Today's Complaint

Is Stop & Shop trying to put itself out of business?

First of all, they have paper bags but if you ask for paper, they act as if they're highly offended. The bagger glances over at the cashier like, "Can we do that?". Not a lot of places offer paper bags, at least around where I live. It seems like it would be a good way to distinguish yourself from the competition. I understand that it must be an added expense, so charge me the extra nickel a bag, or whatever it is.  And if you don't want to offer them, fine. Be like everyone else. But stop keeping the paper bags there and then act like I'm a criminal if I ask for them.

They've also stopped emailing circulars. Is this really a big expense? How much effort does it take to send out mass emails? I know that I can log onto their site and check things out- but why bother? Why would you make it more difficult to get people to shop there?

I went shopping there today. I was going to pop in and out- even though I had no idea what was on sale. I ended up with two items and it took me close to twenty minutes to check out. Why? Part of the reason was because they had the newbie on the Express Lane who managed to jam the check from the customer ahead of me, into the register. But also it was because they had all of four registers open. (This doesn't include the "Let's-Screw-The Cashiers-Out-Of-A-Job Self Service Registers, but still, even those were packed). This would be bad under normal conditions, but today's a holiday- so the store was even busier.

I have fond memories of shopping there, especially when the kids were small. It was like a little outing, me pushing all the kids in the carriage, like it was a little clown car at the circus. But lately, it's becoming more and more of an ordeal.