To be baffled by buyers who won't pay till they have put ALL their shopping into bags at the supermarket checkout? When there's a queue waiting behind them?

[tigermoth]

I am always baffled when people with lots of shopping pack everything first and pay last at supermarket checkouts.

Why are some people totally oblivious to holding up the queue. Is it due to absent mindedness? selfishness? Or some logical reason?

It really slows things down for all those waiting behind them. AIBU to find it annoying?

... and then think it's perfectly OK to say to the waiter 'oooh, I don't know what I want' as if there is anything he can do with that information.

Personally, I'd make her have bread and butter. [nasty cackle]

Oh my goodness, it's only a few minutes wait and if it riles you that much, just shop online.
YABU

I work in Tesco and wait/help the customer to finish packing. It's nice to have a wee rest before the next customer!

What does hold everything up is the people that stand a watch the cashier pack. I don't mind helping customers to pack (especially if they are still loading on their shopping/have small children etc) but it does annoy me when you have a family gathered around the packing end and they watch you struggle to scan and pack their mahoovise trolleys worth of shopping!

Oh, and if you use bag or lifes and such, please smell/wash them occasionally. The amount of customers who give me their really pongy bags is not funny!

PMSL! at BexieID lol lol

Tigermoth Surely your issue is with the supermarket chain for not having enough check-outs. I agree that no-one should have to queue to pay, but I disagree that it is the responsibility of the person in front of you.

FWIW I have excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills. I have my card ready in my back pocket and put my things on the conveyorbelt in a way that will aid packing and in a way that will maximise space on the belt (2 sometimes competing tasks).

At the other end, I pack in a way that distributes weight evenly AND fits the way I organise my cupboards at home. This IS slower than just chucking it in but it saves ME time overall.

I will only pay when I have ONE bag worth of stuff left, as the time taken to process the card equals one bags worth of packing iyswim

so let me get this right, it is unreasonable of me take into account other people in the queue and therefore pay and pack as efficiently as possible.

However it is reasonable of me to deliberately hold the queue up by packing slowly, if there's a long queue and I sense people behind me are tired of waiting.

some warped logic there, I'd say.

starlightexpress yes you are right, of course, that it is the supermarket's responsibility to minimise long queues.

I am quibbling over a small point I thought it would be make an ideal AIBU thread and have been surprised how many people have bothered to add something.

I just think it's interesting to see people's attitudes to this tiny, mundane aspect of our lives.

I'm a packer then payer

Surely it's in the best interest of the cashier to maximise their scanning speed and general customer service (!) by assisting the customer to pack their last items whilst the customers payment is being processed. My local Sainsbury's always does this, Tesco sometimes and Somerfield needs a foot up their bottom.

'so let me get this right, it is unreasonable of me take into account other people in the queue and therefore pay and pack as efficiently as possible.'

You didn't ask that.

You asked if you were unreasonable to be baffled by people who don't pay until they have put all their shopping into bags.

you're right, I didn't ask that originally, expat. However, part of the reason I pay while I pack is so as I don't hold people up. (The main reason I do as I do is for me of course - I prefer not to spend longer than necessary at counter.)

I was surprised that in answering my OP, quite a few people stated they deliberately slowed down their packing if they thought people behind them were impatient, and stated that I was being unreasonable to be baffled by people's slowness in packing.

The world is a funny place, sometimes.

'However, part of the reason I pay while I pack is so as I don't hold people up.'

And the vast majority of people who responded a) don't notice b) don't consider it 'holding people up', just a part of life c) don't care, so responded that YABU.

I can see it now, she stands patiently in the queue approaching the conveyor belt whilst analysing the queue ahead........

are they...

a packer then payer

or

a packer, payer, move over packer?

I think to get a good law of averages the survey will take place the week before Christmas {{winces}}.

