My Grocery Shopping Just Got Simplified

Townhall.com ^ | December 16, 2021 | Tom Tradeup

[Kaslin]

With Christmas approaching so quickly, I’m like most people: scurrying from store to store…looking for bargains on just the right gifts for my family and friends…and, of course, making the occasional stop at the grocery store.

Until this week, that included our neighborhood Kroger. But thanks to the absurd decision Kroger’s corporate leadership just announced, I’m adding them to my Naughty List and will henceforth spend our grocery dollars elsewhere.

In case you missed the news, “woke” executives at Kroger announced they will “end some benefits” for employees beginning January 1st… including removing paid emergency leave for unvaccinated employees who contract the China Virus. Additionally, the giant grocery chain—one of the biggest employers in America—plans to add a $50 “monthly surcharge” on its employee health plan for all unvaccinated workers.

Oh, wait a second. Did I say ALL unvaccinated employees? Strike that from the record. I meant they are slapping that additional $50 monthly surcharge on all NONUNION employees who are unvaccinated. This, of course, is nothing less than Kroger groveling at the feet of our Shop Steward In Chief in the White House, “Lunchpail Joe” Biden. He babbles on nonstop like an elderly parrot about all the “good, high-paying Union jobs” his bloated Build Back Better plan will create. But for the untold millions of American workers who—thank you very much—have no interest in joining a labor union, Build Back Better amounts to little more than a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings.

But I digress. Kroger—at least in Texas where I live—has already devolved into something in a scene right out of a George Romero horror film like “Dawn Of The Dead.” Most hours of the day—or night—they make customers do Self Checkout, or they have ONE human checker on duty who handles both the scanning and bagging…just throwing stuff into grocery bags because the line waiting behind me is 10 people deep. Code: smushed Wonder bread and a minimum of one or two broken eggs in the carton when we reach home.

That’s assuming you actually have items with which to check out.. because the store aisles are clogged with yahoos pushing little 3-car trains (like ones your toddlers ride at Six Flags or Disney World) as they fill “online orders” for customers who—wisely—opt not to set foot in the actual store.

But these somnambulant mopes working their way up and down the grocery aisles seem incapable of moving their portable cubbies out of the way, so actual human customers can’t get to the Kroger Soy Sauce. And to add insult to injury, they often ask visitors if they know where an item might be located.

Bottom line: I’m not sure I understand why Kroger even needs employee mandates because---as far as I can determine – Kroger has very few visible employees. However, per this week’s announcements, if you are one who exists… you might consider quitting and working at a new place which would treat you with respect. Otherwise, you had better hot-foot it to your store’s union shop steward and sign up for membership…or the bosses will slap a $50 “monthly surcharge” on you until you submit to the China Virus vaccine. Good luck, future picketers.

As for me, I’ll be voting with my feet when it comes to spending our family’s grocery dollars.=

Same goes for buying coffee: Starbucks workers in Buffalo, New York, recently voted to join a union…and now baristas* in Boston are following suit. (*Barista, in case you are not familiar with that term, literally translated means “White Guys In Dreadlocks With Bad Attitudes And Piercings Who Get Your Order Wrong Every Time.”) All unionizing will accomplish will be boosting the cost of a Vanilla Latte at Starbucks from $6 north to eight bucks. But rejoice: there are plenty of vestpocket, independent coffee shops all over the USA which will be happy to sell you coffee (and a blueberry muffin) without forcing you to foot the bill for union dues paid by the person handing your order to you.

As for Mr. “good, high-paying Union jobs” in the Oval Office…at least the clock is ticking—mercifully—toward the end of his first year of taking a battering ram to our oil industry and our economy, having delivered the highest inflation rate on four decades.

I just have to keep reminding myself—as my buddy, SRN’s Mike Gallagher (appearing onstage as Daddy Warbucks in ANNIE in South Carolina) belts out at the final curtain—“The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow…there’ll be sun.”

Sure hope he’s right!

[rellimpank]

—since I am already boycotting Kroger for removing the sporting magazines from the shelves for advertising “assault weapons”, I don’t have to do anything more—

[Josa]

Long time Publix shopper. Had recently switched to Kroger because of the gas discount. Even that gas incentive is not enough to keep me a Kroger shopper. Back to Publix where shopping “is a pleasure.”

