Member Articles

When our local grocery store installed the first two Self-check cash registers I was impressed. I thought how techno savvy the grocery store was getting. I could not wait to gather all my groceries and try out the new “toy”. Most items scanned very nicely but produce and anything in a bag. Well, the scanner had trouble picking up the bar codes. This was frustrating and I could only imagine the teenage cashiers were giggling to themselves “See, we are not the problem. You are having the same issue we have.” Not only was I having difficulty scanning but I had to be in front of the scanner and the end of the belt all at once to keep the “flow” of products moving. Yes, now you too can get frustrated with the scanner and bag your own groceries. If I have a large quantity of groceries I opt for the register with a real person, usually a teenager.

Due to past experiences with unruly bagging at manned registers I place my items on the small conveyor belt with deliberate purpose. First to go on the belt are all frozen foods then cold food, items that go in the upper cabinets of my kitchen then the items for the lower cabinets.

Why so particular? When the items are all bagged they are replaced in my cart in this order(front to back of cart). This allows me to reverse the order (back to front of cart) when I reach my car and pack them in the trunk. When I am home the bags closest to me are frozen and cold foods which need to be placed in the freezer and refrigerator, thus need to come out first. The last bags to come out are those with the items which belong in the lower cabinets. While I place the items in the upper cabinets my children can easily put away the items that belong in the lower cabinet. This may sound a bit over the top to plan in such a way but it really works for us. When you are a single working mom every extra moment have to playing and just hanging out with my children is a blessing. Hey, even if you are not a single working mom every minute counts!