CNN: It may be time to ban customers from grocery stores

[Soundscream]

I dunno I think most people understand it would take some work, just that it's worth it at least for the large chains.

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"Some work" is such a huge understatement. I realize not everyone has experience in the operation of a store or the process of replenishment, and processing of online orders, but as someone who has done it for 9+ years let me tell you it isn't feasible in a timetable that would be meaningful. And by the time it's implemented we will already be on the other side of this. Unless you never want in person shopping again it wouldn't make sense.

 

[Rendering...]

But.. my... FREEDOMS.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA, NOT UZBEKICHINAMEXISTAN!

*cries in bald eagle*

Plus, this seems impractical, logistically.

 

[darkwing]

why not issue a quarantine pass? one per household, if we can do it in the Philippines why not in a first world country

 

[AlternateAir]

My wife is an essential worker at a hardware/grocery store - and when they've tried to limit the total number of people allowed in the store, chaos has broken out. One customer pushed a cashier aside, and another rammed the store doors with their shopping cart.

I realize that this is going to be hard to figure out, but the general public is behaving like idiots - they need to institute rules like this to keep people from going to stores like this to "just browse". It'll be difficult and painful, but too many people are showing up at stores like this as an excuese to get out of the house and socialize when that is the exact opposite of what should be happening.

 

[Kevers]

Please do, NYS put out that mandate to wear masks whenever you're in public and my job even sent us a sign to print that said masks were required to come into the store but we're not allowed to enforce it. What is the fucking point of the sign even saying "REQUIRED" if we're not allowed to enforce it? This is absolute bullshit. We're not limiting how many can come into our store even though my manager and I think we should, we're not allowed to ask customers to step away from us if they're too close, and we have no protection outside of the flimsiest fucking face mask I've ever seen, it's so bad my facial hair pokes through it. But we get a $300 bonus in May because they care so much.

The customers are no better, they're not staying away from us in aisles, they're coming in groups of 4-5 just to browse and sometimes only buy bullshit like a 6 pack of beer or 1 box of candy. I'm about ready to tell them to go fuck themselves because I'm so fucking sick of dealing with this bullshit.

 

[yellow wallpaper]

why not do it like the gas crisis in the 70s?

 

[Kevers]

why not do it like the gas crisis in the 70s?

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My local grocery store when it gets busy enough will limit how many can come in and it has caused fights. People get told they have to wait in line and suddenly they're being oppressed.

 

[Border]

Most grocery stores simply don't have the infrastructure or staffing in place to support online or over-the phone orders.

Not to mention that they have an immense customer-base of poor and elderly people that aren't really capable of online ordering and credit-card payments.

Most people are against "No Cash" merchants, and this would be an even bigger hurdle for less fortunate guests to jump over. I think major grocery chains could get it done, but many people rely on locally owned mom-and-pop groceries that are not at all equipped to deal with setting up some kind of online ordering system.

 

[DeathyBoy]

My local grocery store when it gets busy enough will limit how many can come in and it has caused fights. People get told they have to wait in line and suddenly they're being oppressed.

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There's also the fact that people, as such as they are, would all show up early to curb side pick up and start yelling at each other.

 

[Darknight]

I think a more realistic alternative is allowing only one shopper per party,

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And if you're a single parent with multiple kids? How does that work exactly?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

late to this, but I fully agree with CNN. These people don't need to be asked to risk their lives for someone's Frosted Flakes.

 

[VariantX]

And if you're a single parent with multiple kids? How does that work exactly?

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People with kids or someone giving others a ride who don't have a vehicle to the store so they can buy more things in one go are not the problem. Its jackasses treating stores as a place to hangout that are the problem. Too many people right now haven't processed how serious this is yet and havent changed some of their behaviors.

 

[Kmonk]

People with kids or someone giving others a ride who don't have a vehicle to the store so they can buy more things in one go are not the problem. Its jackasses treating stores as a place to hangout that are the problem. Too many people right now haven't processed how serious this is yet and havent changed some of their behaviors.

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Seriously. I made a run yesterday, and parents w/ kids were not the problem. I saw a couple of mothers with kids, and they kept their children in their shopping carts, and kept their distance from other shoppers.

By contrast, I saw many groups of 20- and 30-somethings in 2s and 3s, often without masks, and these were invariably the people that pushed past me in narrow store aisles, or gathered around endcaps to have a conversation.

