Shouldn't Grocery stores be open longer hours?

[athenasatanjesus]

They are crowded right now while being open shorter hours and if they were open for longer hours the business could be more spread out.I for one would be going at off hours and considering that I don't have a lot of room to store food I need to go every day so that would be one less person every day during busy hours.

[Ms. Toad]

1. They are disinfecting the store daily -

Something they have never had to do before.

They are also concerned about limiting exposure of their workers.

[Me.]

2. Do They Have Enough Help To Do So?

[True Blue American]

4. No, they are seeking workers now.

I am really proud of what my local groceries are doing. Crowds have thinned out.

[tblue37]

6. They also need time to restock. nt

[True Blue American]

8. And sanitize!

Going early I had no problem. Busy, but almost fully stocked. Those workers deserve medals. They are going to start limiting how many can be in a store at one time and make plexiglass protectors for clerks.

[meadowlander]

19. They can restock and disinfect overnight if they hire enough people.

I used to do overnight restocking at a few different places.

[Aquaria]

30. My husband is working in a store right now

It doesn't matter how many people are there. The sanitation takes a long fricking time, especially when they're having to work with overnight stocking crews on the floor as well. The bigger the store, the longer it takes. One of their stores here in San Antonio is 182,000 square feet--which is bigger than the size of three football fields laid out next to each other. You can see it from over a mile away on the freeway. Think a store that size gets stocked and cleaned in eight hours, even during the best of times?

His company's stores expect to have 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours well into May. There simply aren't enough people to get the stocking and sanitation done on the old 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. schedule. There's barely enough to get it done between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

[meadowlander]

18. They should be able to hire help,

given record unemployment claims in the past two weeks.

[SCantiGOP]

3. Every grocery chain is advertising for workers

they barely have enough to stay open as long as they do. And when they no longer have enough healthy people willing to risk their life for a $10-15/hour job, we are screwed.

[Ohiogal]

29. This.

[33taw]

5. Some are starting to limit how many people can be in the store at one time. I am glad.

The also need space and time to restock without a bunch of people reaching in for supplies.

[Demovictory9]

7. they say they need to stock while closed because people are now asking the stockers questions

When I've shopped early in the morning or an hour before closing, the stockers would be out in force stocking. Now they need to close while stocking because people are bugging them... asking for items.

[beachbumbob]

9. nope not at all. What needs to be done is set hours based on NEED as well as hard limits on

quantities

[sarcasmo]

10. I go an hour before store closing, less crowded in this small town of 50,000.

[Nay]

26. I do this too and it really works. nt

[Jirel]

11. No

They need time to restock and sanitize. Also, cities are hoping it encourages people to go home and stay home at night.

[procon]

12. Several local grocery stores that were open 24/7

before the virus have cut back their hours now. Some say it's because of they are doing deep cleaning and sanitizing everyday that would pose a hazard for the public.

I think staffing is another problem. With hordes of shoppers stripping the shelves everyday, it's a lot more work to restock. Stores are carrying a lot if off brands now that I've never heard of and they have to change out all those price tags and the shelf labels.

As a chronic insomnia, I don't begrudge the workers the hours the stores are closed, although really liked shopping at 2 or 3am when there were very few other customers.

[TwilightZone]

13. No. They need time to clean and restock.

That's why they shortened the hours in the first place.

[SMC22307]

14. LOL, you don't need to go to the grocery store every damn day. NO ONE does.

Workers need a break and time to disinfect and re-stock. Get creative and figure out a way to store your groceries.

[GusBob]

20. Ya that caught me too

Who needs to go everyday.?
Good grief

[SMC22307]

23. I imagine Pinterest has all sorts of ideas on how to store non-perishables...

in tight spaces. My nephew works at a grocery store while going to college and it irks the hell out of me that someone thinks they need to go every day. Stay in and make do!

[meadowlander]

22. It's not about how often people are going, it's the limit on the number who should be in the store

at the same time.

Google data found that in most countries doing strict stay at home, trips to the grocery store have fallen by 50%. But the stores are more crowded because all the people who used to eat out all the time can't get to their favorite restaurants.

I've always only gone once a week but I used to be able to go at 7am when the store was almost empty and now I can't go until 9am when there is a much bigger line and more people in the aisles.

Stores should be able to do the disinfecting and restocking overnight. It's a question of hiring enough people. I used to do overnight restocking in a pretty large supermarket - not quite Costco sized but close. They had a crew of 4-5 people doing it. If you had 15 or 20 people doing it, you could finish restocking in 2-3 hours and leave plenty of time for cleaning.

And hey, lots of unemployed people from the restaurant industry looking for jobs...

