Both of the grocery stores I shop at in my small town do have scales in the produce department. There are also pre-packaged portions of some produce that is sold by the package rather than by the pound, so scales aren't needed for those. And on taxes, most food items are not taxed. The key there is 'Most". Some is taxed, like ready-to-eat cooked food (hot roast chickens, etc.). Also, this varies by state and/or city. A few places do tax groceries, I believe.
@@DianeJennings Tax varies from district to district. Most don't tax food. Some only tax certain foods like sodas or other sugary things like junk foods (to dissuade you from buying it). Generally though, there's no tax on groceries. We definitely have the scales to weigh produce. Some of them print the bar code, some don't.
Regarding fruits and vegetables most cashiers are required to know the codes and weigh at checkout, in a self checkout you can look up the codes and weigh at the checkout yourself. As for standing at a register, when my partner worked as a cashier there was a motto, 'if you're leaning you can be cleaning.'
At most Grocery Stores in the US the scales are built into the scanner at the registers. The cashiers set the fruits & vegetables on it and enter the product number into the system. Many stores will have those old school hanging scales in the section if you want to see how much your product weighs.
Actually a lot of produce have labels that can be scanned at checkout. Put it on scale or enter quantity. Meijer has a few scales in produce where you can print a label or scan with their mobile app "shop and scan". With the app it transfers to the register at checkout to pay.
I remember getting milk delivered when I was very young. And my grandmother had an insulated box by her front door for the milk deliveries. Most of that disappeared when the larger supermarkets were built. I think you can still get deliveries in some places. (I'm in my 60's, to give you context on when I was young. 😃 ) Thanks for the video.
There is actually a lot of produce that are seasonal like soft fruit, some types of citrus, holiday fruit like cranberries and some apples species. It just harder to notice it because of the huge variety of produce we get in
".. and then I go, 'how come my mom's chicken is so much nicer?' It's because she bought the good chicken at the butcher." We have seen you cook Diane. I doubt that the butcher is the only reason your mom's chicken is nicer. 😉 Also, I saw Valentine's Day candy set out the day after Christmas. It is depressing. I live within walking distance of a Lidl but I rarely shop there due to the lack of selection. Finally, US stores frequently have scales in their produce sections, but they are usually hanging scales and do not provide a bar code. Probably due to a concern that shoppers with then slap the bar code onto a larger item.
I work at a big box US pet store and had the privilege of helping someone visiting from Ireland. He was very friendly and he and I chatted for a few minutes, He said there are no pet stores in Ireland anywhere near as large. He seemed like he was really enjoying himself and I thought it was so cool that he was buying items and taking them to Ireland.
Many of these are very dependent on which state you are in. Most states have gotten rid of the plastic bags. You can purchase paper bags (which suck) or bring your own. Also, the “pew pews” are not easily available in many states. You sort of have to think of each state as it’s own little country, with varying factors.
Bringing your own bag makes shopkeepers in the USA nervous, because they are often used for shoplifting. Also, the US was doing recycling long before Europe. When sodas were in glass bottles, you'd pay a little extra as a "deposit" on the bottle, then you'd turn in your empties and get the money back. When soft drink companies switched to plastic bottles, gradually deposit bottles went away. When home milk delivery was common, we left the empty bottles for the milkman to pick up too. The USA had paper bags, but around 35 years ago, the US began to transition to plastic bags to save trees. A lot of differences which Diane points out, the US has "Been there, done that", so it's misleading to say, that we haven't gotten around to recycling yet. After all, we were the first major country to care about the environment in a general sense. There had been civil cases in Europe hundreds of years ago concerning specific cases concerning pollution, but not a general pro environmental movement. The US could certainly do better, but that's true Worldwide to one extent or the other.
@@sparky6086 The big "Tree Hugger" thing discounted that most paper is made of trees grown as a crop for the purpose of paper manufacturing. These oversights are typical of politicisation. As a functional democracy, that is full of intelligent playas, it's a cross we bear. "Deliver the mail & guard the coasts". Being in politics is too much fun for too many people.
@@tomfrazier1103 True. I should have put it "ostensibly to save trees". At any rate, the change to plastic was too recent for people to abide switching to anything else yet. It may be changing now, but when I lived in Western Europe 40 years ago, shoplifting wasn't common enough to worry, if someone brought their own bag, but as a child in the US inner-city, working in my father's store, we always had to watch anyone bringing in their own bag like a hawk, as they were almost always out to shoplift.
One grocery store that I go to, not only do they have electronic scales to weigh your produce, you can print out the barcode and put it on the bag that's holding your produce. Saves time at the register. There are a ton of areas in America that has banned plastic bags. In places that don't have a ban, you are very much encouraged to bring your own bags, and many do. Many stores have recycling bins in the store that take ink cartridges, plastic bags, and other things.
I think part of why the holiday stuff is put out so early is that many stores have certain shelves reserved for seasonal items. So they put out stuff for the current holiday and then when it passes they mark it down on steep clearance and then put out the stuff for the next holiday. So if they don't put out the next holidays stuff fairly soon as one passes then they would have empty shelves.
Buying in bulk is definitely a thing, as is getting everything you need, from food to furniture to auto supplies, in one place. That has led to the rise of membership-based superstores like Costco and Sam's Club. These stores are like Wal-Mart and Target, but they focus much more on bulk items and less on smaller-sized products. As for weighing your own items: yes, American supermarkets have scales in the produce section where you can weigh items that are sold loose, like fruit and vegetables. But those scales are only for your convenience; they aren't an "official" weight. The official weight is measured at check-out. If you use self-checkout, there is a scale built into the scanner which weighs your item, and then you either enter a product code or look up the item via an on-screen menu, and the price is calculated. (This also happens for other things that are sold in bulk, like nuts and candies.) American supermarkets have foreign food sections, it's just that American's don't seem to think of "European" as a category. The two types of foreign food sections that you will always see in supermarkets are Mexican food and Asian food. Of course there are also supermarkets that specialize in international food, where you would find more items from European countries.
For decades I got by with going to the grocery store about once per month, mostly buying very processed foods that could sit in the cupboard, or in the freezer, for weeks in between trips. I eventually had to change my diet for medical reasons, but... it worked for a long time, or at least it seemed to.
As a midwestern american millennial it was hammered into my head all throughout my life to horde the plastic bags you get at the grocery stores within more plastic bags until they are bulging out of a hallway closet you keep cleaning supplies and linens in. The purpose of this ritual still isn’t fully understood but over time you find purposes for the small grocery bags. I like to use them when I’m scoopin’ the poopins from the litter box they also make great liners for small trash cans in an office or bathroom.
Ah, yes. The Bag o' Bags. The great-grandparents came from Wisconsin to California, and we still respect that bit of cultural heritage. Good for protecting books that aren't on the shelf from dust-because I never know when I might need to dig out my 35-year-old college textbooks on astronomy or Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (and yes, I took and passed those classes, and kept the books). Going on a road trip? A withdrawal from the Bag o' Bags can be used to hold the snack wrappers from the stuff you've eaten. When it's full, tie it shut and dump it in the trash when you get gas.
5:00 Every grocery store section has weight scale. Some are hanging scales or digital scales. Some people choose not to use them. The grocery tills have weight scales built-in as well.
Thanks for the great shout out! Just finished my own delivery route. 😁 When I was living on my own, I'd go for a big grocery shop once a month, and then might go for small stuff every now and again. Colorado recently just got rid of all the plastic and paper bags. I don't like it.
We do have recycling around Boston. Ours is single-stream, where we put them in bins and they are sorted out at the recycling centers (by machines). With plastic bags, we reuse them as trash-can liners and bring the left-over ones back to the store to be recycled. The hippies bring their own bags, which they have to plan out in advance and carry all through the stores, but my trips to the grocery store, as a single guy, aren’t nearly as well planned out. I just pop in on my way home from wherever, and buy a basket full of food to last a week or two. Paper bags often cost an additional 10 cents each, so 20 cents on top of an $80 purchase.
