By Judi Curry (aka the Widder Curry)
As the “mother” of my household – put the emphasis wherever you think it should be – I do all of the grocery shopping. My feet are not anchored in cement, and I shop at a variety of stores – Costco; Barons; Stumps; Vons; Ralph’s, etc. I like various things at different stores. (I used to shop at Sprouts until they fired an employee I liked.)
My main shopping store is Ralph’s, for a variety of reasons: I use their pharmacy and all my prescriptions are on file there; the items that I purchase are lower there than at other stores; they have the variety of items that I frequently look for. I seldom buy my produce there because I think they are over-priced, under-ripe, and outdated. I shop there at least once a week; sometimes twice.
Today, when I did a relatively large shopping trip, I noticed that the checkout area had a new configuration. An annoying one.
Gone are the long assembly-like belts that take the food to the end of the counter, to be bagged and placed in the cart. No, they have removed the belts and have substituted a nightmarish revolving rack with plastic bags hanging from hooks that allows the checker to put frozen food in one bad; flip it a little and put other like items in another sack, etc. And then the checker has to walk around to put the item in my cart.
It is so easy for him to miss something – as he did for the lady in front of me, and he went tearing out of the store to give her the bag he missed. There is virtually no place to count out your money, or write a check. It is claustrophobic, besides being unfriendly.
The woman behind me said “it’s just like WalMart and I don’t like it.” I don’t shop at WalMart. Never will until they begin to treat their employees better, but if this new invention is a copy of one at WalMart, I may never shop at Ralph’s again either.
Further, I absolutely refuse to use the self-check lanes. They are paying their help to check me out; bag my groceries; and, if necessary help me out to my car. When they lower the price of those using the self-check lanes, THEN, and only then, will I use them. They are banking on my using their self-check lanes, saving money by not employing others, and charging me the same thing for me doing their work. No thank you.
How many employees have they let go since they have put in the self-check lanes? I will continue my boycott until the stores are fair to their employees. And if it means going to a different store, I have many to choose from.
GRRRRRR.
Judi Curry
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Is this all about not having to employ a second bagger? Anyway I don’t like all the plastic bags. Plastic is filling up our oceans. Everyone should take their own reusable bags to the supermarket. They sell them just about everywhere. There’s no excuses any more for using plastic bags. I prefer them for carrying stuff into the house from the parking lot because you can get more items in one of them so you can make fewer trips. The hardest part is remembering to take them into the store with you. We stow them under the front seat of our car. Sometimes when I buy just one item at a store they will put it in a plastic bag, and I take it out of the bag leave the bag on the counter and carry my item out.
It’s not just about plastic bags, John. There was no room for my own reusable bags; there was no room to open my wallet and take out my debit card or write a check; there was no room to hand my coupons to the checker; there was no room to get my change; there was no room………and even if I had placed my bags on the hooks, it is to easy to leave a bag there because it is so congested.
I use reuse ambles at Costco. I do use plastic at the grocery store because they are very thin & I don’t buy plastic trash bags at home. I just reuse these which are so thin that assuming lay they are better for the environment than the thing tie bags most use at home. Is washing my reusable bags issue for water? Tere seem to be so many variables. I also keep and reuse paper (trader Joes) and boxes Costco to collect y recyclables. I notice paper bags are much thinner as well.
Grocery store robots video
Funny, Ambrose.
Which Ralph’s was this at? I haven’t noticed anything at the one I go to, at least yet…
Sports Arena – near Target and Dick’s.
I will NEVER use self-checkout…..even if prices were less.
Why?
Because I chose to help my neighbors who are fortunate enough to
have somewhat-decent paying jobs and be represented by a union…
even when it means paying a little more than WalMart prices.
One late night at a Ralphs the only “checker” was showing customers how
to use the self-check out line. I walked up to the duty manager and
told her that I would be purchasing the groceries in my cart only if she
put a checker at a register. She did.
My feelings exactly!
Here’s the answer I received from Ralph’s. Do you think they even read the article?
Dear Ms. Curry:
Thank you for contacting The Kroger Co. We appreciate your concerns regarding your shopping experience, in this regard to your checkout experience with our Ralph’s located at 3345 Sports Arena Blvd in San Diego, CA.
We know and understand you have a choice in where you shop and are grateful that you’ve chosen to do so with us. I have forwarded your feedback with the head management team so that appropriate steps are taken to address your particular situation.
I’m very confident that your next visit will be more positive. Thank you for shopping at Ralph’s . There is nothing more important to us than making sure your shopping experience meets your expectations. If I can be of further assistance, please simply respond to this email or call 1-800-576-4377.
Sincerely,
Vanessa
Consumer Affairs
Reference: 16026407
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