No baskets at Stop & Shop
that's not good...I don't go there often and don't do large trips there usually....but with my disability, the big carts are hard for me. its hard to reach in and get small items. If a store doesn't have 'granny carts' I usually throw a hand basket in the cart to put the small items in so I can reach!
I've used my bag to shop with, but that makes it harder to juggle the check out if there are more than a few items. I need 1 set of bags to shop with and 1 to check out with.
a gym bag actually works good in place of a hand basket..sling it over your shoulder and keep your hands free
Yeah I ended up using my reusable bag as a de facto basket, but I don't think this is a sustainable practice. Stores in general disallow, or at the very least frown upon, putting unpaid-for stuff in a bag, for obvious reasons. It's considered concealment of merchandise and I think that in itself might even technically be a misdemeanor.
I think the answer is more more smaller carts.
I hate that store, even when I lived two blocks from it. I would go there sometimes, but always begrudgingly.
I shop there all the time. I use one of the scanners to scan my items and bag them in the aisle as I shop. Fast and easy.
I've always been taught that is not shoplifting or any crime related to shop lifting until you pass the check out and head out the door....
i've been using my bag to shop with for a long time now, never had an issue. Most stores only have huge baskets that make it hard to navigate crowds when I am only getting a few things...then there are the clearly fake service dogs IN the shopping carts (that is illegal/against health code...SDs must be on the floor, carried by the handler, or in their own personal stroller/carrier, that cannot be in a store cart....the kids riding in the carts with their nasty shoes and pants they have been rolling all over the floor in...one day i saw kid standing in a hand basket..and the mother ignoring him....too bad he didn't break his leg so mom could blame Target and get a pay day...
i realize for generations that people were taught to sneeze/cough into their hands (and not wash)....but I figured out long ago, that was disgusting because you just end up smearing the residue on what ever you touch...but even with covid, people still have bad hygiene...and the not washing hands after using the bathroom...even if there was no covid, cleaning carts is a hassle when I only need a few things.
I actually can't carry a hand basket..its too painful, but I have bags I can throw over my shoulder.
I stopped using the scan and go....it kept flagging me to have my order checked ...then the cashier just stood there with her mouth hanging open then waddled away, another time the cashier entered my order wrong....it became a major hassle...I don't like using the phone because it uses battery and if there is no wifi/data...i have a low data plan.
Some of the "Harmon Face Value" stores have a good cart.....the frame fits 2 hand baskets...1 on top/1 on bottom...so you have a smaller cart to push.
EDITED: They are talking about carry baskets. I noticed at the Millburn Shoprite yesterday that there was a prominent sign as on was exiting the store to the effect of "Baskets MUST REMAIN IN THE STORE"
A little less draconian than Stop and Shop a store I never got good vibes from but that part if just me. lol
drummerboy said:
what's a hand cart?
it’s a basket with wheels and a long handle so you can pull it on the floor. I’ve only seen them at shop rite.
the hand baskets that you carry by hand. the wheeled ones are a different type, not hand baskets since they are wheeled.
You can lift them or wheel them around the store. Some people call them a hand cart, although my interpretation of a “hand cart” is what some people call a hand truck. And a shopping cart could mean something else to someone else.
Jaytee said:
drummerboy said:
what's a hand cart?
it’s a basket with wheels and a long handle so you can pull it on the floor. I’ve only seen them at shop rite.
Whole Foods has them
Since this issue came about this month, I have had cashiers stand by the registers, arms across chests, , watching me bagging my groceries. I am a senior, so while I fill my bags, slowly, the customer next in line gets frustrated and the frustration works it’s way back on down the line.
Why can’t supermarkets use the system Costco uses? Long before bags became the issue, I have shopped — bag less— there, efficiently. Most often, staff takes your stuff out of your shopping cart and onto the checkout counter. At the other end, staff piles your purchases back into your shipping cart. You then schlepp your cart out the door, proof of purchase in hand. Your job then is to take all the time you need to put the stuff in your car.
As I typed this response — knowing it wouldn’t be a revelation as most people shop at Costco — I think I answered my own question! STAFF which make the wheels turn! Before the pandemic, Costco clerks were earning $17 an hour.
mtierney said:
Since this issue came about this month, I have had cashiers stand by the registers, arms across chests, , watching me bagging my groceries. I am a senior, so while I fill my bags, slowly, the customer next in line gets frustrated and the frustration works it’s way back on down the line.
Why can’t supermarkets use the system Costco uses?
I suspect it’s because supermarkets don’t have the scale and revenue that Costco does. Costco customers spend average $114 per trip I just read. Guessing Stop & shop is more like $20-30. Economics of the Costco system wouldn’t work at SS.
sac said:
Jaytee said:
drummerboy said:
what's a hand cart?
it’s a basket with wheels and a long handle so you can pull it on the floor. I’ve only seen them at shop rite.
Whole Foods has them
yup
Smedley said:
mtierney said:
Since this issue came about this month, I have had cashiers stand by the registers, arms across chests, , watching me bagging my groceries. I am a senior, so while I fill my bags, slowly, the customer next in line gets frustrated and the frustration works it’s way back on down the line.
Why can’t supermarkets use the system Costco uses?
I suspect it’s because supermarkets don’t have the scale and revenue that Costco does. Costco customers spend average $114 per trip I just read. Guessing Stop & shop is more like $20-30. Economics of the Costco system wouldn’t work at SS.
Aldi's does it that way and it seems to work for them. Your items just end up back in the cart while checking out, you wheel your cart over to the bagging area at the front of the store, and you fill your bags.
mtierney, are you saying they don't bag your groceries at all, even if you're not at the self checkouts?
mtierney said:
Since this issue came about this month, I have had cashiers stand by the registers, arms across chests, , watching me bagging my groceries. I am a senior, so while I fill my bags, slowly, the customer next in line gets frustrated and the frustration works it’s way back on down the line.
