Funny grocery store anecdote..

[stelly]

I try and bring canvas bags with me to the supermarket instead of using their plastic ones (I have a huge drawer full of them at home already).

Today I bought a bunch of stuff and had forgotten to bring my bags. When I got to the self-serve register a staff member started packing for me. I turned to her and said "please put as much as you can in each bag - I don't want to take too many bags". Sometimes they seem to pack bags based on categories - so I get 3 pieces of veg rolling around one bag, and 3 small tins rolling around another, I didn't want that to happen.

So I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing, and when I fininshed I turned to find that she'd managed to get everything into only 2 bags.... but she'd double bagged them!! So she might just as well have put it into 4 bags

Serves me right. Maybe I won't forget the canvas bags next time.

[momto l&a]

I use to bag groceries. Be grateful the bagger double bagged. Those bags split easily, the heavier they are the more apt to split.

Paper would have been a better choice if you wanted the bags filled to the top. IMO

[Pepperdove]

Ah, but it's when they double bag the paper bags that you really start to feel wasteful, yes?
My Whole Foods does this. Why does a bag of vegetables need to be double paper bagged? (We try to use canvas, but we do make use of the paper when it comes home)

[stelly]

I usually try to get one paper bag and one plastic if I have to get any at all, but today I knew my bags would be too heavy for me to carry 2 paper (since they don't have handles) and unlock the car, garage, and house doors.

[chel]

sometimes I feel that cashiers/baggers get paid by the bag

[Leylla]

Originally Posted by chel

sometimes I feel that cashiers/baggers get paid by the bag

Bwahahahahaha!

I used to work as a cashier, and probably one of the few who could actually bag groceries. Anywho, store policy was 8 items per bag. Obviously they are talking average, b/c no one can fit 8 gallons of milk in one plastic bag.

But I do ask cashiers/baggers, "Don't they yell at you about bag costs? You know each bag costs 1/3 of a penny and that usually comes out of bonuses." Which is pretty much the same speech we got at our job.

Steph

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by stelly

I try and bring canvas bags with me to the supermarket instead of using their plastic ones (I have a huge drawer full of them at home already).

Today I bought a bunch of stuff and had forgotten to bring my bags. When I got to the self-serve register a staff member started packing for me. I turned to her and said "please put as much as you can in each bag - I don't want to take too many bags". Sometimes they seem to pack bags based on categories - so I get 3 pieces of veg rolling around one bag, and 3 small tins rolling around another, I didn't want that to happen.

So I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing, and when I fininshed I turned to find that she'd managed to get everything into only 2 bags.... but she'd double bagged them!! So she might just as well have put it into 4 bags

Serves me right. Maybe I won't forget the canvas bags next time.

She probably mistook your environmental concern for something else--maybe she thought that you had to walk home and didn't want to be fussing with too many bags. It is funny though.

[libranbutterfly]

The last time I went to the grocery, I forgot my canvas bags. I asked them for some paper bags, b/c I reuse them to sort out my recycling. They put all my groceries in plastic bags, then grabbed a big handful of paperbags for me to take home :

[bobandjess99]

Originally Posted by libranbutterfly

The last time I went to the grocery, I forgot my canvas bags. I asked them for some paper bags, b/c I reuse them to sort out my recycling. They put all my groceries in plastic bags, then grabbed a big handful of paperbags for me to take home :

[woodchick]

OP: Classic Story!

I can't go to the store with my cloth bags without some incident!

There was the time I gave the bagger my canvas bags and turned around to pay the cashier only to find my groceries bagged in PLASTIC and then put into the canvas...

Or the time I forgot my bags and only got a couple things. The bagger gave me my two pastic bags with my groceries. I got home and realized that in his haste he had included 5 or 6 un opened platistic bags inside.

The stories could go on, but I think I"ll stop there.

[MomToKandE]

Originally Posted by chel

sometimes I feel that cashiers/baggers get paid by the bag

My Dad is retired Army so growing up we'd shop at the military commissary. The baggers there work for tips and many people tip x amount per bag so they'd always use tons of extra bags.