Like it or not — more of us are bagging our own groceries

Lawrence Barker says he's frustrated that cashiers at major grocery stores he shops at no longer voluntarily bag his goods.

Barker finds bagging a hassle, as he feels pressured to quickly pack items into his reusable bags before the next customer's goods slide down the conveyor belt. 

So he opts for self-checkout, where he can bag at a leisurely pace. 

"I am not rushed and haggard and I'm not having all my groceries all piled up like a traffic jam," said Barker, who lives just outside Fenelon Falls, Ont., a rural community near Peterborough. "I go to self checkout just to avoid the stress."

Barker recalls a bygone era when grocery stores often employed baggers at the cashier.

"And then suddenly, even the cashier bagging stopped and you were on your own." 

Dozens of Canadians have posted similar complaints on social media, questioning why major grocery stores like Loblaws, Sobeys and Walmart seem to have reduced or eliminated cashier bagging services.

CBC News investigated and, it turns out, there are no simple answers — including from Canada's major grocers. 

However, it's apparent that the rise of reusable bags, fuelled by the federal government's plastic bag ban in late 2022, has led to a general expectation in many stores that customers self-bag at the cashier.  

"Once we have our own bags, I think we just — the idea is just to pack it ourselves," said Shawna Squire, carrying a bag of groceries she packed herself at the cashier at a Loblaws in Toronto.

"It's become the norm."

But why? Food economist Mike von Massow suggests that, aided by the reusable bag trend, grocers encourage self-bagging to cut labour costs. 

"I think if you ask, you'll get the help, but I think the real incentive is to get you through as quickly as possible so that [they] can serve the next customer," said von Massow, an associate professor at the University of Guelph.

"I think we're being trained not to expect bagging… and we've sort of fallen into that trap."

WATCH | The new normal?

Why bagging your own groceries may be the new normal

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The shift away from plastic grocery bags also coincided with more shoppers bagging their own groceries, something experts say was largely a labour initiative to reduce staff and get people through the checkout faster.

'We're getting less'

CBC News observed busy cashiers at a Loblaws, Sobeys and Walmart in downtown Toronto. At each store, most customers did the bagging on their own initiative.

But typically, cashiers automatically did the job if shoppers bought new, reusable bags at checkout.

Sophia Berdousis of Toronto, who worked as a Loblaws cashier during the plastic bag era, says that she automatically bagged all customers' goods.

"It used to be part of the grocery experience and now I feel like there is just one more thing that they're taking away," she said. "They're raising prices, we're getting less," she added, referring to the 23 per cent rise in food costs since 2020. 

Berdousis says she has noticed that Loblaws cashiers bag her groceries when requested, but she feels customers shouldn't have to ask. 

She also says that on two recent trips to Walmart, she was told it was store policy not to do the bagging. 

"You can go to Walmart and have $400 worth of groceries, they won't bag for you," said Berdousis. 

Grocers respond

Walmart Canada spokesperson Stephanie Fusco told CBC News in an email that cashiers are happy to help customers who need or want bagging assistance.

In response to several customer complaints on social media over the past several years, Walmart provided more details. It stated that because customers are bringing their own bags, the retailer "introduced self-bagging" in most stores, and that cashiers help when required.

Fusco did not respond to questions about why the bring-your-own-bag trend inspired a self-bagging policy.

Loblaw Companies Ltd., which owns Loblaws and other chains including the discount No Frills, said in an email that its "policy and expectation [is] that customers have help with bagging" in non-discount stores. 

However, in 2021, the grocer stated on social media that it had introduced a "Bag-Your-Own program," allowing it "to offer lower pricing due to labour savings." Loblaw did not respond to questions about that program. 

The company's statement on social media backs up von Massow's theory that grocers encourage self-bagging to save money. He says when customers do the the job, the cashier line moves faster, so grocers can open fewer cashier lanes. 

"I think grocers are always looking for ways to cut costs," he said. 

Dirty reusable bags?

Roy Graham of Shrewsbury, Ont., near Windsor, reports a mixed experience with bagging at his local Sobeys. He says cashiers occasionally bag his groceries, but often he's on his own.

He suspects it's because customers' used bags could be contaminated. "I think they don't want to touch reusable bags," he said. "I don't blame them."

However, none of the major grocers mentioned in this story indicated customers' unwashed bags are an issue. 

Sobeys spokesperson Tshani Jaja said its bagging services depend on the store, region and staffing. 

And at Ontario's Farm Boy, owned by Empire, the same company that owns Sobeys, non-express lane cashiers offer bagging to all customers.

"Every time that I have gone, they've bagged without question," said Berdousis, the former cashier, adding that Farm Boy cashiers ask her to hand over her reusable bags at checkout. 

CBC News observed at a Toronto Farm Boy that the cashiers handing customers' bags wore gloves. The grocery chain did not respond to requests for comment. 

At Food Fare, a small grocery chain in Winnipeg, cashiers also offer to bag everyone's groceries — no matter the state of their reusable bags. 

"I've had some cashiers give some comments of, 'The bags are dirty,'" said Foodfare's owner, Munther Zeid. In response, he provided them with gloves and sanitizer.

"We've built our business around service," he said. "We will maintain bagging and carrying groceries out to the car."