General Question

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

Do you have waiting lines to get groceries in your local grocery store?

Asked by RedDeerGuy1 (24945points) April 3rd, 2020

I just recovered and canceled my Meals on Wheels, and I was able to get groceries. I arrived just before the line up. How long is the lineups for groceries in your local stores?

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15 Answers

stanleybmanly's avatar

yes. And it varies. This is the first of the month. So the1st thru the 3rd are bound to be brutal for lines due to the monthly disbursement of Federal and state subsidies. The local Safeway forces people to line up outside, and only allows so many in the store at once. The poor WIC participants are particularly excruciating in the creation of interminable lines at checkout. It is criminal, the tolls exacted on the poor.

janbb's avatar

Some are and some aren’t. They just started it at one nearby and people are bitching and moaning about it.

ragingloli's avatar

Not the last 2 times I was there. Very few people inside, too.

zenvelo's avatar

My local market startsd last Friday. The longest I have waited was twenty minutes. The local Whole Foods has one too. Last Sunday it was too long for me, so i just went later in the day.

it’s a minor inconvenience, but since it reduces exposure for all concerned, well worth it.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

No, according to my husband.

Call_Me_Jay's avatar

I went to two stores today. First, Trader Joe’s, a small place. They had customers line up outside, with six feet between each family/couple/person. When a family/couple/person exited, another could go in. A woman acted as host, explaining the bagging policy (preferably let them do the bagging with a fresh paper bag, if not use your bag and fill it yourself while they stand back) and waving people in. She did a great job acting as emcee, keeping up the banter and making the wait tolerable. It was warm-ish and sunny, so that helped a lot.

The check-out line had six-foot-spaced tape lines on the floor, stretching way back in the store, leading to another director. When a register became available, she pointed you to the right lane. The checkers took the basket or cart and had you stand back while they scanned and bagged it. Then they said come over and pay. It smelled of alcohol because they wiped everything down between customers.

The second place was a bigger chain store (Kroger-owned, named Pick ‘n Save). It was more like business as usual. Customers were maintaining distance, but the store wasn’t doing much to direct it.

nightwolf5's avatar

Are you talking about just to enter the store itself? Or the check-out lines? No wait line to get in my area, but I am not there waiting for them to open. You can just walk in. No line or limiting how people in at a time. Yes there are some longer check lines, with tape and stickers on where to stand while we wait to pay due to the 6ft rule. I guess the line to check out insn’t too bad. I waiting with only 5 ahead of me. It really just varies. I live in a small town though.

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

@nightwolf5 I mean to get in the store. Now that you mention it I will like to include cashier line ups.
I use the self check out and yesterday I did not have lines to get in or use self check out.

Zaku's avatar

To get in the store, no?

Lines in the stores tend to be shorter now, though spaced out 6 feet, and people tend to be buying more things at once. Total wait time seems to mostly be shorter, but is sometimes long.

JLeslie's avatar

I’ve heard early morning there are short lines waiting for the store to open. I try to go at night when the stores have much fewer people. Of course, a lot of the shelves are already picked over by then.

janbb's avatar

The stores that have them here are enforced lines because they are only letting a certain number of people in the store at a time.

ucme's avatar

Oh yes!
They all adhere to the 2m distance guideline which makes the queue length exaggerated.
Longest I’ve seen is a thumping drive on a par 5, goes down quick though, around 15mins or so.

Inspired_2write's avatar

Yes, walked out of line and bought from convenience store the essentials plus frozen dinners,rib sub etc

Demosthenes's avatar

Some stores are making people wait in line, yes. Trader Joe’s had a line around the block. Fuck that. Not waiting in that for one second.

raum's avatar

The line at Trader Joe’s is awesome. They have markers on the floor 6’ apart. And limit the number of shoppers in the store.

It seems like a long line.
But it moves fast and it’s way safer.

Wish all stores followed their model.

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