Stores are always pushing out holidays items earlier and earlier. It's common to have items for 2 or 3 holidays in advance. I have seen Valentine's Day items out immediately after Christmas Day. We have scales for fruits, vegetables near their stands so you can get an idea of how much of each item you are getting. It's helpful when costs are listed per pound, for example.
What is most depressing is that the candy especially is now the same for all holidays except for the wrappers. Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter had their own unique varieties highlighted. Except for St. Urho’s Day, it’s all the same year-round.
for produce in supermarkets, there is usually a scale to give you some idea how much you are getting, but the weighing and pricing is not done until you checkout.
Happy Monday to you Diane! Hope that you're doing well! I really enjoy your videos as of late! Especially when you compare and contrast things between the U.S. and other European countries. I learn something new judging from your own insights and information. Glad you enjoy our trashy food! LoL. I love that you have an affinity for our fine American cuisine! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your info as always. Have a great rest of your week and be well!
There is a brand of fancy milk in the US called Shatto that comes in glass bottles and they give you $1 back(I think) if you bring the bottle back, but most milk comes in plastic jugs.
In Chicagoland and NW Indiana, Oberweis also sells milk in half gallon milk in glass bottles, and comes with a $2 deposit (required to be charged by Oberweis, and not by state or local law), and you get the $2 back when you return the bottle.
That used to be the norm throughout the US. The petroleum industry forced gradual elimination of returnable glass which is only now starting to return.
Hi Diane! We have scales in most stores to weigh stuff like potatoes but generally have to reweigh them when you check out. Don't usually ask for help much, but yeah it's kind of like Schrodinger's help. And we're still waiting for you do to a walkthrough at the Piggly-Wiggly. Happy Monday!
Back when I was young and soda was sold in glass bottles in the states, there was a small refund per bottle that varied slightly by the state in an attempt to get you to return them. We would save them up and return them about once a month. The marshmallow goo is also called creme or fluff over here.
@@DianeJennings in Massachusetts, the price sticker on the shelf must also include the price-per-unit (such as ounce/quantity/etc). That helps you to more quickly determine the best deal, or most bang for your buck. IE) two different brands may have the same size boxes, but different quantity or weight in the box. Also, Massachusetts does not tax life-necessities, such as food and clothing.
We have tropical areas in America and also get produce from Mexico, Central & South America. So we can get all produce most times of the year. Also many greenhouses
Diane's comment about milk delivery caught my attention. I am an old American guy, I remember in the early 1960's milk was commonly delivered to an insulated box outside your door in glass bottles. You would rinse the empty bottles and place them back in the box for recycling. The milk was fresh, and the cream would be floating on top. I remember getting in trouble as a boy for drinking the cream which my dad loved for his coffee. In the middle 1960's, cardboard milk containers became available in supermarkets and were less expensive than the milk delivery services. Soon, milk delivery was a thing of the past. Ah, memories..
Some states have can and bottle recycling, Diane. When I was a kid, it was $0.05 in Michigan. So we would drink our sodas in the store whenever we walked down there and return the bottle immediately for $0.05 for Penny Candy. It's not Countrywide, but I believe where I live now there is a deposit required on glass bottles, but not aluminum cans
Yes the soda bottle refund was my first experience at”making”my own money! Growing up”IN” Chicago I used to pull my little Red Flyer wagon with wooden side rails around the neighborhood collecting bottles. Even going door to door in some cases, having neighbors saving their bottles for me! Aside from buying penny candies I was into building model airplanes and cars which I would save up my deposit money for. Then when I was old enough I got a paper route at 12 (pulling my red wagon🙃) and worked from then on.
Yes it’s 10 cents now - and the deposit laws drastically brought down the amount of litter all over the countryside. I remember as a kid if I went fishing in the local lakes, the lake bottom would be littered with beer bottles. There’s an effort to expand the deposit law, as right now it only covers carbonated sodas and beer. The proposal would cover water bottles and cider, and I think a few other things.
Some stores still have the scales but most stores did away with scales a long time a go. It's funny that Mace is considered an "assault weapon" in Ireland. Here we buy it for friends and family as gifts.
I do like buying the jumbo sizes of items to not have to go to the store as often. What I like about the plastic bags is using them for trashcan liners at home and to hold dinner to take to work. Irish food products are the best 🍫🧀🧈🥩🍗🍀. Chewie deserves a Jumbo bag of treats 🍖 and teddys 🧸. Happy Monday Diane and Chewie.
We used to have seasonal produce, I think they started using more greenhouses to grow year around. The price shows you what's in season, they go up and down a significant amount.
We still have some seasonal produce where I live (Georgia). Peaches and blueberries are seasonal here and usually come from Georgia or South Carolina. But you can always get an onion or an orange or a tomato: what changes is the cultivar, how good it tastes, and how far away it comes from. In season the onions and tomatoes are from Georgia and the oranges are from Florida. Out of season, all three may come from California or Mexico or Chile, and the cultivar will be one developed to withstand shipping rather than to have a pleasing texture or any taste at all.
When I was younger - glass soda bottles were charged a deposit of like a dime and when you returned the empty bottle, you got your dime back for returning it. I would do it again if it were available. And I always bring cloth bags to the supermarket. It hasn't caught on as much as it should - but I find it much more handy to carry/transport item in the cloth bags than the plastic.
Yep we have scales but they don't always give you a scan code.....and the Tax is really just easy, just add 10% and it will usually be less, I promise it's not that hard.....oh and in some States they don't charge Tax on Groceries....Good stuff
Hey Diane Von Jennings. Happy Monday. Sorry for my absence last week, I was packing things up, and get ready to move out. Which I have since done. Oh and I was conquering Central Asia
Milk delivery used to be common here in the USA, but was mostly gone by the 1970s. It, and other dairy products, would be delivered in glass bottles by a 'milkman' who would also collect the empty bottles for re-use. The house that I grew up in during the latter half of my childhood, built in 1963, had a 'milk chute' which was simply a space in the wall of our attached garage with a door on each side to which the milk could be delivered. I think we used it for less than a year before my parents decided that they couldn't justify the extra cost in comparison to the price of milk and other dairy products at the supermarket. Sure, it was convenient, but what's the point when you have to go to the supermarket for groceries anyway? I should also mention that the larger size of a product is not always the best deal. I always check the unit price in very small print on the price posted on the shelf, required, I think, by law, and usually given in ounces. Many times I have found that the price per ounce is better for the smaller package than for the larger.
The grocery store I usually shop at has hanging scales in the produce department, but the "official" weight is the one determined by the built-in scale at the checkout. Having large packages reduces the cost per ounce because oftentimes you are paying more for the packaging than the product in it. Also, my sister used to live 2 miles from the nearest grocery store so larger was more convenient. The local hardware and pet store checkout clerks can sit own. grocery clerks have to be available for bagging and other things, so they usually stand. As for weapons, i have to go to a specialty store to purchase my long swords. If I am forced to go medieval upon your buttocks, I mean it literally. Have a nice day!🙂
@@DianeJennings Walmart is the only store I know of that has both guns and groceries (beyond little snack items) and the guns are only in some states. The funny thing is that even though groceries now take up 1/4 to `1/3 of the store, they were an afterthought. The original Walmarts didn't have fresh and frozen foods, just stuff like chips (crisps) and candy. Then they opened up a few that were called "Super Walmart" that had some meat and produce and people were so receptive that after a couple of years they started adding it to all of the Walmarts and the food sections kept growing until people actually started thinking of Walmart as a grocery store.
@@HariSeldon913 And now there are quite a few WalMarts that are stand-alone grocery stores, selling none of the housewares, toys, clothes, etc. that for the original WalMarts were the mainstay
Since a couple of years ago, many states require reusable bags. If you don't have your reusable bag, stores have them available for purchase at the checkout counter.
In my experience, some (if not all) of the supermarkets I've been to have spring scales and small plastic bags in the produce department, so that you can have a good idea of the weight of produce being sold by the pound, but that's available in "each" units. Like onions for $1.98 a pound, but there is just a big bin of onions of varying sizes and weights. Your process would be to put, say, two onions in a small bag, weigh it, and if you want a few more ounces, add another one to the bag. There are digital scales built into the checkouts these days, though (even at the self-checkouts), which do the official measurement of weight for the purpose of calculating the cost.
