I asked a cashier at our grocery store. She said no one lost their job.

I can believe her because there are so many staff pushing carts around doing shopping for customers.

Also, another cashier told me that most of them prefer the other jobs more than standing at the till.¯?\?_?(???)?_?/?¯

According to a Wally World employee whose info has been spot on so far, cashiers will eventually be phased out. Upgrades to stores include doubling the number of self-check stations. The informative employee has not said anything about what will become of cashiers. Early retirement? Layoffs? Switch to order fillers and vehicle loaders? I still insist that Wally World and other stores need to find a way to reduce my cost because I am performing tasks for which their employees are remunerated. They need to figure out how to do this without going broke. !

I no longer worry about cashier hands and non-store bags. Carts can be infested. Produce and enclosed products can be infested. Otherwise clean bags might become infested during their time in an infested cart...

oh my god, I feel so old. I remember when grocery stores all had baggers at the end of the belt and they knew how to arrange the items to protect them on the trip home. They even double wrapped ice cream in these thicker bags. Then those baggers pushed your cart to a loading area. My parents drove our car around to the loading area where a guy was waiting to load your bags into your car for you.
And on the way home we stopped for gas and our gas was pumped for us. And we weren't rich people, we were just people living in a culture of civility.
First they took away the car loaders
Next they took away the baggers (although occasionally you might see one or two still around)
Now they've taken away many cashiers
Where I live now, they've taken away the bags....and don't tell me it's for environmental reasons...at least one store here locally sells disposable bags right at the register.
To heck with them all. Especially Walmart, I hate going there. It's a human jungle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2023 12:07PM by BarefootBliss.

How much pollution is created during the production and possible use of each reusable bag?

I agree about the dwindling service over time. We get less and less bang for our buck.

As a cashier, I honestly find bagging peoples groceries to be unreasonable. To be honest, it is mostly entitled people who throw bags on the conveyor belt and watch you bag their groceries. Like it’s not even a good service, as a grown adult there shouldn’t be an excuse of “I dont know how to bag as good as the cashier”, if thats the case, then learn to bag YOUR own stuff???? The amount of times people are literally on their phone or just downright staring at me while I bag for them is mind blowing to me. I grew up helping bag my parent’s groceries, I always seen other people bag their own stuff too. People use “I didn’t bring my own bags” as a way to say “im lazy and dont wanna bag for myself”. Its stupid and I’m glad theyre starting to replace cashiers with bots and self checkouts because i guarantee you no one loves a cashier job.

"Next they took away the baggers (although occasionally you might see one or two still around)"
In Chicagoland you betcha there are baggers at Jewel/Albertsons, Marianos/Kroger, and Whole Foods. For the prices they charge I expect to have someone else bag my purchase while I procure my store card and credit card. At Aldis the cashiers throw my purchases in a cart and I put them in bags I brought myself.

@cookiemarshmallow39 wrote:

As a cashier, I honestly find bagging peoples groceries to be unreasonable. ... i guarantee you no one loves a cashier job.

Come on, now. That's like saying customers should also stock the shelves and mop the floors. Maybe nobody loves those jobs, but that is why they are called jobs.

@Isaiah4031a wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

I have some clean but permanently stained reusable bags. Are they to be discarded or used? They really are clean.

If i gave you 100 dollars that was stained, would you take it?

Heck yeah. And be gone before you change your mind!

In Southern California they still have baggers at the expensive main line grocers such as Ralphs (Kroger), Whole Foods, Von's (Albertson's) and local chains such as Stater Brothers. It used to be that you had self-checkout and bagging stations only in the more upscale stores but it's now everywhere. My last shop I saw someone running out of my neighborhood store carrying about 6 packed bags, obvious theft in progress, followed by the SCOT employee running out the door yelling "where's that lady?". By that time I think she was in the getaway car. The thief did drop her salad and cake though. I had tried to use one of the terminals which was vacant and it still showed payment needed, maybe another theft or it was this "lady's" order?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2023 06:11PM by melg.

Here in NM they tried that. They took out all the cashiers and did only self check out. Then the stealing started and now they are going back to cashiers in several of the stores. Personally I don't care, I don't mind using self check out if I have a few items. But if I have a basket full I want full service because there is not enough room at self check out.

If the expectation is that I bag my own purchased items, I will be expecting a discount for doing said work. Examples include Winco and Aldi. I know going in those stores that is the expectation. However, Walmart is crossing the line. If you want me to be cashier and bagger then I expect better prices or a discount for doing so. Walmart has slowly been increasing prices and they expect that average guy won’t notice or still think Walmart is the cheapest. I shop for a living so I know prices. I would have walked out, cold food or not, and left it there. Obviously she has no clue her job is being phased out and by refusing to do said job she’s accelerating the process.

On another note… I’ve been getting lots of surveys lately and a few of the questions seem to be consistently asked. 1) Is having someone available to help in the store important to you? 2) Are you shopping more online or in store? 3) Do you find yourself grocery shopping in store more or online and pick up/delivery more? 4) Do you go to the store to research when buying a large purchase or do you research online first? I think those questions are a clear indicator the way things are headed.

