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Today, shopping in the produce department, I encountered an obstacle. Jewel's new micron-thin produce bags are impossible for me to open, no matter how long I "play" with them, sliding thumb and forefinger across their supposed openings in a vain attempt to part them. I'm sure these bags cost less than the old ones by about a tenth of a cent apiece, and I'm sure that adds up, but...really, Jewel?

So, I approached the nice young lady in the produce department, explained my problem, and she gladly opened my bags up for me with a smile. Out of curiosity, I asked her, "Is it just me, or do a lot of people have a problem with these bags?"

Her response? "I'm doing this all day long for people."

This told me there's an issue here. So after checking out, I asked to see the store manager. His response was also as satisfactory as could be under the circumstances, saying that he didn't make the decision about what bags to use, but that he would relay my complaint to headquarters. I couldn't ask for more than that.

So, I don't loathe the people who work at the Jewel. I loathe the world-class *ssholes at Supervalu who think that saving a tenth of a cent per bag is worth making shopping for produce at their stores so difficult that one is discouraged from doing it at all.

I once went to my local Jewel, and they were out of butter. Plenty of margarine, but no butter. Butter is not an especially esoteric ingredient. On my last visit, they were out of anchovies. Seems like they've just given up.

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

LOl at the thread title. I suppose Jewel needed some loathing.

Funny because I was actually there last night at a little before 10pm. I live up the street from the one at Elston and Kedzie but I was at the Foster and Pulaski location last night (I work down the street from that one) and there is one thing that bugs me everytime about 10pm or so in the evening, is the fact that they will block off one of the exits, so if you are parked by the exit that is blocked you have to walk around to get out and get back to your car. This was not the case when I arrived because I was able to go through the entrance closer to me. This has happened to me on more than one occasion and you think I would remember this. It isn't like it is 2am, more like 9:30 or 10 in the evening, i don't see the use for this at all. It just doesn't make sense.

As a plus though I did get some yeast over the weekend. They had a sale on Red Star, $1 a piece.

I have not seen these bags yet, so this may not work and may in fact disgust you, but try putting the bag between your lips and blowing as you would have done with a blade of grass when you were a kid trying to make it whistle.

When I was in preschool, I suffered from the salmonella outbreak of 1985 from milk purchased at Jewel. It was a pretty traumatic experience as a kid. Our family has mostly avoided Jewel ever since.

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The exit closing is not a Jewel-only issue. They run on reduced staffing later in the evening so it's a security issue. I'd hardly criticize a store for that.

I regret that Jewel left the Milwaukee Market. The fish department at the one next to where I used to work was awesome. The people who staffed it were very good. Now that it is a pic-n-save, I do not go back due to the quality decline.

The issue is a safety issue for me personally. If I am rolling up at 9:15pm parking by the closest door I see available to what I need AND I am able to get in, I should be able to get out the same way I got in, When I am done with my shopping and I see that the door is now blocked, I don't appreciate having to walk out the other door and across their dark parking lot (neither the Elston/Kedzie location nor the Foster/Pulaski are very well lit) to get to my car. I understand this at 2am, I don't understand this at 9:30 or 10pm in the evening. If it's such a security issue they might want to spend some of that profit from the outrageous prices they charge to ramp up security because I cannot tell you the number of times I have been approached by panhandlers in front of the Elston Jewel during all hours of the day (the last time though was rather amusing because the woman was obviously intoxicated). Never experience this at Caputo's, Tony's, Cermak and not even Aldi's.

I went to Jewel to pick up a bottle of wine and there was no one in Osco to check me out. I waited in line for 15 min to get checked out at Jewel. I went to the site at the bottom of the receipt and complained about the lack of service at the Osco counter (it was 4:30pm on a Friday). I got an email from the assistant manager, the manager (and he gave me his phone number if I had any more problems), and I guess an area manager, all telling me they would look into it. I did mention that there are a lot of other stores in the area that sell wine and I don't have to wait 15 min. to get checked out. I have been to Jewel a few more times and now there is always someone in the Osco checkout. So helps to complain on the web. Maybe the higher ups see the emails.

