What Do You Want? (Spin-Off of "Is this the new thing in grocery shopping?")

[Amara]

From the printed questions the OP saw at the register it appears that the bone-headed idea in the original thread was likely the result of corporate management. So it occurred to me that starting a discussion on what people really want from their grocery store(s) might be worthwhile.

(1) Lower prices without tricks like cards or contests; just price the food as low as you can without sacrificing quality or spending time and money on tricks.

(2) More cashiers at rush hours. You know when they are so put more people up front at that time. Also, schedule more packers.

(3) Have several specialized lanes: one for 12 items or fewer; one for people with more than two coupons, etc.

(4) Get store management to be more involved by getting to a register or customer that is having problems fast. Don't wait for a call from the cashier. If management, who should be watching the registers closely, sees someone get in the wrong line--someone with a full cart gets in the "12 Items or Fewer" line--they need to handle it immediately too. And if that customer is unhappy, well, so what. Make everyone else happy and let the fussbudget deal with her unhappiness.

(5) If you offer things that people pick up for a meal--breakfast on the way to the office, lunch, or maybe one entree on the way home--how about offering a special register just for them.

(6) Every single person in corporate management needs to spend a minimum of one month every year working the register and/or floor--and not in a management capacity. They should also be required to shop for themselves (and their families) there, preferably at rush hour.

[Specky]

Stop fronting the shelves.  If the store is out of a product, leave the danged space empty.  In our neighborhood store, when this happens, the shelf space is filled with whatever, and the proper product doesn't get ordered.

Also offer a beggar-free entrance/exit.  Just one.  Please.

[TaurusGirl]

Properly trained cashiers!

My very first job 20 years ago was as a cashier; part of my training was to make sure I could do the math in my head to ensure correct change. I was also trained, to smile, make eye contact at least twice through the transaction, and to be polite/pleasant.

I now shop at a store where no one looks you in the face, the cashiers mumble totals and questions, and if heaven forbid they key the wrong amount into the register... they have to break out a calculator to figure out the change. And I'm talking groceries total 18,67$ and I give them 20,00$.

It pains me.

Edited because I DO math, not TO it.

[johelenc1]

As someone who used to work at a grocery store, the idea of separate registers for everything is kind of ridiculous.  You'd have cashiers standing around doing nothing while other lines fill up.  Plus, you'd have to have more registers open at a time, requiring more cashiers which equals more money which equals higher prices.  A 12 items and under line and/or some self service lanes are more than enough.

The best solution to long lines is better and faster cashiers.  There are certainly rush hour conditions in grocery, but if the cashiers are well trained and PAY ATTENTION to what they are doing and care if they do a good job, they can keep the lines to a respectable length.  During high traffic times, of course, more cashiers are needed with even managers running a till when necessary.

I worked in the office at the store where I worked.  If the lines were 3 or more deep, we opened up on the "office till" - a lane that any manager or office person could run.  I even saw our store operator run a till when it was super busy.  When your goal is to provide the best customer service possible, you do whatever you need to do:-)

[kaybee]

please--more packers.....where i live you can have your groceries delivered.the gorceries are packed with frozen stuff in one carton(no ice cream),refrigerator stuff in another carton and dry goods and vegetables in another carton.they only have packers in the late afternoon and on busy days--like before a holiday.
please have packers there all the time and when it's busy--maybe have a packer for every two registers.

i end up packing my own groceries every week........it would go faster if someone else packed while i unloaded the wagon


and yes i have spoken to management about it--multiple times

[BatCity]

Having recently relocated from Texas to California, all I can say is that I want my HEB back. They had excellent prices, no gimmicks, great weekly meal deals, and the store brand version of most of their items was better and cheaper than the name brands. It's well run, the people who work there are happy, and they have everything.

(For those who don't know it...and those that do...you will appreciate this commercial:http://tasteofcountry.com/jack-ingram-heb-commercial/ )

There was only one thing they did that drove me nuts: they had HUGE shopping carts.  I am very short.  I looked like a toddler playing Shopping Like Mommy when I pushed the darn things, and when I got to the register I could barely reach to the bottom to unload. I complained, and was told that they also provided smaller carts. Yeah, the smaller carts were like little hand baskets on wheels, barely big enough for 3-4 items.

So what I want is HEB with normal size carts.

[SamiHami]

Make it mandatory that all tobacco sales take place at the customer service desk instead of the regular cash registers. It seems like I always get stuck behind someone who needs cigarettes so the cashier has to leave the register, go get them from behind the service desk, come back, only to find out that the customer wanted the 100's instead of the regular packs. So the cashier again leaves the register only to come back with what she thinks is the correct type only to find that the customer wants the hard pack instead of the soft pack. Or they are out of the exact ones that the customer wants so we have to wait until the customer decide whether or not to take a different brand or type. The cashier should not be running back and forth between the register in the service desk. Either have someone available 100 percent of the time to run and get these items or make all tobacco sales at the service desk so the other customers don't have to wait

[Firecat]

Train the baggers to not make bags too heavy. I'd rather have two lighter bags of canned goods that will "balance" rather than one really heavy bag. Or at least have them ask the customer for their preference and proceed accordingly.

