Grocery Shopping in 1971

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So innocent sounding, untill you actually listen 
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[COLOR=#202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400]My baby loves love[/COLOR]<br style="color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;" />[COLOR=#202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400]My baby loves lovin'[/COLOR]<br style="color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;" />[COLOR=#202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400]She's got what it takes[/COLOR]<br style="color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;" />[COLOR=#202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400]And she knows how to use it[/COLOR]
 
Given it has been 2 years sine I set foot in a store, the music was all of the above seemed to vary by day of the week and time of day, catering to demographic of shopper at that time of day. Plus I heard mention a couple of times, store employees got to make selections too.
 
Now we have to bring our own grocery bags or pay 5 cents for a paper one as the activists had free plastic bags banned that they say are single use and go in the ocean and kill the fish. I use these supposed single use bags many times and resent some supposed do gooders decided whats right for me. So now I have to buy wastebasket bags. Nobody asked my opinion.
 
#43 I know what your saying.

After I used up my supply of collected plastic grocery bags as garbage bags, I too had to break down and buy the smallest garbage bags they make: 4 gallon bags.
They are just the perfect size. I use about 2 a week as I recycle everything else.

To be frank, I didn't want to have to buy plastic I was just going to throw out anyway....

The plastic is considerably thinner than the grocery bags... which is generally a good thing because it will disintegrate sooner.
Instead of having to corral a steady flow of plastic bags from various stores, these come tightly wound on a slim roll that fits in a drawer.
I'm re-using the same bags when ever I shop or go some place to get numerous things. So I've had to get in the habit of not only putting on a mask before going shopping but also remembering to take in a bag or two with me.  Not a big deal.

I don't have to worry about inspecting old grocery bags for holes before using them as a garbage bag. lol
The roll was $1.25 and it has a nice subtle perfume with it.

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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]
 
"I have never seen a supermarket where the shopper didn't unload their own trolley onto a bench/counter or conveyor belt."

When I lived in California in 1986-7 I shopped at Alph-Beta and they had the elevated cart-with-front-swing-open design that was a thing back then. The counters were short so you pushed the cart right up in place of where the unload counters would have been. You just open the front of the cart before pushing the cart in so the checker can easily reach the items.

Kohls food also had a similar cart if I remember correctly. I know there were other stores with them.

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Another version of drive up cart. Having to reach down into the cart must have been a no go after a short while. That's why the 80s carts were raised.

Remember those cute little lights at each check stand. They'd usually dress them with season decor or change the bulb at christmas. lol

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filmed in 1972

Muzak type shopping music
Cigarette cartons openly available on an end cap near the front of the store. Smoking in the store.
Big sign for GE light bulbs.

 
re: filmed in 1972

very depressing video. Old man buys a sack of potatoes, fumbles with his coins and pack of Salem menthol cigarettes at checkout. In the parking lot he gets into a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle with leaky head gasket and perforated muffler. At home his wife awaits, who is perpetually wearing curlers and bedroom slippers. Life sucks.
 
I thought it was odd not a woman to be seen in the film. I never remember seeing a man working as a grocery cashier back in that day and it's still not super common. The guys did shelf stocking, bagging and toting out to your car or off the conveyor into your trunk.
 

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