Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect my bag to be packed for me?

267 replies

Susanjeffery1984 · 10/04/2018 16:15

Not after a big shop but if you go to a stand up till with a few items and ask for a bag, would you expect your bag to be packed for you or at least asked if you would like to have it packed?
Before paying for bags came in I’m sure my bag was always packed for me.
A few times I’ve asked for a bag and one is been added to the pile of shopping without me even noticing, which leads to me shoving the items in so as not to hold up the queue.
Having worked in supermarkets, I would never have dreamed of just adding the bag to the shopping without packing the items. It’s not as though it adds anymore to the task.
Maybe etiquette has changed though.

OP posts:
RedForFilth · 11/04/2018 21:03

I've needed help with packing maybe twice mostly due to my son playing up! Once they offered and the other time I just asked if they minded starting the packing whilst I sorted him out and they didn't mind at all.

If you need something, ask.

Knittingsavesme · 11/04/2018 21:12

I like to pack my own bags when food shopping - rarely offered any help tbh. However, when I’m shoooing in a department store etc, I would expect to hand over my bag and to have it packed.

Carriecakes80 · 11/04/2018 21:31

This sounds strange to me, I always have me bag packed, but wouldn't have a problem if they wanted me to, just never seem to have the option! ;-) x

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 11/04/2018 21:32

I don’t think you can expect it, but in certain places eg M&S and Waitrose fast counters where you take a basket they sometimes do it, or they certainly used to.

Onecutefox · 11/04/2018 21:32

It would be ridiculous for me to wait for the assistant to scan all the items and then wait for her/him to pack my bags: this would hold up the queue, as well as resulting in my items all being in the wrong bags

Agree. Of course the queue moves faster if a customer in the supermarket packs up his own bags. Somewhere where there are no big queues it doesn't matter.

I remember once a shop assistant was packing one elderly man's shopping into his bags. Gosh, it took more than 10 min as he also wanted to talk. Unfortunately the self-service wasn't working and they were just holding the queue.

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 11/04/2018 21:33

I think it’s possibly changed when it started being your own bags.

CuckingFunt1987 · 11/04/2018 21:33

I'd never ever expect my bags to Be packed for me ! Never

Original poster
Susanjeffery1984 · 11/04/2018 21:41

Onecutefox- maybe that is it? It isn’t that you now have to pay for a bag or bring your own bag, it’s just that everyone is in such a rush nowadays. It must have been so terribly frustrating waiting for the elderly man to finish his conversation with the shop assistant (who was probably very aware of the mounting queue)... Put it another way: It may have been the only conversation he had that day.

OP posts:
Original poster
Susanjeffery1984 · 11/04/2018 21:43

@Onecutefox

OP posts:
OptimisticHamster · 11/04/2018 21:58

Many many years ago my first job was officially as a 'bag packer' in Tesco. However I was far more likely to ask people with lots of shopping if they needed help than people with just one bag...

Cicera · 11/04/2018 22:06

I think the only time I've had bags packed for me is when the Guides were doing it for tips (for charity), when in the US, or in non-food shops for clothes or whatever.

Never had it in the supermarket, even pre-5p bags, and I've lived all over England so I don't think it can be a regional thing.

Roversandrhodes · 11/04/2018 22:06

Yanbu!
Completely agree with you and have had the same thoughts myself .Im not talking about big supermarket shops but rather ‘express’ stores ,corner shops or any high street store ! I’ve been slightly taken aback when I’ve been asked if I’d like a bag then just handed it ,happened in m and s the other day .Its not about wether or not I can or can’t pack the 6 items myself but it’s basic customer service surely .
And yes I’ve packed many a bag for a customer and do so on the daily so feel I’m entitled to have this opinion

Original poster
Susanjeffery1984 · 11/04/2018 22:23

@Roversandrhodes it happens to me in M&S but only when I go to a certain shop assistant. This is a stand up till where there is very little room for shopping and a bag so it makes perfect sense for her to open the bag and fill it as she goes. I am only buying lunch for my daughter and I, so if the argument is that by packing my items it makes the process slower Hmm, then we would be talking seconds.
I used to work in M&S (one of the supermarkets I worked in) and I would have been pulled up if anyone had seen me do that.
I would argue that she sees putting the items in a bag as she scans as below her, rather than the other way round?

