Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[Zikoris]

Wow, people actually bring their own bags and just hand them to the cashier rather than doing their own bagging? That seems... really rude, even outside of a pandemic. I very rarely use fabric bags myself, just load stuff straight into my stroller or backpack. I definitely don't want anyone else to handle either of those, that would just be weird.

No, we hand them to the grocery bagger. That's the person whose job it is to put the groceries into the bags while you continue to load them from your cart onto the conveyor belt and then pay the cashier for them. This is a separate person from the cashier, and it would be very awkward if you tried to do their job for them. Or you can put your bags on the conveyor belt in front of your groceries, and the cashier will pass them to the bagger before starting to scan your groceries. Baggers also sometimes help carry your bags to your car, but I see that less and less these days. Usually it's a service only used by little old ladies anymore. :-)

(Although, side note, when I lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, it was very much expected that you would allow the nice teenage boy bagger to take your groceries to your car, and then you'd tip him. And only boys with very good grades in school were given these jobs.)

At least that's how it was before coronavirus. Now they're requesting that we not take our own bags into the stores here, too.

That's really interesting! The only place I go where there's a person helping the cashier is Costco, and I always have to fight them off from trying to load my stroller. I would let them if they did it correctly, but due to the size and shape of it you have to Tetris things around in a certain way in order for everything to fit, and none of them seem to be able to do it. The other store I go to just makes you fend for yourself - if they give you bags at all, they just hand them to you to fill yourself.

[Zaga]

My entire team is being furloughed on the 8th.  Except for me.  I'm the one on the team most able to weather this without pay, I actually asked that I be NOT picked to stay.  But they don't care about that.  So my problem is I really feel for my coworkers.

[ixtap]

My entire team is being furloughed on the 8th.  Except for me.  I'm the one on the team most able to weather this without pay, I actually asked that I be NOT picked to stay.  But they don't care about that.  So my problem is I really feel for my coworkers.

That actually sounds like an incredibly difficult position to be in :(

[LennStar]

That's the person whose job it is to put the groceries into the bags while you continue to load them from your cart onto the conveyor belt and then pay the cashier for them.

Ah! American sized grocery shopping! Here in Germany the belt normally is sufficient for 3-4 people.

[GreenSheep]

That's the person whose job it is to put the groceries into the bags while you continue to load them from your cart onto the conveyor belt and then pay the cashier for them.

Ah! American sized grocery shopping! Here in Germany the belt normally is sufficient for 3-4 people.

Forgive me if I'm taking this the wrong way, but is this supposed to be some sort of jab at Americans? I would guess that we often use up the entire conveyor belt because we buy more in one shopping trip since we tend to shop less frequently. That's probably because many (not all) of us live farther from grocery stores than perhaps the average German does. For me, it's a 45 minute drive each way to get to a grocery store. At 60mph (96.5km/h). I don't want to do that more than once a week even under normal circumstances.

[PMG]

In the States registers (at least in the region I live) are not designed to be friendly for people bringing their own bags.  In most places in Europe I've been to there is at least an expectation that you bring your own bag, and it isn't so awkward for you to take a minute to pack things.  In Eastern Europe the registers have a wide table after the conveyor belt, with room for you to stand and fill your bag, and they have a hinged divider that the cashier can use to separate orders and allow the next customer room for their items and bagging. 

I feel so rude bringing my own bags to the shops here.  I always have to tell the cashier & bagger that I brought them, and wave them around a few times, then remind the bagger, and I offer to help and make jokes about how the counters and registers are just not designed for it.  I prefer to bag my own groceries so I can get things in just right for carrying, but if there is a bagger there I don't want to take his job away, so then I just awkwardly watch, and try to hold the bag open.

It has gotten easier over the years.  People are now at least familiar with the idea.

[Master of None]

One of the many benefits of Aldi is it being designed to bag your own grocery's. If you want to take your time and be meticulous then you can do that. If you prefers to throw it all in your bike trailer  and take off then that works too. Freedom of choice is a beautiful thing.