New Jersey banned single-use plastic bags last year. The problem is, I sometimes have my groceries delivered, so now I have more reusable bags than I could use in a lifetime, and I think those bags are even less recyclable than the plastic ones.
And the whole idea behind switching to plastic bags from paper is that they would be recyclable and therefore better for the environment. I'm sensing a trend here.
We do recycle in the states, bottle return has been going on for years. When I was young we would collect bottles and return for money to buy candy, now glass and plastic are put into machines and you get a slip of paper with the monitary amount per number of bottles returned. Walmart stopped supplying plastic bags all together now bring your own, well not giving the bags for free they would charge for the number used. In some states walmart stopped selling guns, some do carry ammo only.
Your pinned commentor is correct. We also have grocery stores with scales in them at the checkout locations. So you can just plunk down your bananas on the scanner screen, and it weighs your produce. You select from the touchscreen the menu for fruits (or whatever it is you're weighing), and the register (computer) adds the appropriate cost of your bananas (or whatever).
Walmart has a app. You can buy anything in there store and have it brought out to your car the same day. You scheduled a pickup time. Do all your shopping online and then you park in a numbered parking spot. You text them your location. And they come out and load it in your vehicle. No extra charge. You don’t have to get out of your car.
With fruits and veggies here, there generally a couple scales around the department in case you do want to weigh what you have. Most fruits and veggies now already have a bar code sticker on them. If you self checkout, you just enter the code, set the item on the register and it weighs them and rings up the price.
I've never seen individual fruits & vegetables in the US with scannable bar codes (except when in a bag or box). Generally, the cashier weighs them and enters the proper code. Some stores do let you weigh your own and print out a label, but I've only seen it in stores with hand-held "scan as you go" options.
@@joegoss30 The fruit in my local store has scan-able stickers. Has for about a year now. Each and every apple, peach, etc. On veg, for example the different kinds of lettuce, they have a wire wrap, with a code and a scan part to it. But I can only speak to my little corner of Pennsylvania, in the US.
Seasonal produce - it's not so much about "science" giving us year-round produce but climate and international trade. Lots of our stuff comes from Mexico and Central America where the sub-tropical climate allows much longer growing seasons so we get things like strawberries and melons in winter.
There are weigh machines in the US grocery stores when you buy veggies and stuff. A lot of the grocery stores, (where I live anyway), employ their own butchers if you want a special cut or something like that. If you are buying a bucket of chicken, for example, and you tell them you want a 20 piece, that will be weighed as well. But if you are buying something off the rack, it's already been weighed and wrapped. Loved the video as always.
I live in Chicago and we have the options of both. I have a local butcher and plenty of grocery shops. The key is to buy the cheap stuff at the general stores (Walmart, target, etc) like flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and soup. I buy produce/meat at the local grocery store, with the butcher shop on special occasions like a special meal or holiday. And other non-perishables, cooking supplies I can do via delivery on Amazon, Walmart, or a local delivery service via instacart.
Where I'm at the Valentine's Day stuff was out on the shelves by December 28th. Whatever is next on the list will always be being sold in Wal-mart. They pretty much have a dedicated section for "holiday stuff" (which becomes the "Back to School" section during July-August).
Scales - typically we may have sales in produce but it doesn't print out a code, they weight it at checkout (even self-checkout has a scale built in). But the store I go to (Texan, so HEB) has bulk goods, like spices or nuts, and you weight that and it will print out a bar code to put on the bag/container. Recycling - I know we used to have machines that you could exchange cans for cash, so as a kid I remember smashing cans so you can fit more in bags to take to the machine. I haven't seen one in awhile, and we have bi-weekly recycling along with trash (in theory, though I don't know how mixing paper with cans that people have likely not washed is properly sorted at the plant). But I have interacted with the machines in German grocery stores. I think in theory when we had them in the US, you'd get like a penny for two cans, and Americans figured not worth it, let the recycling truck take them, but in Germany they use a lot more bottles and you get a few cents; it's right there at the store you were going to anyway, so may as well.
Diane just mentioned cashiers sitting rather than standing. I remember cashiers sitting while working in the 1970's. Aldi cashiers sit now - and they are paid a living wage. I think that part of the reason that cashiers don't sit in many stores now is that they also bag the groceries. At Aldi, the customers bag their own groceries. In the old days, all of the stores had clerks whose main job was to bag groceries for the customers, load the bags into the carts and take them to the customers' cars, where the clerk would load the bags. The stores hired enough of these "bag boys" that as soon as one took a customer's bags to their car there was another to help the next customer. It might have been Super K-Mart, one of the first "superstores" to have cashiers also bag purchases. Superstores generally have started as department stores before adding a full size grocery and department stores did not have bag boys.
1) My part of California has weight scales in supermarket produce sections. 2) South America exports fruit and veg to the USA but some produce is out of season for parts of the year in both the northern and southern hemispheres. 3) Charging for plastic bags is slowly catching on. 4) No reusing glass bottles, but some places collect them to be crushed, melted, and recycled.
I'm so glad you mentioned the topic of sitting down, because that is something that really bothers me about stores I have worked at. Most employers here see sitting down as laziness. It doesn't matter the age or health of an employee, if they sit, they are thought to be lazy.
5:22 In my area Hanging Scales used to be more common. These days it tends to be either a per piece price or the scale is built into the checkout counter.
In Michigan we have $.10 deposit per bottle/can (aluminum, glass or plastic), but it’s only for carbonated beverages. Many people have community curbside recycling, where you put your recyclables (bottles, cans, jars, tubs, boxes, plastics, etc.) in a special bin at the curb on garbage day and a special truck comes by and whisks them away.
Many “local” supermarket chains in the US are owned by a large Dutch food conglomerate. The produce departments in those stores do have produce scales that print barcodes for checkout. But we don’t generally use them, and we weigh our produce at checkout. Back in the day cashiers were required to memorize PLU codes of popular produce and they could also look up the codes on a a spinny cylinder thing at POS. But now you can look up produce by description both at the check stand and at self-checkout. “Move. Your. Bananas. To the bag.”
Last time I was in our local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to get a license plate and have the title transferred for our truck, they were selling pepper spray, along with chocolate bars, at the counter.
In the US a lot of small stores have gone bag less. But the always have reusable bags to purchase. Grocery stores still have plastic bags. Many people use reusable bags
In my grocery store days 40 years ago, produce was weighed and priced in the produce department, glass bottles were recycled in the store for 5 cents each.
produce and fruit is sold by the pound. There is a scale near the fruits and vegetables or you can just bag what you want and there is a scale built into the cashier station
Usually, American supermarkets have several scales in the produce section. The scanners in the checkout lanes or self-checkout have scales built in so you will be charged the appropriate amount for produce or bulk items from bins.
my local grocery store does have scales to weigh the produce but you have to kind of search for them, they don't stand out much. Walmart doesn't (at least my local Wallyworld doesn't).
All those things you mention like recycling bottles for coins we did when I was a kid in the 70s. They were not bad things or unpopular but they all just died out. We used to have more specialty shops but the large supermarkets just kept making it too convenient. I remember going to the bakery and the butcher with my mom. I have never been to either store as an adult. Stores used to actually close when I was a kid - today it seems everything is open 24/7.
It was even better than that. They reused the bottles rather than the recycling scam. I remember the 8 pack soda pop (RC seemed to be the last company using them). When you returned the bottles you got 10¢ per bottle and they sanitized and reused the bottles for the next round. Tastes better too.
For the most part, Walmart doesn't sell pews anymore. But any store you could buy them in in the US, the store has to have a Federal license to sell them. Most people buy their pews at specialist stores here as well (there's a few large chain sporting good stores that you can get them at).
I’ve been told Europeans tend to buy groceries that will last for a few days whereas Americans buy groceries that last a week or more. That might explain the extra preservatives and size of American food.
