Surviving Safeway: We Can Do It Together

We first published an article about the Truckee Safeway store in June of 2013. Several readers have requested that it’s time to post it again. After the fiasco we witnessed there this evening, I couldn’t agree more. We can all benefit by spreading these tips. Here’s the article:

Local Truckee residents and frequent visitors should know better. Visiting Safeway during the peak holiday season is not always the best decision. It begins with that moment you discover there are no parking spaces available, nor any available shopping carts. Sometimes this pain is just not avoidable. Some of us might even say it’s entertaining to try and survive a Safeway session.

There’s a lot of us locals that have some secrets for getting through a “Hectic Holiday” at Safeway with a minimum of frustration. But this article will not be revealing those secrets. That would be like giving up the best powder stashes at Alpine Meadows.

No, this article is there to give some tips that will help all of us survive Safeway together. If we all follow a few general ideas, everyone will benefit. Our tips and map refers directly to the Truckee store, which is often cited as the highest grossing store in the chain. We’re pretty certain that the same tips would apply to other equally busy stores in the area.

 

The Orange X’s

One of the biggest slowdowns in the store are “slow shoppers”. You know who you are. You don’t really know what you want. You’re not sure if your wife wanted 1% or 2% milk. You’re still deciding between fish or steak for dinner next Tuesday. You often move at half the speed of other shoppers, with a defocused look on your face. You’re often seen on your cell phone typing hurried text messages asking “Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc?”  We ask you to please recognize that the Orange X zones are high traffic areas at Safeway. Please do your conversing and decision making outside of these zones.

The Purple Circles

These are low traffic areas at Safeway. Please move to these areas to make phone calls, send text messages, and update your Facebook status. These also make good meeting zones to huddle the family for a dessert decision or reconnect with that person you have not seen since your high school reunion.

The Blue Arrows

The lines often get long…no, really long at Safeway during peak holiday periods. Since there is no way to cram 200 carts immediately in front of the checkout stations, the lines often extend into the aisles. Considerate shoppers will often leave a space in the line so traffic flow can continue in the front of the store (remember, Orange X’s!) It is imperative that you check for a line in the area of the Blue Arrows. As the lines extend down the aisle, please keep the line single file. The whole family does not need to wait in the Blue Arrow zone! This may be a good time to send the spouse to the bakery, flower department or the Pillsbury Doughboy zone (remember Purple Circles!). It’s often easiest to scan for the shortest line and approach the end of the line from the back of the store.

The Green Arrow Self Checkout Zone

Note that there really is only ONE line for all six self checkout stations. This is not the time to test out Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. The Green Arrow is the approximate location of the ONE line. If you ever walk into Safeway and find a crudely painted line that says “Wait Here”, it may be my handiwork.  Note that this line is actually within the Orange X zone. You will need to be active and alert to adjust positions to accommodate other shoppers heading to or from the beer and deli zones. (We’re proud to see that this behavior has become the accepted standard behavior at Safeway. I have even heard shoppers refer to the imaginary green arrow when asking people to wait in the one line. It’s a small victory.)

Please be patient while waiting. Do not creep up behind people who are almost done. Yelling at slow people with your “coaching tips” often just confuses people more. If you have never used a self checkout system before, the Safeway “Hectic Holiday” is not the time to try it out. Come on in at 9 pm on a Tuesday and have at it!

Pro Tip: You can no longer purchase alcoholic beverages at the self checkout stations. All of the whining and complaining in the world will not get you a special exception. Yelling at employees will not help, it was not their idea!

The Regular Checkout Zones

Once you have arrived at the regular checkout stations, there’s a few things you can do to help out everyone at the Safeway “Hectic Holiday.” Please have your Safeway Club Card ready immediately or know your associated phone number ahead of time. You do not have to wait until the order is rung up to slide your Club card or put in your phone number. Get ahead of the game! In the same way, have your cash or ATM/credit card ready to go. Here’s a tip: Nobody writes checks anymore in stores. Please use your ATM card. If you happen to be aged 85 or above, you may be excused from this rule. We can’t wait until Safeway adopts ApplePay!

You, yes YOU, are quite capable of bagging your own groceries. While you may think that you have a minute to breathe while the checker rings up you order – get over there and bag your order. Waiting for your checker to bag your order, after ringing it all up is just ludicrous. Use those arms and take responsibility for how your groceries are bagged! This one thing alone would probably shave 33% of the wait time on your average Safeway trip! Paper bags will cost you 10 cents each, no matter how much you argue. It’s nearly 2016, and you should be bringing your own bags everywhere you shop.

Pro Tip: Tonight, Safeway was completely out of ALL bags. It’s always better to bring your own!

Timing Your Shopping

Shopping in the off peak hours has many benefits. Unfortunately, during the “hectic holiday” periods, the off peak hours are generally only from 10 pm until 6am. The store will be much less crowded, but be aware that restocking activity will mean the aisles are full of pallets and boxes. It’s somewhat like combining an agility course with shopping. The self checkout lanes are closed at night, requiring that you locate one of only a few checkers. The checkers will likely be re-stocking.

Pro-tip: They will likely not notice if you just stand around at the empty check stand that has a light on. Go locate the nearest person wearing a khaki shirt and an apron and ask them to be your checker.

The Parking Lot

Parking is usually very tight at the SPL, especially if snow storage covers parts of the lot. Circling the lot directly in front of Safeway and waiting for a space is unlikely to work. There’s usually quite a bit more parking at the east end of the parking lot, toward Rite-Aid. Leaving a Safeway shopping cart in that zone is a shopper faux pas. There’s already a shortage of carts and not enough employees to retrieve carts. Do us all a favor and return your cart to the lower 48.

There is NO loading zone in front of Safeway. Stopping in front of the store in your vehicle while your kid or spouse runs in for one item is a preposterous concept. It may take them 30 minutes. While you wait in front of the store “not a loading zone”, the entire traffic flow of the lot is brought to a standstill. It also makes it very difficult to see that little kid running back to the car to get Mommy’s wallet. Go find a parking place and take a nap while you wait for your shopper.

Yep, we can all work together to make the experience happier for all of us, including those fine folks that work there that have to suffer through the experience day after day, week after week. See you at Safeway.