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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tipping at the commissary
What are the guidelines for tipping the baggers? At our commissary (is it the same at every one?) the baggers don't receive an hourly wage they just work for tips. Should I tip a percentage of my bill or a fixed amount. Any advice is appreciated.
Re: Tipping at the commissary
I have never heard of a "fixed amount". I usually tip 3-5. 3 on a smaller trip, 5 on a more average week long trip. I always help them load, also.
I usually tip $2-3. They are only with me for less than 5 min and I load bags, too. I don't have time to sit around and wait for them to do it all themselves.
I rarely do big trips to the commissary since it's like half an hour away, so most trips they just bag my stuff and I take it out myself. If that's the case I just give them $1. And usually it's in quarters or change because I never have cash on me.
If they actually bring them to my car I'll give them $3-5 depending on how many groceries I have. And if it's an older person I almost always give them $5 and I do almost all of the loading because I feel bad. They probably make a killing off people like me though.
Most times though I do self-checkout so I don't have to figure out how to tip them. It never fails that I'm in there and halfway through shopping before I realize I have no cash. Usually that's the point H runs to the ATM and comes back. But if it's just me I do self-checkout instead.
this. plus, we dont have huge shopping trips.
I changed my name
I go weekly and tip $5 every time (every trip results is about the same amount of groceries). When I go close to the holidays, I have tipped $10.
I read somewhere that some people tip based on a percentage (10-20%) of what they spent. I would go broke if I tipped that much on a regular basis.
This is one of the reasons I prefer to go somewhere else besides the commissary. We rarely have a big trip there so I hate tipping when we bought 4 things because I can bag my own groceries, walk them to my car and put them in said car.
I've noticed (here anyway) that when we do have a big trip, instead of putting the bagged groceries in the same (big) cart I brought them up to the register with they put them in this tiny half a cart thing so there is ALWAYS 2-3 carts and obviously I can't push 3 by myself.
I usually tip $3-$5 when we have big trips though.
I used to tip 5 dollars every time, the only reason is that I always needed cash back from the cashier and just asking a 5 dollar bill instead of 5 ones seemed easier.
Not the smartest move, I am sure.
This.
I never go to the commissary anymore.
67/200
All of this. Except for convenience sake (it's right across the street from our neighborhood) and cost (way more expensive off base here), we almost always go to the commissary. But, I always try to go through self check-out, they even have a self check-out line for large orders so you're not holding up the people with just a few items.
I rarely carry cash, so that's one reason why I don't like going through the "regular" line. But I've also noticed that some of the baggers, once I tell them "You can just put them in this cart" (the one I was shopping with, instead of the tiny half cart) they get immediately less chatty and more careless about how they're bagging things because they know they're not taking my bags out to the car/getting a tip. I hate feeling guilty about that..we go to the commissary 3-4 times a week (my husband is famous for needing last minute ingredients) and I don't want to have to tip every freaking time.
I usually tip around $2-3. If I have a ton of crap/extra heavy stuff I will tip more. Our commissary has a jar that I just put it in at the register.
If they help me load I would tip more.
I usually tip $2-3, but it's just me and my fianc?, and we don't do huge shopping trips (maybe 3-4 bags tops). If I buy a lot more than that, then I'll tip $5. I don't think I've EVER tipped more than $5, but I've also never shopped for a huge family either.
I never have cash. I'm appalled are the tips only practice. What kind of example is that setting? Ugh. I wish I knew how to change it. I mean, they charge a 5% "not-a-tax" surcharge on everything, when most states don't tax food at all. What are they doing with that?
Even if I did have cash, I probably wouldn't tip. I bring my own bag, usually never buy more than what fits in 1 bag, and I carry it myself. If for some reason I forget my bag I get too angry at how many they use. I've actually written letters to commissary managers about how poorly trained the baggers are. I don't need to come home with 8 plastic bags when I purchased 5 items (no, really, that happened once and was the inspiration for a letter).
Part of me feels guilty, and the other righteous. I'm a bad person. I want to change the system, but I feel powerless, so I just ignore it.
TTC#1 since 12/2010- 12/2011 Hyperthyroid with Grave's
DX 10/2012 Unexplained IF
IUI #2- 4/25/13- BFP 5/9/13- CP
IUI#4- 9/3/13- BFP 9/17/13- Due Date 05/27/14
First ultrasound 10/8/13- 7weeks 130bpm
No profit margin at all in the food? I didn't know that. I also find that difficult to believe considering that commissary prices are sometimes higher than local options.
I don't want to necessarily change the 5%, but I feel it's terrible that there are unpaid employees. Why are they not subject to minimum wage laws?
So I know I just moved here and it's really my first experience because we weren't near a base before but the baggers don't bring the bags to the car here. Unless I just never noticed they were supposed to and did it myself each time. I always see people taking out their own bags.
I tip between 3-5, depending on how big my trip has been.
We don't even get an option. They start bagging and putting the bags on THEIR carts before we can even finish putting our items on the belt. The one time I asked if they could put the groceries in the cart I already had, they got super huffy. I was going to leave a tip anyway for bagging, but they were none to happy. I said nevermind.
So, it was my first trip to the big store in Hawaii, and it was a pantry stocking trip. They loaded all this stuff on a cart, and I didn't know what was going on or why some random person's purse was on a cart with my groceries. I probably pissed off a lot of people that day, grabbing my bags and walking out of there after trying to find the owner of the misplaced purse.
The whole taking my groceries to the car thing is so anachronistic to me. I haven't seen that since publix in the mid 80s.
No profit margin at all on the food. The other local places may have a different distributor that they purchase from. Grocery stores (for the most part) do not purchase directly from manufacturers. They purchase from distributors that purchase directly from the manufacturers.
Baggers are not unpaid. They work purely on commission and make more than minimum wage.