The Aldis here in the US carry over the sitting clerks, but it's pretty rare otherwise in the grocery section. Smaller grocery stores, especially those where the proprietor works the register, may sometimes have a seat for the clerk.
Here in New Jersey, USA, it is illegal for stores to pack your groceries in plastic bags. We have to bring our own bags and usually end up packing them ourselves.
As always Australia is a middle ground between Us & EU. We no longer get cut out coupons in the mail but you can get e-coupons when we order groceries online.
Some states in the US offer money to recycle plastic bottles and cans. My birth state of Iowa is one. But, presumably, one is paying more to begin with for the beverage to begin with than in other states. You're essentially getting your money back when you recycle.
11:55 One of the city’s in the area I live passed a city ordinance banning plastic bags. They where pushing reusable bags really hard. My local beach passed a ordinance banning glass bottles. All bottles must be made of plastic. Glass bottles breaking on the beach cutting beach goers feet got out of hand. It’s a $500 fine to have a glass bottle on the beach.
Thanksgiving stops the early Christmas takeover. It is considered bad taste to put Christmas stuff out before Thanksgiving! We also recycle. Bottles and cans have a deposit on them (depending on the state, usually 5cents on each), you return them and get the deposit back. Also plastic bags can be returned to grocery stores for recycling. There's a bin by the front door.
Tax at the end, PA here, so ours is something less than 10% depending on where you are, and that is usual across most states. Some items are taxed differently also, but I was always taught, growing up poor, that you add on the 10% as you go, rounding items that are $sale.99 up to next whole dollar, and then you aren't buying as much as you would, and it keeps the math easy.
A lot of warehouse stores open up early for people who own restaurants so they can buy food that they use in cooking. I worked 40 years in grocery stores, we had scales in produce , but the little kids played with them until they broke or got knocked over
Chewie’s not broken, he just likes to nap When she turns on the camera, he says “Oh Jeez” “Here she goes again, she’s gonna start to yap” “When will she finish and give me some chicken or cheese?”
We have produce scales at our local grocery store so maybe it's a regional thing? Idk but also anyone who isn't nice to staff at the store is immediately suspect. A common trope in America is that when young people date to tell them to watch how their date treats the staff at a restaurant. If they are less than kind that's an insight into who they really are.
That show "Extreme Couponing" changed A LOT in how supermarkets dealt with coupons. When I was growing up, it was the norm for supermarkets to offer double coupons on popular items, but with EC, double coupons went the way of the DoDo bird. In sone ways , EC was good because some people who were on that show would buy in bulk and donate it to a local soup kitchen or food bank , one mom bought sports drinks for her son's football team and a woman who.was a teacher split her haul with her family , her parents and brother all had different levels of disabilities ans and the daughter/ sister also had a little girl and her husband was a manager at a restaurant so they had to make ends meet too . Every Grocery store I've ever been has a rack at the end of thr check stand with branded canvas reusable bags and have resumed letting customers bring in plastic bags if they choose to. At the beginning of the pandemic, the bringing of plastic and paper bags was curtailed for obvious reasons. But with everything eles in the US, there's a supermarket lobbying group that's very vocal in California that insists on the use of plastic bags. Up until 2015 , plastic bags were outlawed in LA county and surrounding counties for a few years because of the harm the can cause to marine life but they're used in most supermarkets the only ones they're nit are Amazon Fresh, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The issue is most people often walk into Vons, Safeway, Kroger ( which Ralph's is under the Kroger corporate ☔), Target or Ralph's and more often than not, it's only when they get to the check out stand or Self check out thst they remember that they have reusable bags in their backseat or trunk . In that case, they will either pony up 10¢ for each bag or pit hheir things in the basket and put what they purchase in the bags they have in the car or not and put what they purchased on the back seat sans bag. The only work around paying the 10¢ for a bag is if the shopper is on public assistance and paying for their groceries witj an electronic benefit or ( EBT) card. And as far as recycling cans, bottles plastic etc, every city has recycling centers , some grocery stores have mini recycling centers in their parking lots , City and county departments of Sanitation give out recycling cans that are typically a darker green shade of green than what's used for yard waste to residents living in single family homes and for apartment and condominium buildings , private waste management companies that pick up the buildings' trash furnish recycling cans as well as dumpsters . My building has half a dozen recyclable bins in the garage.
I would say the seasonal fruit thing is partially because we have Mexico and South America physically attached. So the field that the stuff comes from shifts thru the year. For example in summer you see a lot of labels that say California but now in Winter I see a lot of labels saying Mexico. As for what is currently in season or in abundance, it is sold on sale so they sell a higher volume. I like blueberry season because you can buy big American style containers of them cheaply but you can buy smaller more expensive amounts year round.
The funny thing about the plastic bags is that many of us thought it was a terrible idea when they were introduced. But back then you were viewed as some kind of lowlife if you said "paper" when asked "paper or plastic?" at the checkout line. Then paper sacks pretty much disappeared entirely. They've made their way back and now some stores are eliminating the plastic that they really should never have introduced in the first place.
We used to have specialty stores like butchers and bakeries here, but they were run out of business by the big box stores. Fruits and vegetables used to be sold seasonally here too, but profit became more important than quality, once again compliments of big box stores, so now we have low grade produce sold year round.
Most scales in the grocery stores are on the staff side of the counter. They tend to do the weighing and then print out the weight, cost per unit of measure, total cost.
Both of the grocery stores I shop at in my small town do have scales in the produce department. There are also pre-packaged portions of some produce that is sold by the package rather than by the pound, so scales aren't needed for those. And on taxes, most food items are not taxed. The key there is 'Most". Some is taxed, like ready-to-eat cooked food (hot roast chickens, etc.). Also, this varies by state and/or city. A few places do tax groceries, I believe.
Most Food items are not TAXED?!???!!! 😮😮😮😮😮😮 FOR REAL??!
@@DianeJennings groceries if not candy or sweet baking etc is untaxed pretty much all produce meat etc food from restaurants are taxed .
@@DianeJennings Tax varies from district to district. Most don't tax food. Some only tax certain foods like sodas or other sugary things like junk foods (to dissuade you from buying it). Generally though, there's no tax on groceries.
We definitely have the scales to weigh produce. Some of them print the bar code, some don't.
@@DianeJennings Usually the only food items that are taxed is what is known as "prepared foods", ie premade sandwiches, fried chicken & fish etc.
Regarding fruits and vegetables most cashiers are required to know the codes and weigh at checkout, in a self checkout you can look up the codes and weigh at the checkout yourself. As for standing at a register, when my partner worked as a cashier there was a motto, 'if you're leaning you can be cleaning.'
At most Grocery Stores in the US the scales are built into the scanner at the registers. The cashiers set the fruits & vegetables on it and enter the product number into the system. Many stores will have those old school hanging scales in the section if you want to see how much your product weighs.
Great info thanks
Yup, increases sales because you buy by number of items instead of the item weight.
These scanner/scales are also at self-service checkout facilities, there's a touch screen to enter what your item is if there isn't a barcode on it.
Actually a lot of produce have labels that can be scanned at checkout. Put it on scale or enter quantity. Meijer has a few scales in produce where you can print a label or scan with their mobile app "shop and scan". With the app it transfers to the register at checkout to pay.
I remember getting milk delivered when I was very young. And my grandmother had an insulated box by her front door for the milk deliveries. Most of that disappeared when the larger supermarkets were built. I think you can still get deliveries in some places. (I'm in my 60's, to give you context on when I was young. 😃 ) Thanks for the video.
There is actually a lot of produce that are seasonal like soft fruit, some types of citrus, holiday fruit like cranberries and some apples species. It just harder to notice it because of the huge variety of produce we get in
Buying in bulk is normally much less expensive. I try to always buy in bulk because I have the space to store it.
Lucky you!
Buying in bulk is also because some homes are far away from stores so when we go shopping, it's a weekend even or a monthly event.
".. and then I go, 'how come my mom's chicken is so much nicer?' It's because she bought the good chicken at the butcher." We have seen you cook Diane. I doubt that the butcher is the only reason your mom's chicken is nicer. 😉
Also, I saw Valentine's Day candy set out the day after Christmas. It is depressing.
