Just make them all like Wegman’s.
Strong paper bags with handles. Charge me a quarter each for them, but let me reuse ones I’ve bought (and accept them for recycling).
Removal of ‘member discount’ programs.
Less patchouli (I’m looking at you, Whole Foods).
More open registers would be nice too… 15 people hanging out and around the “Front” and 2 registers open. WTF?
Hell yes. Those places are awesome.
…so you can take out your frustrations on kids and old people in a foreign country and return home as a welladjusted citizen.
Apparently, standing there for 15 minutes and writing out a cheque by hand is a direct cause of balancing one’s accounts
There’s the small matter of the cheque taking up to three days to hit your bank and then another 3 days to take the money out of your account that still makes them worth using when you’re in that “I have no food and no money in my account for another couple of days” scenario.
That’s less true these days - changes in law and technology have vastly reduced turnaround time for checks. The “float” has been much less reliable for the past few years.
Yeah, I know working at Home Depot checks are declined on the spot. They get scanned through, and you either have the money, or you do not. End of story. No arguments. It even prints out a little ticket to give the customer: “Sorry your check was declined. Call this number and find out why!”
Erik J.
It’s been a few years since I used the postal overdraft facility, but if you write a cheque on Friday night here it’s still not going to hit your bank before monday. Don’t you have tills that print cheques for you lot? Handy things, but now I don’t have to worry about the postal overdraft anymore I say hang the cheque users.
Yeah, I know working at Home Depot checks are declined on the spot. They get scanned through, and you either have the money, or you do not. End of story. No arguments. It even prints out a little ticket to give the customer: “Sorry your check was declined. Call this number and find out why!”
Ouch, damn you technology!
I’m just amazed you people still have checks, period. I vaguely remember them from my childhood but I haven’t seen one in 15 years.
The entire ACME catalog.
I’m with the 3 lanes in an aisle, as it is, you can barely fit 2 carts down an aisle side by side.
I agree with the " need x number of lines open for y number of customers in the damn store". A couple of weeks ago I walk in the store and there are NO carts in the front where they keep them.
I just about turned around and walked out.
I’ll submit a more logical layout of where stuff is put on shelves.This may be a local thing, but our grocery here has the hamburger helper in one aisle, and boxed potatoes type dishes in another aisle with breakfast cereal?
I have a checkbook but never use it at the store. :P
I did get a debit card for my bank account and it is right handy.(instead of having to get extra cash for shopping)
Attack monkeys that beat people who decide to block the entrance/exit by stopping to talk to someone they know.
Check kiting is a crime in most jurisdictions, though. Not that people often get caught or charged as far as I know. It’s also a federal offense, although as best I know it’s never charged unless the defendant is a serious fraudster.
I’d be willing to pay a membership fee to the following grocery store.
[ul]
[li]Nobody under 20 or over 60[/li][li]tons of self-checkout lanes[/li][li]bright, clean floor and employees that don’t look like they’re drinking on their break[/li][li]24 hour pharmacy[/li][li]reusable, strong grocery bags. Charge me a couple of bucks for them, then knock something off my bill every time I use them[/li][li]No checks, and you have to enter all your debit info while the groceries are being scanned[/li][/ul]
Basically Target with the extras.
Cart-Mounted Machine Guns!!!1!
I’d say get rid of all the customers. People suck. If they are hungry and in a rush, they suck more.
Get rid of all the employees. People suck. Untrained, low paid employees aren’t typically helpful, especially when they have to deal with the group above.
More seriously, I live in a small town that does the grocery store right. The employees know you by sight. The customers are friendly and patient. Compared to Baltimore, where I spent most of my life, it’s a completely different world. It’s hard to get out of the grocery store without a balloon or lollipop for the kids. My last trip featured free cookies from the bakery. I think what grocery stores really need are better people.
Self-checkout only stores. No regular registers. Want to use coupons? You’ll have to do it yourself. Want to fill 3 fricking buggies up? No problem you’ll have to bag it all yourself. Want to write a check/be annoying/talk forever while at the register … guess what, nobody there, it won’t work.
Which is why I use the self-checkout as much as possible. While grandma next to me is calling the cashier over to help her figure out what the code is for bananas, I’m already checked out and on my way to the car.
I also second the idea here to remove frequent buyer cards and programs. The damn things annoy me anyway and it’s a big scam that just gets me more spam in snail mail.
Most importantly … get rid of the bank, pharmacy, video rental, balloon sales, cigar store, florist, grill gas fill-up, and any other add-on superstore making thing they seem to think we all want. I long for the days when you could pull up to the grocery store and get a front row parking spot because people just came there for groceries. In and out in 30 minutes or less. These days you’re forced to go to the superdupergroceryplusthekitchensink store, park about 3 blocks away, wheel a giant buggy made to support the weight of a whale, and have to deal with enough people in one spot that it’s stop and go traffic … IN the store.
I started poking through this thread with express purpose of slamming Baltimore grocery stores. Here you started me rolling. Thanks! I moved to Charm City about 2 years ago with a major grocery chain about 3 minutes from my house. Sad thing is, it’s the absolute worst store I’ve ever seen. It’s like a freakin’ warzone! No matter when you go, it’s overcrowded. There’s always a 15 minute wait to check out. They block the aisles to restock during the busiest times. And the worst of all sins…they continually put the s l o w e s t checkers in the express lanes. GAH!
Finally, I had enough when I watched a woman vomit all over the floor infront of the deli counter. I started driving an extra ten minutes to a grocery store farther out in the county…but even that one isn’t much better.
Does anyone get their groceries delivered? I’ve toyed with this idea, but I do like to pick out my own perishables. Still, if it means I don’t have to do the Aisle 5 Tango with the drooling oldies and the screaming toddlers, it might be worth it.
Does anyone get their groceries delivered? I’ve toyed with this idea, but I do like to pick out my own perishables.
I generally like buying my perishables in person, but I just started to get an organic veggie box delivered once a week and so far I’m really enjoying it. configured the website with all the things I really don’t like so they just replace them with something else and see what turns up.
And having the supermarket deliver all the stuff they’re really good at (toilet roll, kitchen cleaner etc) has changed the way I tend to shop for other things, I’ve found some really good local butchers, fishmongers and bakers all of whom, funnily enough know a lot more about their produce than the kiddies in the supermarket and so far it’s tended to be much higher quality, if a little more expensive, than the supermarket stuff. I don’t eat that much meat anymore anyway so I’d rather pay more for better quality stuff when I do cook/eat it anyway.
We did a community assisted agriculture thing a few years ago (not in Baltimore) and I loved it. I learned how to cook all sorts of things I’d never buy on my own. I haven’t found one now that we’ve moved though. Thanks for reminding me to look into this!
I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who goes to a butcher and a fishmonger but the lure of convenience is too strong…