<p>Deb922 and alwaysamon—I got back from the States 2 hours ago with my DD coffee in hand. It was also on sale for $5 a pound so I bought 10 pounds of the toasted almond. Already had some and it was worth it. I declared it at customs and all they did was laugh and tell me that if I made a 5 hour drive for coffee they would let me go. They didn’t even ask about my D’s friend that also came back. Well worth the trip lol😃</p>
<p>I pay enough for groceries that there is no way I will bag them, too. Sometimes my market doesn’t have a bagger at every checkout (they move them around) I always make sure to tell the person behind me in line that I will be a long time because the cashier is going to have to bag them, too.</p>
<p>Yay for you, percussiondad! Enjoy! </p>
<p>Having baggers at grocery stores may be one of those regional things. It doesn’t happen everywhere.</p>
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<p>Exactly. It makes the lines go faster, i.e., improves the productivity of the checkers (aka retail clerks). And the best part is that us customers can get out faster. Win-win.</p>
<p>poetgrl – that’s a good point about tipping, and if I came to the same Starbucks every morning and got the same complicated drink every morning and they handled my order with a pleasant attitude and prompt service, yes I would tip – probably almost every day. But what if they give bad service then you’re disgruntled – then next time, do they spot you and give you even worse service? Shouldn’t it start with at least acceptable service on their part as kind of a baseline?</p>
<p>Regarding the baggers in grocery stores, I think of “cost” as not just the dollar amount I pay, but also should factor in the “cost” of my time and energy and attention. Those are not infinite resources and they are not free of cost. If I take more time at the grocery store, arrive home more tired . . . then my personal productivity suffers. There is always a cost. I don’t think grocery stores are doing me any sort of favor by having me bag my food to save me from cost. </p>
<p>If I had all the time in the world, I’d probably spend much more time hunting through coupons and driving to the stores that don’t bag but give me the cheapest possible food. But my time is finite at this point in life. So when I have to bag, it “costs” me.</p>
<p>^absolutely 100% agree – there’s a trade off with time and money – you spend time to save money; and you spend money to save time. </p>
<p>If anyone knows how to save time AND money at the same time, PM me!</p>
<p>SH–I’m surprised you’ve run into so many stores in NJ that expect you to bag. A number of stores I frequent don’t have baggers, but bagging is part of checking out–it’s been that way for my entire life in NJ. When I do go to a stores with separate baggers, that’s nice, but the default has always been the checker ringing up and bagging in one connected operation, in my experience. I don’t believe I know any stores where it’s expected I’ll bag, but I often do because I like the way i’d arrange things better.</p>
<p>The cooperative grocery chain that I have been shopping at for thirty + years used to require shoppers to haul milk bottles, and weigh and mark their produce/ bulk items.
It’s nice they no longer require us to do that. ( you do mark your bulk but dont have to weigh it - however they do have a scale which will print out UPC codes for your deli items) They also bag groceries as does the grocery store I usually frequent. About half the time the clerk will bag it, and the other half another clerk or a box girl will.
The employees do a much better job at bagging than I do- it’s easier just to let them do it.
