Cashiers and Baggers - Please Use My Bags!
I went to the store a few weeks ago and, as usual, put my reusable bags in front of all the things I was buying. The cashier sent them down to the bagger who promptly bagged them and put them in my cart while I wasn't looking. Then, when I pointed out to him that I brought the bags to put the groceries in he proceeded to put one or two things in each bag. Of course, at another grocery store on another day, the bagger put as much as he possibly could into the one bag I had with me and apologized for using a plastic bag for the items that wouldn't fit. I could hardly pick p the over packed bag when I got home, but at least he tried.
My all time favorite was when I went to a big box store and handed the cashier my reusable bags. No, sorry, they don't work as well with the bag carousel system cashier but I'd still like to use them. She gave me the dirtiest look and proceeded to stuff everything into the bags in the most disorganized and messy way possible.
I don't get it. Why is it so awful to use my reusable bags? I put them up front so they are there right from the start, I don't nitpick the way they are packed, I don't have certain colored bags for certain items. Apparently, I'm not alone in this either.
So, cashiers and baggers, what's the deal? What is it I need to do to get you to stop giving me dirty looks and exasperated sighs every time I hand over my reusable grocery bags?
All Natural Beauty Products Roundup
It's Energy Independence Day! 
Green Your 4th of July Celebration
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-05-2009 @ 6:55PM
psn said...
Yeah, that exact reason is why I use the antisocial, self-checkout lane. It's much easier when you bag it yourself.
Reply
1-05-2009 @ 10:43PM
Dillon said...
Shop at Whole Foods Market :-)
Reply
1-05-2009 @ 10:57PM
CAGirlInCO said...
I've been having to "train" the baggers at my grocery store too. But I don't try to make assumptions that they know what to do or that the cashier will tell them. I push my cart up to the cashier then walk down to the bagger and ask them to please use my bags. I also ask them to please not to fill them up because they'll get to full for me to carry. Which, sometimes, as you know, they can. I find that Walmart cashiers are the worst and I get the nasty looks too, but oh well, they sell the damn bags, they better get used to them.
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 7:03AM
Rebecca said...
I'm currently staying with my boyfriend in the UK, and one thing I've noticed is that the stores are way more accepting of bringing in your own bags. At home in the US, bringing in my own bag to a bookstore I'd get funny looks and the cashier would still put my books in one of their plastic bags, but here, we've only gotten plastic bags a handful of times - once because we forgot to bring our bags to the grocery store, and a few times when we were away from home doing some shopping. But I also noticed the plastic grocery sacks are thicker here, and are meant to be re-used as opposed to grocery sacks in the US.
Just a strange difference between the two countries.
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 7:16AM
David said...
I've had the same reaction many many times at Wal Mart (the place I bought the bags from!!!!). I don't think I've ever had a positive reaction from a checker at wal mart for my cloth bags. They often actually tell me how much of a pain the bags are. And I just have to play it off like "yeah, I know....but your store sells them!" It usually takes them at least twice as long to bag the groceries than what it would with plastic bags. The other grocery store I go to is nice because you bag your own groceries. Maybe I should just go there from now on.
Ya know, it wouldn't be that hard for them to make a system designed to use cloth bags. It could just be a box the size of the bag that has hooks on each side. You place the bag in the box with the handles on the hooks.
Are you listening wal mart?
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 9:01AM
goinggreeninva said...
When I go to check out, I let them know I have my own bags and they can just hand things off to me. I find that when I make that offer, they are more open and accepting of my reusable bags. Some will just go ahead and hand things to me; which actually makes their job a little easier and I can bag things how I want. Others will take my bags and gladly use them. Even if the bagger is using my bags, I always jump in to help - either with holding them or helping to fill them.
This doesn't always avoid a conflict over the reusable bags, but it works most of the time.
Reply
1-06-2009 @ 10:40AM
ryan said...
No one bags your things for you in Japan. Makes perfect sense. Well, I guess that a few stores will bag your stuff for you if you give them a reusable bag that fits your basket. Otherwise you just get a couple plastic bags with your paid for items.
Reply
1-11-2009 @ 7:29AM
colleen said...
listen,complainers cashiers jobs are to scan and bag.......not hear oh you over charged me ,,,,,wrong......they do not work on the floors ,they do not price a damn thing,,,so quit complaining about prices,thats not a cashiers job.and to the person complaining about using the customers bags ,.first off cashiers are more than happy to do so,but when you find cockraches,rat crap,animal hair and totally filthy ,think about what a cashier has to do to clean their hands after handling that crap,well the answer is ,hope you are not the next one in line .because those germs are going on your grocerys and in your bags,how groose is that......so if you want to complain about cashiers,you try it for a day ,at min. wage and put up with the bitching and moaning,,,,oh and by the way hope you wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from alll the damn germs .....and of course have a nice day.........
Reply
1-19-2009 @ 4:12PM
Joyce said...
Our little local market is happy to use my bags. But it's in a rural area where the cashiers actually converse with the customers and know your children's names.
The big box stores in the cities are another story all together. I cringe when using my bags - as I usually buy more than a week's Food & supplies at a time.
Reply
2-13-2009 @ 7:51PM
Chibaraki said...
I'm also in Japan, and have refused plastic bags for two years now. In Japan, it's fashionable to bring your own bag, even clothes shopping, and nobody is surprised when I say "Fukuro irimasen", "I don't want a bag." Some supermarkets give a Y100 incentive for every 20 bags you refuse. When I get to the register, I put my bag in the shopping basket or on the counter so that the cashier knows not to give me a bag. By now, the cashiers at my local supermarket know me, and I get bright smiles for bringing my own. Refusing bags has lightened my waste load considerably.
www.chibaraki.wordpress.com
Reply