I hate those produce bags too. Once in awhile I can get one open, but usually have to ask some worker bee to do it for me. Many times I have simply left because I got tired of playing with the bags. I wonder how much money they lose due to customer frustration compares with what they save in bag costs?

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

The difference in bag costs is easy to quantify; sales lost due to having difficult bags is much harder to put a number to.

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

If you moisten your fingertips, you can easily pull the bag apart.

Same thing happened to me twice at the Elston location. Once was on a Sunday at 4pm and the other time was a Monday at about 11 am. Both times I needed to go to the counter to pick up photos. I guess when the counter isn't super busy they have the staff elsewhere which is never something they used to actively do or maybe I am just used to seeing someone always at the counter.

I'm wondering if this is an urban issue, because the Jewel's in the suburbs -- and I stop at a variety of them, depending on the direction from which I'm coming -- are always well stocked and adequately staffed -- at least in Mundelein, Glenview, Arlington Heights, and Buffalo Grove. It's not the cheapest place to shop, so I tend to "shop the tags" -- that is, look for items that are on sale, rather than going with a set shopping list. One can do quite well that way. But I've never seen less than mountains of butter -- name brands and Jewel brand, and they have rarely been out of anything I needed.

As for the produce bags, are they new? I can't honestly say I've not had any problem with them. That said, I probably only use a produce bag maybe one in ten times, seeing no reason why one bunch of broccoli or two onions need their own bag. I imagine shopping for a family would make this more of an issue. Plus it has been a couple of weeks since I visited the produce department at Jewel.

There are so many options out this way -- within a couple of miles, I have Harvest Fresh, Garden Fresh, Trader Joe's, Caputo and Sons, EuroFresh, Carniceria Jimenez, and Krystyna's Grocery and Deli. (Oh, and Dominick's and Target.) So maybe it's the stunning amount of competition that makes Jewel work a bit harder out here.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

This is one of those things that would be easier for Supervalu to evaluate if it would only--just once--send one of its executives to one of its stores to experience it as customers do. If someone who had some authority over Supervalu's bean-counting department would actually just go into the produce department at Jewel and try to use its bags, that person would quickly say, "There's no way I'd shop for produce here if I had to put up with this in order to do it." And then that person would quickly get a usefully accurate intuition as to how much business Jewel is losing because of other people who feel the same. It's so simple--but does require someone from the company to put himself in the customer's shoes, which seems for some reason to be an enormous thing to ask.

I'm reminded of those websites which make transactions maddeningly difficult. (Or, similarly, restaurants that make finding their addresses and phone numbers on their websites a game of hide and seek.) You always want to say, "Did anyone from this company, even once, pretend for grins to be a customer trying to buy something from this website? Because if that ever happened, the website would not be this way." It's not rocket science, or calculus, and even if you can't put an exact number to the sales that are lost, you can probably make a darned good guess.

I appreciate the suggestions that involve using various parts of one's mouth or the contents of one's mouth to solve this problem, but that's not for me.

cogito, I'm pretty sure no one in your local Jewel would appreciate being referred to as a "worker bee" aka drone.

Also, riddlemay, if only "corporate" would play grocery worker for a day, much less, the deified, "customer." Unfortunately, "corporate" arisen from "drones" tend to passive-aggressively discipline their former ranks.

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"Johnny thought when all purpose had been forgotten the world would end this way, with a dance. He slumped back in a corner, drew his knees up to his chin, and watched."-Derek Jarman

I agree with your point. For instance, if someone from corporate worked in the produce department for a day, filling in for the nice young produce lady who told me she's opening up these damnably difficult bags for customers all day long, that person from corporate would discover what a pain in the butt it is to have to open up damnably difficult bags for customers all day long. (Although I doubt the person from corporate would handle it as cheerfully as the young lady does.) Perhaps the person from corporate would learn from this--for the sake of employee efficiency and for the sake of preventing lost sales--that it might be a good idea to have bags that aren't damnably difficult for customers to open.

