back to post #1
In the photo in the first post, there is a row of cars starting on the right with a Pinto wagon, then a small truck, then some Chevy (Nova??) then a small red wagon. Its silhouette reminds me of a Mazda 808 wagon, but the tail lights are wrong.
What is the small red wagon?
Second question: In the first video, it appears the checkout operator is unloading the shopping trolley/kart, so the customer doesn't appear to unpack their own trolley. Is that right? Was that common? I have never seen a supermarket where the shopper didn't unload their own trolley onto a bench/counter or conveyor belt.
In New Zealand the main "budget" supermarket is Pak N Save, where even today you unload your groceries on to a conveyor belt, then pass the empty trolley to the checkout operator, who scans your items then places them back in your trolley, for you to take after the sale to the packing bench, where you pack your own bags.
Their parent company, Foodstuffs, also owns New World supermarkets, which are quite old school, have an excellent range and in busy times still have one checkout operator and a second person bagging your groceries, in your own bags if you have them. This is unheard of in Australia, where the checkout operator loads the bags, or at self-serve counters you scan and pack your own. I have come to really like New World supermarkets and seek them out when we are in NZ.
My earliest supermarket memories are of (what I believe was) the first Safeway in Australia, at Frankston where I grew up. Australian Safeways were modelled on US safeway stores, but the company was locally owned. (Probably some licensing agreement.) Our Safeway had a rooftop car park, you would park your car up there, take the spiral staircase down to shop in the supermarket, after going through the checkout your bags would be sent upstairs on a conveyor belt to the collection bay and you would be handed a ticket for them. You would walk upstairs, take your car around to the collection bay, give the ticket to the "boy" at the window who would collect your grocery bags and place them in your car for you. We thought it was all very "modern." On Saturday mornings they would sometimes allow small boys shopping with their mothers to ride up the conveyor belt with their groceries to the collection bay. I did it a couple of times, it was so exciting!!! You had to sit on your hands so they didn't get trapped in any machinery. The building is still there, but it hasn't been a supermarket for decades. I think it is now a church.
Coles, the main rival, wasn't as advanced, they didn't have the moving belt at checkouts, just a sliding barrier with a handle on a laminex bench. You unloaded your groceries on to the bench, the checkout operator would pull hard on the handle to drag your groceries up to where they could reach them. Low tech and must have built strong arm muscles in the checkout chicks.
[this post was last edited: 9/23/2022-08:48]