I dumped my trolley and left

Page 1 / 3
pickles7, Mar 10, 2:16am
How many people leave the Supermarket without the food they went in for. I am sick of having to wait to get through checkout, 4 out of 9 checkouts are open and people are banked up for half an hours wait or more. Usually 1 or 2 of the self service are out. I am not the only one guilty of leaving my trolley, I came upon a trolley the other day full as pushed to the side by itself. We are lucky to have a good stock up and a full freezer and can go back another time when it isn't so busy.

puddleduck00, Mar 10, 2:23am
What supermarket? I have this problem with certain Countdowns. Never had any issues with Pak n Save or New World. Some Countdowns still don't have self-serve checkouts and they often don't open their express lanes. And when they do they open 1 express lane. I often get queued up behind people with trolley loads of items when I just want to buy milk or bread. It's more of a problem in the evening when they have skeleton staff. I have dumped my stuff numerous times - if they can't spend enough money on labour then they are not getting my money.

I used to work for a place (not a supermarket) that were skimpy on checkout staff - I often got abused by customers and people often walked out and ditched their goods. Apparently it makes better business sense to pi$$ off your staff and customers than allocate a few extra dollars in the wage budget.

priscilla2, Mar 10, 2:23am
Let me guess Countdown ? I haven't but my gosh I have been so tempted to a few times especially when I have had frozen stuff.I have been in to get a few things at times and have been unable to get what I want so put items back on the shelves that I did have and gone to the competition and spent a lot more.I am talking basic things like currants,pumpkin seeds and meat that has been advertised but no stock out.

sampa, Mar 10, 2:27am
No checkout queues online.

lythande1, Mar 10, 2:41am
+1 then I go collect it.

pickles7, Mar 10, 2:46am
Countdown is very bad, but this was Pak n Save on Saturday. We must have struck the pickers. We will be more alert as to the vans they use for shopping.

pickles7, Mar 10, 2:51am
I have a friend who buys online, loves it, I need the outing and the chit chat on the way around lol.

kay141, Mar 10, 2:52am
Pickers?

puddleduck00, Mar 10, 2:59am
Do you mean all the shop owners that use Pak n Save instead of an actual distributor/supplier? I often see diary owners stocking up their trolleys with Coke and V when it's on special.

asue, Mar 10, 3:00am
I nearly did the same on Friday at countdown. The checkout next to me processed 8 orders of a reasonable size while the one I half loaded onto was mucking around packing groceries, talking to the person she knew who was buying and THEN the till tape jammed and had to wait for a new till machine replacement. AGGGGRRRRR

samanya, Mar 10, 3:55am
I don't wish to put a cat among the pigeons, but I think it is very ill mannered to dump a trolley, although I can understand the frustration.
Would it not be more proactive to express your dissatisfaction/concerns directly to management?
It's not the staff's fault (unless they are 'socialising' at the till)
It's not a very competitive environment for grocery shopping, as far as we only have a couple of major supply chains, but each store wants to keep right up there with their share of the market.
Just sayin.

ljayl, Mar 10, 5:39am
Countdown is terrible for that . all the time !

samanya, Mar 10, 5:47am
So what do you do about it?
You are the customer & if you are not happy, why don't you & all of the unhappy customers speak up?
If enough people expressed their complaints . you might achieve the changes, don't you reckon?

sarahb5, Mar 10, 6:04am
Another good reason to shop online although I was tempted to do similar in The Warehouse today

kay141, Mar 10, 6:21am
Why would anybody just walk away leaving their trolley for the overworked staff to sort out? I have felt like it but never done it. I'm never in that much of a hurry especially when I know the staff are doing their best. A complaint to management would be a much better option.

samanya, Mar 10, 6:35am
Oh sarah, I'd love to have the confidence to shop on line. I grow all of my own veges - & i feel guilty going through the checkout without anything
' green' in there, in case I'm being watched! But then I thought . who effin cares, apart from me?

sarahb5, Mar 10, 6:43am
Its not about confidence at all - its about hating supermarket shopping and about having better things to do with my evenings and weekends

samanya, Mar 10, 6:48am
I hate supermarket shopping, passionately!
But . if I have to buy fruit etc, I like to pick my own , you know, push, gently squeeze, feel the produce & make sure it's OK?
Don't you?

fefeoc, Mar 10, 7:21am
I ask the staff to open another checkout if there are only express ones or self service ones open and I have a trolley full. Quite often if I am there earlyish in the morning there is only 1 checkout open and it will be an express one. I shop at our Countdown all the time and the staff know me as a regular; they tease me a bit if I ask, but they open one nevertheless. Don't ask, don't get. At least worth going to the controller and asking rather than dumping a trolley that someone is going to have to unpack.

village.green, Mar 10, 7:54am
Our Countdowns here are exactly the same, therefore I don't shop there very often. My local New World always have plenty of checkouts available.

sarahb5, Mar 10, 7:59am
No - I trust the staff to do that for me. They can't afford to get it wrong because people would take it back - never had a problem

davidt4, Mar 10, 8:48am
I know it's annoying to have to queue at the checkout, but it seems to me that if you take account of the time that you spend travelling to and from the supermarket, plus the time spent in the aisles finding your groceries, the total of that will be so much more then the ten minutes spent in the worst queue that it would be madness to abandon the trolley in a fit of pique.

In Auckland I find that Countdown queues are much longer than New World ones.

pickles7, Mar 10, 7:16pm
A lot of managers take advantage of the shoppers in here who would not leave there trolley.That is why the staff get pushed, then pushed even more. I have no thought about who puts my shopping back, or what can't be put back [ fresh ,frozen etc] All that is brought to the managers attention. It just can't be near as much as the savings, on wages. I say the Managers take it on the chin with a grin.
My time is priceless. Thousands pour into Hastings for the Fruit picking season, and one Supermarket put off 6 full time staff. That manager is not grinning he is laughing.

buzzy110, Mar 10, 8:46pm
Good for you pickles. It is not up to you to singlehandedly alter the culture of bad service in a supermarket. If you feel strongly you could write a letter of complaint to head office. That usually has much more effect than registering complaints with the owner/manager who will just shrug it off because it doesn't go any further. When Foodstuffs management come down on the operator's head, he'll respond with more alacrity and enthusiasm than if you'd complained direct to him. If you see anyone as annoyed as you, recommend a letter to head office as well. The more the merrier.

Foodstuffs, btw, is very much concerned with the way their stores are operated and they demand, and expect, certain standards to be reached, including customer service. Perception, is everything. A happy customer is money in the bank for them.

samanya, Mar 10, 9:43pm
A happy customer is indeed money in the bank & I'd like to know what you base your assumption that "registering complaints with the owner/manager who will just shrug it off because it doesn't go any further" is based on?
I was by no means advocating that pickles alone should complain, was I & I did say 'management' . head office is management, is it not?
If every dissatisfied customer expressed their concern, they do have the power to change things, if they can't be tolerant & wait.
I live out of town & I wait in supermarket queues, simply because it's too much of a hassle to make another trip to get groceries.