Do you organize the order of your groceries in the checkout line?
Do you organize the order of your groceries in the checkout line?
I'm just wondering what the title asks: do you organize your groceries in the order you will check them out, if doing self-checkout, or arrange them on the belt/counter in a standard checkout line, in the hope that they'll be bagged in a specific way?
I didn't know there was any other way people do it, but just learned some people prefer to checkout/bag without pre-arranging things. I'm kind of curious to see what's more common, or if there's some other options I haven't considered?
Heavy stuff first, cold things together, fragile stuff last.
This is the way
This is the way
Basically this, but with cleaning products/ chemicals last.
And for me, it's the snack I just bought to eat now that's last.
Yeah I'm trying to remember how we used to do it (the last time I went through a normal checkout with a full shop was probably 10 years ago) and this seems right.
Gotta have the heavy stuff handy so you can put it straight into the bottom of the bags. Anything else is wasting time!
There is no such concept as "groceries getting bagged for you" in Germany. I have a backpack with me where I put my groceries.
Regarding your question, yes have a strategy.
The basic order on the belt is heavy to light items, so that the heavy things such cans or glas bottles go to the bottom, light stuff like yoghurt and eggs at the end of the belt so they come on top of the other groceries.
Of course this is not fixed, as light but bulky items may get a prioritized place on the belt. The worst thing that can happen is that you have to repack your backback.
However this is not all. As our cashiers are usually professionals, you will need to stategically slow them down, you want to avoid the shameful and pressuring looks of your successors. I do that by putting items inbetween the other stuff on the belt that have to be counted or weighed, such as pastry and vegetables. This gives you time to pack your stuff or rearrange in case you made mistake a step earlier.
As a European, I have never once had an extra person there whose sole purpose is putting your groceries into bags, what a strange concept.
Here in New Zealand, different supermarket chains do it different.
- One is literally called Pak n Save, you pack your own bags.
- One very often has a second person packing bags. This is a pricier store.
- And one just has the cashier drop your things into the bag after they have scanned them.
The third one seems most natural to me. Why not have them put your stuff in a bag since they are already holding it?
In Australia the checkout person does the bagging themselves, no second person required.
I think people are being lazy, in a selfish, tragedy of the commons sort of way.
When standing in line, they all watch the customer stand there doing nothing as the cashier checks out items. If only they'd bag their own things, we'd all be able to get on with our lives that much sooner. Instead, they continue standing there doing nothing, as the cashier now bags their items.
Then the next person in line moves up and also just stands there, also unwilling to do anything to help speed things along.
There was this one time when I got that service at an Asian store (in Europe). I guess the Asian workers just imported the practices of their home country, which is nice.
As an american who shops and walks my groceries home like a european, the self checkout is the only option for me. I must have the ability to choose where to put products to keep my bags/backpack balanced to my liking and to prevent bags from failing on my walk home. Stranglely in the us, i risk approaching the "self checkout item limit" which is definitely more social expectation than actually enforced by staff.
A more specific question for you: how often do you encounter scales on self checkouts?
It's wild for me how different that peer pressure in the line is in different countries. In Spain people would even try to make you slow down and take your time when they notice how stressed you are with trying to pack everything fast 🥲 that's very considerate of them
It's true Germans are not known for being very patient and easily get annoyed when standing in line, but I may have exaggerated a bit ;)
I applaud you, sir Gigachad, on bearing the noble burden of carrying your shopping in a backpack. I've been there, and it's not very comfortable.
Great detail on your strategy, too. Though I think I'd rather avoid panicking for time to pack. It's either the leisurely self-checkouts for me, or if on the unavoidable occasion I have to directly interact with another human being, simply speedrunning IRL Tetris with the button-press sequence already etched into my mind.
Yep. Heavy and dense first, all refrigerated together, etc. I shop at WinCo mostly so I bag my own. It's very satisfying making it a super efficient process up front.
I used to work at a checkout operator, long ago.
I ALWAYS order the belt, cans and heavy stuff goes first, then usually cold/frozen stuff, veg and fruit, baking products (flour, sugar etc), then finally the light/soft stuff.
Never worked as a checkout person but that's how I do it too. Seems just common sense to me. But of course there are some baggers who don't have a clue and will put the soft stuff in one bag but then place it in the cart with something heavy on top of it.
Oh absolutely. They are arranged in the trolly before even getting to checkout too but you are querying a crowd on Lemmy that is going to be biased towards programmer / engineer types that tend to function well in their world due to compulsive features often considered pathologic by others.
