I decided to hang out at my local grocery store to see what I could find out. In the area where you get a cart, I started to watch for people who pull out their lists right from the get go so I cuold observe a few people who did have lists. that proved not to be the best place to start as I was getting a lot of weird, "this must be a stalker type" looks. I resorted to acting like a greeter and offering grocery carts to those who walked up, but store management started to watch me too, so instead of being tagged the Grocery Store Stalker, I decided to move my operation inside.
This ended up being a better plan because once the moms got the kids settled and/or put their purses in the front of the cart, if they had a list, they would typically whip it out at that time. As I observed one mom take out her list while fussing with her 2 kids, I fell into step right behind them with my own cart observing if she stayed on track with her list or not. I felt like a detective tailing a suspect on an episode of Law and Order, which was pretty cool because I had to be creative and throw them off my scent if there ever was a time when they caught on. I think at one point she did suspect I was following her until I moved in and grabbed a jar of peanut butter while asking for her advice on its peanutyness (told you I was a sly one -- peanutyness -- pretty creative huh?). While I got a strange look considering I had absolutely nothing in my cart yet, the kids distracted her enough for me to go around the corner to make my getaway. I decided I was close to blowing my cover, so I started putting more and more stuff in my basket so I would look more authentic. We continued to exchange random pleasantries during the remainder of the grocery quest and ended up going through checkout aisles right next to each other. I observed her checking off everythign on her list one last time during checkout while telling her kids they couldn't have the newest gummy something or other. At that point, I quickly ran my stuff to my car, jotted down a few notes, and went back inside. The "actual" greeter gave me a strange look as I entered the store again with an extra large grocery cart. I just told him I had forgotten a couple of things and hurried on my way.
What I noticed throughout my time in the store was that if a family came through WITH kids but WITHOUT a list, they ended up giving in and throwing a lot of stuff in the cart they obviously hadn't planned on, mainly to shut the kids up. This, in turn, resulted in very high bills that caused more than one argument in the checkout aisle between the parents on spending and buying habits. Again, I paid for my stuff, ran to my car, jotted down some more notes, and went back for more.
One last trip, I decided, and I wanted to find a good group to follow. Luckily a dad and his 9 or 10 year old son had walked in right ahead of me. Perfect, I thought. this should be entertaining, and it didn't disappoint. I did observe the emergence of a list from dad's wallet, but it didn't last long. What I figured out was that the dad didn't normally do the shopping and relied on the son's opinions on what to buy. Once the son caught on, it was all over. "Mom always buys these for us and the large bag too because it lasts longer," I heard the son tell his dad as thebiggest bag of pizza rolls were hurled into the cart. "Yeah, if it is 3 for $10.00, mom will get it because it is a better deal" he stated while putting three, half gallon buckets of ice cream in the cart. During my last trip through the checkout aisle right behind the dad and son combo, there was nothing but defeat and despair washing over the face of the data as he looked again at the list he had tucked away in his wallet, while swiping the debit card through the machine.
I couldn't wait to get to the car and write down my final thoughts. I quickly piled my groceries on the scanner belt, swiped my debit card once again, and raced to the car. While putting my groceries in the back, I started to notice that I had a lot of stuff. A LOT of stuff....holy smokes, what the heck? I had enough food and stuff to last me through the next 20 years. My over abundance of stuff distracted me for just a second as my elation of finding my answer overwhelmed my mood. Lists do help to keep you on track and save money.
By the way, if anyone is interested in buying 12 cases of soda, 14 bags of chips, and 18 boxes of pop tarts, give me a call.
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