I second the fact that we still have baggers here in Calif. Even the cheapo 99c store bags what I buy. I bring my own bags and I always have to quickly stop the bagger from bagging my stuff in new bags every time.
And two days ago I read an article saying that many stores were going to stop having self checkout lanes. They said that theft was up 4% in stores with self check and the article talked about the car lady who scans it all and then runs out the door, about people who do not scan everything, people who scan a banana instead of a steak (not sure how that works), and people who have no idea what sort of apple or potato they have and often the cheapest variety gets punched in accidentally. They quoted the found fact that shoppers prefer human interaction to machines.
I usually use the regular lines as a regular user of coupons, rewards, deals , marked down foods etc and it takes forever to get that right on the self check aisles.

I read the same CNN article as sandyf. The one sentence that struck me most:

"They shifted the work of paid employees to unpaid customers."

I've always thought of it as retailers using self-check to have fewer employees, thereby cutting costs. I never considered that by doing so, they were, in essence, turning me into an unpaid employee every time I used self-checkout. What an eye-opening (and dismal) thought, one I'll try to remember the next time I head towards self-check with only a pint of Ben & Jerry's in my hand.

The other day I went to Walmart with my dad to help pick out something for my mom (It was one item).. He asked me can we us the self check out. I said "NO, I hate those things." We found a person and they checked us out.

Sadly about 90 % of the people that I see checking out with a human cashier, they are on their STUPID PHONES and they do not pay attention to the cashier. I guess I am one of the few who do not talk on their cell phones while checking out.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2023 01:48PM by Isaiah4031a.

I'm the only one in my family who LOVES self-checkouts. There are few things I find more annoying than having to wait in line to check out. We have two Walmart stores here, and both will normally only have one, or at most, two check out lanes open that are staffed. When the self-checkouts are on the fritz, I've had to wait in line dang near 30 minutes to check out at Walmart.

One of our Food Lion stores had 4 self-checkouts installed over the summer. Now, that is the only Food Lion I shop, even though it is across town from me. I get so tired of being behind people who have an entire shopping cart full of groceries, then go to pay and their bank card (or EBT card) has little or no funds. Then, I have to wait...and wait...and wait, while they figure out which items they are keeping and which ones they are putting back. Then there are those who leave their card/cash/coupons/etc in their car, and have to go get it. It seems nearly every time I go through a cashier-staffed line, I have to wait for a ridiculous amount of time until it is my turn. So whenever a self-checkout is an option, I'm there! I've memorized the PLU codes for the loose fruit and vegetables I buy, so I don't get hung up on that.

Does this make me an unpaid employee? Maybe?! But, I value my time, and I'll gladly scan and bag my own stuff, if it saves me time.

This is why I don’t shop at Wally World. I’ve never left that store feeling happy as a customer. I always leave irritated, depressed or just tired. I honestly feel for the workers there because that entire company just has a toxic environment (like many other places too) by underpaying and understaffing aggressively.

With that said the last time I stepped into Wally World it was for a mystery shop. It was the fifth shop so far and the amount of bad information, driving and stress it caused me, made me swear off that place and mystery shops there for a long while!

I happily take myself to Target each and every time. A little pricier but I’ve never once had a bad experience and the pickup app is perfect!

As to the bag issue I’ve never had a cashier refuse to use my reusable bags. I will somewhat pack my own items to assist in the process going faster but my main focus is to make sure the items are rung up correctly and all discounts are captured.

Lol all you did was inconvenience yourself and waste your own time.

Retail as a whole is an unpleasant industry to work in. I think the employees at Target just hide it a bit better.

According to some posts, I am stupid and lazy. I use my phone for the shopping list and cross off items as I cart them. Sometimes, while in cashier line, I transfer some items to a 'keep looking' or 'definitely online' category. Oh, despicable me. Sometimes, my back is so sore from the heavy cart and the day in general that it is good to let a cashier bag the groceries and have a brief reprieve. Lazy freak! Usually, I do self-check with a slowly shrinking range of motion. Later, the back sorts itself and all is well. According to me, anyway...

-checks my posts to see if I called you either stupid or lazy-
Nope, I'm good. -wipes my brow-

I don't begrudge anybody their preferred method of shopping. To each their own.

I meant to say that they talk to the person on the phone and they do not say one word to the cashier.

I have behind people checking out and I will hear them tell the cashier that I am transferring money to their account,, Some of them will say I am sorry.

Before I go to the store I make sure I have enough funds on my debit card or I will pay in cash.

I am old school, I use paper and pen... But I do most of my shopping on line and I do pick up..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2023 10:53PM by Isaiah4031a.

My safeway grocery store does not bag into customer's brought in bags. When asked, the cashier said,"Sometimes they are not emptied properly, and a few grapes left on the bottom are now a gross mess. We don't want to put our hands into those bags, and don't have the time to check them out before we do." Makes perfect sense to me.