Are You a Proper Shopper?
We asked experts to weigh in on grocery store etiquette.
Written by Kelsey Hurwitz for Food Network Magazine
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Is it OK to ditch your shopping cart in the parking lot?
Unless you’re in a torrential downpour or alone with a child having a meltdown, you should return the cart to the corral, says Maralee McKee, founder of The Etiquette School of America in Orlando. Supermarket employees do collect them, but they only make the rounds every so often, and in the meantime an abandoned cart could roll away and ding a car. If you have to leave it, position the cart so it isn’t blocking a parking spot, and make sure it can’t roll. Better yet, give it to a shopper heading inside.
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Is it OK to go over the limit of items on the express line?
When the sign says “15 items or less,” stores consider that “a soft 15,” says Joseph Welsh, a national grocery store consultant based in Las Vegas. If you have only a few extras, you’re good. In other exciting news, most stores count multiples of one item as just one thing to scan, so those five containers of yogurt won’t eat into your total. Rest assured, the cashier will only judge you if you
show up with a full cart!
Is it OK to abandon an item far from where you found it?
As long as the food isn’t perishable, grocery stores typically have no problem with this—it’s part of the shopping process, Welsh says. “Putting back merchandise is one way we train new employees to become more familiar with the store.” Definitely hand over anything from the dairy or frozen aisle to a sales associate to prevent it from spoiling, or at least set it on an endcap where it can be easily spotted by a staffer.
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Is it OK to sample a grape or two?
“In the business we call that ‘grazing,’ and it’s not the world’s worst party foul,” says Welsh. Supermarkets understand that people might be tempted to snack when they’re surrounded by piles of colorful produce. That said, you should never open a sealed package or grab something like a strawberry from a clamshell or carton: You’re taking it from the customer who buys that container, and you don’t want to be that person.
Is it OK to run and grab something you forgot?
If you aren’t going to hold up the line, go for it. (You might need to be a decent sprinter if the item is on the other side of the store!) Etiquette expert Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, author of Don’t Burp in the Boardroom, suggests loading everything onto the conveyor belt first so the cashier can start scanning your items if you aren’t back in time. Make sure to tell the person behind you that you’ll be right back!
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Is it OK to dig for the milk with the latest expiration date?
Milk flies off shelves pretty quickly, so no harm done. The truth is, some families need the maximum amount of time to finish a gallon of milk, while others will do just fine with a shorter window.
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