was asked to leave store after DH and me have been in store for 10 minutes

[kymom99]

I have never understood why whole families or groups of adults have to stand in line together, when only one person is paying for the transaction. (I'm not talking about parents who need to keep little kids with them, for obvious reasons.) But a family of 5 grown adults. And they aren't even talking to each other. I can understand if one person is relaying info to the whole family or group in line. But they are often just standing in line, in single file, or two by two. Then they get up to the cashier, and only one person is doing the whole transaction, while they then stand next to the person or off to the side.

I'm not talking about Costco, which has the real estate and factors in long lines that go a quarter mile back and take 20 minutes to get to the front of the line. The majority of the stores these people do this in are are small grocery stores or drug stores. We even have the rope stanchions in places, where the line of people snake through, to maximize the space to try to fit as many customers in as possible, and these people take up a sizable amount of the line. It makes it hard to figure out which line is the shorter one in grocery stores. And they are taking up space in the snaked lines and it's hard to figure out how long it will actually take to go through the line.

I really wouldn't mind seeing this custom done away with, along with shaking hands. Only the person paying should be in line. Everyone else wait by the door, or at the opposite side of the cashier.

Oh gawd my husband got into a shouting match with a group of girls in a Walgreens in Vegas over this. Yikes, bad memory. But I have to agree

 

[kaytieeldr]

And twice the exposure...

The same exposure as two people shopping from one list together, just at different points in time in the store.

By splitting the list, about half the other shoppers encounter only one member if your shopping trip. When you shop together for the entire list, all the other shoppers encounter both of you at every point. Plus when you split the list, you spend about half as long shopping.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I could never split the list with my husband. He would be calling me every 2 seconds asking if what he's getting is the correct thing.

 

[Disneylover99]

No, we can grasp it but it isn't universally applicable.
If two people can buy at least twice as much as one person then they only have to shop half the time so, in exposure terms, there is the same or less.
Your methodology may work in the majority of cases but that doesn't mean that people who have to use a different way are doing it because they are having a hard time grasping it.

ford family

To me, the length of time someone spends in the store is insignificant if you compare it to doubling the amount of people.

Think of it this way......at the end of the day, is it less risky for 1000 people to have spent an hour in the store? Or is it less risky for 2000 people to have been in the store for a half hour.?

 

[kaytieeldr]

To minimize contact, we are asking customers who bring reusable bags to pack their own groceries.

I wish Market Basket would do this. They have baggers and everybody gets to work (which is great, thank you MB!) but my neighbor was told he couldnt bring his bags into the store.

Under normal circumstances, my husband and I often shop together. It is faster, loading, bagging, paying, when we tag team. I never realized this bothered some people, haha.

Under normal circumstances, it doesn't.

Husband and wife are likely going to share that exposure at some point anyway.

Twice as many people are exposed to both of them when they shop together.

 

[gwynne]

The same exposure as two people shopping from one list together, just at different points in time in the store.

By splitting the list, about half the other shoppers encounter only one member if your shopping trip. When you shop together for the entire list, all the other shoppers encounter both of you at every point. Plus when you split the list, you spend about half as long shopping.

I'm siding with my local stores that are particularly looking out for hardworking staff.
Each and every person who walks in is a potential exposure.
I don't see any good reason (assuming we are talking about the reasonably able with a car) to add extra possible exposures into an already difficult situation.
It's a pandemic. Reducing the spread helps all of us.

 

[sam_gordon]

Under normal circumstances, it doesn't.

Could you elaborate?

Pre-COVID, if my wife and I went to the store together, we'd shop (not split up), then when we got to the check out lane, I'd generally be in front of the cart and start putting items on the belt, she'd be behind the cart and putting items on the belt. Right there, the two of us working together are going to finish getting the items on the belt sooner than just one. But wait, there's more.

So everything is on the belt. The cashier starts scanning things and either sending it down the lane to the bagger or bagging it themselves. If there's no bagger, I would start bagging while DW is watching to make sure there's no issue with scanning (ever have something scan wrong?). If the cashier is bagging themselves, I can take the bags and put them in the cart. Either way, DW & I, by splitting the jobs at hand get them done quicker.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm siding with my local stores that are particularly looking out for hardworking staff.
Each and every person who walks in is a potential exposure.
I don't see any good reason (assuming we are talking about the reasonably able with a car) to add extra possible exposures into an already difficult situation.
It's a pandemic. Reducing the spread helps all of us.

