Lawrence Barker says he is pissed off that cashiers at main grocery shops he outlets at now not voluntarily bag his items.
Barker finds bagging a trouble, as he feels pressured to shortly pack objects into his reusable baggage earlier than the subsequent buyer’s items slide down the conveyor belt.
So he opts for self-checkout, the place he can bag at a leisurely tempo.
“I am not rushed and haggard and I’m not having all my groceries all piled up like a traffic jam,” mentioned Barker, who lives simply outdoors Fenelon Falls, Ont., a rural neighborhood close to Peterborough. “I go to self checkout just to avoid the stress.”
Barker recollects a bygone period when grocery shops typically employed baggers on the cashier.
“And then suddenly, even the cashier bagging stopped and you were on your own.”
Dozens of Canadians have posted related complaints on social media, questioning why main grocery shops like Loblaws, Sobeys and Walmart appear to have decreased or eradicated cashier bagging companies.
I assume we bag our own groceries at @sobeys now? I simply received checked out by the cashier as if I had 3 heads when my groceries had been piling up whereas I used to be chatting with my 5 yr previous… time to begin utilizing the self checkouts I assume
CBC News investigated and, it seems, there are no easy solutions — together with from Canada’s main grocers.
However, it’s obvious that the rise of reusable baggage, fuelled by the federal government’s plastic bag ban in late 2022, has led to a basic expectation in lots of shops that clients self-bag on the cashier.
“Once we have our own bags, I think we just — the idea is just to pack it ourselves,” mentioned Shawna Squire, carrying a bag of groceries she packed herself on the cashier at a Loblaws in Toronto.
“It’s become the norm.”
But why? Food economist Mike von Massow means that, aided by the reusable bag development, grocers encourage self-bagging to chop labour prices.
“I think if you ask, you’ll get the help, but I think the real incentive is to get you through as quickly as possible so that [they] can serve the next customer,” mentioned von Massow, an affiliate professor on the University of Guelph.
“I think we’re being trained not to expect bagging… and we’ve sort of fallen into that trap.”
The shift away from plastic grocery baggage additionally coincided with more buyers bagging their own groceries, one thing specialists say was largely a labour initiative to cut back workers and get folks via the checkout quicker.
‘We’re getting much less’
CBC News noticed busy cashiers at a Loblaws, Sobeys and Walmart in downtown Toronto. At every retailer, most clients did the bagging on their own initiative.
But sometimes, cashiers mechanically did the job if buyers purchased new, reusable baggage at checkout.
Sophia Berdousis of Toronto, who labored as a Loblaws cashier throughout the plastic bag period, says that she mechanically bagged all clients’ items.
“It used to be part of the grocery experience and now I feel like there is just one more thing that they’re taking away,” she mentioned. “They’re raising prices, we’re getting less,” she added, referring to the 23 per cent rise in meals prices since 2020.
Berdousis says she has observed that Loblaws cashiers bag her groceries when requested, however she feels clients should not need to ask.
She additionally says that on two latest journeys to Walmart, she was advised it was retailer coverage not to do the bagging.
“You can go to Walmart and have $400 worth of groceries, they won’t bag for you,” mentioned Berdousis.
Grocers reply
Walmart Canada spokesperson Stephanie Fusco advised CBC News in an electronic mail that cashiers are completely happy to assist clients who want or need bagging help.
In response to a number of buyer complaints on social media over the previous a number of years, Walmart offered more particulars. It acknowledged that as a result of clients are bringing their own baggage, the retailer “introduced self-bagging” in most shops, and that cashiers assist when required.
Fusco did not reply to questions on why the bring-your-own-bag development impressed a self-bagging coverage.
Hi, we’re sorry for the expertise. Please learn, as clients are bringing their own baggage to the shop, we have launched self-bagging in most of our shops. Associates are skilled to supply help to clients who require it.
Loblaw Companies Ltd., which owns Loblaws and different chains together with the {discount} No Frills, mentioned in an electronic mail that its “policy and expectation [is] that customers have help with bagging” in non-discount shops.
However, in 2021, the grocery store acknowledged on social media that it had launched a “Bag-Your-Own program,” permitting it “to offer lower pricing due to labour savings.” Loblaw did not reply to questions on that program.
The firm’s assertion on social media backs up von Massow’s concept that grocers encourage self-bagging to economize. He says when clients do the the job, the cashier line strikes quicker, so grocers can open fewer cashier lanes.
“I think grocers are always looking for ways to cut costs,” he mentioned.
Hello, In an effort to offer our clients with a more environment friendly checkout expertise, we launched the Bag-Your-Own program. This course of permits us to supply decrease pricing on account of labour financial savings, as our cashiers are in a position to course of a larger quantity of buyer orders.
Dirty reusable baggage?
Roy Graham of Shrewsbury, Ont., close to Windsor, studies a blended expertise with bagging at his native Sobeys. He says cashiers often bag his groceries, however typically he is on his own.
He suspects it’s as a result of clients’ used baggage might be contaminated. “I think they don’t want to touch reusable bags,” he mentioned. “I don’t blame them.”
However, none of the most important grocers talked about on this story indicated clients’ unwashed baggage are a difficulty.
Sobeys spokesperson Tshani Jaja mentioned its bagging companies rely on the shop, area and staffing.
And at Ontario’s Farm Boy, owned by Empire, the identical firm that owns Sobeys, non-express lane cashiers offer bagging to all customers.
“Every time that I have gone, they’ve bagged without question,” mentioned Berdousis, the previous cashier, including that Farm Boy cashiers ask her handy over her reusable baggage at checkout.
CBC News noticed at a Toronto Farm Boy that the cashiers handing clients’ baggage wore gloves. The grocery chain did not reply to requests for remark.
At Food Fare, a small grocery chain in Winnipeg, cashiers additionally supply to bag everybody’s groceries — irrespective of the state of their reusable baggage.
“I’ve had some cashiers give some comments of, ‘The bags are dirty,'” mentioned Foodfare’s proprietor, Munther Zeid. In response, he offered them with gloves and sanitizer.
“We’ve built our business around service,” he mentioned. “We will maintain bagging and carrying groceries out to the car.”