Why can’t supermarkets use the system Costco uses? Long before bags became the issue, I have shopped — bag less— there, efficiently. Most often, staff takes your stuff out of your shopping cart and onto the checkout counter. At the other end, staff piles your purchases back into your shipping cart. You then schlepp your cart out the door, proof of purchase in hand. Your job then is to take all the time you need to put the stuff in your car.
As I typed this response — knowing it wouldn’t be a revelation as most people shop at Costco — I think I answered my own question! STAFF which make the wheels turn! Before the pandemic, Costco clerks were earning $17 an hour.
Aldi never supplied bags. If you wanted one you bought it or brought your own. Most shopped without bags. Consequently they needed a system which is very fast.
The cashier station placed at the very end of the conveyor belt where there is a shopping cart reachable by the cashier. You put your food on the conveyor, the cashier scans it and quickly places it into that cart. You then take that cart whereupon your cart is then moved to be the cashiers end of line cart.
If you checkout without a cart the cashier still puts your items into the end of line cashiers cart. You then take your items out of that cart to hand carry out.
RTrent said:
mtierney said:
Since this issue came about this month, I have had cashiers stand by the registers, arms across chests, , watching me bagging my groceries. I am a senior, so while I fill my bags, slowly, the customer next in line gets frustrated and the frustration works it’s way back on down the line.
Why can’t supermarkets use the system Costco uses? Long before bags became the issue, I have shopped — bag less— there, efficiently. Most often, staff takes your stuff out of your shopping cart and onto the checkout counter. At the other end, staff piles your purchases back into your shipping cart. You then schlepp your cart out the door, proof of purchase in hand. Your job then is to take all the time you need to put the stuff in your car.
As I typed this response — knowing it wouldn’t be a revelation as most people shop at Costco — I think I answered my own question! STAFF which make the wheels turn! Before the pandemic, Costco clerks were earning $17 an hour.
Aldi never supplied bags. If you wanted one you bought it or brought your own. Most shopped without bags. Consequently they needed a system which is very fast.
The cashier station placed at the very end of the conveyor belt where there is a shopping cart reachable by the cashier. You put your food on the conveyor, the cashier scans it and quickly places it into that cart. You then take that cart whereupon your cart is then moved to be the cashiers end of line cart.
If you checkout without a cart the cashier still puts your items into the end of line cashiers cart. You then take your items out of that cart to hand carry out.
jinx!
drummerboy said:
Aldi's does it that way and it seems to work for them. Your items just end up back in the cart while checking out, you wheel your cart over to the bagging area at the front of the store, and you fill your bags.
mtierney, are you saying they don't bag your groceries at all, even if you're not at the self checkouts?
Yup.
I also like Aldi’s system. At least, you can take the time at the bagging area, without annoying other shoppers.Often, I just go straight to my car and transfer purchases directly into my car.
That reminds me: I totally forgot my bags once when I went to Stop & Shop, but it was a big shopping day, and I had a lot in my cart. I remembered I had a cloth trunk organizer in the back of my car (my full bags go in it so they don't fall over). I ran out and got the organizer, after checkout, put the light groceries in the organizer in my cart, and then lifted the organizer back into my trunk from the cart (and put the heavy stuff in after).
I probably could have just put the paid-for groceries unbagged in the cart without the organizer, but I worried it would look like they weren't paid for.
What makes me crazy at the Stop & Shop self-checkout are the people who scan their groceries THEN bag them instead of bagging as they scan. It doubles the amount of time they spend at the register.
When I go through a register with a cashier, I always try to put the heaviest items on the conveyor belt first so I can easily bag after they are scanned.
I'm a bit of a control freak so I've always preferred to bag my own groceries, but I wish S&S had enough staff to help those who want/need it.
EBennett said:
... I'm a bit of a control freak so I've always preferred to bag my own groceries...
Me too.
I know where the groceries are going once I get home, so I want to organize my bags by location, AND ensure the cold stuff is together in the thermal bag, AND protect anything I don't want squished (I have a small bag I use just for berries/bananas).
When using a cashier, I also put the heavy stuff first so the conveyor belt doesn't send them down after things that might get squished at the end of the belt...
EBennett said:
What makes me crazy at the Stop & Shop self-checkout are the people who scan their groceries THEN bag them instead of bagging as they scan. It doubles the amount of time they spend at the register.
When I go through a register with a cashier, I always try to put the heaviest items on the conveyor belt first so I can easily bag after they are scanned.
I'm a bit of a control freak so I've always preferred to bag my own groceries, but I wish S&S had enough staff to help those who want/need it.
For some reason it doesn't work for the Stop and Shop weight system to recognize that you are using your personal bags to put your purchases in despite that you have told them how many of your bags will be used. I've given up and either just toss purchases into my cart and repack when I get to the car, or if there are few waiting to use the sefk checkout sort as I fill my reusable bags.
with some shopping bags it can take longer to bag as you scan. I purposely got mostly the kind with the rectangle bottom that somewhat stand up on their own. But I also have some smaller canvas bags specifically for heavy/glass items. there is no way to keep those bags open...so to stop and pick up the bag each time takes longer than scanning all the items and then only holding the bags open once.
I took a lap around the front end today looking for one, to no avail. Asked the nice lady by the self-checkout and she said after the single-use bag ban, some people would decide use the basket as their bag on the way out of the store rather than buy a reusable bag, and just plop it in their trunk and never return it. She said at this time S&S doesn't plan to order more baskets.
As Seinfeld said about people: they're the worst.