 

[Violence Jack]

And if you're a single parent with multiple kids? How does that work exactly?

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I'm pretty sure kids would not count towards that. The people that would target are the ones who want to bring their whole family because they treat going to the store as a way to get everyone out of the house. Gotta put an end to that shit.

 

[powersurge]

The small store my mother work's at keeps having people come in and buy stuff that's not food or anything like that. It's like WTF is wrong with people you don't need makeup, candles, and shit like that. Buy food and TP once every week or two and stay the fuck home man :(

They should have to wait in line outside 6 feet apart (at least) or take a number or something. At the very least limit the number inside. People are crowding inside these stores and many aren't even buying essentials. Another idea not sure where I saw it posted before but one idea would be to make aisles one way so people don't have to push past each other and can stay further apart.

 

[The Albatross]

I don't think this is realistic or possible for most cities/supermarkets. Home delivery is great but not available for the overwhelming majority of people, and personally I think people who are vulnerable, disabled, etc., should have priority here, not me... able-bodied, healthy, a lower-risk than an elderly person.

A pre-shopped pick-up is more realistic, but not entirely so... Our supermarkets just aren't equipped to handle the volume. They have 1 cooler-locker up front with the "preshopped items," but it's small... like... I dunno maybe a 10-foot long cooler locker that can hold maybe a dozen grocery orders. It's just not possible to accomodate all shoppers there.

I think we're going to have to live with the system that's in place now, and supermarkets are going to have to respond to potential staffing shortages by paying more. If they doubled+ pay ... say, to $20/hr for supermarket workers who were most at risk (checkout people, baggers), then they'd have a lot of people applying, especially as unemployment is skyrocketing.

 

[Veliladon]

I don't know how immediately they didn't switch to one household, one person, once a week. Just have the state send out a coupon with a unique QR code to every address that allows someone to get into the store or place a delivery order from online grocery stores. Scan the QR code, check if it's been used, allow the customer inside or able to place an online order.

 

[Fisty]

I think we simply dont have the delivery capabilities for something of this scale, and if we did then it would be 3 dozen delivery people in there instead of 4 dozen customers. And stores sure as hell dont have the capacity for curbside service across the board

 

[Veliladon]

I think we simply dont have the delivery capabilities for something of this scale, and if we did then it would be 3 dozen delivery people in there instead of 4 dozen customers. And stores sure as hell dont have the capacity for curbside service across the board

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It's not a matter of not having capacity but ramping it up. I've been using Peapod for ages and they used to have small vans like a Mercedes Sprinter. Now the guy comes and he's got a full 4.5 ton truck.

 

[Fisty]

It's not a matter of not having capacity but ramping it up. I've been using Peapod for ages and they used to have small vans like a Mercedes Sprinter. Now the guy comes and he's got a full 4.5 ton truck.

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Yeah but the plan is for things to go back to normal eventually, and businesses and "gig" workers dont want to take their thin revenue and scale up to meet a demand that might not exist in 6 months to a year. It's a gamble no matter which way you bet, and with a looming recession it's even riskier

 

[Kito]

I can't see us slowing the spread enough without doing this. Would it be too much to demand of people by giving them a few weeks' notice to stock up on a couple weeks' worth of groceries and to try and figure out the internet for Prime Now/Instacart/etc.?

Worst case, we can setup supply facilities where people who can't stock up/use the internet to roll by and buy prepackaged bags full of essential foods to get them by.

Sure, people will still find a way to run out of food and complain, but catering to the lowest common denominator isn't going to make the impact we need against the spread of the virus.

 

[Deleted member 18502]

Tough for customers without internet access, smartphones, and the overall tech to do this easily.

Tough for employees as well, much more demanding on them. Greater risk of injury, working in even closer proximity.

 

[Wag]

I'll need to shopping this week- as I said earlier, I'm disabled and only one Walmart by my offers curbside pickup, you can't use SNAP and they're booked up for weeks anyways. I can't really go to the store because I'm not capable of standing in line for an hour for Market Basket (only store I can really afford) to get in.

I'm not sure what to do at this point.

 

[Ballou]

Definitely worth trying, especially in denser areas.

I did a Walmart pickup yesterday, and the amount of people leaving/entering the store without masks was frightening. Granted I'm in a lower population city that hasn't been hit too hard, but that won't last with how careless people are being.

