Shopping has changed over the years

Bill Ward

I recently found the need to go grocery shopping. This is not one of my favorite events. In fact, it is usually one I would prefer to forgo. But, eventually, it is one that becomes a necessity. And as things tend to happen I thought back to my youth and the way it was then.

There were groceries that you could call in your order and they would deliver to your door, at no additional charge. There were numerous local Mom and Pop stores scattered all over town and in the surrounding smaller communities. They had a very limited selection but what they had was what their customers wanted.

At one time I counted seven such small groceries just in the Seventh and Oliver area. We had one large chain grocery, Kroger, and it was where the parking lot is behind the Elks. Where the Elks Lodge is there was at one time a Standard Grocery which with Marsh and Kroger made Rushville full of grocery stores. Manila had a small grocery, Milroy had two, and Homer had one as well. Arlington and Raleigh boasted at least one. Moscow even had one.

My mother liked to use Percy Stamm’s because he delivered. Marsh came into town right after the war and it was called Foodliner. When Marsh put up the Foodliner Kroger decided to make their store larger and in a different location. We had home delivery of dairy products if one cared to use them. We had numerous neighborhood stores all around town for the local clientele. And best of all, we had customer service!

Then we would go and at some stores stand before the counter, tell the clerk what we wanted, and they would gather that for us and package it and take it to the car if you so desired.

Marsh came to town and we found out what the “super” grocery was all about. But even then they would help you gather what you wanted, package them for you and take the groceries to the car for you. And you were not expected to tip for such service either. They had actual people as cashiers and baggers and they actually wanted to help you so you would have a favorable feeling and come back again.

Then the stores found out that they could get by with a lot fewer customer services and thus fewer employees and we, the customers, found life a tad more difficult. First they decided that they needed fewer bag boys and gals if they allowed the customer to take the cart to the car by themselves. I admit that today some stores still ask, at times rather half heartedly, but they do ask. Then the stores figured out that they could use the omnipresent bar code and not have to mark each individual can or box with a price. That did away with even more employees.

Then, as computers became more prevalent, they figured out how to make it so you, the customer, were the ones doing the check out. Now one sees all over the place self-service check outs. It took me some time to decide to try one of those darn things. I managed to get done what I wanted without too much ranting and raving but still felt like I was being taken advantage of. Even Wally World has them now and I suspect we might as well get used to seeing more of them around. Customer service is rapidly becoming self-service for us all.

Stores have so many fewer workers that it is at times difficult to find someone who can help you out. With the economy as it is more organizations are figuring out how they can do business with fewer people all the time. Shopping has become so impersonal compared with what it used to be. At one time shopping was an event that meant a lot of talking and just looking and talking with the neighbors or clerks. Today it is in and out and talks on the cell phone and texts to whomever while shopping. We seem to have lost that most important of all things, humanity. Now we shop, text, talk, exercise, compare, hustle all at the same time. Life itself is multitasking to the extreme.

I often wonder just how far they can go with this self-serve stuff. How much longer before we have to unload it form the trucks prior to purchasing the item? We at times even bag our own groceries and think nothing of it. And in my youth that would have been the furthest from our minds.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of nice and helpful people locally in our stores and grocery stores but they are becoming fewer and fewer, unfortunately. And one thing I really like, enjoy and do not care to lose is the small town neighborliness that we see in our communities. And that is something I really hope we never lose.



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