Safeway's new "unload EVERYTHING" policy!

[ladyeeyore7]

Well, in today's world everything must be "politically correct" and "non-profiling". People have become so thin-skinned that everything offends them. It is easier to be curt and treat everyone the same than to be nice and only hassle those that appear to shoplift. You can't sue someone and win if they are simply curt and inconveniencing you. You can, however, win a suit for being harrassed and/or "profiled". I grew up in an era when service was nice, government was mean and you could say what you wanted.

I don't know anything about carts that open. I was talking about check-outs where you push your cart on 1 side of the counter where the cashier is and you proceed on the other side. Our King Soopers has this kind of set-up. They reach in, pick up the items and scan them then put them on a conveyor belt to go to the end of the counter. If it is something big, cumbersome or heavy they just take their hand-scanner and scan it. You don't have to lift it multiple times and neither do they but they have the cart next to them so they can see everything.

[derketchup]

Originally Posted by RainyNights I encourage ALL of you that have noticed this change to use the link above and complain! Without speaking up they don't know how we feel or are effected by this change. I have no problem with the cashier coming out looking into my basket. I even proposed that a manage was more than welcome to be called over and check out my basket...I was told no that i could not buy anything that was not put up on the belt. My safeway's don't do stickers. The only store that still does that is Weis and I feel that is stupid too..... for pete's sake hiring someone to stand at the door and check receipts like walmart...those stickers come off and get stuck every where. lol

It is illegal for a store to detain someone to check a receipt. When the receipt checkers try to stop me I say "no thanks" and keep walking. I only stop if the theft-sensor-thingy chimes.

[CouponingCraze]

Originally Posted by RainyNights 1. See this is where I differ, I guess. First I don't feel that speaking up against a ridiculous policy is having a conniption...but that's just me! 2. 2nd the employees at both of my Safeway are AMAZING friendly from the youngest to the oldest...from the manager, the stocker and even the bag girl. Another reason why I feel speaking up against this is important....it is unfair treatment, not just to their customers but the employees I have come to like! 3. 3rd "manpower" that is just it too.... at least at most of my stores... they do NOT have the manpower to handle this. There are longer lines because of less cashiers and with the economy they are not going to be hiring any more any time soon and this adds to even longer lines and more back ups for no real good reason! 4. 4th again I guess this is where I differ! SOME people may feel they have to put everything up themselves....people that may not be as physically fit as I or you! Also, again not all of the cashiers are... one wears a wrist brace. I realize they have to lift but NOT 5 31lb boxes back to back. 5. I guess I am looking out for everyone that may be effected and not just how it effects me. I feel it is unfair to their customers and their employees... Yes you can have a manager call someone for "help" but is it the manager that will be doing all that lifting and lugging? I doubt it! 6.And for what??? YES if there was a legitimate reason for this I would understad it the only reason I got "conniption" worthy was because there si NO reason for treating all your customers like they are criminals and adding more work to your employees but then again I tend to look at the whole situation and who may/may not be effected and not just myself.

1. Well see...this is my opinion and like I said... I wouldn't have a conniption over this. They are doing their jobs to check the carts. Why do you think that they shouldnt have a reason to check the carts? they are making sure that "their" carts are empty while checking out each customer. They are not going through "your" pursue and checking if you stole something.

It's their cart and personally "I" feel they have a right to check it if that means all their "goods" have to be put on the belt. As far as I'm concerned if I didn't pay for the goods yet, they are not mine and technically it's still theirs. That's my opinion. You may feel that putting the goods in the cart is already yours and that you have a right not to put the goods up or you feel it's not "great customer" service for having to do this. Customer service to me (again it will differ from what you are thinking) is if the customer needs help, then they are there to provide it. And yes loading and unloading would fall under that category to help with it if need be.

2. I'm glad that you have all friendly cashiers, managers, bag checkers and the like... Again, this is your opinion that you feel it's unfair treatment to the cashiers, bag checkers, safeway employees. But to me (yes my opinion here again) is that this is their job. Whether it be the cashier, bag checker or even the manager... their job is to provide service to their customers. I'm not sure why you feel that "helping" the customer put heavy things on the belt is not part of their job or that unloading the cart while checking out is not part of their job... is it because it's tedious or too heavy? Then I would imagine that you would have the same feelings toward the shelf stockers. They have to lift heavy things everyday and I'm sure they are nice people too. So I guess they shouldnt have to do that. Again that's my opinion and that is how I'm seeing your response as.