 

[Rodney McKay]

The small store my mother work's at keeps having people come in and buy stuff that's not food or anything like that. It's like WTF is wrong with people you don't need makeup, candles, and shit like that. Buy food and TP once every week or two and stay the fuck home man :(

They should have to wait in line outside 6 feet apart (at least) or take a number or something. At the very least limit the number inside. People are crowding inside these stores and many aren't even buying essentials. Another idea not sure where I saw it posted before but one idea would be to make aisles one way so people don't have to push past each other and can stay further apart.

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Basically every store where I live is limiting the number of people inside with lines outside and having one way aisles that are too narrow. Walmart, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, Sprouts, Vons, etc.

Seems like that store needs to implement their own policies for that stuff even if their state isn't requiring it yet.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

why not issue a quarantine pass? one per household, if we can do it in the Philippines why not in a first world country

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I'd agree if the US was an actual first world country.

 

[darkwing]

I'd agree if the US was an actual first world country.

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we have made it more strict this week too, odd/even coding based on the quarantine control number, so only odd numbers can go out for groceries on MWF, even for TThS etc..

of course frontliners are exempted from this

 

[Koo]

Don't agree. Not everyone can afford phones/computers/internet access to be able to do these online orders/pick-ups. To say nothing of the older generation who just frankly has not and in some case can not learn this technology. There is also the issue of not getting what you want, these curbside pick-up services are prone to errors. Most of these larger stores employ security/LP, have a guy patrol the stores and remind customers to practice social distancing. Same for store workers, if you see a customer approach you, move away, remind people. Require and give out masks to customers at the door. Ultimately you cannot stop people from shopping for their own food. To suggest it's the only way is cl assist and ageist.

 

[Darknight]

People with kids or someone giving others a ride who don't have a vehicle to the store so they can buy more things in one go are not the problem. Its jackasses treating stores as a place to hangout that are the problem. Too many people right now haven't processed how serious this is yet and havent changed some of their behaviors.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure kids would not count towards that. The people that would target are the ones who want to bring their whole family because they treat going to the store as a way to get everyone out of the house. Gotta put an end to that shit.

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The point is a blanket one person per party policy won't work for every case and now you've got to ask why there are multiple people and people can just lie anyway. I get that there's a problem, but simply a blanket policy like that is going to have issues too. In this thread people are complaining that people are bringing their kids to the store which is a problem with how they touch things and are a vector for spreading because of the way kids behave since they're kids. If you're a single parent with three kids, that's already four people in your party. I'm just pointing out that things need to be considered when you're trying to come up with blanket policies like that.

 

[Doc Kelso]

I don't know how immediately they didn't switch to one household, one person, once a week. Just have the state send out a coupon with a unique QR code to every address that allows someone to get into the store or place a delivery order from online grocery stores. Scan the QR code, check if it's been used, allow the customer inside or able to place an online order.

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This is fucking hilarious and so incredibly privileged that it reads like it came from someone that's going to "create an app to disrupt the grocery marketplace" in SF.

 

[Expy]

This would end in chaos. Most grocery stores aren't set up for 100% delivery. This would cause a huge uproar.

 

[Milly79]

Kroger specifically needs to crack down on their allowance policy. 50% of any store is insane. For instance, my division has over 120 stores. The highest allowance is 900+ people at once and my store, which is the second lowest at 230~ is still way too much. We have two floors to shop and we have the narrowest aisles in the division. And we've never ever had that many in the store at once.

 

[NinjaScooter]

"Some work" is such a huge understatement. I realize not everyone has experience in the operation of a store or the process of replenishment, and processing of online orders, but as someone who has done it for 9+ years let me tell you it isn't feasible in a timetable that would be meaningful. And by the time it's implemented we will already be on the other side of this. Unless you never want in person shopping again it wouldn't make sense.

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Agreed. Target and Walmart, two massive corporations in this space, have not been able to get this right (and they've been working at getting the infrastructure in place well before Coronavirus was a thing). Now how do you apply this to rural/poorer areas where entire communities are serviced by one or two different stores, mom and pop operations, food deserts? It's a massive undertaking. Thinking you can just open up a ban on people shopping in person and calling it a day is ridiculous.

 

[platocplx]

Honestly they also need to focus on home improvement stores I saw lowes near me fucking packed with cars. im like wtf. that may be the next place where there are infections.

 

[vodalus]

Ah yes let's try to kill more people from hunger than would have died from covid-19