Based on my experience in other industries, HQ isn't really all that concerned with how the customers feel. MBA programs have taught decision makers to only look at the bottom line, and shoddy products make the bottom line look good.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Hi- Maybe if enough people posted about their dislike of the new produce bags on Jewel's facebook page, corporate would do something about it.

I know a few months ago, when they were doubling coupons at some, but not all their stores, they heard about it on facebook, and they provided coupons that you could print off of their facebook page, which allowed you to double up to six coupons at any Jewel store. Before that happened only select Jewel stores were supplying the coupons that were needed to double coupons. You could double the coupons at any Jewel store, but you had to use the store coupons that Jewel supplied to allow you to double coupons, and these coupons were only being distributed to certain parts of the Chicago area. Hope this helps, Nancy

Nancy, I'll give your idea a try, but first, I want to know if I've found the right page to do it on. My best guess (i.e., the only thing I've found that seems promising) is the Facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/JewelOsco

Is that the one? Or is there a different FB page where customer feedback is more likely to be seen by corporate?

If there is a good FB page for this, I think it's a brilliant idea, because it will allow other disgruntled customers to reinforce my complaint and create a movement. Occupy Produce!

And I thought I was giving them the benefit of the doubt.

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

Hi- Yes Riddlemay, that is Jewel's official facebook page. While I was reading some of the comments on their facebook page, I was astounded how many customers were asking Jewel to bring back pink slime! They can't all be serious? I did not see any complaints about the produce bags, but it looks like corporate is replying to comments made on their facebook page. If enough people leave comments about the produce bags, maybe corporate will get rid of them. Hope this helps, Nancy

This might have been true five years ago, but as more big companies catch on to social media this is becoming antiquated thinking. Lots of big companies use Facebook and Twitter to monitor the customer experience and respond when they can. I was having an issue with Verizon once and I used Twitter to get is resolved pretty quickly. I can also tell you dealing directly with companies in my everyday work, customer service is becoming more and more important.

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-Josh

An amuse bouche at breakfast is called a Bloody Mary - Scott Manlin

Nice to hear that's happening some places. That said, customer service does not = management caring. I've worked for a few companies that emphasized the heck out of customer service but limited their definition of that solely to what the people who were in touch with the customers were doing -- smile and try to help, but don't expect fundamental changes. I do have some hope that people will figure out in time that the bottom line -- or stockholder dividends -- are not the only way to judge success, but I see that reflected more in the tremendous number of little start-up companies, rather than in the giant national companies.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Nancy, you do realize that most of those posts are by employees of the company that makes the pink slime. Here are some giveaways: if their profile says they work at Beef Products, Inc; if their tag photo advertises beefisbeef.com; if they are from Sioux City, SD.... you get the picture. I think we call these people shills.

BeefIsBeef.com? Seriously?

Reminds me of this classic Wendy's commercial: Pieces Is Pieces, Parts Is Parts


Thing is that the Wendy's commercial was satire, while the silly, high-technology food processors behind BeefIsBeef.com are serious.
--Rich

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I don't know what you think about dinner, but there must be a relation between the breakfast and the happiness. --Cemal Süreyya

Hi- Actually I just found out that beefisbeef,com is the site promoting pink slime for the beef industry. That explains why there are so many posts about pink slime on Jewel's Facebook page. Thanks, Nancy

OK, well, I just "shared" my comment on that page--we'll see what happens. I'll report back. Thanks, Nancy.

Hi- I see corporate at Jewel has already written a response to Riddlemay's comments about the new produce bags, so hopefully somebody will look into this matter.

Given the title of the thread, I thought it was going to be about produce quality at Jewel. I go to the one at Berwyn and Broadway in the city and the produce is almost always awful. Lettuce that has been saturated with the incessant water spritzing and gone brown and soggy. Onions often rotten, garlic always with a green center, just miserable. Organic produce that is always past expiration and priced higher than Whole Foods. Insanity how they persist next to a neighborhood with so many homes worth over $1 million. I almost asked for a manager recently given how abysmal the produce section was there.