I live within walking distance of a Lidl but I rarely shop there due to the lack of selection.
Finally, US stores frequently have scales in their produce sections, but they are usually hanging scales and do not provide a bar code. Probably due to a concern that shoppers with then slap the bar code onto a larger item.
I work at a big box US pet store and had the privilege of helping someone visiting from Ireland. He was very friendly and he and I chatted for a few minutes, He said there are no pet stores in Ireland anywhere near as large. He seemed like he was really enjoying himself and I thought it was so cool that he was buying items and taking them to Ireland.
Many of these are very dependent on which state you are in. Most states have gotten rid of the plastic bags. You can purchase paper bags (which suck) or bring your own. Also, the “pew pews” are not easily available in many states. You sort of have to think of each state as it’s own little country, with varying factors.
As far as plastic bags go....in Delaware we have a plastic bag ban. The only exception is for produce or a take out food.
Bringing your own bag makes shopkeepers in the USA nervous, because they are often used for shoplifting. Also, the US was doing recycling long before Europe. When sodas were in glass bottles, you'd pay a little extra as a "deposit" on the bottle, then you'd turn in your empties and get the money back. When soft drink companies switched to plastic bottles, gradually deposit bottles went away. When home milk delivery was common, we left the empty bottles for the milkman to pick up too.
The USA had paper bags, but around 35 years ago, the US began to transition to plastic bags to save trees.
A lot of differences which Diane points out, the US has "Been there, done that", so it's misleading to say, that we haven't gotten around to recycling yet. After all, we were the first major country to care about the environment in a general sense. There had been civil cases in Europe hundreds of years ago concerning specific cases concerning pollution, but not a general pro environmental movement.
The US could certainly do better, but that's true Worldwide to one extent or the other.
@@sparky6086 The big "Tree Hugger" thing discounted that most paper is made of trees grown as a crop for the purpose of paper manufacturing. These oversights are typical of politicisation. As a functional democracy, that is full of intelligent playas, it's a cross we bear. "Deliver the mail & guard the coasts". Being in politics is too much fun for too many people.
@@tomfrazier1103 True. I should have put it "ostensibly to save trees". At any rate, the change to plastic was too recent for people to abide switching to anything else yet.
It may be changing now, but when I lived in Western Europe 40 years ago, shoplifting wasn't common enough to worry, if someone brought their own bag, but as a child in the US inner-city, working in my father's store, we always had to watch anyone bringing in their own bag like a hawk, as they were almost always out to shoplift.
Yep.even Wal-Mart has gotten rid of plastic bags in some states.
One grocery store that I go to, not only do they have electronic scales to weigh your produce, you can print out the barcode and put it on the bag that's holding your produce. Saves time at the register.
There are a ton of areas in America that has banned plastic bags. In places that don't have a ban, you are very much encouraged to bring your own bags, and many do. Many stores have recycling bins in the store that take ink cartridges, plastic bags, and other things.
I think part of why the holiday stuff is put out so early is that many stores have certain shelves reserved for seasonal items. So they put out stuff for the current holiday and then when it passes they mark it down on steep clearance and then put out the stuff for the next holiday. So if they don't put out the next holidays stuff fairly soon as one passes then they would have empty shelves.
Buying in bulk is definitely a thing, as is getting everything you need, from food to furniture to auto supplies, in one place. That has led to the rise of membership-based superstores like Costco and Sam's Club. These stores are like Wal-Mart and Target, but they focus much more on bulk items and less on smaller-sized products.
As for weighing your own items: yes, American supermarkets have scales in the produce section where you can weigh items that are sold loose, like fruit and vegetables. But those scales are only for your convenience; they aren't an "official" weight. The official weight is measured at check-out. If you use self-checkout, there is a scale built into the scanner which weighs your item, and then you either enter a product code or look up the item via an on-screen menu, and the price is calculated. (This also happens for other things that are sold in bulk, like nuts and candies.)
American supermarkets have foreign food sections, it's just that American's don't seem to think of "European" as a category. The two types of foreign food sections that you will always see in supermarkets are Mexican food and Asian food. Of course there are also supermarkets that specialize in international food, where you would find more items from European countries.
You’ve never had a European and continental breakfast?
@@DianeJennings continental breakfast = discount hotels idea of breakfast. (Not much and the cheaper things like toast n coffee)
Some of us live far away from the grocery store that we get to town only once or twice per month
For decades I got by with going to the grocery store about once per month, mostly buying very processed foods that could sit in the cupboard, or in the freezer, for weeks in between trips. I eventually had to change my diet for medical reasons, but... it worked for a long time, or at least it seemed to.
As a midwestern american millennial it was hammered into my head all throughout my life to horde the plastic bags you get at the grocery stores within more plastic bags until they are bulging out of a hallway closet you keep cleaning supplies and linens in. The purpose of this ritual still isn’t fully understood but over time you find purposes for the small grocery bags. I like to use them when I’m scoopin’ the poopins from the litter box they also make great liners for small trash cans in an office or bathroom.
Ah, yes. The Bag o' Bags. The great-grandparents came from Wisconsin to California, and we still respect that bit of cultural heritage. Good for protecting books that aren't on the shelf from dust-because I never know when I might need to dig out my 35-year-old college textbooks on astronomy or Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics (and yes, I took and passed those classes, and kept the books).
Going on a road trip? A withdrawal from the Bag o' Bags can be used to hold the snack wrappers from the stuff you've eaten. When it's full, tie it shut and dump it in the trash when you get gas.
spelling fail
5:00 Every grocery store section has weight scale. Some are hanging scales or digital scales. Some people choose not to use them. The grocery tills have weight scales built-in as well.
Chewy is the cutest dawg ever! He should have his own video now and then, at puppy dog eye level.
Thanks for the great shout out! Just finished my own delivery route. 😁
When I was living on my own, I'd go for a big grocery shop once a month, and then might go for small stuff every now and again.
Colorado recently just got rid of all the plastic and paper bags. I don't like it.
All of them?? Omg 😮
Great shoutout
@@DianeJennings yupe. At least in all the big box stores.
@@pastorbrianediger As they should, i keep recycle bags in trunk and take in as many as I need.
@@lilyz2156 I'm all for recycling, but I think getting rid of plastic and paper is a bit much. Just my opinion though.
We do have recycling around Boston. Ours is single-stream, where we put them in bins and they are sorted out at the recycling centers (by machines). With plastic bags, we reuse them as trash-can liners and bring the left-over ones back to the store to be recycled. The hippies bring their own bags, which they have to plan out in advance and carry all through the stores, but my trips to the grocery store, as a single guy, aren’t nearly as well planned out. I just pop in on my way home from wherever, and buy a basket full of food to last a week or two. Paper bags often cost an additional 10 cents each, so 20 cents on top of an $80 purchase.
Stores are always pushing out holidays items earlier and earlier. It's common to have items for 2 or 3 holidays in advance. I have seen Valentine's Day items out immediately after Christmas Day.
We have scales for fruits, vegetables near their stands so you can get an idea of how much of each item you are getting. It's helpful when costs are listed per pound, for example.
Thanks for sharing the good info!
What is most depressing is that the candy especially is now the same for all holidays except for the wrappers. Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter had their own unique varieties highlighted. Except for St. Urho’s Day, it’s all the same year-round.
for produce in supermarkets, there is usually a scale to give you some idea how much you are getting, but the weighing and pricing is not done until you checkout.
Happy Monday to you Diane! Hope that you're doing well! I really enjoy your videos as of late! Especially when you compare and contrast things between the U.S. and other European countries. I learn something new judging from your own insights and information. Glad you enjoy our trashy food! LoL. I love that you have an affinity for our fine American cuisine! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your info as always. Have a great rest of your week and be well!
🥰
There is a brand of fancy milk in the US called Shatto that comes in glass bottles and they give you $1 back(I think) if you bring the bottle back, but most milk comes in plastic jugs.
That’s cool!!