You reminded me of when a partner and I entered a grocery store to buy sun screen lotion. I narrated my thoughts figuring out where it would be and found it immediately. She commented on how she'd never have found it that quickly. All I did was make logical deductions based on my knowledge of grocery stores.
Truly, people think differently. What is natural to me might be alien to another.
The only logic I can think of is to look for it in the same place where all the other lotions are located. I guess that section should be close to the toothbrush section. I wonder if deduction would actually work in my local supermarket.
Initially I felt bad about being considered pathologic, but it's right there in the word: path o' logic. I know it's not the etymology but I'm going to embrace it. To hell with those pathodumdums.
you are querying a crowd on Lemmy that is going to be biased towards programmer / engineer types that tend to function well in their world due to compulsive features often considered pathologic by others.
I feel personally attacked. :D
Edit: also to answer the question. Yes I absolutely arrange things on the checkout belt.
I group these items: Liquids. Fridge. Cans and bottles. Fruit and veg, heavier ones first so the potatoes don't crush the berries. Frozen gear near fridge gear. Chemicals / cleaning gear separate.
I should add that I'm buying for a lot of people so the shopping trips tend to be large and there would be a full bag of most of those groupings.
First heavy and non breakables or non crushables. Then crushables the veggies then fruits.
Of course I do, is there another way? How else would one determine packing order and avoid crushing the more delicate stuff like tomatoes and eggs under the weight of the heavier items.
Same with stuff that needs to be frozen or refrigerated. Makes it that much easier to put things away when you're back home.
Heavy items such as milk goes in first, so that they will also be at the bottom of my backpack. Light and fragile things, such as salad goes last.
My only hard rule is refrigerated/frozen items together so I can handle that bag first when I put groceries up.
I put the heaviest and least breakable things first in line so they end up at the bottom of the bag(s). Canned food, stuff in plastic bottles, then all the cold/ frozen stuff altogether, light and delicate things like bread, chips etc last
We have hand scanners you can take with you through the store. I pack everything into collapsible crates as I go, so at the checkout it's just putting the scanner back and paying.
I'm a car-free city dweller, so I always put heavy stuff first so I can pack it in my backpack, lighter stuff next to fill my reusable bags, with fragile stuff last so it's packed on top.
Makes it easy to walk or bus home with everything.
Heavy first, light last. This way the light stuff won't get squished. And we bag stuff ourselves here, we aren't that lazy.
The stuff at the top of the basket goes first so I can reach the stuff at the bottom?
Have you considered using one of those carts you can open from the bottom?
Not sure what you're referring to, but I'm guessing only because we don't have those here. People either bring their own cart or use a basket
Soft and fragile things on top, heavy things on the bottom, square things in the middle, circular things on the outside, cold things in one bag, non-cold-things in another bag, and anything that can't be organized in this way in a third bag.
I just scan and bag as I go in the supermarket and pay at the end. Much easier than staying in line and bagging everything at the end.
A Tesco where I lived introduced this system couple of years ago, but since they left the country entirely no other supermarket chain picked it up; not sure why, to be honest, doesn't seem much more prone to theft than regular self-checkouts.
I keep cold things or products that are identical or related together most of the time. So all the bags of chips, or all the cans, all the meats, all the frozen stuff, etc.
And I guess like the other guy, I usually stick fragile stuff on one end or the other.
You reminded me that some third-world countries like the US have people packing your groceries for a few dollars a day
I go to scan-while-you-shop places then strategically bag as I walk around the store. 30 seconds to pay and then leave.
I generally go to self-scan line, so it's the order in which I bought these. When I go to a more classical line, Heavy, then cold, then light so the heavy stuff goes on the bottom of the bag, the cool stuff in the middle (where they are a bit protected) and the light things on top
Self bagging only pretty much where i live.
The cashiers at lidl are so fast it's hard to keep up.
I just stuff everything in fast as possible trying to maximise damage; this can also save on chewing time later.But I only have to carry it as far as my bicycle - and I do sometimes need to fish out and reorganize heavy stuff at that point to keep the pain-ears vaguely balanced.
Though it is quite fun to try with 6-7 litres of liquids on one side and 2 carrots and a lettuce on the other.
If it's not too windy I'd just do that - shopping is boring.If I was walking farther I'd take a big rucksack and yeah I'd probably pack it more systematically.
I can understand car users not bothering to organise though.
