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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not want scouts, school kids etc to pack my shopping for me

85 replies

longingforsomesleep · 07/12/2013 14:37

I always try and avoid the till points with fund raising bag packers at them but sometimes they all have them.

In Asda the other day there were 3 early teen girls standing at the end of the conveyor belt. I politely declined their offer of help but they then sort of leaned over the packing area, jostling each other and talking/giggling loudly. One seemed to be staring at me most of the time! Today in Sainsbury's it was the scouts - a couple of boys who looked about 10/11 who were being silly and pushing each other.

I don't want to risk them squashing stuff and I object to feeling pressured into giving them money. I usually do tho, because by the time I've packed my bags myself I'm starting to feel guilty (which annoys me!) so i drop something in their bucket.

I suppose it must work but personally I'm inclined to be more generous with people collecting for charity who aren't so much in your face.

OP posts:

Caitlin17 · 07/12/2013 14:39

I don't mind as they couldn't possibly be worse than packing than me.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/12/2013 14:41

YANBU.

I am very fussy about packing shopping properly, which they don't usually do.

As I pay by card I never have any change to give them either.

I agree it is way too in your face.

Caitlin17 · 07/12/2013 14:41

Or at constructing ungrammatical sentences. I assume you will all work out what I was trying to say.

Fairenuff · 07/12/2013 14:41

I don't like anyone packing my bags except my dcs who I have trained personally

Some stores do this just as a courtesy, not to raise money for charity and I still don't want it. I wish they would ask. There is one man in particular who is really annoying because he also tries to 'friendly chat' with me at the same time and I just can't be arsed with small talk.

I try to avoid those tills too.

Sparklingbrook · 07/12/2013 14:42

I just give them £1 and tell them I'll pack myself.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 07/12/2013 14:42

Oh, for God's sake, just say 'no, thank you' and put 50p in the tin. Job done and no one died.

RedHelenB · 07/12/2013 14:43

YABU - all bag packers I've come across are very well behaved. It would be worth you saying something to the adult in charge though if they were really behaving like that - isn't good for the image of the groups involved. Still some people are scrooges!!!

Golddigger · 07/12/2013 14:43

I wouldnt have minded today actually, but no, not generally.
Did shoppers actually have a choice. Could they have been moved on to another till?

IDontDoIroning · 07/12/2013 14:43

My dc are in sports teams and go bag packs. I tell them all to ask politely and if customer says no then that's fine. I would hate it if people felt pressured into giving.

YANBU not to like them doing it or to feel pressured into donating

TwoLeftSocks · 07/12/2013 14:46

I have to agree, they're not good at packing at all.

However - DS's Scout group (he's just in Beavers so it would be the older ones) are planning to do a bag pack.

Aside from "don't pile the tins on top of the eggs/bananas, etc" is there anything helpful I could pass on?

Elsiequadrille · 07/12/2013 14:47

Yabu
They're usually well behaved, with their leader(s) hovering in the background or assisting (have only seen them in M and S a couple of times a year). Just decline and donate, or decline and don't donate...

43percentburnt · 07/12/2013 14:47

Ask them to unload your trolley while you pack the bags. My daughter regularly has to attend bag pack events through scouts, at the local supermarket. I am always amazed she is prepared to stand in a supermarket in a brown shirt, wearing a necker and clumpy shoes in the middle of a packed supermarket on a Saturday - she is in her mid teens - whilst her school mates wander past. I would never have done it!

sleepyhead · 07/12/2013 14:47

yanbu. I'm happy to pay them not to pack though

My mum lets them pack, but only under her strict supervision and usually gives them a lesson in packing efficiency. she makes them unpack if they've not done it according to her precise instructions which is mortifying.

Original poster

longingforsomesleep · 07/12/2013 14:50

43percent - what a brilliant idea! They're standing at the wrong end of the checkpoint - I wouldn't mind them unloading my trolley for me! I just don't like having an (often noisy) audience while I pack my bags.

OP posts:

Maryz · 07/12/2013 14:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Floralnomad · 07/12/2013 14:56

I'm another one who says no thanks and gives them money not to pack . I'm very particular about my packing ,even the way my sister packs annoys me .Ive also never seen any charity packers that were not extremely polite and well behaved .

WooWooOwl · 07/12/2013 15:05

Our cubs and scouts are told to ask politely if people would like help packing, and to stand well back if they are told no.

I do see where you're coming from, but overall I don't see the problem with it, as long as they aren't pushy. They are raising money for their group or for charity, and being children they don't really have that many fundraising options that they can work towards themselves without a lot of adult help. This is one of the few things they can do.

Scaredycat3000 · 07/12/2013 15:08

After the stress of going round the supermarket with DH and two DC's under five the last thing I want is anybody else trying to pack our shopping for us. I unpack my trolley roughly in the order that I want to pack my bags in, I then can unpack faster at home and know where the things are that I might want when we get to the car. Me, DH the trolley and two children in the packing area is full enough without a Charity packer standing in my way after being clearly told we don't need any help.
My tip to bag packers? If somebody doesn't want any help, get out of their way, completely, you might get something out of me for that alone, you will not get any money out of me for annoying me, getting in my way or squashing my shopping.

Scaredycat3000 · 07/12/2013 15:11

Sorry I should say it is a good idea, but every time I have come across this (adults included) I have had to ask repeatedly for them to get out of my way so I reach my own shopping and pack it!

NoComet · 07/12/2013 15:17

YABU
Our local scouts get keep cold stuff separate and don't need telling not to squash stuff.

BohemianGirl · 07/12/2013 15:22

It's not compulsory.

I pay them to not touch my shopping.

They are fund raising. It could be worse, they could be nicking the wheels off your car to sell. I'd rather encourage nice children to keep on fundraising rather than be faced with a surly bunch of teenagers

ObtuseAngel · 07/12/2013 15:25

I let them pack but am annoyingly anal about it. So I will hand them a bag and say "Raw meat products only in this bag" or "cleaning products and paper only" and I keep an eye on them while they pack. I pack anything fragile myself. Like Maryz I feel that they are better informed about packing and infinitely grumpier after they meet me.

I'm not sure how getting them to unload the trolley would work for me as I have usually finished unloading before the person on the till starts scanning, but if I was doing a huge shop it would be useful.

Weknowwhoyouare · 07/12/2013 15:27

Dd2 is doing one in a few weeks. As in the weekend before Xmas. I don't even want to drive to the supermarket asit will be hell and she's not that useful shopping with me. Her teacher wants everyone to do a shift though

insanityscatching · 07/12/2013 15:31

I pay them not to pack for me because I pack according to which cupboard the contents go in and anyone else would mess up my system

mrsjay · 07/12/2013 15:37

was a school in tescos today looks like it was for a school trip we declined she was very sweet and didnt look big enough to pick up the cola bottles so i just put some change in her bucket, MY dd works in a Supermarket she hates when the packers come too so it isnt just shoppers dd says you can see shoppers twtching when they dont pack correctly and she says they muck about with her carriers she is very particular about them

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