The grocery chain I go to most of the time is actually really good; they're a bit more expensive on some things, but they sometimes have great sales and the quality on items like meat and fresh produce is top-notch, their customer service is also generally really good.

Of course, I also tend to try to avoid really busy times whenever possible, and I'm generally able to do that, which is nice.

[DollyPond]

What can be done about shoppers who are not only shopping for themselves but for about 3 other people as well and want all of the orders rung up separately?  I was once behind someone who had 5 separate orders! 

Why can't there be a rule that if only one person is shopping then you only get one combined order.  They can then go home and do the math to figure out who owes for what.

[snowdragon]

Also offer a beggar-free entrance/exit.  Just one.  Please.

This so this.  I am so tired of getting hit up for money for every cause under the sun. And one land where one does not get hit up for the cause du jour, also

a candy free lane would be great too

Out of the choices this one:

(1) Lower prices without tricks like cards or contests; just price the food as low as you can without sacrificing quality or spending time and money on tricks.

[BabylonSister]

Re: combined orders: I've shopped for someone who was rather nonchalant about paying me back.  I quickly found out I should ask for the money upfront, and thus I had to have two separate accounts if I also shopped fr myself with my debit card.  Also, if the shopper has food stamps for him/herself, they can't just use those on someone else's groceries – and if they're on food stamps, chances are they can't just front the money for everyone else's and just hope to be reimbursed.




I'm going to be the odd one out for bagging.  I am very territorial and neurotic about my groceries.  Ain't nobody packing them the way I want.  I'd rather have a bagging area as in Aldi, and do it myself.

[MOM21SON]

Also offer a beggar-free entrance/exit.  Just one.  Please.

This so this.  I am so tired of getting hit up for money for every cause under the sun. And one land where one does not get hit up for the cause du jour, also

a candy free lane would be great too

Out of the choices this one:

(1) Lower prices without tricks like cards or contests; just price the food as low as you can without sacrificing quality or spending time and money on tricks.

Oh yes, I am so sick of the rewards card thing.  I don't mind at the grocery store because I get fuel perks.  Last week, I paid 1.47 a gallon for gas.  But this morning I was at a drug store that I hardly ever go to and I couldn't get the sale price because I didn't have their card and didn't want to get one.  I hate it.

[mmswm]

Also offer a beggar-free entrance/exit.  Just one.  Please.

This so this.  I am so tired of getting hit up for money for every cause under the sun. And one land where one does not get hit up for the cause du jour, also

a candy free lane would be great too

Out of the choices this one:

(1) Lower prices without tricks like cards or contests; just price the food as low as you can without sacrificing quality or spending time and money on tricks.

Oh yes, I am so sick of the rewards card thing.  I don't mind at the grocery store because I get fuel perks.  Last week, I paid 1.47 a gallon for gas.  But this morning I was at a drug store that I hardly ever go to and I couldn't get the sale price because I didn't have their card and didn't want to get one.  I hate it.

One of the reasons I hate those rewards cards is because I don't want every corporation under the sun tracking what I buy and where I buy it.  Seems I'm not alone in this.  Apparently, there's an inordinate number of customers who give the fake number (local area code) 867-5309. 

[MOM21SON]

Also offer a beggar-free entrance/exit.  Just one.  Please.

This so this.  I am so tired of getting hit up for money for every cause under the sun. And one land where one does not get hit up for the cause du jour, also

a candy free lane would be great too

Out of the choices this one:

(1) Lower prices without tricks like cards or contests; just price the food as low as you can without sacrificing quality or spending time and money on tricks.

Oh yes, I am so sick of the rewards card thing.  I don't mind at the grocery store because I get fuel perks.  Last week, I paid 1.47 a gallon for gas.  But this morning I was at a drug store that I hardly ever go to and I couldn't get the sale price because I didn't have their card and didn't want to get one.  I hate it.

One of the reasons I hate those rewards cards is because I don't want every corporation under the sun tracking what I buy and where I buy it.  Seems I'm not alone in this.  Apparently, there's an inordinate number of customers who give the fake number (local area code) 867-5309.

Jenny?, Is that you?

[Tea Drinker]

A couple of months ago I was in a supermarket that had a candy-free lane; those little display areas instead had things like sewing kits and small bottles of hand sanitizer, similar high-profit-margin items that children wouldn't beg for. There was a suitably vague label, I think "Family Aisle," so parents with children could find it but kids who could read a little wouldn't see the word "Candy" and start asking for some.

I would like a supermarket where the "express lane" doesn't wind up being slowest because (a) they put the newest cashiers on there, and (b) nobody enforces the "n items or fewer" rule. Or, if they won't do that, they should stop putting up signs claiming that this aisle has a limit.