[SMC22307]

24. The poster I replied to...

said they need to go every day because of limited space. NO ONE needs to go every day. To stop the spread, the fewer people out the better. Perhaps s/he needs to pop on over to Pinterest and get ideas on how to store non-perishables in tight spaces. If there's no fridge, I'd be looking in to a dorm-size fridge asap and have it delivered. Milk, juice, yogurt, eggs, cheese, and salsa don't need to be bought every day. (I realize not everyone can eat those products, so obviously they'd purchase what suits them.) Evidently many people aren't respecting social-distancing and some parents are letting their kids run amok in stores like they're playgrounds. Employees should not be put at risk. If they're properly PPE'd - for themselves and others -- I'm all for phone orders, online shopping, curbside pickup and things like that. I'm must trying to be respectful of the workers - and safe.

[meadowlander]

25. Everyone's in a different situation.

For example, some people are stuck in hotel or motel rooms with only a mini-fridge and no cooking apparatus, no way to wash dishes, etc. That pretty significantly limits their ability to feed themselves based on a weekly trip to the supermarket.

I was in a roommate situation when I was in grad school with six people sharing one fridge. I got half a door shelf and half a standard fridge shelf to store all my food. I got around this by mostly eating out - not an option anymore in some places.

With some planning, I probably could have gotten by during those times on a trip every three days but not a lot more than that if I wanted to eat any semblance of a balanced diet.

Instead of second guessing people, though, it would make a lot more sense for the supermarkets to have extended hours so the lines aren't as long and the stores aren't as crowded.

Most people only need to go once a week and they should be able to pick a time where they don't have to stand in line for an hour or shop in crowded aisles. Especially if they have health issues that both make it more difficult to stand in line and make them more susceptible to Covid19.

I've been to the supermarkets twice since we got our stay-at-home order and both times the social distancing measures were a joke - people were crowding in to each others' personal spaces instead of waiting 15 seconds for the other person to choose what they want and then moving on.

That's a lot more of an issue than how often people in cramped living spaces are needing to visit the supermarket.

[Aquaria]

31. No, it's not

I don't care how many people you have--it's a logistical nightmare to get a store stocked and sanitized against a pandemic within a 12 hour window. Sanitation now is not merely mopping the floors and keeping the windows and doors clean--it's sanitizing every single shelf edge and fridge door and meat display edge and end cap displays and registers and more. Wherever customers and employees will make contact, or could, there has to be sanitation cleaning. They may not be clearing shelves to clean them, but I promise you that any shelf that got wiped out during a day is cleaned wherever there's exposed shelving.

And then there's another thing to consider: If too many people are on the floor, then they're not able to maintain social distancing to keep them from infecting each other.

There's a constant juggling act stores are doing now to get shelves stocked, get everything cleaned, and keep their employees safe, or as safe as they can. No amount of employees is going to mitigate that reality. Not until the stores can scale back the sanitation crews to their normal duties.

[meadowlander]

33. It's not rocket science.

If you have a store with 20 aisles put a person in each aisle, one to do the back end and one to do the front. The aisles are at least six feet apart. You can clean an aisle in 3-4 hours. Then give each person a few pallets to unload in their aisle as they finish. You can unload a pallet in less than an hour (significantly less depending on the size of the items).

During the day time you can have people in the back rooms breaking down the pallets by aisle so they're ready to go at night.

20 people will get a job done five times faster than four people. You can stagger their lunch breaks and have different locations where people can eat so they aren't overlapping in the break room.

I've done overnight restocking in a grocery store, a drug store and an office supply store. They're all the same. You barely see anyone for your whole shift and you could have five times as many people there and still easily be able to maintain a six foot distance.

Supermarkets are raking it in at the moment. They can afford to hire more people. And many hands make light work.

[SharonClark]

15. You go to the grocery store EVERY day? Have you considered buying a refrigerator?

Your daily visits are adding to the problem.

[MoonlitKnight]

16. Time to use rationing strategies from the past

Like during gas crisis where only plates that end in a certain number can go on certain days.

So grocery is open for you on Monday if your driver license/ID ends with 0 or 1. Tuesday if 2 or 3, Wednesday if 4 or 5, Thursday if 6 or 7, Friday if 8 or 9, Saturday for everyone. Sunday closed to give workers a break.

When it is your day, you drive up and present ID, get a deli counter like number and park and wait in car until it is called, put up on the display. That way traffic in store is limited. Obviously not all stores can do this.

Also, with takeout and delivery, local health departments should verify that proper precautions are being taken and employees trained before they can be allowed to provide takeout and delivery. I know it will take a long time to do this but it can get rolling while there is a grace period. Or you could spot check for compliance and shut down those who are not following the rules.

[cwydro]

17. If you don't have a fridge, you might want to look into dried goods, beans, canned food.

No need to be going to the store everyday.

[Luciferous]

21. No because they need more time to stock and clean

[empedocles]

27. Local Safeway here [Nova], open 5a Sunday

[LakeArenal]

28. Maybe you should work for them. They need help.

[smirkymonkey]

32. Why do you have to go every day?

I live in a small studio and don't have a lot of storage space but I get one grocery delivery a week and that is enough for me. More than enough, actually. You are placing a burden on them by going so often. Is delivery an option for you?