[LennStar]

Forgive me if I'm taking this the wrong way, but is this supposed to be some sort of jab at Americans?

If jab means in a joking way, than yes.
It runs on the line of "bigger streets, bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger people..." American sized used in this way means "fucking oversized!!"

And yes, except somewhere on one of the small islands, people are generally going to a supermarket at least once a week in Germany. I mostly go two times, and going means walking.
Well, it's mustachian to live way less than 45 minutes from a shopping possibility ;)

I prefer to bag my own groceries so I can get things in just right for carrying, but if there is a bagger there I don't want to take his job away, so then I just awkwardly watch, and try to hold the bag open.

Isn't is strange how the ever-so super efficient Free Market has all those useless workers hanging around?

There is that old joke that it took 3 people in a russian department store to pay for your stuff. But at least they didn't had someone only for bagging it!

[zolotiyeruki]

There is that old joke that it took 3 people in a russian department store to pay for your stuff. But at least they didn't had someone only for bagging it!

I spent a couple years living in Russia back around the turn of the century (heh, sounds funny to say that).  The saying about three people to pay for your groceries isn't a joke!

Plus, you had to pay for your bags.  Back then it was 2-3 rubles ($0.10 ish) per bag.  That was a bit of culture shock, right there!  I wonder if making people pay a few pennies per bag would make a difference.  Of course, since cashiers typically do the bagging you don't have a lot of control over how many bags are used!

[PMG]

There is that old joke that it took 3 people in a russian department store to pay for your stuff. But at least they didn't had someone only for bagging it!

I spent a couple years living in Russia back around the turn of the century (heh, sounds funny to say that).  The saying about three people to pay for your groceries isn't a joke!

Plus, you had to pay for your bags.  Back then it was 2-3 rubles ($0.10 ish) per bag.  That was a bit of culture shock, right there!  I wonder if making people pay a few pennies per bag would make a difference.  Of course, since cashiers typically do the bagging you don't have a lot of control over how many bags are used!

I've not been to Russia, but assorted post soviet countries where you still pay for bags if you want them/don't bring your own.  Those bags are much sturdier, thicker plastic than what I see stateside.  It's not usual to see them used over and over again.  And even if you were buying bags, you still did your own packing groceries in your bags.  Some of the first phrases I learned in Russian were around bagging groceries.  "Nyet packet, spacebo. Ya ne hatchu packet." (or something that sounds kind of like that).

ETA.  My spouse grew up in the USSR, he's in his 30s, and remembers when plastic bags first came to stores.  He also distinctly remembers the first time he had soda. 

[BicycleB]

Wow, I really do live in the People's Republic of Austin! At the city's dominant grocery chain, there is:

-A standard understanding that you might have brought your own bags
-A charge (23 cents plus tax = 25 cents) to buy a bag
-A self checkout line
-In the lines that have a cashier, there's room for bagging after checkout
-In the lines that have a cashier, there is a person who bags groceries, but if you bag your own, they let you
-Sometimes the bagging person isn't there anyway
-There's a bag recycling bin for any plastic bags that need to be recycled, and the bags they sell are recyclable

My MPP, then, is that some people still buy the #%&* bags every single time instead of bringing them from home. And the bags in use now are 10 times as thick as the old kind. And those who buy them sometimes throw them away instead of recycling. So I save the bags in our house, but never have a use for the extras that flow in from the roommate who buys from scratch.

Despite the price, I think the total plastic use is equal or higher to the system when we just had thin free plastic bags.  :(

[Dollar Slice]

Despite the price, I think the total plastic use is equal or higher to the system when we just had thin free plastic bags.  :(

I like how NYC enacted their law - they banned plastic bags altogether, so you can either bring a reusable one or you can buy a paper bag for a small fee at the register. (Other than right now during the pandemic where some stores are officially-unofficially ignoring it for the safety or perceived safety of their staff... hopefully we'll get back to zero plastic soon!) 

