Shopping Discussion

Potential Pitfall of Stores Not Providing Free Bags

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  • Sep 23rd, 2010 9:15 pm
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Jul 20, 2004
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shepd wrote: I guess that must a city-by-city thing. Last time I went to a bag-charging grocery store here, not a single person I bumped into in the whole store (must have seen at least 100) had any bags with them, unless they kept them in their purses (doubt it!). The cashier was so used to asking if I wanted bags, she asked and interrupted herself when she saw the bags coming down the conveyor belt!

Maybe there's not fewer customers, but definitely none of them are bringing their own bags. The only reason I brought reusables is I've been too lazy to buy a few thousand direct from China for $20.

I know that at the grocery, I typically put my bags at the bottom of the basket I'm using and throw the groceries on top. My gf has a tiny reusable bag (like these: http://www.chicobag.com/t-homehalloween.aspx) that folds up to about half the size of your fist, and keeps that in her purse. So it's possible that people had them and you just didn't see them, but I've definitely seen lots more people with reusable bags on the conveyor belt.

Also, I've been finding that if you give the cashier your bags at a place that normally bags your stuff, they will use the reusable bags. I would venture that it's easier for them as those bags are bigger than your typical plastic and you can put more inside as they don't break. Recently I've had the cashier bag my stuff at Loblaws (St Clair West station), Wal Mart (Dufferin Mall), Sobeys (St Clair/Jane), and Zellers (Galleria Mall). I guess it depends on the store. The only place I used a bag from the actual store I was shopping at was Loblaws, because I mostly have PC cloth bags for some reason.
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In my experience, cashiers ask if I need bags. I will say no, I have bags. I leave my bags on the top of the cart. If the cashier asks for the bags, I will hand them over. They rarely ask. I don't automatically hand over the bags because I know from an ergonomist at a health clinic that he had seen a spike in complaints of injuries after the switch from free bags. As a former cashier, I know how difficult in can be, especially on your shoulders, bagging things on the counter while trying to hold a bag open. Bagging racks were designed to avoid this problem. However the cashiers have the bagging racks set up with the store bags. They need to have a spot for customer bags.

I was wondering if a bagging carousel like they have at Walmart in the US would solve this problem. The cashier could turn it to an empty spot to put the customers reusable bags so they could bag easily. I normally hate the bagging carousel because it is easy to leave something behind because all those bags look the same and are confusing; however, with your own cloth bags, I think it would work well.
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Cheap Cat wrote: I don't automatically hand over the bags because I know from an ergonomist at a health clinic that he had seen a spike in complaints of injuries after the switch from free bags. As a former cashier, I know how difficult in can be, especially on your shoulders, bagging things on the counter while trying to hold a bag open. Bagging racks were designed to avoid this problem. However the cashiers have the bagging racks set up with the store bags. They need to have a spot for customer bags.
"Injuries" from bagging your own groceries has got to be one of the, if not the single most outrageous thing I've ever heard. If this is a real concern, then how are you even getting to the store? Driving has got to be harder on your shoulders than reaching alllllllll the way across the counter and taking the item and moving that 300lb stick of butter allllllll the way into your bag and then repeating this process. And what do you do when you're done? Do we need Loblaws-sponsored errand boys to take the bag home for us?

I would honestly like to see the statistics on this. I'd be frankly shocked if the likelihood of developing an injury from bagging groceries *alone* were any higher than getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery.
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flashy_mcflash wrote: "Injuries" from bagging your own groceries has got to be one of the, if not the single most outrageous thing I've ever heard.
She means from the cashiers bagging groceries a certain way the counter is set up, it may be too low.

Bagging a certain way 1000s of times takes its toll. Its wear and tear on your body just like many other jobs. If a cashier doesnt use a correct scanning technique they will also be 'injured'.
Remember to be an RFD-er and NOT a degenerate.
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flashy_mcflash wrote: "Injuries" from bagging your own groceries has got to be one of the, if not the single most outrageous thing I've ever heard. If this is a real concern, then how are you even getting to the store? Driving has got to be harder on your shoulders than reaching alllllllll the way across the counter and taking the item and moving that 300lb stick of butter allllllll the way into your bag and then repeating this process. And what do you do when you're done? Do we need Loblaws-sponsored errand boys to take the bag home for us?

I would honestly like to see the statistics on this. I'd be frankly shocked if the likelihood of developing an injury from bagging groceries *alone* were any higher than getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery.

Do you read much? I was referring to not going out of my way to hand the bags over because of the risk of injury to the cashier. As a former cashier, I can attest to how physically demanding it can be. Have you ever heard of repetitive strain injuries (musculoskeletal disorders)? There are the largest category of injury for every workers compensation board in the country. Stats Canada estimates that 1 in 10 Canadians suffer from them.
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No Frills wrote: She means from the cashiers bagging groceries a certain way the counter is set up, it may be too low.

Bagging a certain way 1000s of times takes its toll. Its wear and tear on your body just like many other jobs. If a cashier doesnt use a correct scanning technique they will also be 'injured'.

Thank you. Of course, I was referring to the cashier. Cashiers particularly in grocery stores handle thousands of items an hour. A low counter generally hurts your low back from bending. A higher counter and having to lift a heavy item up and into the bag, causes shoulder problems. It is not even a question of poor technique, the poor ergonomic setup leads to injuries. Many items have UPCs in awkward places (they have gotten a lot better) so it forces you to awkwardly lift or twist the item to scan it. Human bodies are no different than machines. They break down over time with overuse. Some stores have invested a lot of money to design better cash setups usually pressured by rising injury claims but it seems that no one considered the effect of the change from the store providing bags to customers bringing their own.
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I admit that I misinterpreted your comment CC, and I apologize.

To the point of the cashier getting RSI's though - is that the fault of the BAGS alone though, or the nature of the job? No matter what you're putting the groceries into, the placement of the UPC doesn't change, and different stores have different setups. It's just a repetitive job, any way you slice it. I would hardly consider the cause of carpel tunnel or similar repetitive stress injuries to be laid at the feet of cloth bags alone unless I saw some real evidence (other than the opinion of one ergonomics expert, whose claim is so isolated that I can't find anything else about it) that it is the bag policy that's causing this wave of achey wrists.
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The bags are just adding another awkward task to the job. RSI is an umbrella term for a number of injuries. The bagging issue is adding another injury to the mix. Any knowledgeable ergonomist can indentify the injuries that will occur by looking at the workstation setup. From my own experience working with bags without a bagging rack, I know the strain it put on my shoulders.

Without getting into details for privacy reasons, the ergonomist is not dealing with one isolated incident. It has been numerous complaints from a number of different stores in the area which they are working with to address the problem.

Stores implemented bagging racks to reduced injuries from the awkward postures involved in bagging groceries etc. If the cashiers aren't using the bagging racks because customers are bringing their own bags, then it is obviously reintroducing the problem that the racks were designed to eliminate.
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Sep 7, 2009
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I remember this lawsuit from a few years back and I looked it up:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news ... a94&k=7260

Although the woman lost her case, she lost it because the judge did not believe in her. If the judge believed that the cashier put about 20 lbs of groceries in the bag, Safeway would have lost.

So what does a cashier do nowadays if a customer pass his/her not enough bags or bags that are flimsy? Should s/he stuff everything into the bags not caring whether they will hold, or should s/he insist that the customer buy extra bags?

Side note: interesting that she got $15,000 settlement from the bag manufacturer.

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