In Chicagoland and NW Indiana, Oberweis also sells milk in half gallon milk in glass bottles, and comes with a $2 deposit (required to be charged by Oberweis, and not by state or local law), and you get the $2 back when you return the bottle.
That used to be the norm throughout the US. The petroleum industry forced gradual elimination of returnable glass which is only now starting to return.
@@davenwin1973 Oberweis is awesome! Can't afford the home delivery though (western 'burbs here).
Sounds like a regional thing, I’ve never seen any of these brands.
Hi Diane! We have scales in most stores to weigh stuff like potatoes but generally have to reweigh them when you check out. Don't usually ask for help much, but yeah it's kind of like Schrodinger's help. And we're still waiting for you do to a walkthrough at the Piggly-Wiggly. Happy Monday!
Ok Thankee!
Back when I was young and soda was sold in glass bottles in the states, there was a small refund per bottle that varied slightly by the state in an attempt to get you to return them. We would save them up and return them about once a month. The marshmallow goo is also called creme or fluff over here.
@@dougbowers4415 that’s sad. In Michigan we just take them back to where we got them (or any store that sells the same brand).
Valentines? St. Patrick's Day??? Shoot, girl, I know a store that has EASTER candy and other such themed stuff already!!!
I always thought the bigger cereal boxes helped you save money, always have to be frugal
🤷🏼♀️
@@DianeJennings in Massachusetts, the price sticker on the shelf must also include the price-per-unit (such as ounce/quantity/etc). That helps you to more quickly determine the best deal, or most bang for your buck. IE) two different brands may have the same size boxes, but different quantity or weight in the box.
Also, Massachusetts does not tax life-necessities, such as food and clothing.
We have tropical areas in America and also get produce from Mexico, Central & South America. So we can get all produce most times of the year. Also many greenhouses
Diane's comment about milk delivery caught my attention. I am an old American guy, I remember in the early 1960's milk was commonly delivered to an insulated box outside your door in glass bottles. You would rinse the empty bottles and place them back in the box for recycling. The milk was fresh, and the cream would be floating on top. I remember getting in trouble as a boy for drinking the cream which my dad loved for his coffee. In the middle 1960's, cardboard milk containers became available in supermarkets and were less expensive than the milk delivery services. Soon, milk delivery was a thing of the past. Ah, memories..
Some states have can and bottle recycling, Diane. When I was a kid, it was $0.05 in Michigan. So we would drink our sodas in the store whenever we walked down there and return the bottle immediately for $0.05 for Penny Candy. It's not Countrywide, but I believe where I live now there is a deposit required on glass bottles, but not aluminum cans
That’s cool!😊
@DianeJennings I think it's .10 now. Pretty sure Oregon is another state that recycles
There was a Seinfeld episode based on the Michigan bottle deposit.
Yes the soda bottle refund was my first experience at”making”my own money! Growing up”IN” Chicago I used to pull my little Red Flyer wagon with wooden side rails around the neighborhood collecting bottles. Even going door to door in some cases, having neighbors saving their bottles for me! Aside from buying penny candies I was into building model airplanes and cars which I would save up my deposit money for. Then when I was old enough I got a paper route at 12 (pulling my red wagon🙃) and worked from then on.
Yes it’s 10 cents now - and the deposit laws drastically brought down the amount of litter all over the countryside. I remember as a kid if I went fishing in the local lakes, the lake bottom would be littered with beer bottles. There’s an effort to expand the deposit law, as right now it only covers carbonated sodas and beer. The proposal would cover water bottles and cider, and I think a few other things.
We had the Milk Man when we were kids, back in the 1960s. But by the 70s, delivery services were priced out of the market.😊
Some stores still have the scales but most stores did away with scales a long time a go. It's funny that Mace is considered an "assault weapon" in Ireland. Here we buy it for friends and family as gifts.
I do like buying the jumbo sizes of items to not have to go to the store as often. What I like about the plastic bags is using them for trashcan liners at home and to hold dinner to take to work. Irish food products are the best 🍫🧀🧈🥩🍗🍀. Chewie deserves a Jumbo bag of treats 🍖 and teddys 🧸. Happy Monday Diane and Chewie.
Awww 🥰 he says thank you… well… he’s snoring but he means thank you
@@DianeJennings🥰 You and Chewie are very welcome. He's in dreamland of going for walks in treat land at the supermarket.
We used to have seasonal produce, I think they started using more greenhouses to grow year around. The price shows you what's in season, they go up and down a significant amount.
Geenhouses LOL. From Mexico and further south!
We still have some seasonal produce where I live (Georgia). Peaches and blueberries are seasonal here and usually come from Georgia or South Carolina. But you can always get an onion or an orange or a tomato: what changes is the cultivar, how good it tastes, and how far away it comes from. In season the onions and tomatoes are from Georgia and the oranges are from Florida. Out of season, all three may come from California or Mexico or Chile, and the cultivar will be one developed to withstand shipping rather than to have a pleasing texture or any taste at all.
When I was younger - glass soda bottles were charged a deposit of like a dime and when you returned the empty bottle, you got your dime back for returning it. I would do it again if it were available. And I always bring cloth bags to the supermarket. It hasn't caught on as much as it should - but I find it much more handy to carry/transport item in the cloth bags than the plastic.
I totally agree, I also get a % off the bill at my grocery store and Target self check out will too.
Yep we have scales but they don't always give you a scan code.....and the Tax is really just easy, just add 10% and it will usually be less, I promise it's not that hard.....oh and in some States they don't charge Tax on Groceries....Good stuff
Before plastic bottles, the glass bottles for soda had a 2cent deposit, which was returned when you returned the bottle.
Where I live it use to be 5 cents. As kids we'd go around and find and collect bottles for spending money.
@@darrenbrown9058 The quart bottles got 5 cents. And we would collect bottles for spending money too!
Hey Diane Von Jennings. Happy Monday. Sorry for my absence last week, I was packing things up, and get ready to move out. Which I have since done. Oh and I was conquering Central Asia
Welcome back!
Milk delivery used to be common here in the USA, but was mostly gone by the 1970s. It, and other dairy products, would be delivered in glass bottles by a 'milkman' who would also collect the empty bottles for re-use. The house that I grew up in during the latter half of my childhood, built in 1963, had a 'milk chute' which was simply a space in the wall of our attached garage with a door on each side to which the milk could be delivered. I think we used it for less than a year before my parents decided that they couldn't justify the extra cost in comparison to the price of milk and other dairy products at the supermarket. Sure, it was convenient, but what's the point when you have to go to the supermarket for groceries anyway?
I should also mention that the larger size of a product is not always the best deal. I always check the unit price in very small print on the price posted on the shelf, required, I think, by law, and usually given in ounces. Many times I have found that the price per ounce is better for the smaller package than for the larger.
The grocery store I usually shop at has hanging scales in the produce department, but the "official" weight is the one determined by the built-in scale at the checkout. Having large packages reduces the cost per ounce because oftentimes you are paying more for the packaging than the product in it. Also, my sister used to live 2 miles from the nearest grocery store so larger was more convenient. The local hardware and pet store checkout clerks can sit own. grocery clerks have to be available for bagging and other things, so they usually stand.
As for weapons, i have to go to a specialty store to purchase my long swords. If I am forced to go medieval upon your buttocks, I mean it literally.
Have a nice day!🙂
You too Jim!
@@DianeJennings Walmart is the only store I know of that has both guns and groceries (beyond little snack items) and the guns are only in some states. The funny thing is that even though groceries now take up 1/4 to `1/3 of the store, they were an afterthought. The original Walmarts didn't have fresh and frozen foods, just stuff like chips (crisps) and candy. Then they opened up a few that were called "Super Walmart" that had some meat and produce and people were so receptive that after a couple of years they started adding it to all of the Walmarts and the food sections kept growing until people actually started thinking of Walmart as a grocery store.
@@HariSeldon913 And now there are quite a few WalMarts that are stand-alone grocery stores, selling none of the housewares, toys, clothes, etc. that for the original WalMarts were the mainstay
Marshmallow fluff is typically used as a short cut in use of melting marshmallows. As an example, making Rice Crispy Treats.