[GreenToTheCore]

@BicycleB Now I'm wondering if it's more of a Western thing? I definitely identify with @Zikoris  and your experiences but when I was back in Deleware it was like going back to 5 years ago, plastic everywhere (but still the thin stuff). Super strange to see almost no self-brought bags.

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

[dcheesi]

There is that old joke that it took 3 people in a russian department store to pay for your stuff. But at least they didn't had someone only for bagging it!

I spent a couple years living in Russia back around the turn of the century (heh, sounds funny to say that).  The saying about three people to pay for your groceries isn't a joke!

Plus, you had to pay for your bags.  Back then it was 2-3 rubles ($0.10 ish) per bag.  That was a bit of culture shock, right there!  I wonder if making people pay a few pennies per bag would make a difference.  Of course, since cashiers typically do the bagging you don't have a lot of control over how many bags are used!

My county has $0.05 plastic bag tax. IIRC, research into similar programs has shown that the tax did more to pad the gov't coffers than it did to reduce bag use. But I suppose that might depend on the size of the tax, etc.

[ixtap]

@BicycleB Now I'm wondering if it's more of a Western thing? I definitely identify with @Zikoris  and your experiences but when I was back in Deleware it was like going back to 5 years ago, plastic everywhere (but still the thin stuff). Super strange to see almost no self-brought bags.

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

Our local store discontinued it because the scanners were walking away. I believe you can still do it with your smartphone, but my smartphone doesn't really like fancy apps, so I haven't tried. Perhaps I will put the app on DH's new phone.

[Tabitha]

We had corn fed squirrels in central Pennsylvania , so not as bad as Rural implies. 

The local squirrels in E. WA at chez markbike528cbx are walnut fed from my tree.  We haven't had any yet, as gunfire in town is frowned upon, and my slingshot use is for entertainment purposes only.

Grampa used to like to set up wire snares at the base of trees.  I only have vague memories, but skinned, braised, they were good. Much better than the stringy hares.

[Threshkin]

DISASTER is struck the Ver household!

Squirrel(s) have decided to eat my clothes lines.  They cut each of the lines down and then took each line and gnawed them as far up from the ground as they could reach while they dangled there.  Then today it looks like they have tried to pulled them through the fence.  They got caught on the clothes pins.   It has been raining here for days so I haven't been using them or mitigating the damage, just looking out each day to see what the damage has been. 

Seeing a bunching up of clothes pins about five feet up a fence was pretty amusing. 

With only necessary shopping going on, I don't see us replacing these any time soon.  *sad trombone*

Squirrels did the same to my rope hammock.  I was distraught.  I had purchased that hammock for $20 about 12 years earlier and I wanted to get my money's worth out of it.

[Monerexia]

Going quicker and quicker to big picture math for clarity, e.g., global population growth=~81M/year. Even if the virus kills a full 81M we're only back to where we were last March, 7.8B. The world is big.

[Anette]

Going quicker and quicker to big picture math for clarity, e.g., global population growth=~81M/year. Even if the virus kills a full 81M we're only back to where we were last March, 7.8B. The world is big.

It is very questionable whether this virus will kill 0,5 million. The lower the better but the hype is definitely on. And not on a factual but emotional scare basis

[GreenToTheCore]

Has anyone else seen this?

Our local store discontinued it because the scanners were walking away. I believe you can still do it with your smartphone, but my smartphone doesn't really like fancy apps, so I haven't tried. Perhaps I will put the app on DH's new phone.

Good grief, what would someone even do with a scanner?
I hope this store switches over to the app approach and not just discontinue it.

[gaja]

I'm using the quarantine time trying to figure out if I can make bread the DH will like. He doesn't complain or anything, I just know from 20 years of living with him that he doesn't like what I bake. Test one was very simple, with only some water, oil, and fine grained flours. That had too little taste. Test two was today; more wholegrain flour, milk, more salt, some sunflower seeds and flax seeds. But I forgot to take it out from the oven and now the crust is too thick to get a good test focusing on the taste. So now I have to use this one for crust testing, and do a new one testing for taste. But first I have to get the kids to eat all this fresh, warm, homemade bread.

