I brought those bags for a reason, you know....

[Kanalah]

My awesome aunt sews fabric shopping bags for me. And they hold a lot! When I unload my cart, I always do cold/frozen first, then cans/bottles, then fresh, then eggs and/or bread and then the nonfood stuff. Some cashiers get it, others don't. I don't yell at them about it, just try to hurry home.

[Dreamstalker]

There are two "lanes" that groceries can go down and the cashier flips a little gate if the previous customer isn't done bagging so that the next customer's stuff goes in the other lane.

That is really neat.

I do see people laboriously placing each item so slowly that can barely watch them.

Ugh, yes. Not so bad when I see them doing it on SCO (unless they need to reach past the sensor and orient the item just-so on the belt--which locks everything up), but really annoying as a cashier. If I wait, I get griped at by the current customer; if I start scanning, the slowpoke who's still bagging (even if they can see I've turned the belt off) yells.

[Food Lady]

I don't think that cashier should be bagging at all. She has no common sense.

Now that I'm automobile-free I bring a rolling shopping cart everywhere I go. If I do the self-checkout I just toss it all back in the store cart after ringing, go somewhere out of the way, and then pack it in my rolling cart. I do the same if there's no SCO. I just tell the cashier to put it on the other side of the counter and I'll toss it back in the store cart as s/he goes. My coworkers are a bit confused when I do this, but they will eventually get used to it. My bag has an insulated pouch inside that expands to fill the whole bag if needed. It has a drawstring. I posted about it before, but here's a link for those interested (you might want one for yourself since they're awesome):

http://www.containerstore.com/s/stri...ping%20trolley

Even if I buy another vehicle I'll take my cart with me. It will help me haul from the parking lot to my building.

[Mental_Mouse]

My annoyance is when cashiers put the bread in with the refrigerated stuff. Bread can last a good week or two in its plastic bag on my counter... unless it's got moisture inside the bag, say from being chilled....

Tomatoes don't go with refrigerated stuff either (or in the fridge).

Also ChicoBags rock, but every time I pull them out, the cashiers just stare in wonder -- I consistently have to show them how to pull the bag out of its pouch, and even after I tell them to turn them inside out, they have better than 50% chance of packing by goods in the inside-out bag with the seams showing.

[Sparklyturtle]

I sew my own grocery totes out of fabric I get at Goodwill, and they work just fine. Only once have I come across a cashier who gave me grief about using them - she claimed it was "a lot of hassle." I've also gone to stores where I bag for myself, and the one I frequent pays me 5 cents a bag for using my own.

[Dreamstalker]

I'm consistently amazed at how many customers demand I pack tomatoes with the other cold items because "they're perishable!" Well, yes, but they still shouldn't be cold. There's reason the tomato display is as far away from the cold sections as it can get.

[Kogarashi]

Eh, we tend to refrigerate our tomatoes, but I don't ask for them bagged with the cold (I get them bagged with the other produce). Bread only goes with other squishables like chips or eggs (with the eggs on bottom, of course). And yet I have gotten a weird look once when I told the cashier they could put my bread on my eggs. They legit thought the eggs would get crushed (or that somehow the bag would end up upside-down and the eggs would crush the bread; I'm not entirely sure which).