Careless customers are putting grocery store workers at risk, experts call for switch to deliveries
Grocery workers, who brave the coronavirus crisis every day, are unsure of whether they might live to fight another day. How can store owners protect them from contracting the infection?
Experts have a solution: ditch the usual ways and switch to delivery and pickup centers.
Grocery store workers provide customers with basic necessities and are considered essential workers during the crisis. However, customers are not reportedly practicing physical distancing in the stores.
"Careless customers" are "probably the biggest threat" to workers right now, Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' union, told CNN.
"Anything that reduces the need for interaction with the public and allows for greater physical distancing will ultimately better protect grocery workers," John Logan, professor, and director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University told CNN.
"Shuttering stores and repurposing them for pickup and delivery only would be a positive step," he added.
Changing how stores operate
Some grocery stores have already made the switch. Recently, Kroger announced that it had converted a store near Cincinnati to pickup-only service. "The pickup-only model is ideal for all customers, especially for senior and higher-risk shoppers,” said Erin Rolfes, Kroger's corporate affairs manager, in a statement.
Other stores are going online. With states implementing stay-at-home orders, Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op in Takoma Park, a grocery store operating in Maryland began taking orders online.
"It was clearer that there was no real way to protect my staff and the public, especially as we served 960 people a day on average in a 4,200-square-foot store," Mike Houston, the general manager of the grocery store, told CNN.
"I'm unwilling to put grocery store employees, essential though we are, in a position to risk what can be a fatal infection," he added. Some who have been unable to make the transition have temporarily shut their doors.
For instance, Italian Cowboy, a small specialty store in Rockland, Texas that sells wine, housewares, and groceries, shut its doors after struggling to take orders.
"We just didn’t think we could provide an environment that was as safe as we wanted for our customers while giving them the experience and customer service they deserve," Lowell Rothschild, the owner of Italian Cowboy, told Grocery Dive.
But only a small number are following this. Most shops are refusing to implement these changes. However, they are measuring body temperatures of workers and are allowing entry to a few customers at a time.
The challenges in making the switch
The switch is not easy. "We have no choice. They have to stay open. [America's grocery] delivery system has not matured to the point where we can switch to an entirely remote system," said Seth Harris, former deputy secretary of labor during the Obama administration told CNN.
Besides, pickup or online centers need more staff and money than usual. And currently, small stores do not have the resources at their disposal. "I think that's one of the major reasons chains are reluctant to do the switch," said Logan from San Francisco State University, added.