[Loren Ver]

DISASTER is struck the Ver household!

Squirrel(s) have decided to eat my clothes lines.  They cut each of the lines down and then took each line and gnawed them as far up from the ground as they could reach while they dangled there.  Then today it looks like they have tried to pulled them through the fence.  They got caught on the clothes pins.   It has been raining here for days so I haven't been using them or mitigating the damage, just looking out each day to see what the damage has been. 

Seeing a bunching up of clothes pins about five feet up a fence was pretty amusing. 

With only necessary shopping going on, I don't see us replacing these any time soon.  *sad trombone*

Squirrels did the same to my rope hammock.  I was distraught.  I had purchased that hammock for $20 about 12 years earlier and I wanted to get my money's worth out of it.

That truly is terrible.  I am so sorry :(.  My hammock is safely hung in my basement under some little lantern lights. 

[chaskavitch]

My 401k contribution hit the markets yesterday, after a few days of flat or positive closings, before today's ~5% drop. 

[Hirondelle]

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

In my country (NL) this has been quite common for the last 5+ years. Usually when grocers get self-check out this feature is introduced as well.

Also I'm surprised by how many people in the USA apparently keep buying bags after they are forced to pay for them. I think my country (and most of Europe in general) saw a massive decrease in both plastic bag use and plastic bag littering after introducing these rules. Apparently you guys aren't motivated by a small monetary incentive?

Actually, most grocery stores in my country already didn't offer free bags anymore since 20+ years so this reduction came mostly from smaller stores (e.g. bakeries, butchers, cheese stores, farmers markets etc). As long as I remember everyone's bringing their own.

[LennStar]

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

In my country (NL) this has been quite common for the last 5+ years. Usually when grocers get self-check out this feature is introduced as well.

Also I'm surprised by how many people in the USA apparently keep buying bags after they are forced to pay for them. I think my country (and most of Europe in general) saw a massive decrease in both plastic bag use and plastic bag littering after introducing these rules. Apparently you guys aren't motivated by a small monetary incentive?

Actually, most grocery stores in my country already didn't offer free bags anymore since 20+ years so this reduction came mostly from smaller stores (e.g. bakeries, butchers, cheese stores, farmers markets etc). As long as I remember everyone's bringing their own.

Didn't the poster upwards wrote about 5 cents? That is practically no costs.

Also, don't forget that it is about a country where people pay $20 for a parking space just not not have to walk half a mile to the hospital (as visitors, of course).
 

[Hirondelle]

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

In my country (NL) this has been quite common for the last 5+ years. Usually when grocers get self-check out this feature is introduced as well.

Also I'm surprised by how many people in the USA apparently keep buying bags after they are forced to pay for them. I think my country (and most of Europe in general) saw a massive decrease in both plastic bag use and plastic bag littering after introducing these rules. Apparently you guys aren't motivated by a small monetary incentive?

Actually, most grocery stores in my country already didn't offer free bags anymore since 20+ years so this reduction came mostly from smaller stores (e.g. bakeries, butchers, cheese stores, farmers markets etc). As long as I remember everyone's bringing their own.

Didn't the poster upwards wrote about 5 cents? That is practically no costs.

Also, don't forget that it is about a country where people pay $20 for a parking space just not not have to walk half a mile to the hospital (as visitors, of course).

Here it's 10c, so about as insignificant :p

We Dutch are quite cheap though. So yeah, 10 cents every other day matter to us!

[PMG]

15 years ago, when I lived in a different region of the states, grocery stores gave 3 cents off your bill for each bag you brought and used. I was very motivated by that. I just brought back their plastic store bags and reused them because it took 5 of them to carry what one reusable bag carried and multiplied my discount.