Since a couple of years ago, many states require reusable bags. If you don't have your reusable bag, stores have them available for purchase at the checkout counter.
In my experience, some (if not all) of the supermarkets I've been to have spring scales and small plastic bags in the produce department, so that you can have a good idea of the weight of produce being sold by the pound, but that's available in "each" units. Like onions for $1.98 a pound, but there is just a big bin of onions of varying sizes and weights. Your process would be to put, say, two onions in a small bag, weigh it, and if you want a few more ounces, add another one to the bag.
There are digital scales built into the checkouts these days, though (even at the self-checkouts), which do the official measurement of weight for the purpose of calculating the cost.
New Jersey banned single-use plastic bags last year. The problem is, I sometimes have my groceries delivered, so now I have more reusable bags than I could use in a lifetime, and I think those bags are even less recyclable than the plastic ones.
And the whole idea behind switching to plastic bags from paper is that they would be recyclable and therefore better for the environment. I'm sensing a trend here.
And boxes galore!!!
@@cisium1184 our trash/ recycling service stopped taking any plastic that "you can poke your finger through". 🙄messes up their machines.
Yes, the day after Christmas they were putting Valentine items on the shelves. Last week St Patricks decorations were out already.
My local supermarket is already stocking Cadbury eggs for Easter: both the Mini-Eggs and the big ones with the "yolks."
So have worked in retail quite a bit in the US, and you are absolutely right. We put our holiday items in stores WAAAAAYYYYY too early. 😁
We do recycle in the states, bottle return has been going on for years. When I was young we would collect bottles and return for money to buy candy, now glass and plastic are put into machines and you get a slip of paper with the monitary amount per number of bottles returned. Walmart stopped supplying plastic bags all together now bring your own, well not giving the bags for free they would charge for the number used. In some states walmart stopped selling guns, some do carry ammo only.
Your pinned commentor is correct. We also have grocery stores with scales in them at the checkout locations. So you can just plunk down your bananas on the scanner screen, and it weighs your produce. You select from the touchscreen the menu for fruits (or whatever it is you're weighing), and the register (computer) adds the appropriate cost of your bananas (or whatever).
Walmart has a app. You can buy anything in there store and have it brought out to your car the same day. You scheduled a pickup time. Do all your shopping online and then you park in a numbered parking spot. You text them your location. And they come out and load it in your vehicle. No extra charge. You don’t have to get out of your car.
With fruits and veggies here, there generally a couple scales around the department in case you do want to weigh what you have. Most fruits and veggies now already have a bar code sticker on them. If you self checkout, you just enter the code, set the item on the register and it weighs them and rings up the price.
I've never seen individual fruits & vegetables in the US with scannable bar codes (except when in a bag or box). Generally, the cashier weighs them and enters the proper code. Some stores do let you weigh your own and print out a label, but I've only seen it in stores with hand-held "scan as you go" options.
@@joegoss30 The fruit in my local store has scan-able stickers. Has for about a year now. Each and every apple, peach, etc. On veg, for example the different kinds of lettuce, they have a wire wrap, with a code and a scan part to it. But I can only speak to my little corner of Pennsylvania, in the US.
@@dalemoore8582 Milkmen came around through the '60s-70s. In the '70s it was getting harder to find dairies that were still delivering.
@@joegoss30 They have them in FL esp in bigger cities.
Seasonal produce - it's not so much about "science" giving us year-round produce but climate and international trade. Lots of our stuff comes from Mexico and Central America where the sub-tropical climate allows much longer growing seasons so we get things like strawberries and melons in winter.
There are weigh machines in the US grocery stores when you buy veggies and stuff. A lot of the grocery stores, (where I live anyway), employ their own butchers if you want a special cut or something like that. If you are buying a bucket of chicken, for example, and you tell them you want a 20 piece, that will be weighed as well. But if you are buying something off the rack, it's already been weighed and wrapped. Loved the video as always.
I live in Chicago and we have the options of both. I have a local butcher and plenty of grocery shops. The key is to buy the cheap stuff at the general stores (Walmart, target, etc) like flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and soup. I buy produce/meat at the local grocery store, with the butcher shop on special occasions like a special meal or holiday. And other non-perishables, cooking supplies I can do via delivery on Amazon, Walmart, or a local delivery service via instacart.
For fruit weighing, it's usually done at checkout. You just lay the bag down and it will put the price in.
When I was a kid we had those scales back in the 80s and 90s but not too much today.
Where I'm at the Valentine's Day stuff was out on the shelves by December 28th. Whatever is next on the list will always be being sold in Wal-mart. They pretty much have a dedicated section for "holiday stuff" (which becomes the "Back to School" section during July-August).
Scales - typically we may have sales in produce but it doesn't print out a code, they weight it at checkout (even self-checkout has a scale built in). But the store I go to (Texan, so HEB) has bulk goods, like spices or nuts, and you weight that and it will print out a bar code to put on the bag/container.
Recycling - I know we used to have machines that you could exchange cans for cash, so as a kid I remember smashing cans so you can fit more in bags to take to the machine. I haven't seen one in awhile, and we have bi-weekly recycling along with trash (in theory, though I don't know how mixing paper with cans that people have likely not washed is properly sorted at the plant). But I have interacted with the machines in German grocery stores. I think in theory when we had them in the US, you'd get like a penny for two cans, and Americans figured not worth it, let the recycling truck take them, but in Germany they use a lot more bottles and you get a few cents; it's right there at the store you were going to anyway, so may as well.
Diane just mentioned cashiers sitting rather than standing.
I remember cashiers sitting while working in the 1970's. Aldi cashiers sit now - and they are paid a living wage.
I think that part of the reason that cashiers don't sit in many stores now is that they also bag the groceries. At Aldi, the customers bag their own groceries. In the old days, all of the stores had clerks whose main job was to bag groceries for the customers, load the bags into the carts and take them to the customers' cars, where the clerk would load the bags.
The stores hired enough of these "bag boys" that as soon as one took a customer's bags to their car there was another to help the next customer.
It might have been Super K-Mart, one of the first "superstores" to have cashiers also bag purchases. Superstores generally have started as department stores before adding a full size grocery and department stores did not have bag boys.
1) My part of California has weight scales in supermarket produce sections. 2) South America exports fruit and veg to the USA but some produce is out of season for parts of the year in both the northern and southern hemispheres. 3) Charging for plastic bags is slowly catching on. 4) No reusing glass bottles, but some places collect them to be crushed, melted, and recycled.
Actually there are still bottle deposits for dairies that use glass,it’s a buck or two depending upon size.
I'm so glad you mentioned the topic of sitting down, because that is something that really bothers me about stores I have worked at. Most employers here see sitting down as laziness. It doesn't matter the age or health of an employee, if they sit, they are thought to be lazy.
5:22 In my area Hanging Scales used to be more common. These days it tends to be either a per piece price or the scale is built into the checkout counter.
Are you sure Chewy isn't a funny looking cat? I've never heard him bark and he's always sleeping.
In Michigan we have $.10 deposit per bottle/can (aluminum, glass or plastic), but it’s only for carbonated beverages.
Many people have community curbside recycling, where you put your recyclables (bottles, cans, jars, tubs, boxes, plastics, etc.) in a special bin at the curb on garbage day and a special truck comes by and whisks them away.
Many “local” supermarket chains in the US are owned by a large Dutch food conglomerate. The produce departments in those stores do have produce scales that print barcodes for checkout. But we don’t generally use them, and we weigh our produce at checkout. Back in the day cashiers were required to memorize PLU codes of popular produce and they could also look up the codes on a a spinny cylinder thing at POS. But now you can look up produce by description both at the check stand and at self-checkout. “Move. Your. Bananas. To the bag.”
Last time I was in our local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to get a license plate and have the title transferred for our truck, they were selling pepper spray, along with chocolate bars, at the counter.