:)</p>
<p>There aren’t any stores where I shop, in Maryland, in which the shoppers bag either. There are some that have so few check out clerks that you’re forced to do self checkout at times.</p>
<p>I often bag my own groceries, in bags that I bring. I save time, and my stuff isn’t squashed. Re Starbucks: no I’m not tired of it, though I don’t go often. But, a few years back I spent most of a summer in a European city where shopkeepers and people on the street were the rudest and most morose people I’ve ever seen. We went to Starbucks often for two reasons: 1. smiling employees and 2. ice in the drinks!</p>
<p>The French are apparently fed up with themselves.^</p>
<p>[Paris</a> Transport Board Launches Campaign To End Rudeness | Gadling.com](<a href=“http://www.gadling.com/2012/07/29/paris-transport-board-launches-campaign-to-end-rudeness/]Paris”>Paris Transport Board Launches Campaign To End Rudeness - Gadling)</p>
<p>we have great service! I actually love their medium roast. I often will just go there with a book, order coffee, and just sit, read, and sip for an hour or two. very relaxing. the baristas are great too! if they mess up on an order, they typically let the “victim” have both! if you grab someone’s drink by accident and sip it (the one that’s a five minute walk away has this problem quite often because it’s so popular) they make you a new drink and a new one for the original customer! I was doing a report and just stayed there for 4 hours after having given them $1.65 for a tall cup of coffee. no one said anything.</p>
<p>I absolutely was NOT talking about the French, or Paris! I KNEW I should have said so in my first post. I’ve spent plenty of time in Paris, and I would not make that generalization at all. Mon dieu, the French are so misunderstood… ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, EK, that’s really funny. Obviously, the people polled in the link have never been to… no, never mind, I won’t name the city.</p>
<p>We have the ability to weigh and print a label with UPC code for produce at Wegmans. I always do as it makes it faster for the cashiers and I know ahead how much I’m spending.</p>
<p>I am loving everyone’s posts here about bagging and Wegmans in response to my Starbucks rant. </p>
<p>Starbucks started out by valuing customer service (at least according to Howard Schultz in his book, Pour Your Heart Into It.) </p>
<p>Could it be that Starbucks and Wegmans were…separated at birth? Remember SPY magazine?</p>
<p>[Separated</a> at birth, Spy magazine: Do celebrity lookalikes still look alike? - Slate Magazine](<a href=“http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/03/still_separated_at_birth.html]Separated”>Separated at birth, Spy magazine: Do celebrity lookalikes still look alike?)</p>
<p>Could there be, in our future, a Starmans? A Wegbucks?</p>
<p>Stay tuned…</p>
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<p>Starbucks used to be one of those amazing companies that set the bar in employee pay, and they had a real reciprocol relationship with their original baristas, and I think the guy who wrote the book still has his romantic vision of what starbucks is, but it’s not what it is anymore, not to the employees. But… some of the customers have a good relationship with the baristas, know their names, what they are studying in school, know when one of them has a new baby, whatnot… it used to be, I think, it was like that more. I have a very good relationship with my local baristas.</p>
<p>The grocery stores pay very well. All of them. And the ones who don’t want the unions to come in still pay the same rate as the local unions… You start at 8 dollars as a starbucks barista. You start at 10 as even a checkout person or bagger at a grocery store.</p>
<p>It correlates.</p>
<p>eta: I think Schulz was in love with the idea of the italian coffee bar experience, but is now in love with a more McDonald’s model. It probably started when they put in the drive-thrus. Emphasis on speed. It’s not really about relationships at that point, but about price points and profits.</p>
<p>Also, Starbucks stock is valued right now at something like 36 times earnings and mcDonalds at something like 16x, which is a more stable valuation. So, now, the board is “protecting” it’s price. They used to give the employees a lot of stock and a lot of ownership, and now it’s kind of symbolic more than actual. This may explain how and why things have changed. JMO</p>
<p>“Our Costco always has a ‘bagger’ at every register and use the boxes they provide.”
-Our Costco does NOT have a bagger and we still use boxes they provide. We go to pick boxes at the special pile and put our stuff into boxes by ourselves. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Actually many other stores do not have baggars either. Thinking about it, only Dollar General bags the purchase, but they have one person who also runs register. I do not know any single store in our city that has a separate “baggar”, thank goodness.</p>
<p>I love, love, love Wegmans, but my one reservation is that the checker does the bagging. I find that so slow and tedious. I would prefer there be an aisle where the able-bodied (or those with teenaged sons!) can bag their own and get out more quickly.</p>
<p>It’s been a while since I’ve been to a Wegman’s – do they not have self check out? I use that a lot when I only have 5-6 items. I don’t scan like the pros, but I am much faster at bagging.</p>