I think target still does a discount if you bring your bag but haven’t seen it elsewhere in a long time.

[SwordGuy]

My friend was telling me how the local Fry's (Kroger) has started a scan-as-you-go service. Scan the item/put it in your bag and at the end you just hand them the scanner and pay. No need to unpack/repack! I bike to the store <2mi away but it might be worth the 6+miles to go try it out :)
Has anyone else seen this?

In my country (NL) this has been quite common for the last 5+ years. Usually when grocers get self-check out this feature is introduced as well.

Also I'm surprised by how many people in the USA apparently keep buying bags after they are forced to pay for them. I think my country (and most of Europe in general) saw a massive decrease in both plastic bag use and plastic bag littering after introducing these rules. Apparently you guys aren't motivated by a small monetary incentive?

Actually, most grocery stores in my country already didn't offer free bags anymore since 20+ years so this reduction came mostly from smaller stores (e.g. bakeries, butchers, cheese stores, farmers markets etc). As long as I remember everyone's bringing their own.

Didn't the poster upwards wrote about 5 cents? That is practically no costs.

Also, don't forget that it is about a country where people pay $20 for a parking space just not not have to walk half a mile to the hospital (as visitors, of course).

Here it's 10c, so about as insignificant :p

We Dutch are quite cheap though. So yeah, 10 cents every other day matter to us!

I used to work for Nedlloyd Lines, a Dutch shipping company.  One of my Dutch colleagues explained to me that copper wire was invented by two Dutchmen fighting over a penny.   

[Freedomin5]

In the expat world here, there is a lucrative market for certain hand carried imported goods. For example, if you have extra luggage space and you bring over certain types of OTC medications and shampoos and Kirkland brand nuts/seeds/specialty flours, etc., you can resell it to expats here for a premium. My MPP is that I don’t typically buy those fancy expensive non-GMO certified organic Keto gluten-free stuff, so I have no idea what the typical well-to-do expat would want. It’s a whole side income stream that I can’t access. :(

[TomTX]

In the expat world here, there is a lucrative market for certain hand carried imported goods. For example, if you have extra luggage space and you bring over certain types of OTC medications and shampoos and Kirkland brand nuts/seeds/specialty flours, etc., you can resell it to expats here for a premium. My MPP is that I don’t typically buy those fancy expensive non-GMO certified organic Keto gluten-free stuff, so I have no idea what the typical well-to-do expat would want. It’s a whole side income stream that I can’t access. :(

You can't ask around and take preorders?

[SwordGuy]

In the expat world here, there is a lucrative market for certain hand carried imported goods. For example, if you have extra luggage space and you bring over certain types of OTC medications and shampoos and Kirkland brand nuts/seeds/specialty flours, etc., you can resell it to expats here for a premium. My MPP is that I don’t typically buy those fancy expensive non-GMO certified organic Keto gluten-free stuff, so I have no idea what the typical well-to-do expat would want. It’s a whole side income stream that I can’t access. :(

You can't ask around and take preorders?

Absolutely!  Why guess when you can take pre-orders and cash up front?

[LennStar]

In the expat world here, there is a lucrative market for certain hand carried imported goods. For example, if you have extra luggage space and you bring over certain types of OTC medications and shampoos and Kirkland brand nuts/seeds/specialty flours, etc., you can resell it to expats here for a premium. My MPP is that I don’t typically buy those fancy expensive non-GMO certified organic Keto gluten-free stuff, so I have no idea what the typical well-to-do expat would want. It’s a whole side income stream that I can’t access. :(

You can't ask around and take preorders?

Better even, write an app and take commission. (I am quite sure there is such a thing already.)

Absolutely!  Why guess when you can take pre-orders and cash up front?

