Changing Times at the Grocery
Jan. 31st, 2015 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowShop'n'Save used to be a standard no-frills grocery store. They had a decent selection, low prices, 24-hour service, and no baggers - there was a shelf near the checkers, with paper and plastic bags, where you were expected to bag your own groceries.
Things have changed. The selection is still pretty much what it was, and if the prices aren't quite as low, they're still low-ish. But, though the bagging shelf remains, they now expect the checkers to double as baggers. (I usually have a shoulder bag or a big grocery box, and ask them not to bag anything. Some of them remember without my asking, some don't, and I can never remember which are which. But I digress.) There's also a self-check station, which I avoid. As I've mentioned before, I know most of the checkers, and fairly often have a nice (if brief) chat with them.
They've also begun doing showy promotions. Once it was a "Wheel of Fortune" knockoff, where every purchase would net you stickers, and the right combinations of stickers won prizes. That was merely annoying, and I gather that the checkers didn't think much of it either. More often (three times, now), it's been "collect stickers and cash them in". The first of those offered a variety of quality chef's knives, and I got a couple. The second featured bowls and plates, of which I have a sufficiency; the third, pots and pans. I wound up picking out a stock pot, listed at $99, but costing me only $7 (and 130 stickers, at one per $10 purchase). Since I bought that book of soup recipes over the holidays, this looked like my best option. Of course, it also looks :checks Wikipedia: like there will be a bit of a learning curve.
Things have changed. The selection is still pretty much what it was, and if the prices aren't quite as low, they're still low-ish. But, though the bagging shelf remains, they now expect the checkers to double as baggers. (I usually have a shoulder bag or a big grocery box, and ask them not to bag anything. Some of them remember without my asking, some don't, and I can never remember which are which. But I digress.) There's also a self-check station, which I avoid. As I've mentioned before, I know most of the checkers, and fairly often have a nice (if brief) chat with them.
They've also begun doing showy promotions. Once it was a "Wheel of Fortune" knockoff, where every purchase would net you stickers, and the right combinations of stickers won prizes. That was merely annoying, and I gather that the checkers didn't think much of it either. More often (three times, now), it's been "collect stickers and cash them in". The first of those offered a variety of quality chef's knives, and I got a couple. The second featured bowls and plates, of which I have a sufficiency; the third, pots and pans. I wound up picking out a stock pot, listed at $99, but costing me only $7 (and 130 stickers, at one per $10 purchase). Since I bought that book of soup recipes over the holidays, this looked like my best option. Of course, it also looks :checks Wikipedia: like there will be a bit of a learning curve.
