caretaker

I have no problem purchasing and packing my own groceries, and feel genuinely sorry for those unable to perform that task.

Rete

That is no longer the case here in the south of the US as we must maintain 6 feet of separation. This means that until the person in front of you has used the cash to pay for their purchase, you can't put your groceries on the conveyor belt. I leave my reusable bags in the trunk of my car so I always have them with me when I go to the store. No, the cashier cannot pack those bags but I can and I do. I just let the groceries pile up and tell the cashier I have bags with me. If I hold up the line, so be it. I've paid for the use of the conveyor belt, etc. and am entitled to whatever time it takes to bag my groceries and leave the shop.

Former Lancastrian

Now if there are others who live in a far away galaxy looking down at earth at us humans and using grocery store shoppers as a benchmark for intelligent life and if they wish to interact with them then we are screwed and they will not visit us
Directional arrows on the floor telling you which way to go well you be the judge of that to see if humans understand this concept yet they can manage this when driving a car most of the time unless pissed out of their mind.
Those stores which have very wide aisles well if no floor marking then here is a novel idea think of the aisle as a road and push your cart up and down the aisle in the same way you would drive you car and absolutely no zig zagging across the aisles.
DO NOT under any circumstances leave your cart on an angle unattended in the middle of the aisle blocking traffic.
While waiting in line at the checkout NOW would be an appropriate time to get out your bank card/ coupons or loyalty card NOT when the cashier has totalled your purchases. If you have your own bags again think which items should go in each bag before you get to the cashier not after you have paid and then start swapping and changing bags after you have paid.
Yes I know less than 15 items is only a suggestion and if you have stuffed your cart with at least 50 items you should be OK and nobody will notice or say something. If doing self checkout then the barcode looks something like a Newcastle United shirt and you hold it under the scanner.
If you have suddenly forgotten something after you have loaded your stuff onto the conveyer belt NO it is not OK for you to send your 6 year old to go and get it as 6 year olds are easily distracted or have no idea where to look for organic baked beans. Stores display signs for a reason so sometimes it is advantageous to read them. If the sign says debit card payments only NO credit cards then that is a useful sign to read and not to stand in that line if paying by VISA. Funny how these types of shoppers read a price label and when scanned in and it doesn't match point it out immediately to the cashier but rarely say sorry I didn't see the sign.
Oh well off to the grocery store and see what delights are in store for me today.

spouse of scouse

Here the checkout operator packs them for you as they scan. They have four bag holders on a base that turns around, I never end up with anything squished and they put all cold/frozen food in my insulated bags. I'm quite happy with the arrangement.

BristolUK

I've never had anyone feel sorry for me with the difficulty involved in shopping the quantity of groceries for four or five adults, so thank you.


Lovely isn't it. That's exactly how it was for me before Covid and now it's not, for the reasons stated, albeit the circumstances are clearly not the same everywhere or for every individual.

Danny B

We use the Costco shopping approach wherever & whenever we go shopping. We neatly pile all the items we bought into the trolley and then in our car boot we have those collapsable plastic boxes that we put everything into. No bags needed.

scrubbedexpat091

Self bagging seemed weird to me at first when I moved to BC, but then became the norm after a couple trips, and now in California self bagging is common with the self checkouts now.

The future, customers doing more and more work so the stores don't have to.

Soon I will get a wagon though, so won't need to use bags anymore.

Teaandtoday5

I agree with whoever said they don’t remember uk supermarkets ever packing for you, and whoever said they like it done their way. The only packers I ever saw were collecting for rugby club/scouts/whatever and I donated but told them not to touch my stuff! This thread reminds me of

Although I wish I could find a video link

old.sparkles

I can do that and maintain separation. Not much cash being used here, and they moved the paypoint / receipt printer to the very end of the checkout so the person in front is usually at that end. Customer takes their own receipt from the printer without the checkout operator touching it.

Still, I am very aware that I am lucky in that COVID hasn't really impacted the state, nor much of Australia outside of Victoria.

scilly

That is also the case at the Safeway/Sobeys that we use, and actually at every other grocery store that we have used in BC for at least the last 10 or so years.

The only difference from the above quote is they only have 1 stand so only pack one bag at a time, so it is better for the customer to organise their groceries as they put them on to the conveyor. I have seen a good cashier picking out items as they come to her so that, eg, she leaves the eggs behind rather than putting them at the bottom of the bag.

BristolUK

We all have different experiences. The main shoppers in our house, MIL and me think that staff at Superstores are mostly good at packing, one Sobeys store is average with one or two very good but our favourite Sobeys (because it's next to the liquor store ) every one of them is brilliant. We joke that the one or two have been 'promoted' to that store if we don't see them again.

Pulaski

I use self scan for grocery shopping under all occasions that that is an option - so pretty much all the time. I was doing that anyway prior to March 2020, and I have only found the self-scans closed twice in the past 7 months. .... The grocery in question only uses a post-scan conveyor belt as the assistant lifts items directly out of the trolley which they have immediately to their right - they pick up each item, scan it, then place it on the conveyor to their left. The first time (that the self-scan was closed) I told the checkout assistant I would bag and he let me take care of it. The second time, a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping very late at night, a second assistant came up and started bagging things, which caught me by surprise, and so I just stepped back, good SD'ing and let them get on with it. .... If the same happens again I will tell them that I would prefer to bag things myself.

BristolUK

6 bags of Temptations, pack of 24 Friskies, pack of 24 Whiskas and an 8 kilo bucket of cat litter.
3 packs of cheese, 2 bags shredded cheese, 2 cartons of milk, one of cream, dozen eggs, 2 tubs Philly cream cheese
1L of ketchup, 2 tins salmon, 2 tins soup, 2 tins ham, 2 tins bacon spam (it's very nice, honest) 4 tins sardines
12 x 2L bottles of soft drinks, 2.6L orange juice, 3 packs Ciabatta buns, 2 tubes of Pringles,
Celery bunch, 2 lbs onions, 10lb bag of spuds, 4 packs crackers/cookies, 4 packs muffin mix
Large tub dishwasher tablets, couple aerosol cans, large bottle restoralax ....

Unload that lot from the cart and bag it all up in your reusables. Fortunately the instacart shopper shopped it instead..

(Meat, fish, Fruit and veg done separately)