[dragoncar]

In the expat world here, there is a lucrative market for certain hand carried imported goods. For example, if you have extra luggage space and you bring over certain types of OTC medications and shampoos and Kirkland brand nuts/seeds/specialty flours, etc., you can resell it to expats here for a premium. My MPP is that I don’t typically buy those fancy expensive non-GMO certified organic Keto gluten-free stuff, so I have no idea what the typical well-to-do expat would want. It’s a whole side income stream that I can’t access. :(

You can't ask around and take preorders?

Better even, write an app and take commission. (I am quite sure there is such a thing already.)

Absolutely!  Why guess when you can take pre-orders and cash up front?

You guys are getting paid?  Whenever I have a trip coming up stuff just starts showing up at my door a few weeks prior.  At least it’s usually small/light electronics or small specialty items

[ysette9]

When I spent a summer in Russia back in 1997 I observed the phenomenon of people saving reusable plastic bags and taking them with you to shop. Now 20 years later that is the norm here, though mostly people don’t use plastic anymore but canvas or something else longer-wearing.

When I lived in France I HATED that they didn’t bag for me at grocery stores. I would always forget and stand around like an idiot, and then awkwardly shove things in my bag while the line piled up behind me. I think my experience was colored also by how unfriendly and spectacularly unhelpful the cashiers were there. France does a lot of things well but the shopping experience was something I always dreaded. I appreciate a smile and a hello and the occasional chitchat while paying for my groceries.

[Dicey]

When I spent a summer in Russia back in 1997 I observed the phenomenon of people saving reusable plastic bags and taking them with you to shop. Now 20 years later that is the norm here, though mostly people don’t use plastic anymore but canvas or something else longer-wearing.

When I lived in France I HATED that they didn’t bag for me at grocery stores. I would always forget and stand around like an idiot, and then awkwardly shove things in my bag while the line piled up behind me. I think my experience was colored also by how unfriendly and spectacularly unhelpful the cashiers were there. France does a lot of things well but the shopping experience was something I always dreaded. I appreciate a smile and a hello and the occasional chitchat while paying for my groceries.

DH's boss went to Costco in NorCal today and was told he couldn't bring any bags into the warehouse. My Costco brother in AZ says they have no such restrictions yet. DH's boss also said he waited two hours in line to get in. Brother says they haven't had lines for the last couple of days.

[LennStar]

In big cities (or some, depending on local orders) you have to wait here in Germany too.
In my small town not :D

[penguintroopers]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

[mspym]

We tried to support local restaurants by ordering food only to be reminded we can't manage the amount of salt in restaurant food any more, which is why we make all our food at home. This post is brought to you by waking up at 3am, super thirsty and hot from too much salt.

[ysette9]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

I’m a little concerned also about meeting a minimum spend for a CC bonus. Hopefully the massive $ I’m spending on groceries now will add up.

[Paul der Krake]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

I’m a little concerned also about meeting a minimum spend for a CC bonus. Hopefully the massive $ I’m spending on groceries now will add up.

Why are you spending an increased amount on groceries? It's not like California is going to run out of food...

[ysette9]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

I’m a little concerned also about meeting a minimum spend for a CC bonus. Hopefully the massive $ I’m spending on groceries now will add up.

Why are you spending an increased amount on groceries? It's not like California is going to run out of food...

Because we are all home 24/7. No kid eating at school, no kid eating at daycare, no adults getting free meals and snacks at work.

[Freedomin5]

Today, I had a Zoom get-together with two friends in California. They were chatting about not being able to get a delivery time and bemoaning the need to cook at home. One friend talked about ordering in most days. My MPP was that I had nothing to contribute to the conversation because we rarely eat out and have been cooking practically all our meals for the last several years.

[LennStar]

Seems nobody is worried about getting Covid from food made by others...

[Imma]

Seems nobody is worried about getting Covid from food made by others...

The chances of that honestly seem pretty low. In labs they've been keeping the virus alive on surfaces for a while but that's under perfect conditions. No one worries about getting flu from food.
Actually with all the attention to hygiene these days the chances of getting food poisoning from restaurant food is probably lower than usual.