3. longer lines due to the lack of manpower... but that doesn't excuse the fact that they still need to check the carts. If their policy is causing longer lines because they are treating each customer the same by checking the carts for all items, then why don't you complain and say to the store about hiring more manpower to help with the longer lines? Instead of saying... why do I have to unload all my merchandise so the lines can go faster since there is no need to check my cart to make sure all items are on the belt? Even if the line is backed up and the wait is long, there is still a need to check the carts. The issue is the line is long because the cashiers need to check the carts to make sure all items are accounted for, that is part of the check out process.

4. I'm glad that you are looking out for all customers and the cashiers. But then if you do this... who will do their jobs? Usually the customer is reponsible for putting their items up on the belt and the larger items can be requested with help. If there are customers that cannot do this, the safeway employees would/should help. If that particular safeway employee cannot help, they should ask for help from another safeway employee that is capable of doing this. They should make the judgement call to ask someone for help when the situation arise. If the line is held up because the fragile customer in front of you can't do this, then maybe take into consideration they are waiting for someone to help them... not the customer behind but a safeway employee that can help. Personally I've helped customers in front when I see situations like this but again that is me and it's not my responsibility. I'm just trying to help. And yes it does hold up the line but does that mean the fragile customers item doesn't need to be put on the belt? No, their items need to be accounted for as well and it's also holding up the line. This is no different than needing help to unload and load heavy things onto the belt. Items still need to be loaded/unloaded to be accounted/paid for.

5. partial answer is in my #4. and as for the manager... YES I have had managers unload and load my cart when they are short staffed. and it's not a one time thing either. My safeway managers (I live in an area of about 5 safeway stores) in most of the areas have personally stepped in to do the unload and load when short staffed. This personally happened at the "Greenbelt, MD" store, the "Fairview - Bowie, MD" store and the "Laurel MD" store and even the ultra crappy "Mitchellville, MD" store... I know there are tons of shoppers here from MD... so you can try it yourself at these stores. And yes I have been to stores "Capitol Heights, MD" store that the managers won't lift a finger but stand there and watch. But I do speak up to the managers when they do this to ask for help. When you ask, they will help.

6. See again... this is my opinion and I feel that they have a right to have the carts emptied while checking out. I do not feel like this is a "unfair practice or treatment" of the customers or the cashiers. It's the cashiers responsibilty to know that the cart is emptied while checking the customer out. It shouldnt be up to the cashier to take your word for it that the cart is emptied or that you have "XX" heavy items under your cart. If they feel the need and it's their store policy to have the carts emptied then they need to have that done by means provided to them at that store (whether asking for a more capable store employee for help lifting heavy item or doing it themselves). If you are concerned that they could get hurt doing this, then they (cashier) need to make that judgement call about how to proceed, not the customer. I do not feel like this is making the customer out to be a criminal. If they need to check the carts to make sure it's emptied then that is part of their job to do so and as a customer you should know that the cashier needs to check the entire cart to make sure it's emptied. If this causes longer lines because they are doing their jobs then you should complain that the store is understaffed with cashiers not that the cashier is doing their job and on purposely causing the line to be longer.

Originally Posted by southsider CouponingCraze You say it doesn't bother you but one thing I noticed over the years is that there is a trend for stores (not just grocery) to haveless and less respect for their customers. They are also acting more and more as if they were the law. What happened to such things as the customer is always right? Bit by bit customer service is disappearing. All you need to do is read through this site to come across story after story of somebody saying a store accused them of doing something illegal, of committing coupon fraud or of stealing. All they did was come to this board and were able to put deals together. Some members have been banned from a store and why - just because they put things together to get a great deal. Little things add up. Changes are made in little steps. Things that are done to customers today would not have been tolerated say 20 or 30 years ago. Just out of curiosity what would it take for you to say that a store was going too far?

I'm sorry that you live in an area where customer service is disappearing. In the area I live, my customer service is mostly in tact. Maybe you should call CS, DM about the lack of customer service.

