Wegmans has not yet reported any worker as having been diagnosed with coronavirus. It’s only a matter of time. Exposure, even with the new sanitary and social-distancing measures imposed by the company, is too high. Stores are too full. Out of negligence, ignorance or financial concerns, too many people are taking too many risks. The…
Tag: Coronavirus
More work, more risk, but no sick pay
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran this graphic Saturday under an editorial headlined, “The Companies Putting Profits Ahead of Public Health.” Follow the red arrow (which I’ve added to the illustration), and you’ll see Wegmans at about 2 o’clock. Using survey data collected between February 2018 and November 2019, the Times…
The social-distance dance
Update: Wegmans has instituted measures designed to increase the distance between people at checkout. Customers are asked to stand behind a line on the floor as they approach the register, place their reusable bags and their groceries on the belt, then remain at this distance as the cashier scans and bags groceries. The only point…
Stop using cash
Update: Wegmans has introduced measures designed to reduce contamination from money. Customers are now asked to place bills and/or coins on the shelf next to the payment screen. The cashier takes the cash from the shelf, and places change on the same shelf for the customer to pick up. The shelf and the rest of…
Wegmans again cuts hours
Wegmans has announced another temporary curtailment of shopping hours. All stores will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Update: Beginning March 20, the Brooklyn and New Jersey stores will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) The company has also temporarily closed: Market Café seating areas In-store Pubs Select Burger Bars Amore Next Door
How to assist grocery workers
Thoughts from a Wegmans employee on ways you can help slow the spread of the coronavirus and speed up lines at the registers. Use the hand sanitizer provided at store entrances. If your store doesn’t have sanitizing stations, tell the manager you want them. Curb your worst instincts. Do you really need every package of…
It’s still crazy, but maybe a little less crazy
Hundreds of people stood outside the store entrance Saturday morning, the first shopping day after Wegmans announced it was curtailing nighttime operations. The scene when the doors opened was like something from the Oklahoma land rush. Customers sprinted inside, grabbed carts and hurried toward the far corner of the store, toward the toilet paper and…
The rush, and then the emptiness
The public response to the Wegmans announcement that it was curtailing hours? Another stampede. This is more than panic buying. It’s an insatiable need to do something, to connect with a trusted provider at a time when other sources of support are shutting down or failing. (School closings and event cancellations are justifiable; the lack…
Wegmans cuts back hours
Wegmans has announced a change in shopping hours, so it can clean and restock stores. The temporary hours will be: NYS (excluding Brooklyn) and Erie, PA: 6 am – 12 am New England, NJ, VA, PA (excluding Erie), NC: 6 am – 11 pm MD: 6 am – 10 pm Brooklyn: 7 am – 11…
Survival shopping
They came. They saw. They bought. And bought and bought and bought. They bought, at times, merely because they could. One woman purchased eight bottles of ranch dressing. A man in his 30s cleaned out our supply of rigatoni. “I haven’t eaten pierogies in 20 years,” another man told me. “But it’s what you had.”…