Unless you're driving 100km through the desert and think anything frozen wil melt.Since I usually self check at Walmart and other places that have it, I place the big items in the cart with the bar code accessible for hand scanning without removal, frozen/refridgerated items generally together, everything else in cart doesn't really matter to me. The upper cart space (where toddlers/baby could go) is where I place my eggs, bread, and fresh veggies. Then I scan in this order: Frozen items, regular cart items, eggs/bread, weighed veggies, (bagging and putting back in the cart as i scan them) lastly use the hand scanner for the big items. Sometimes I scan the big items first if i know i need to place bags on top. Once I see that everything has been bagged and back in the cart, then I'm confident that I didn't miss anything, pay, and then GTFO. I'm an efficient self checkout machine, haha
Well at the Prisma I go to we just scan products into bags in the store (you have your bags open the shopping cart)
I am way lax. No pre-organization really at all - but most of the time I also bag them myself with my own bags. I wlll somewhat organize them during that process.
Heavy stuff in the backbag (Eastpak Student style),
Others stuff in the two handbags,i'm Urbanized.
When i lived in a rural zone, wasnt the same at all.I tend to do my primary shopping at a place where you bag your own. The order is generally produce and bulk items first (it tends to be the bulk of the purchase), then frozen things, boxed/canned things, and finally squishy things like bread, eggs, and uh, delicious Hostess fruit pies.
Items in perfect order of robustness on the conveyor, but more than one bag...
If I have a large cart of groceries I don't like self checkout. if i have time I turn all the items so the bar code is on the bottom and stack them so they are easy to drag over the scanner. I also only use the first 2/3 of the belt that's closest to the checker so they don't have to lean over and reach for anything.
Staggering produce items introduces slowdowns so best to put them all at the end so you can do your payment info while stuff is being weighed.
My checkouts are fast af.
If you have a big enough purchase, it gets pretty impossible to rearrange on the fly.
Nah not true, ive done it on £200 shops, not perfectly but enough. Take the time to think about where your putting stuff as your putting things in your basket/trolley and its easy to move a few bags of crisps to get to the bottles for example.
You need to teach me then, haha! I unload as fast as I humanly can, usually with someone else madly bagging at the other end, and quite often there's a giant line behind us anyway.
I can reach down like two layers at most before something either is knocked out of the trolley or the pile topples inside. The best I can try and do is group heavy things together a little bit. I'm not sure if it makes much of a difference.
This is how I do it. I plan checkout as I put stuff in the cart. Heavy/hard/non-crushables at the back, squashables at the front and delicates in the baby seat. Makes loading the conveyor belt a breeze.
I don't organize them with a mind as to how they'll be bagged, but I usually put vegetables down first as they take the longest individually to process and put fragile things like eggs last.
What I do wonder is if the cashier is judging me as to the quality of my purchases. Like if it's all fresh vegetables and grains do I get an A? If I add in a frozen pizza does the score drop to a B-? If it's just trash like chips and processed junk do I get a D?
I was a cashier at a department store decades ago, the answer is no. When I started I'd judge people on their purchases, after a few shifts I couldn't care or remember anything anyone got.
As a former cashier, I literally did not care what anyone purchased.
What grade does the guy getting 4 cooked whole chickens in a bag get? What if he’s getting a case of miller lite too? Asking for a friend.
Not really, no.
Nope
Yes, I live a short walk from the grocery store so I normally just put everything in a large backpack to carry it home. I organize what I'm buying in the order I want them so the heavy large items are on the bottom and the fragile items on top.
Reverse alphabetical, duh.
Can’t have my aardvarks at the bottom of the bag.
Fuckin... No!
I also tell the cashier that they can stuff it any which way so they don't stress.
I don't as the cashier are usually kind enough to consider that when they pack them anyway. At least I never had issues with that before.
I tend to shop at grocery stores where the cashiers are paid relatively decently and have their shit together (Aldi, Lidl, Costco), so I often don't have time to do more than shovel everything out of the cart top-down as quickly as possible before they're already scanning it.
Not really
Depends. Aldis, not much. Walmart I absolutely do. Self check, a little, but only use it when only have a few things.
I usually only have a backpack, so I have to make sure everything fits in that one backpack. So yea I order my stuff
my mother was always weird about putting all the same items together on the conveyor belt, as if not doing it were some incredibly rude faux pas.
there's no way it possibly makes any difference to anybody. I do try to make sure that the crushable items go last however
