I've been working for a week now & I'm just not really seeming to get much better. Every day I've forgot to bag 1 item & have the customer leave the store without it & I'm so slow at bagging. I feel bad that I'm messing with the cashier's accuracy with my slowness & letting the conveyor belt pile up. I try to remember the formula (cold with cold, hot with hot, dry with dry, separate the meats, don't bag food & non-food together) & I find that in performing that formula I'm slowed down, especially when the customers don't put those things on the conveyor belt in a mix matched order. I'm not blaming the customers though I know it's not their fault & it's mine for not doing my job efficiently enough. Also I keep having trouble opening those damn plastic bags. I just didn't expect the job to be so hard. I feel like I'm going to get fired soon for messing everything up.
Speed is something you'll just naturally improve on the more you bag, everyone bags slowly when they start out, at least you care about it and want to improve, that alone puts you above half of the other baggers :P But yeah, just practice practice practice.
About leaving items behind, try to train yourself to immediately check the bagging area after you're done bagging, I use a hand gesture myself (point to the two bag areas and countertop one by one) because I'm forgetful too.
If you're really worried (though I wouldn't be, I don't know a single person who ever got fired for being slow), ask someone who's been there a while for bagging tips/advice, don't be shy, that's how most everyone in Kroger learns.
Make sure you're making use of both your hands. I've seen baggers who only use one hand at a time, or pass one item from one hand to the other and into the bag.
Always be on the move. Also it helps to have an extra cart or two close by so you can quickly clear the counter of any bagged or bulky items.
And, how the products end up making their way to you depends on the cashier. Many of the ones I've bagged for (mainly the floor supervisors) know enough to try to scan similar products within each other. Then there are the ones who just grab and scan whatever's the closest.
Don't be afraid to lean in to reach items while it's still on the belt. It saves me time from having to wait for that item, especially if it's something that needs to be bagged and moved out of the way (like eggs, bread, etc.).
I've been working for a week now & I'm just not really seeming to get much better. Every day I've forgot to bag 1 item & have the customer leave the store without it & I'm so slow at bagging. I feel bad that I'm messing with the cashier's accuracy with my slowness & letting the conveyor belt pile up. I try to remember the formula (cold with cold, hot with hot, dry with dry, separate the meats, don't bag food & non-food together) & I find that in performing that formula I'm slowed down, especially when the customers don't put those things on the conveyor belt in a mix matched order. I'm not blaming the customers though I know it's not their fault & it's mine for not doing my job efficiently enough. Also I keep having trouble opening those damn plastic bags. I just didn't expect the job to be so hard. I feel like I'm going to get fired soon for messing everything up.
The quality of your writing strongly suggests how smart you are. That being true, take a deep breath and r e l a x. Sounds like you're maybe young and prone to being nervous at new things, as we all are. Just go easy on yourself.
"I try to remember the formula (cold with cold, hot with hot, dry with dry, separate the meats, don't bag food & non-food together) & I find that in performing that formula"
Wow! I didn't know there was a formula. You are several steps ahead of me. I am not a bagger(I work in another department) but that is good info to know.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Practicing over and over will get you experienced. "Rome wasn't built in a day" You won't learn the first week. Learn to do it well and then gradually improve your speed as time goes by. Soon, you will be bagging blindfolded...
Excellent advice from the other posters. Especially about checking bagging area before the customer walks off.
It is ok to make mistakes. I work with a kid that is very meticulous. He does high qaulity work just takes too long. He would make an excellent brain or heart surgeon if he has the mental aptitude for school. Very intelligent kid too.
Everyone makes mistakes, it's no different in the retail biz. Even our CSMs will make mistakes on the schedule so baggers aren't the only ones that screw up. I'm a bagger right now but I'm getting promoted really soon. I've worked here for almost a year. Just keep working on it and you'll do better. The more experienced you are, the faster you'll get. Give it some time and it will almost become second nature to you. Just like learning how to drive, you're not going to be comfortable behind the wheel until you are more experienced at it.
i doubt it ....you'll get better....bagging huge orders is a pain because the training doesnt help...my way of getting out of bagging is staying on carts---->calves of steel
In my store the cashier grabs the items out of the customers basket and then scans them... if this is the case in your store, then your cashier should grab all ten yogurts then all five bags of rice and then all the boxes of granola bars etc... scanning "like items" together and sending them down the belt... I've heard the term "bagger friendly" scanning... If your cashiers are not organizing the items that they scan then just ask them nicely to start doing it, because it will speed up their check times and help you bag faster..
-- Edited by Ghostbuster on Thursday 22nd of August 2013 12:29:38 AM
Courtesy Clerks should be unloading carts, not cashiers, but since some of our clerks are immovable slugs, cashiers end up doing it anyway. some customers try to be "helpful" and put all identical items all together. that slows you down, a cashier needs to alternate items to maintain speed because the system helpfully tries to keep you from double-scanning.
like items, that is groups of items, like cold together, crushables together, etc. is good.
as a front end supervisor i end up doing a lot of bagging in prime time.
Rich, store815, parker011 and nocturnia are right. Just relax and learn as you go along. A couple of other things that might help you are rhythm and focus. Focus on what comes down the belt and try to match your bagging rhythm to the cashiers scanning speed. Work on that and you'll be picking up speed before you know it.
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