Baggers don't know how to bag

[Teskeria]

When my daughter started working as a bagger at a grocery store in the ne (s&s) they did not train them (still dont). My Dad saw her bagging and asked if that was how they taught it. she said 'Papa, they don't teach you bagging' kinda puzzled like. So he taught her then and there. And the 2 baggers on the surrounding aisles. And whenever he saw a new bagger, he quietly went over and taught them to bag.
I loved my Dad.

[Geek King]

I think the worst bagger I have ever experienced was the nitwit who took my hot lunch meal from the deli and stuck it in the bag sideways! Fortunately I had it plastic wrapped, so the gravy from the mashed potatoes didn't go everywhere, but I wasn't amused at the new flavor experience created by cabbage roll and gravy.

[Dreamstalker]

No, they don't teach baggers. Oh, my boss goes through the motions with the new paper bags we have, but any 'training' is done by getting bitched at by SCs. We have one bagger who will never, ever learn (and for some reason I always get stuck with her).

she said 'Papa, they don't teach you bagging' kinda puzzled like. So he taught her then and there. And the 2 baggers on the surrounding aisles. And whenever he saw a new bagger, he quietly went over and taught them to bag.

My mom does this; if we're shopping or I'm working and she comes in and sees a new bagger she'll teach them or tell me to

[sms001]

Which reminds me - does Letterman still go head-to-head against the U.S. champion bagger every year? I haven't watched in ages.

ETA: Apparently he does. Or at least has them on the show.

http://www.seattlemag.com/seattles-c...pear-letterman

[EricKei]

...and yes, it IS possible to put two cans of vegetables in a bag with the two loaves of bread - you just put the cans at the bottom. It just seems wasteful to me.

Well, sure...but my guess is that people are operating on the assumption that there are enough *other* items to fill up both bags. Some baggers are freaking awesome, some are hopelessly incompetent...And nary a one gets trained in any manner aside from "Throw them on a line and see what happens"

At the old BoutiqueGrocery, we actually tended to pack the plastic bags as light as possible, for the simple reason that they were utter shit. I had personally witnessed these bags self-destructing under the incredible weight of two loaves of bread o_O Fortunately, we also had paper bags which were heavy-duty enough to serve as ammo canisters >_>

[Difdi]

IT'S NOT TETRIS!!! Stop trying to cram things in just because they FIT. And NO, clothing doesn't belong with the BLEACH. Nor does the FOOD!!! STAHP!!!!

THIS.

I have reusable bags, and I have a pretty good idea of what they'll hold. I usually give the bagger 1 more bag than they'll need just in case. More often than not they try to cram all of my groceries into a single bag rather than the four that I handed them. The bags I use are reasonably strong, but that kind of overloading destroys them almost instantly if I don't notice they did it and try to pick one up.

[Kogarashi]

My biggest complaint is when I, knowing what my resuable bags can hold, group my stuff on the register for easy bagging and instead end up with the cashier rooting all through the whole belt to bag in their own (99% of the time incomprehensible) way. Seriously, did you really have to deliberately go for three of the cans of fruit, one box of noodles, and the apples to go with the frozen peas when there are four other cold items right next to the peas?

And of course, there was the one time the cashier thought the bread might actually crush my eggs. Gave me the most dubious look when I told her it was all right to put the two together, so long as the bread was on top.

Mart of Wals, once upon a time, trained cashiers in how to bag.. or at least had videos. Basically it said, "Pack like with like. Meats with meats. Cold with Cold. Clothing with clothing. Don't pack clothing or food with the chemicals." I don't think they do that anymore, given how many times I've had to repack the bags.

As far as I'm aware, they still have the videos. However, once you sign off on them, you're basically free to forget the information until the next time you have to watch it again, which could be a very long time away. So that's probably part of the issue.

...bag two-liters with bread....

I've done that before in self-checkout, but I did it on purpose, and I did it by laying the soda sideways in the bottom of the bag and then putting the bread on top, and I did it because that was all I was buying at the time and didn't want two bags for one bottle of soda and one loaf of bread.

[Akasa]

I walk to and from the grocery store. Today I bought among other things 2 bottles of juice. I asked that the juice be put in separate bags. 1 bag per juice so I could carry one bottle in each hand.

As I was paying "You don't want the juice double bagged?" "No I don't want it double bagged."

I get done paying and look over, and there's both juices in a bag together.

I GLARED at the bagger, got another bag, and separated my juices.

[vikingchyk]

One store of my local grocery chain employs the mentally challenged as baggers.

I just don't have the energy to describe all the ways this turns out badly. {Summary: it always turns out badly, someway, somehow.} And it's three times as slow, too.

[sms001]

One store of my local grocery chain employs the mentally challenged as baggers.

One here too, but I actually like it. It's slower (so far, but I've never seen the same ones there for much longer than a few months), sure, but the satisfaction they seem to derive from it more than overcomes that. I've never had anything go disastrously wrong, but I imagine the store would make good if I got some busted eggs or some such. (Just as they would for any other bagger.)

[justhere]

One store of my local grocery chain employs the mentally challenged as baggers.

I just don't have the energy to describe all the ways this turns out badly. {Summary: it always turns out badly, someway, somehow.} And it's three times as slow, too.

When I lived near a store that had the same policy for hiring baggers, I always went in the lines with those baggers. Yes, it was slower, but they always bagged everything carefully and absolutely to my specifications. I never had a problem...

[Dreamstalker]

I work very well with three of the 'challenged' baggers at my store; I know how they learn and work best and they love bagging on my lane because of that. A fourth will never learn and is a source of frustration to many of us who get stuck with her, and another is just lazy with a rotten attitude.

It's when there's a mismatch between the baggers and cashiers that it can be a problem. If the cashier's too fast (worried about metrics), there's a greater chance that something will get damaged if it isn't shifted immediately. I'm a pretty fast bagger and have gotten my hand slammed by a watermelon/case of soda/frozen turkey many times. On a huge order, customer groupings can go out the window (bagging platform fills up, no choice but to bag everything quickly to make room for more).

[vikingchyk]

One here too, but I actually like it. It's slower (so far, but I've never seen the same ones there for much longer than a few months), sure, but the satisfaction they seem to derive from it more than overcomes that. I've never had anything go disastrously wrong, but I imagine the store would make good if I got some busted eggs or some such. (Just as they would for any other bagger.)

That's why I haven't complained, as much as I've wanted to - because they are getting a benefit. I just wish it would go more smoothly more often. I'm not sure if they aren't getting training, or they can't remember all the rules, or what the problem is. The cashiers sometimes help them, but I get the feeling it's the cashier's decision. Some are really patient and remind them how to do things, while others just stand there are stare at the baggers, or impatiently start tossing stuff into bags (so they are packed even more randomly.)

The other store near me (same chain) looks like they are also adding the challenged baggers. When I was there last Friday, at one point the chyk bagger wailed "Oh no! PIE!!" She made the cashier bag those. Oh dear, what happened that made her have such a reaction to two frozen pies?? Yet another reason I don't want to complain, because I'm sure they hear a lot of crap from people less nice than me...

[Aethian]

She could have had a fresh pie that got cherished and she was reamed.

[dalesys]

She could have had a fresh pie that got cherished and she was reamed.

Or the razzes got buried.