[SaveFerris]

[Most hours of the day—or night—they make customers do Self Checkout, or they have ONE human checker on duty who handles both the scanning and bagging]

Oh, just like Wal-Mart.

Don’t like self-checkout? Get ready, more of it is coming to your local Wal-Mart. They intend to install MORE self-checkout machines and have already been experimenting with a store that’s only self-checkout. And that was some time ago.

Now, if I could only get past 1-800-WalMart to their corporate office’s phone number (local store is not resolving an issue).

[bigfootbob]

Kroger bought the Northwest chain, Fred Meyer about 10 or 12 years ago and has been working overtime to ruin what WAS one of the finest grocery/garden/home goods store in the PacNW. I decided the day I heard this to cease shopping with them, my wife has been loyal for well over 40 years. Go woke, go broke.

[Sans-Culotte]

Most hours of the day—or night—they make customers do Self Checkout, or they have ONE human checker on duty who handles both the scanning and bagging…
---SNIP---
Bottom line: I’m not sure I understand why Kroger even needs employee mandates because---as far as I can determine – Kroger has very few visible employees.

It's that way at the Krogers in Fort Bend County as well. Some are in great locations and I can't understand why they are so poorly run. I mainly shop at HEB where there are plenty of cashiers and baggers and they check you out fast. No need to boycott a store like Kroger cuz it already sucks enough to be not worthwhile.

[FLNittany]

Business as usual at my Publix. If there are more than 2 people waiting at a checkout lane, someone is on the phone calling to open up another lane. No self-checkouts.

Publix is pretty much an employee owned company btw.

[SaveFerris]

I liked HEB. But I’m not in Texas anymore.

All the Whataburgers, too. Even an In and Out here and there!

[FamiliarFace]

If I had the option of shopping at a Publix, which I don’t, I wouldn’t be shopping at a Kroger, period. I wish Publix would open a store within 50 miles of my home. In fact, if I ever do move South again, one of my criteria is having a Publix within an hour’s drive.

[dohcacr]

Me too and it’s going to be hard for me because they’re the only place in town that sells my favorite ice cream.

[silverleaf]

No to Kroger for absurdly singling out nonunion employees to punish in the name of ‘public health”

Corporate morons: please stop pizzing on the publics’ legs and telling everyone it’s raining

[bert]

Self checkout is a boon when the list is not long.

Self checkout is quick and easy. I use it every where it is available as a pure convenience that is uncluttered by self-righteous indignation

[Chauncey Gardiner]

The Covid vaccine and boosters are the only product in the world whose failure is blamed on those who haven’t taken it.

[Bernard]

And don’t expect to see the first round draft choices working the registers, either.

[Wissa]

Where I do my grocery shopping, there are no self-checkout lanes. There’s a real person doing the checkout, and another person bagging the groceries. That second person puts the bags of groceries on a cart and wheels them out to my car. That’s standard service for all shoppers. Besides that, they give me a 5% senior citizen discount on Wednesdays.

[SaveFerris]

I don’t mind it sometimes but the area for unloading and loading stuff is small. So I use the cashier at the grocery store.

[Kaslin]

My son does our grocery shopping for us, at Walmart or Kroger because I have a degenerative Disc decease, and a degenerative hip joint decease which make it very hard for me to walk. He says I don’t want to drag you around. This is getting tiresome

[SaveFerris]

They’re usually pretty nice to me but I’m getting where I know many of them.

At least at the stores.

[Sans-Culotte]

Don’t like self-checkout? Get ready, more of it is coming to your local Wal-Mart. They intend to install MORE self-checkout machines and have already been experimenting with a store that’s only self-checkout. And that was some time ago.

At Sam's Club (same owners as Walmart) they have a great phone app for self checkout. As you wander the store, you scan your items as you fill your cart and pay for the purchase as well. The only checkout line is for someone to look at a QR code on your phone and count your items. This has made Sam's a great place to stop if I want a few items in a hurry.

Before that app, I was on the verge of canceling my Sam's membership. The lines are unreal. I took this photo a couple of weeks ago:

This is the line you have to get in before you are in the actual checkout line (self or otherwise). If you look closely you will see that it goes all the way to the back of the store. It makes it almost impossible to even shop on that aisle because so many people are in line.

[GaltAdonis]

. . . . . BOYCOTT THE 'WOKE' . . . . .