 cents

 

[cm8]

In the city I live in there is a 5 cent bag tax. So for each of those bags you would be paying 5 cents

, that is just plain crazy in my opinion.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I can see both sides of it, it may be excessive bag use, but a lot of times people are going to complain that their bags are too heavy or full.

Not long ago I was at Walmart, and I bought a 12 pack of Sierra Mist, and the cashier was like "you want that in a bag", I was like "no, that's alright". She insisted on putting it in a bag however. (I found that a bit strange). So I was like fine, put it in a bag.

When I got home and started carrying stuff in, that bag ripped and I dropped the 12 pack. Thankfully it didn't bust any of the cans.

 

[mhsjax]

I prefer to do my own bagging and the cashiers are usually grateful for it. Most markets here rarely have a separate person to bag.

The other night I was at a Shop Rite which I rarely visit. Apparently the policy there is for the cashier to bag as she scans. I told her her that I'd bag, but she started to bag the items. She appeared in her late 30s and looked tough as nails so I didn't dare argue.

She did an amazingly great job. I stocked up on lots of canned goods during Shop Rite's "can-can" sale. She put a paper bag inside the plastic one, then laid the cans down on their sides inside the bag. Several rows high of cans. They all stayed nice and neat and didn't start wobbling around. I never would have thought of that idea.

In general I keep like items together: produce, meat, frozen, non-food, etc so that like similar items are bagged together.

I'm also anal that my cart has to be neat and tidy....I cringe when I see people with products just dumped in any which way. 12 packs of soda on top of boxes of Yodels

Plastic market bags are re-used in various small trash/garbage cans in the kitchen are other areas of the house.

Jim

Were I shop, GO PUBLIX> they always have separate baggers and they always take your stuff out to your car for you.

I am also weird about things being put in my car a certain way. Anything that is delicate I grab and put up front with me. My crazy DD will actually take them and buckle then in, in the back seat. She is a strange child, she tells me safety first for bread and eggs. lol

 

[mom22belles]

, that is just plain crazy in my opinion.

You only pay if you use the stores bags ( you are buying them). If you bring your own there is no charge.

 

[sbell111]

Some of it is standard "grocery packing" commonalities. Frozen items separate from produce, meat packaged separately, make-up and non-food items in different bags than food items, etc.

Some of it will depend on how you put things on the belt to be checked. If you put all of the frozen stuff together, then it should have all gone in one bag. But if you had the ice cream and then a bunch of other stuff, then the pizza rolls, then some other things, then the TV dinners, then they're likely to go in separate bags.

Checkers "bag as they go" most of the time, which means if the internal store rule is "frozen gets it's own bag", then when the first frozen item hits the checker, they put it in a bag. If the bread and make-up are next, then each of them get their own bag. Then another frozen item gets its own bag, etc. No one is usually looking down the belt to see if there are other items for the same bag.

A good way to help the checker need fewer bags is to group your stuff on the belt: all frozen stuff together, all produce, all non-food, etc. That way, at least, you can tell the checker, "Can you put all the frozen stuff in the same bag?" and it will seem logical.

I'm sure that this is what happened. While a 'bagger' might have the ability to sort stuff into it's proper bag, a checker bagging groceries as she goes does not easily have that option.