Store employees are still exposed to the same number of customers (assuming we're still talking about a store that limits the number of peopld in the building).

Using @sam_gordon's example of a store that admits fen shoppers per hour for ten hours, for simplicity: allowing one shopper from each household allows 100 households to purchase food, etc. That one hypothetical party he mentioned means "only" 99 households get to shop. Two people? Potentially we're down to 50 households.

 

[luvsJack]

Right, but that’s assuming the stores are at capacity and they are limiting the numbers going in and out. There are times during the day when there are no lines and at some stores, there are never any lines.

So let’s say you go to a store where they allow in 100 shoppers at a time and let’s say there are only 40 people shopping and those 40 people are one per family.....then double that because those 40 people decided to take their spouse......now the risk for everyone has increased.

I can’t say for anywhere else but here when they count it is people and they count all the time. If the limit is 125 people it’s 125 whether they are together or separate. If only 40 people are in that store they are going to continue to let people in so you are still likely to be up to 80.

As long as they are counting people individually and not carts, it’s no difference.

 

[luvsJack]

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that when I go to the grocery store, I don’t pass by every single person in there. However, let’s say my husband and I both go in together. We split the list, with him starting at one end, and me starting at the other. We are increasing the number of people we pass by simply by splitting it up. Then add to the fact that now the cashier, even if we pay together, is exposed to both of us, instead of just one of us.

Again, if the store is letting in X number of people; you, the other shoppers and the employees are going to encounter the same number of people whether it’s two from the same household or not. The number will stay the same.

 

[luvsJack]

To me, the length of time someone spends in the store is insignificant if you compare it to doubling the amount of people.

Think of it this way......at the end of the day, is it less risky for 1000 people to have spent an hour in the store? Or is it less risky for 2000 people to have been in the store for a half hour.?

But if the store has a limit to the number of people inside the store, the number isn’t going to double. The number will stay the same.

 

[msjprincess]

Again, if the store is letting in X number of people; you, the other shoppers and the employees are going to encounter the same number of people whether it’s two from the same household or not. The number will stay the same.

That's assuming the store is always at capacity.

No matter how you slice it, multiple family members will add to the capacity.


If 500 households need groceries and only one person goes shopping there will be 500 people in the store that day . If half of those people bring someone along, there will be 750 people in the store that day.

 

[pryncess527]

Could you elaborate?

Im assuming it was in response to this

Under normal circumstances, my husband and I often shop together. It is faster, loading, bagging, paying, when we tag team. I never realized this bothered some people, haha.

under normal circumstances, pre-covid, this behavior wouldnt bother most people

 

[kaytieeldr]

I can’t say for anywhere else but here when they count it is people and they count all the time. If the limit is 125 people it’s 125 whether they are together or separate. If only 40 people are in that store they are going to continue to let people in so you are still likely to be up to 80.

As long as they are counting people individually and not carts, it’s no difference.

It is different. Limiting each shopping party to one per household enables 125 households to shop. Not limiting the shopping party size prevents some households from shopping. Consideration toward others is a good thing.

 

[;-)]

Bottom line is, we ALL need to be more considerate, patient, and understanding of the new “normal”!!! Stop getting so mad! If an extra person in the grocery store bothers you that much, stock up on ramen noodles and toilet paper and don’t leave your house till it’s “over”!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

But if the store has a limit to the number of people inside the store, the number isn’t going to double. The number will stay the same.

No.
One thousand people in the store for one hour is one thousand shopper hours.
Two thousand shoppers in the store for one half hour is...one thousand shopper hours.

 

[kaytieeldr]

f an extra person in the grocery store bothers you that much, stock up on ramen noodles and toilet paper and don’t leave your house till it’s “over”!!

You say this like it's possible.

 

[;-)]

You say this like it's possible :rotfl3

This was totally meant to be sarcastic! Except

You say this like it's possible.

That part was totally sarcastic! Lol
I’m trying to laugh at this nonsense at this point. And to add: don’t forget your Lysol as well!

 

[cabanafrau]

I've only seen a "one person per family" policy at one store in our area.

The morality policy have sufficiently raked the OP over the coals (up to and including distribution of gold stars), so I'll pass on adding anything on that front.

I think it's a bit much to expect people not to press buttons that have been so carefully installed.

 

[lovesmurfs]

For all y'all hungry for cream of celery soup....

https://dinnerthendessert.com/cream-of-celery-soup-condensed/