I do read a lot of posts on HCW, not just the safeway forum. I'm an avid coupon shopper and yes I have had my fair share of unfair treatment. But checking the cart to make sure it's all accounted for is not unfair treatment. It's the cashier doing their job to make sure all items are accounted for and if that means having it on the belt then so be it.

Answering your curiousity question... what would make me feel if a store has gone too far... Well if my purse was searched because they felt I was stealing when in fact I was just digging through my purse for coupons. I do this a lot .. .digging through my purse for my coupon binder and it does seem odd at times when I do this and get stares from other people wondering what I'm doing and then when they see I have my coupon binder all is well. :D hmmm... being accused of committing coupon fraud when in fact I'm not and having to explained myself thoroughly and still not have the other side understand. Having a cashier question me about buying 20+ items of the same thing. There are more but I can't think of them now... but I do honestly believe (my opinion here) that having the cart unloaded fully to account for everything is not something that the store has gone too far in. They are doing their jobs to account for everything in their carts and I would abide by this. Oh... I thought of another one while I was typing the below... I would feel the store has gone too far if they were singling out customers with the unloading and loading. This would be something I would fight against. But if they are doing this across all customers then I would not feel that the store has overstepped in asking the carts to be emptied.

To everyone else: I know my opinion would differ from everyone here. I was just posting the other side of how people are viewing this. You may not like it but I was just pointing out the fact that the safeway employee is just doing their job to make sure all items are accounted for and if that means unloading the entire cart then that is what they must do.

[luvsdeals]

I don't see unloading the cart as a big issue. If that's their store policy and they're willing to do the heavy lifting I don't see how it impacts my day all that much. One thing I love about Safeway is their customer service and their carry-out service. I love having them follow my cart out and unload it for me while I get all the kids buckled in. If they want my cart empty first to check out--I have no problem with that.

[575fifth]

I just have to say this is the most hilarious thread I have read in a long time. To have a problem with loading and unloading a cart. There are big issues to worry about than something so minor. LOL

[angeloeyes]

Why shouldn't anyone have to load their items onto the conveyor belt? Is the world that lazy that this is a big deal? I really don't understand why this is a big deal or even a debate? If you are not stealing anything then put it all on the belt. I have 3-4 young kids with me when I shop and it is still not a big deal. It teaches my kids patience and keeps the prices low for us. Most of the time when I have a cart loaded to the top it is because the store had such a great deal that I am excited anyway.......scan away, I'll load it up at these prices!

[jn_hatfield]

Hmmm, not sure how to say anything without getting on anyone's bad side since I thought CouponingCraze had said things well but apparently still hit some nerves. I don't think that policy sounds too out of hand or anything. Can you really blame them for wanting to make sure that everything gets checked out properly? What if a cashier was upset with you for handing her one coupon at a time because you wanted to make sure she scanned each one? To me it seems like the same thing, it would be something that was important to you since you took all the time to gather all the right coupons and you didn't want to be jipped any of them. You aren't necessarily saying she's a terrible person but just that you've seen it happend a few times where a coupons gets missed and not on purpose. So sometimes a person might mistakinly miscount how many big items they have in their cart. It doesn't always have to be a thief. I do understand what you are saying though about stores have less and less respect for the customer. I cringe everytime I have a stack of coupons because I'm just hoping that I don't have to go through alot of trouble. I can see where they are coming from on that part though because there are so many other people out there that don't understand correct coupon usage or are blatanly using them wrong. So unfortunately the bad seeds do ruin it for the rest of us. I would place your frustration at them instead of the stores that are just trying to keep their business profitable.

[southsider]

Originally Posted by CouponingCraze Answering your curiousity question... what would make me feel if a store has gone too far... Well if my purse was searched because they felt I was stealing when in fact I was just digging through my purse for coupons. I do this a lot .. .digging through my purse for my coupon binder and it does seem odd at times when I do this and get stares from other people wondering what I'm doing and then when they see I have my coupon binder all is well. :D hmmm... being accused of committing coupon fraud when in fact I'm not and having to explained myself thoroughly and still not have the other side understand. Having a cashier question me about buying 20+ items of the same thing. There are more but I can't think of them now... but I do honestly believe (my opinion here) that having the cart unloaded fully to account for everything is not something that the store has gone too far in. They are doing their jobs to account for everything in their carts and I would abide by this. Oh... I thought of another one while I was typing the below... I would feel the store has gone too far if they were singling out customers with the unloading and loading. This would be something I would fight against. But if they are doing this across all customers then I would not feel that the store has overstepped in asking the carts to be emptied. To everyone else: I know my opinion would differ from everyone here. I was just posting the other side of how people are viewing this. You may not like it but I was just pointing out the fact that the safeway employee is just doing their job to make sure all items are accounted for and if that means unloading the entire cart then that is what they must do.

