Who's fed up with Starbucks?

<p>Much that I like very much in NJ but the weirdness around selling alcohol (or rather, NOT selling alcohol) is really, really annoying. I have a sense it is all about payoffs, under the table shenanigans, the mob, the cops, etc. and so will probably not change.</p>

<p>Interesteddad, sort of biscuit fanatics in our house. I like a recipe with buttermilk, unsalted butter, no rolling but using a cookie cutter, and then freeze the uncooked biscuits on a cookie tray, then pop it out of the freezer whenever Biscuit Fever hits and straight into a very hot 450 oven – 12 minutes later Nirvana! </p>

<p>My family applauds and declares me a genius when I do this on a weeknight with something mundane from the crock pot. We like good jam with 'em, even at dinner.</p>

<p>That’s funny, Sewhappy, because we never had any problems with the alcohol selling in NJ (prior to my TJs issue!) but my family members who moved to Pennsylvania are totally mystified by the rules of what kind of alcohol can be sold where.</p>

<p>interesteddad-- I dont know if the Tim Hortons in the States have their breakfast biscuits but they do here in Canada. They are actually quite good with egg and sausage or ham or bacon. My W loves the blueberry scones we can get at Second Cup.
The grocery store we go to has baggers but they are all developmentally handicapped. I love it because they are so friendly and work twice as hard as anyone else in the store. It is really nice to see them out working and feeling very proud of themselves, which they should be. I know the manager and he always has 4 baggers and they work on average of 20 hours a week for $11/hr and if they work past 8pm he pays for their taxi home. What I dont like is that unless you bring in your own bags they charge you $.05 per bag. In all honestly these employees are probably the main I still go there.</p>

<p>^ lol, percussiondad - I would always go to a grocery where we used to live where the baggers were all developmental disabled. Really dear people and it was obvious their jobs meant the world to them.</p>

<p>^that’s the situation at the Shop Rite I go to.</p>

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<p>Having a bagger is probably useful for crowded stores, but it doesn’t make sense for a business to contribute to “reducing unemployment” by eating up the cost of baggers if it doesn’t make productive sense. In your case baggers were probably justified though.</p>

<p>Virginia has a combination of blue laws and what can and can’t be bought in the grocery/convenience stores. Beer and wine can be bought at the grocery/convenience stores from 6am-12midnight. Spirits can be bought at state run ABC stores with the same hourly restrictions (but they’re not open that much), and very restricted hours on Sunday. Unlit recently there were no Sunday hours. We lived in PA for several years and it was odd not to be able to pick up a case of beer at the grocery. Again, blue laws, but much different. The first time I was in a state where you could buy milk, diapers, and vodka all in the same store I was a little bit disconcerted.</p>

<p>"This was new to us and very common in NJ and I hate to think how many people go unemployed by making one person both scan and pack, "
-Unfortunately when businesses purposely decides to be inefficient, this business does not survive. When business does not survive, then all employees loose their jobs, When all businesses purposely decide to be inefficient, unemployment in the country will rise significantly. When businesses are forced to be inefficient, unemployment is significantly up. When this happens, the economy is in recession/depression, the standard of living is going down, many families net worth is down. The are literally thousands if not more examples of this. The economy improves and standard of living goes up only whith improvements in productivity.</p>

<p>MiamiDap, I agree with you for the most part but I don’t really think sheer “productivity” is the answer. I do think customer focus matters hugely for businesses to survive. Look at Apple. Or Starbucks. Or Nordstrom. We kvetch at Starbucks but let’s face it, the company boomed because they strive to give their customers a good ** experience **.</p>

<p>Yes, giving the customer a good experience is part of productivity. Productivity isn’t lifeless. :)</p>

<p>“good experience” includes “good price” at the very top. If price needs to cover 2 wages instead of one, how is the price would be better at inefficiently operating store. I can bag myself, which I do at Costco. I will go to Costco before I stop at any other store. They are incredible, much cheaper and much higher quality of products, at least the ones on my list. I would be very glad to continue bagging, I love their idea not to use bags at all, another saving and environmentally correct, although I am not into that, I am for re-using containers as a great alternative.</p>

<p>I still don’t like NOT bagging my own groceries like I did in the UK. I knew my bread would not be squashed, my eggs would be safe and I always packed all my dairy/cold items together. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to separate cooked and uncooked meat as they have been put together - basic food hygiene! It’s so much faster and more efficient and our conveyor belts are so much longer that you can start unpacking and getting ready to pay at the other end. We even have folks on roller skates at the checkouts that can scoot across the store to get you anything you may have forgotten or replace that split bag of sugar! Bliss :)</p>

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Our Costco always has a ‘bagger’ at every register and use the boxes they provide. Our Wegman’s does not use baggers unless there’re very busy. Then managers and ‘helping hands’ (cart guys) fill in until the rush is gone. I take my own bags. I guess this must be regional. I wonder if my prices are higher at my local Costco because they are covering two wages instead of one?</p>

<p>Does anyone else have grocery stores that not only bag, but push the cart out to your car and load your bags? In NW Indiana it happens at all the markets.You really can’t opt out of it, and you aren’t allowed to tip them. I just feel a little uncomfortable, since I am perfectly capable of pushing a cart to my car.</p>

<p>Our grocery stores will do it for you if you ask. They don’t do it by default.</p>

<p>I like Starbucks coffee - the way I make it. They make it too strong for my tastes. I do love their Caramel Macchiato - hot or cold. </p>

<p>The more a coffee is roasted, the less caffeine it has so strong tasting coffee does not mean it packs more punch. Drip brew also has more caffeine than espresso.</p>

<p>T.I.P: To insure prompt service.</p>

<p>Asked a couple of kids I know who work at Starbucks. They said I could easily just go through this thread and mark out the good tippers vs. the bad tippers by what they had to say about their local starbucks experience.</p>

<p>They dont really pay that well there, and with all the new electronic ways to pay, the kids appreciate the people who toss in a buck or some change, and they remember them and what they drink.</p>

<p>You kind of get to create your own customer service experience in those kinds of places, not unlike any place you frequent.</p>

<p>Where we live, they not only bag your groceries, they load them into your car at the better places, and that’s a tip thing, too. Sometimes I actually avoid those stores when I just want a thing or two.</p>

<p>I am always annoyed when I’m “expected” to bag my groceries. I feel that as the person paying the bill I have the responsibility to watch the screen for accuracy. If I am bagging I can’t keep tabs on the tab. I generally shop at independent groceries however that provide a higher level of service than the big chains. I know the prices may be higher – for the fresh items the quality is so much better.</p>

<p>I’m weird, in that I prefer to bag my own groceries. In high school, I worked as a grocery store cashier (in NJ, speaking of the Garden State!) and we were very well trained. I haven’t found many cashiers, anywhere, who can bag as well as I can. The training provided by most grocery chains these days is minimal, Wegmans excepted.</p>

<p>When my twins were babies, I realized getting through the store, picking items from the list, and writing a check were about all I could accomplish. So I quit the places that didn’t bag, that made me load to a belt. </p>

<p>We need more jobs in this country. Though I can certainly bag my own now, and do when picking up a few items with my bike bag, would prefer to not. Even if I’m paying a few cents more for a disabled person or the new immigrant with barely functional English, I’d prefer those folks have jobs, and that I can stand there fiddling with my card or check, chatting with the cashier for a minute or two in peace. I also avoid self scan lines for the same reason, as I want stores to keep folks employed.</p>