Chrismas queues at the supermarket - what joy

I dunno, expat, it seems to me that a good number of people say they have made a very conscious decision to pay after they have packed. Also, they positively don't want the cashier serving another customer till they have left the counter. By choosing to pay after packing, it makes it practically impossible for the cashier to begin to serve anyone elst. Which IMO (sometimes) means slowing down the queue a bit - as I have said.

But that's only my opinion. I'm not trying to tell you how to do your shopping!

Anyway, supper's ready so I have to go now.

'I dunno, expat, it seems to me that a good number of people say they have made a very conscious decision to pay after they have packed. Also, they positively don't want the cashier serving another customer till they have left the counter. By choosing to pay after packing, it makes it practically impossible for the cashier to begin to serve anyone elst. '

That is not the same as being an inefficient packer.

Many have also pointed out that most supermarkets discourage the practice of starting to check another customer through when the first cusstomer has not cleared out, so they queried what your point was, seeing as that it makes no difference whether they pay after packing or before they have finished - the checker doesn't start on the person behind until that customer is away.

tigermoth, I know exactly what you mean. I have, often enough, been in a queue behind someone who slowly & deliberately packs all their shopping (very slowly & deliberately ) - then puts each bag in the trolley, then turns to the cashier to pay, then slowly gets out the purse/wallet, then slowly gets out the card, then deliberates over whether to have cashback or not...etc etc etc

Often, after one of those, the cashier apologises for the delay .

(The best reaction I can muster is to start reading a mag from one of the checkout racks as if I have all the time in the world & haven't even noticed )

Not only do I finish packing before paying (and as has been pointed out many times, it doesn't make any difference), but I also organise the bags into separate categories.

Sommerfield are bastards for checking the next person through before you've finished. They even get the new person's stuff muddled up with yours. I fucking hate Summerfield.

Bizarrely inconsiderate to others not to be aware that they might be in a rush, even though you are not.

Spectacularly so to deliberately pack slowly to make some kind of point (no idea what point, other than that they are somehow to be blamed for having work to get to/children to collect etc etc).

For those still wondering how it saves time, it's because there is an inbuilt lag while the card is processed/cashier does receipt, during which you could be packing the remains of your items rather than staring into space.

Really, WHAT is the rush? Someone hurrying their packing or moving it aside so your goods can be scanned is realistically only going to save you a couple of minutes at most.

When i'm stood waiting my turn at the checkout with a bored 4yo and 1yo twins getting through a bit faster might be nice, but 2 minutes less waiting isn't going to cheer my children up, 30 seconds of waiting kills them, so 3 -4 minutes just makes Mammy more inventive with her distraction techniques!

Again I say: if you've crammed your shop into the 25 mins before collecting a child or getting to work because otherwise there won't be supper, then 2 mins x 5 can be critical.

My default position is to assume that other people don't want to spend any longer than necess. in the supermarket, so I try to be as quick as I can. It's good manners, I think.

I'm very rarely stuck behind a slow packer in my local Asda. Most people seem to be able to keep up with the quite fast scanning speed so this isn't an issue at all. Perhaps you need to change supermarket?

I always pack then pay, surely thats the best way to do it..... Dont think it saves you any time paying it first..?

Depends if you are paying cash or card. If card, then it is definitely quicker to have card ready and pay before you finish packing as it takes time for the payment to clear.

Oh and I find it really bad that some people are deliberately deciding to pack slowly just because someone behind them is in a hurry. It's very rude. I don't mind if people are slow for other reasons. Sometimes I will rush and just throw the last few items in the trolley and pack them properly when I transfer bags to the car if there is a big queue as I am trying to be considerate to others.

MrsGhost "A few months ago I was unloading my trolley in the supermarket to put it on the conveyor belt, and to my surprise the person behind me was unpacking their shopping on to the conveyor belt at the same time. NOW that's annoying."

I've had this happen several times recently. I had a whole trolley full of shopping and had only put a few things on the belt. Looked up to see the person behind unloading their stuff. When I pointed out that I'd only just started they looked totally shocked and moved their stuff.