The way you felt about others staring at you when you checked your purse is exactly related to the point I am trying to make. It is not the checking of the cart that is the big deal it is the psychological impact that a store doing this has that is the big deal. I noticed a change in my attitude when I was in a store oh maybe about 15 or 20 years ago. I would always before go in shop and pay for my purchases. Then I started being concerned about if what I was doing in a store could be perceived as suspicious. It was about that time that most stores started doing things like checking bags when you came in and putting up those doorway scanners or doing something like putting a mark on a bag or a tape on a bag when you came in. At the time I really didn't think anything of it. Like you I thought ok this is nothing.

It has been more recently that I have been questioning why did I start to feel I had to prove to a store that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I don't drive and when I took the bus I would sometimes stop at a Walgreens down the street from my home. When I would go in and out the scanners at the door would beep. I would stop and the cashier would just say go without even checking anything. Eventually I figured out what the problem was. I would carry a library book to read while I was on the bus. Library book now have those magnetic strips in them so when I walked through the scanners it was picking up the magnetic strip in the library book.

The thing about this is that each time it would happen I stopped and waited to prove my innocence. How many times have you done that? When you or I do this we are according an authority to the store as if they were law enforcement. Stop and think about it because they do not have that authority?


Derketchup pointed out that they do not have a right to check your bag as you walk out the door. Even though they do not have the right how many people waive that right and allow them to check their bags. How many people even question it? How do you feel about not letting them check your bag? As you were concerned enough about how others perceived you when you checked for something in your purse would you also be concerned that others would think that you were doing something wrong?

They do not need to check everybodies' cart. To check on a case by case basis all they need is reasonable cause. Say the cashier saw something in the cart. You have to remember they have security cameras and loss prevention people watching the entire store. They have had that in large grocery stores for decades now. They now have security cameras in the parking lot. All they have to do is watch from the cameras. They should be able to see if someone is intentionally hiding something. They should be able to see if that person does not get the hidden item paid for. When they walk out they can by law stop them and call the police. Well in Illinois at least as long as they have watched the entire process and have observed the person walking out with unpaid merchandise. If the person is getting away in a car they have the cameras in the parking lot that they can zoom in on the license plate number with.

Back in the 60's or 70's if they tried something as insulting as checking a bag or checking a shopping cart people would have reacted and the store would have lost business. People would have been rightly insulted that a store incinuated that they were a theif that needed to be checked. Today everybody now says the store has a right to do what they do.

That is the slow erroision of our rights. It took a lot of small steps to change public perception for finding something insulting to actually participating in the store's insult of someone. These things that the store does are mostly in and of themselves not loss pervention. The loss pervention comes from the psychological effect these proceedures have on people.

I grew up in retail. My grandparents used to own one of those mom & pop candy stores. I can tell you that a lot of what these stores do is because they are large companies. God forbid they train their employees how to handle a situation and allow them the ability to make decisions. They rather cow their customers than do that.

I know a lot of people may say that it's usually the cashier that is the problem in situations and the manager that knows better. I have heard and seen enough to know that a lot of managers tell employees to do something one way and when a customer complains comes out and make themselves looking like a hero and allowing the exact opposite. They just do not want to give the cashier the authority to make a decision.

[CouponingCraze]

Originally Posted by southsider Well if my purse was searched because they felt I was stealing when in fact I was just digging through my purse for coupons. I do this a lot .. .digging through my purse for my coupon binder and it does seem odd at times when I do this and get stares from other people wondering what I'm doing and then when they see I have my coupon binder all is well.