[Zaga]

My entire team is being furloughed on the 8th.  Except for me.  I'm the one on the team most able to weather this without pay, I actually asked that I be NOT picked to stay.  But they don't care about that.  So my problem is I really feel for my coworkers.

That actually sounds like an incredibly difficult position to be in :(

Well, they changed their minds and picked someone else to stay, now I'm furloughed!  However it's still sad, our office is down to a skeleton crew, there were about 300 people, my guess (and it really is a guess) is between 25 and 50 remain.  Probably closer to the 25 number.  That in addition to the many thousands that work in the stores all being furloughed.  That's a lot of people without pay for an undetermined length of time.

[Poundwise]

Wow, I really do live in the People's Republic of Austin! At the city's dominant grocery chain, there is:

-A standard understanding that you might have brought your own bags
-A charge (23 cents plus tax = 25 cents) to buy a bag
-A self checkout line
-In the lines that have a cashier, there's room for bagging after checkout
-In the lines that have a cashier, there is a person who bags groceries, but if you bag your own, they let you
-Sometimes the bagging person isn't there anyway
-There's a bag recycling bin for any plastic bags that need to be recycled, and the bags they sell are recyclable

My MPP, then, is that some people still buy the #%&* bags every single time instead of bringing them from home. And the bags in use now are 10 times as thick as the old kind. And those who buy them sometimes throw them away instead of recycling. So I save the bags in our house, but never have a use for the extras that flow in from the roommate who buys from scratch.

Despite the price, I think the total plastic use is equal or higher to the system when we just had thin free plastic bags.  :(

If the reusable bags are polypropylene, the material can be cut up to make great masks, that is, fantastic masks. https://makermask.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Mask_Materials_Criteria_V1.2-2.pdf

[Dicey]

Seems nobody is worried about getting Covid from food made by others...

The chances of that honestly seem pretty low. In labs they've been keeping the virus alive on surfaces for a while but that's under perfect conditions. No one worries about getting flu from food.
Actually with all the attention to hygiene these days the chances of getting food poisoning from restaurant food is probably lower than usual.

But the risk is not zero. Ergo, no take-out for this family. We have plenty of food in our larders and plenty of time to make it.

[Imma]

Seems nobody is worried about getting Covid from food made by others...

The chances of that honestly seem pretty low. In labs they've been keeping the virus alive on surfaces for a while but that's under perfect conditions. No one worries about getting flu from food.
Actually with all the attention to hygiene these days the chances of getting food poisoning from restaurant food is probably lower than usual.

But the risk is not zero. Ergo, no take-out for this family. We have plenty of food in our larders and plenty of time to make it.

No take-away for us either, because we always cook anyway and now we certainly have more than enough time for it. But Mr Imma works in hospitality and his company has opened for take-away this week and I'm really glad they're doing something to earn money now. Everyone is very careful. I don't think the risk is any bigger than my weekly grocery shop, probably smaller. The food is handled by the cook and the deliveryperson, in the store there are dozens of people even if everyone keeps their distance.

[ixtap]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

I’m a little concerned also about meeting a minimum spend for a CC bonus. Hopefully the massive $ I’m spending on groceries now will add up.

Why are you spending an increased amount on groceries? It's not like California is going to run out of food...

Because we are all home 24/7. No kid eating at school, no kid eating at daycare, no adults getting free meals and snacks at work.

Plus figuring out substitutes on the fly. No tofu at $1.50/lb and only cutlet cut chicken at $5/lb meant that I bought shrimp at $10/lb. on my last trip. No store brand sausage meant full price name brand sausage. Normally, on the rare occasion they didn't have what I want, I would just do without and try again in a few days. Now I am spacing trips out to two weeks, so we need a substitute.

[Kris]

My husband, who loves to cook and loves to read about anything food and drink related, has been telling me about odd shortages and gluts that have been happening as a result of the pandemic.

Two things that are recent gluts: pork belly and chicken wings. No March madness = no wings. And no restaurants = less bacon.