I’m just wondering what the title asks: do you organize your groceries in the order you will check them out, if doing self-checkout, or arrange them on the belt/counter in a standard checkout line, in the hope that they’ll be bagged in a specific way?
I didn’t know there was any other way people do it, but just learned some people prefer to checkout/bag without pre-arranging things. I’m kind of curious to see what’s more common, or if there’s some other options I haven’t considered?
Heavy stuff first, cold things together, fragile stuff last.
Last? I want those first, they are usually in very sturdy containers so putting some stuff on top is fine. They are also usually heavy and heavy stuff goes first. Also if they leak, I want them to leak out of the bottom of the bag and not over all the groceries and then out of the bottom of the bag
I see. I always put them on a separate bag so they’re always dead last. If they’re on the same bag, then it makes sense to be at the bottom.
Yeah I’m trying to remember how we used to do it (the last time I went through a normal checkout with a full shop was probably 10 years ago) and this seems right.
Gotta have the heavy stuff handy so you can put it straight into the bottom of the bags. Anything else is wasting time!
Not OP but home delivery got very common since covid lockdowns in my country.
There is no such concept as “groceries getting bagged for you” in Germany. I have a backpack with me where I put my groceries.
Regarding your question, yes have a strategy.
The basic order on the belt is heavy to light items, so that the heavy things such cans or glas bottles go to the bottom, light stuff like yoghurt and eggs at the end of the belt so they come on top of the other groceries.
Of course this is not fixed, as light but bulky items may get a prioritized place on the belt. The worst thing that can happen is that you have to repack your backback.
However this is not all. As our cashiers are usually professionals, you will need to stategically slow them down, you want to avoid the shameful and pressuring looks of your successors. I do that by putting items inbetween the other stuff on the belt that have to be counted or weighed, such as pastry and vegetables. This gives you time to pack your stuff or rearrange in case you made mistake a step earlier.
As a European, I have never once had an extra person there whose sole purpose is putting your groceries into bags, what a strange concept.
Here in New Zealand, different supermarket chains do it different.
- One is literally called Pak n Save, you pack your own bags.
- One very often has a second person packing bags. This is a pricier store.
- And one just has the cashier drop your things into the bag after they have scanned them.
The third one seems most natural to me. Why not have them put your stuff in a bag since they are already holding it?
I can’t speak for the US, but in poorer countries (like my home country of South Africa), it’s common for someone to bag your groceries. The simple reason is because it provides extra jobs at the store. It’s the same for filling your car with petrol.
So is it customary to tip the person doing the bagging? Or maybe a designated bagger will do it faster, resulting in less wait times?
My favourite system is where I place my cart next to another one, and the cashier will scan everything while placing the item in the other cart, where I could have placed boxes if I wanted to.
It’s the same for filling your car with petrol.
But how does this person provide any value though? That person has to be paid as well, and doing something a customer can do well by themselves provides very little value. It used to be necessary, older petrol pumps had to be manually enabled or had no stop valve that person is required. With modern pumps having a person fill up your car is equally unnecessary.
I think people are being lazy, in a selfish, tragedy of the commons sort of way.
When standing in line, they all watch the customer stand there doing nothing as the cashier checks out items. If only they’d bag their own things, we’d all be able to get on with our lives that much sooner. Instead, they continue standing there doing nothing, as the cashier now bags their items.
Then the next person in line moves up and also just stands there, also unwilling to do anything to help speed things along.
As an american who shops and walks my groceries home like a european, the self checkout is the only option for me. I must have the ability to choose where to put products to keep my bags/backpack balanced to my liking and to prevent bags from failing on my walk home. Stranglely in the us, i risk approaching the “self checkout item limit” which is definitely more social expectation than actually enforced by staff.
A more specific question for you: how often do you encounter scales on self checkouts?
walks my groceries home like a european
We do buy bulk as well, I’d say maybe 10% actually walks them home? I guess it depends greatly on the type and location of the store.
how often do you encounter scales on self checkouts?
Every store with self-checkout has them, usually there will be one scale before you actually use a register. It gives you a sticker with the weight/price barcode to scan yourself.
It’s wild for me how different that peer pressure in the line is in different countries. In Spain people would even try to make you slow down and take your time when they notice how stressed you are with trying to pack everything fast 🥲 that’s very considerate of them
I applaud you, sir Gigachad, on bearing the noble burden of carrying your shopping in a backpack. I’ve been there, and it’s not very comfortable.
Great detail on your strategy, too. Though I think I’d rather avoid panicking for time to pack. It’s either the leisurely self-checkouts for me, or if on the unavoidable occasion I have to directly interact with another human being, simply speedrunning IRL Tetris with the button-press sequence already etched into my mind.
Yep. Heavy and dense first, all refrigerated together, etc. I shop at WinCo mostly so I bag my own. It’s very satisfying making it a super efficient process up front.
I used to work at a checkout operator, long ago.
I ALWAYS order the belt, cans and heavy stuff goes first, then usually cold/frozen stuff, veg and fruit, baking products (flour, sugar etc), then finally the light/soft stuff.
Oh absolutely. They are arranged in the trolly before even getting to checkout too but you are querying a crowd on Lemmy that is going to be biased towards programmer / engineer types that tend to function well in their world due to compulsive features often considered pathologic by others.
You reminded me of when a partner and I entered a grocery store to buy sun screen lotion. I narrated my thoughts figuring out where it would be and found it immediately. She commented on how she’d never have found it that quickly. All I did was make logical deductions based on my knowledge of grocery stores.
Truly, people think differently. What is natural to me might be alien to another.
you are querying a crowd on Lemmy that is going to be biased towards programmer / engineer types that tend to function well in their world due to compulsive features often considered pathologic by others.
I feel personally attacked. :D
Edit: also to answer the question. Yes I absolutely arrange things on the checkout belt.
I group these items: Liquids. Fridge. Cans and bottles. Fruit and veg, heavier ones first so the potatoes don’t crush the berries. Frozen gear near fridge gear. Chemicals / cleaning gear separate.
I should add that I’m buying for a lot of people so the shopping trips tend to be large and there would be a full bag of most of those groupings.