In the US a lot of small stores have gone bag less. But the always have reusable bags to purchase. Grocery stores still have plastic bags. Many people use reusable bags
In my grocery store days 40 years ago, produce was weighed and priced in the produce department, glass bottles were recycled in the store for 5 cents each.
produce and fruit is sold by the pound. There is a scale near the fruits and vegetables or you can just bag what you want and there is a scale built into the cashier station
Usually, American supermarkets have several scales in the produce section. The scanners in the checkout lanes or self-checkout have scales built in so you will be charged the appropriate amount for produce or bulk items from bins.
my local grocery store does have scales to weigh the produce but you have to kind of search for them, they don't stand out much. Walmart doesn't (at least my local Wallyworld doesn't).
All those things you mention like recycling bottles for coins we did when I was a kid in the 70s. They were not bad things or unpopular but they all just died out. We used to have more specialty shops but the large supermarkets just kept making it too convenient. I remember going to the bakery and the butcher with my mom. I have never been to either store as an adult. Stores used to actually close when I was a kid - today it seems everything is open 24/7.
Now the larger supermarkets have their own butcher and baker.
It was even better than that. They reused the bottles rather than the recycling scam. I remember the 8 pack soda pop (RC seemed to be the last company using them). When you returned the bottles you got 10¢ per bottle and they sanitized and reused the bottles for the next round. Tastes better too.
Most stores in the U.S. have scales in the produce section.
For the most part, Walmart doesn't sell pews anymore. But any store you could buy them in in the US, the store has to have a Federal license to sell them. Most people buy their pews at specialist stores here as well (there's a few large chain sporting good stores that you can get them at).
I’ve been told Europeans tend to buy groceries that will last for a few days whereas Americans buy groceries that last a week or more. That might explain the extra preservatives and size of American food.
Definitely!
The Aldis here in the US carry over the sitting clerks, but it's pretty rare otherwise in the grocery section. Smaller grocery stores, especially those where the proprietor works the register, may sometimes have a seat for the clerk.
Here in New Jersey, USA, it is illegal for stores to pack your groceries in plastic bags. We have to bring our own bags and usually end up packing them ourselves.
Marshmallow gue, I love it, poor Fluff gets no respect a staple in every New England home. lol! Brilliant job Diane
Thank you ❤
Ahh Cutie 🐕 laying down in the background 😍.
I remember being in my mother's hometown of Chipiona and going to the bakery for un kilo de dulces.
Valentines Day items were available right after Christmas here in the States. Many of us despise this trend for holidays
Happy Monday! I really love this video. Have a very good week.
Thank you! You too!
As always Australia is a middle ground between Us & EU. We no longer get cut out coupons in the mail but you can get e-coupons when we order groceries online.
Some states in the US offer money to recycle plastic bottles and cans. My birth state of Iowa is one. But, presumably, one is paying more to begin with for the beverage to begin with than in other states. You're essentially getting your money back when you recycle.
11:55 One of the city’s in the area I live passed a city ordinance banning plastic bags. They where pushing reusable bags really hard.
My local beach passed a ordinance banning glass bottles. All bottles must be made of plastic. Glass bottles breaking on the beach cutting beach goers feet got out of hand. It’s a $500 fine to have a glass bottle on the beach.
Size matters!
The only grocery store I've been to in the states that does the scale thing is whole foods
Thanksgiving stops the early Christmas takeover. It is considered bad taste to put Christmas stuff out before Thanksgiving!
We also recycle. Bottles and cans have a deposit on them (depending on the state, usually 5cents on each), you return them and get the deposit back. Also plastic bags can be returned to grocery stores for recycling. There's a bin by the front door.
I take my plastic bags back to the grocery stores to recycle them. I do use some of them to line my small trash reciprocals.
Tax at the end, PA here, so ours is something less than 10% depending on where you are, and that is usual across most states.
Some items are taxed differently also, but I was always taught, growing up poor, that you add on the 10% as you go, rounding items that are $sale.99 up to next whole dollar, and then you aren't buying as much as you would, and it keeps the math easy.
PA actually exempts a lot of stuff from the sales tax-food,toilet paper,drugs,clothing,etc. One of the things the Commonwealth gets right!
A lot of warehouse stores open up early for people who own restaurants so they can buy food that they use in cooking. I worked 40 years in grocery stores, we had scales in produce , but the little kids played with them until they broke or got knocked over
Chewie’s not broken, he just likes to nap
When she turns on the camera, he says “Oh Jeez”
“Here she goes again, she’s gonna start to yap”
“When will she finish and give me some chicken or cheese?”
We have produce scales at our local grocery store so maybe it's a regional thing? Idk but also anyone who isn't nice to staff at the store is immediately suspect. A common trope in America is that when young people date to tell them to watch how their date treats the staff at a restaurant. If they are less than kind that's an insight into who they really are.
Good point!
@dianejennings 30 seconds in ain't got no time for that 😂😂😂😂 instant thumbs up.
We have scales in the produce dept., just nobody uses them.
That show "Extreme Couponing" changed A LOT in how supermarkets dealt with coupons. When I was growing up, it was the norm for supermarkets to offer double coupons on popular items, but with EC, double coupons went the way of the DoDo bird. In sone ways , EC was good because some people who were on that show would buy in bulk and donate it to a local soup kitchen or food bank , one mom bought sports drinks for her son's football team and a woman who.was a teacher split her haul with her family , her parents and brother all had different levels of disabilities ans and the daughter/ sister also had a little girl and her husband was a manager at a restaurant so they had to make ends meet too . Every Grocery store I've ever been has a rack at the end of thr check stand with branded canvas reusable bags and have resumed letting customers bring in plastic bags if they choose to. At the beginning of the pandemic, the bringing of plastic and paper bags was curtailed for obvious reasons. But with everything eles in the US, there's a supermarket lobbying group that's very vocal in California that insists on the use of plastic bags. Up until 2015 , plastic bags were outlawed in LA county and surrounding counties for a few years because of the harm the can cause to marine life but they're used in most supermarkets the only ones they're nit are Amazon Fresh, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. The issue is most people often walk into Vons, Safeway, Kroger ( which Ralph's is under the Kroger corporate ☔), Target or Ralph's and more often than not, it's only when they get to the check out stand or Self check out thst they remember that they have reusable bags in their backseat or trunk .
In that case, they will either pony up 10¢ for each bag or pit hheir things in the basket and put what they purchase in the bags they have in the car or not and put what they purchased on the back seat sans bag. The only work around paying the 10¢ for a bag is if the shopper is on public assistance and paying for their groceries witj an electronic benefit or ( EBT) card. And as far as recycling cans, bottles plastic etc, every city has recycling centers , some grocery stores have mini recycling centers in their parking lots , City and county departments of Sanitation give out recycling cans that are typically a darker green shade of green than what's used for yard waste to residents living in single family homes and for apartment and condominium buildings , private waste management companies that pick up the buildings' trash furnish recycling cans as well as dumpsters . My building has half a dozen recyclable bins in the garage.
I would say the seasonal fruit thing is partially because we have Mexico and South America physically attached. So the field that the stuff comes from shifts thru the year. For example in summer you see a lot of labels that say California but now in Winter I see a lot of labels saying Mexico. As for what is currently in season or in abundance, it is sold on sale so they sell a higher volume. I like blueberry season because you can buy big American style containers of them cheaply but you can buy smaller more expensive amounts year round.
The funny thing about the plastic bags is that many of us thought it was a terrible idea when they were introduced. But back then you were viewed as some kind of lowlife if you said "paper" when asked "paper or plastic?" at the checkout line. Then paper sacks pretty much disappeared entirely. They've made their way back and now some stores are eliminating the plastic that they really should never have introduced in the first place.
We used to have specialty stores like butchers and bakeries here, but they were run out of business by the big box stores.
Fruits and vegetables used to be sold seasonally here too, but profit became more important than quality, once again compliments of big box stores, so now we have low grade produce sold year round.
The veg scale is built into the scanner.... the sales tax is only a problem if you are traveling, at home it is constant
Most scales in the grocery stores are on the staff side of the counter. They tend to do the weighing and then print out the weight, cost per unit of measure, total cost.