OP posts:
Onecutefox · 11/04/2018 22:37

@Susanjeffery1984
You know, even though they were holding the queue, everyone was patient. We did hear a bit of a gossip as well. Grin I do think that for many customers it could be an only time of the day when they could talk to someone or maybe even a week; for some, it's like a counselling. The shop assistants do a great job (I have lots of respect for them), many earn less than £9.00/hour yet they don't expect tips unlike in other industries.

1Vandal · 11/04/2018 22:41

Yes you're entitled and holding up the queue if you are expecting someone to pack a handful of items into a bag for life which by the way are not meant to be used as bin bags but reused and will be replaced for free when they wear out. And if you have that few items why are you even buying a bag in the first place?! It Is also cheaper to just buy proper bin bags.

BettyBaggins · 11/04/2018 22:45

When going to a stand up cashier my bags are packed for me, sit down cashier, I pack.

frufru27 · 11/04/2018 22:57

I work for one of the big supermarkets the days of bag packing are long gone,we now have to scan at least 22 items per minute...we ain’t got time to help you pack!! Soz 🤣

browneyes77 · 11/04/2018 23:03

I’ll be honest, it’s not something I’ve really noticed has changed. I’m one of those pedantic people who likes to pack their own bag because I have a ‘way’ of packing (taught by my mother Grin) and don’t like other people doing it.

I generally use the self service if I’m only buying a few bits, so not sure if they offer in the supmermarkets by me.

I work for a food retailer and so from what I know of the industry, lots of retailers are hot on productivity now - the stores are targeted on it, so bag packing for fewer items may be viewed as less productive with some. Aldi is a classic example where they just basically throw the shopping at you Grin

brotherphil · 11/04/2018 23:18

Now that I am in a wheelchair, cashiers will usually offer to pack my bag(s) for me, and will sometimes offer to hang it or them on the back for me, but before that, I wouldn't have expected or asked.
Even now, I generally pack myself, unless I'm having a bad day, or it's a busy shop and it would be quicker for them to do it.

Rattail · 12/04/2018 00:12

I have bag packed alot. Some are very picky about the order of items so best not to deal with it. Cashiers are also expected to scan so fast these days

Rollonweekend · 12/04/2018 00:14

I think it varies from store to store in the UK. My local Tesco Metro will pack my bags and at Waitrose I do it myself because, you know, my arms aren't paralysed.

sallyfox · 12/04/2018 00:41

NObody EVER does ANYTHING for FREE in LONDON (don't know about rest of Britain)

BlackBeltInChildWrangling · 12/04/2018 01:11

Quite happy to pack my own bags usually, unless there's a particular reason that day why I need a bit of help, such as illness, injury or something urgent going on with a DC requiring attention. Certainly prefer it to heavy items being plonked on top of squashables, or fragranced items being put alongside food.

Two exceptions however:

  1. If I go into a stately home farmshop or a local village shop, having your bag packed does add to that nice and increasingly rare feeling of friendly personal customer service from a fellow human being.
  2. If there's actually nowhere to rest your bag while you're trying to pack heavy, fiddly or fragile items. A shop in a nearby village always used to pack bags for you. When you had to start bringing your own bags, (rather than buy their plastic ones), this stopped. There's nowhere to rest your bag on the customer side, so it can be difficult to manage especially for the disabled, elderly or pregnant. Some staff are now a bit rude and reluctant to have your bag on their side of the counter and help, even though asked nicely to. I go in there less often these days as a result.
Skiiltan · 12/04/2018 01:31

1Vandal - a bag for life which by the way are not meant to be used as bin bags but reused and will be replaced for free when they wear out.

Oh, really? Have you ever tried getting a supermarket to replace a "bag for life"? I have. They refused, saying I had to buy a new one because the design had changed.

PerspicaciaTick · 12/04/2018 01:46

I'm more than happy to pack my own bag but, when buying a bag, it always seems to be packed by the assistant automatically - even the lovely blokes in Poundworld pack as they scan.