With response to the highlighted area of my post you quoted above... it's not the same thing. That is not apples to apples. One is my purse and the stares because I'm digging through my huge purse while shopping... the other is their shopping carts and the goods they need to account for and if you feel people are staring because you assume they think you are stealing then only you can be the judge of that. To me...it's just the cashiers doing their job of making sure everything is on the belt and accounted for when checking you out. Personally I dont think this is comparing apples to apples... You feel violated because they want to check their carts to make sure all items are accounted for versus how I feel when I'm digging through my purse looking for items around the store merchandise. You know..for all i know...these people may be staring at me cause they like my "oh so beautiful purse" and not the fact that they think I'm stealing. Again I'm assuming here. I would not know exactly what the other person is thinking. I'm assuming here. So it could be something as innocent as staring at my cute handbag versus me stealing... But pulling out my coupons is a whole other story (and yes, I've had customers ask me while pulling my coupon binder out if those were all coupons)!...

If it's the feeling and perception of having other thinks you were doing something wrong when checking out and having your carts checked...then maybe you are a little over sensitive... Don't you think it's the cashiers duty to scan everything in the cart and to have it emptied before loading all the paid merchandise back in? Probably not...but my opinion is that if the store wanted to change their policy to have things unloaded and loaded back onto the belt and cart then that is their perrogative. Whether this is to prevent loss prevention, accountability or even to have everything bagged... it's their perrogative as a store. That is there store policy... Giant, Shoppers, Blooms, Harris Teeter all have different philosophys of what should and should be emptied onto the cart. I take that into consideration at the stores I'm shopping at. To get angry or aggitated cause safeway changed their policy to have everything unloaded and then loaded again is purely funny in my opinion (again my opinion)... it's like me standing in line wanting to purchase my light items but refusing to put things onto the belt.

BTW... if unloading and loading is a big issue...then how about the qty button? Have you noticed that safeway has taken away the ability for the cashiers to enter quantity "xx" and then scan the one item? This in itself is a time consuming thing as well if you (like me) like to purchase mass quantity of one or two items. Do I feel the need to tell them that this is ridiculous and can they just stop scanning each item one by one when it's all the same item? Well no...cause some items that look the same could be a little different (i.e. windex free 25% more, windex w/o the bonus amounts, packages with bonus free items...etc)...

So again... I do not feel that the purse scenario above is comparable to the unloading their carts to account for everything.

[southsider]

Originally Posted by CouponingCraze If it's the feeling and perception of having other thinks you were doing something wrong when checking out and having your carts checked...then maybe you are a little over sensitive... Don't you think it's the cashiers duty to scan everything in the cart and to have it emptied before loading all the paid merchandise back in? Probably not...but my opinion is that if the store wanted to change their policy to have things unloaded and loaded back onto the belt and cart then that is their perrogative. Whether this is to prevent loss prevention, accountability or even to have everything bagged... it's their perrogative as a store. That is there store policy... Giant, Shoppers, Blooms, Harris Teeter all have different philosophys of what should and should be emptied onto the cart. I take that into consideration at the stores I'm shopping at. To get angry or aggitated cause safeway changed their policy to have everything unloaded and then loaded again is purely funny in my opinion (again my opinion)... it's like me standing in line wanting to purchase my light items but refusing to put things onto the belt.

Actually having my cart emptied isn't an issue for me. Personally it's not something I would get agitated about. I just felt that OP brought up a good point about why we as individuals allow stores to treat us the way they sometimes do. This is what I feel we need to discuss. Especially in light of some of the indignities some of our members have had to put up with actions that stores have taken that have gone too far.

If there is one practice that does anger me. It is the practice of checking a receipt and bag when you just walked a few feet away from the cashier before you walk out the door. Often times they are just going through the motions and not really looking at all. There was an incident less than a year ago where somebody was arrested for saying no thank you to the person checking the bag. There was another incident were a pregnant woman was made to lie on her stomach in the parking lot.

To me these are things that have gone to far. Things like this don't happen out of the blue. It took little steps to get there. To me it's a question of why did the person checking bags at the door feel it was the store's right to check a bag that when a customer as was their right said no thank you, felt the store was just cause to call the police. Not only that why did the police feel there was enough to arrest the man on the store's say so alone.

When and how did we get to the point that stores are treated with the dignity that we as people have always expected and people are treated as just coggs in a wheel that can be manipulated any way the store wishes?

By the way both those incidents I mentioned were on a consumer alert site if I recall correctly. I can't remember the name of it right now or I would have put up a link. Maybe somebody else on here knows which one I am talking about and help me out with the name.