Steve B.

Our local supermarkets encourage shoppers to use the large dual handled plastic shopping bags. I doubt they would object to panniers, if they did I'd have it out with the store manager and nip this in the bud.

mschwett 

of course they do! as i said, they want you to fill them at the register so they can see that the stuff you put in them has been paid for. you put the empty reusable bag/s at the bottom of the basket or cart when you get to the store. get your stuff. go to the register. unload the basket/cart, revealing the empty shopping bags at the bottom, sitting there flat and obviously not containing any shoplifted goods. pay, fill bags.

untold hundreds of thousands o of people do this every day, i'm not sure what the confusion is!

esasjl

It depends how much shopping you are getting but these are like reusable shopping bags with pannier hooks
https://road.cc/content/review/cobags-bikezac-20-293441
They are only rated to 8 kg so not great for the weekly shop that gets to 40 kg.

Nyah

Put them on the platform that's underneath the main bin.

Maelochs

If the store has carts, we are dealing with a much different scenario. As you say, put the bags under the cart before you enter ... or fold them flat (if they do) and drop them into the cart.

For situations where you have to hand-carry them or sling them over a shoulder, things might be different.

Steve B.

Our local store, called Stop and Shop, allows either use of a hand held bar code scanner the store provides, or you can scan off a phone app. You scan as you shop, load up your bags/panniers, finish shopping, go to a self checkout lane, scan the completed bar code, pay and are done. On occasion, you get audited. The store employee then scans and checks that items in your bags have been scanned. Its a very easy and fast system.

MarcusT

I mounted a plastic crate on my rear rack. I was able to put 3 shopping bags in there

Arthur Peabody

I haven't tried, suspect I couldn't get away with it.

Something that I can attach to my rack (because I hate carrying things on my body) that I can roll up as small as a shopping bag (or hide under my shirt) that will carry more stuff than a shopping bag. I imagined one of those 'panniers' that sits on top of a rack, attaches with velcro on its bottom to the rack. All those I've seen have been small.

They do allow reusable shopping bags. I use one now, am hoping for something larger that attaches to my rack more securely.
My most common use is Mallwart. My gym is half-mile from the closest. After a workout I lock my panniers in a locker at the gym, take my shopping bag, bungees, and wallet to Mallwart, bring the stuff back. Sometimes it's so precarious I have to walk, which isn't too bad for half-mile. But that Mallwart just closed; now the closest is 6 miles away. One alternative is to order for pickup, but I'm used to being less organized.

That, or the wire baskets like I used to deliver newspapers 60 years ago. I don't have the space for a second bicycle.

Can I attach that to my rack? And backpacks are expressly forbidden. I have to roll it up or hide it.

I don't think they'll let me in with that. If I make one myself - and I have made a few backpacks and have a piece of unused packcloth - I'd make it not-stiff so I can get it past security. That may be the ticket: the stiffener attached to the rack, count on it not getting stolen. Though a lot of thieves don't want the stuff they steal, just to spoil someone else's day.

79pmooney

Maybe ask to speak with the manager on a day when you aren't feeling pissed about this and explain how much easier your life would be if you could just bring your panniers in the store and put them in a safe place, either with them or under the cart. That leaving them on the bike is asking to have them stolen. That taking this approach also saves the store bags.

Or, alternatively, could you simply bring the bike into the store panniers on?

Chuck Naill

Many variables exist for the cyclist wanting to shop and since food islands exist, we all don't have the option of going to another store.

I know the manager and employees at the store where I use the bike for grocery shopping. We know each other's first names and greet each other when I visit. I secure the bike just outside the door in plain sight. At another store there is a bike rack in plain view so that anyone trying to steal something would be obvious. I think if I needed to carry the panniers inside, they would hold them somewhere or allow me to put them in the space below the card. I'd prefer to leave them attached and load them after shopping. Those old type foldable wire type pannier baskets might be less desirable for thieves.

bwilli88 

Wald makes collapsible baskets for a rear rack and also has bags that for in them.

LarrySellerz

OPs first sentence is “stores aren’t letting me in with panniers” and instead of taking this at face value more than half of the replies in this thread are questioning that premise.

tomato coupe

Cite one thread where someone questioned the OP’s claim…

mstateglfr 

You seem to be an adult, lets use adult words and call it Walmart instead of some childish term like 'Mallwart'.
Your Walmart closed? Thats rare. Ive seen em move elsewhere in town to better handle traffic, so maybe thats what you mean? Regardless, that is frustrating for sure.

When you walk into the store, just push a cart or use a basket to collect your items. Buy them, and load them into your panniers. That is no different from how one shops with reusable bags.

As for your initial post- why on earth are you walking around the store with bags bungeed around your neck? That seems...eccentric to put it nicely.

Maelochs

The idea of "sneaking" bags into the shop also seemed odd.

The few places which wouldn't let me carry a big offered me the option of checking the bags at customer service. I don't see why this wouldn't work.

Arthur Peabody

You don't shop at Mallwart.
That wouldn't discourage people here.

Someone would steal them for fun.

Yes.

They have guards in the doorways that prevent entry with non-shopping bags.

I didn't say I did. The bag is around my neck. That's the easiest way to carry it. It has bungee cords inside to attach the filled bag to the rack.

I didn't say I snuck them in. I hang the bag around my neck because that's the easiest way to carry it. I keep it in my shirt so it doesn't flop around when I'm riding.

It would. They would have to offer it.

mstateglfr 

Ok, so use the panniers as shopping bags. This is just the oddest 'issue' I've come across in some time.


[Quote/]I didn't say I did. The bag is around my neck. That's the easiest way to carry it. It has bungee cords inside to attach the filled bag to the rack.
[/QUOTE]
It seemed like you did since you said this...





Anyways, best of luck to you in your future shopping endeavors. Perhaps consider shopping in grocery stores that don't have guards at the entrance.

bwilli88 

Not if you take the bag in with you. Those racks do not come off easy.










As it works best.

Maelochs

Right ... if they would take the time to unbolt your racks, why would they not steal any or all of the mechanically affixed accouterments ... saddle, brifters, derailleurs stem, seat post, bars?

Also, you did say, twice that you wanted to hide stuff under your shirt and sneak it in.

Third, you say that a store would have to offer the option of checking bags. I am not a million years old, but I am pretty old, and I have been using this feature (or have been forced to use it) for a long, long time. I think you simply haven't tried. Personally, I would go right to Customer Service and ask if I could check a bag I didn't want to carry with me. Try it.

This evolved about 80 years ago with the advent of shopping malls, where a person would go from store to store, and no store wanted to see a person carrying an armful of bags from other stores, full of merchandise---theft risk. it is not 21st century cutting-edge technology.

This has devolved into or revealed itself as one a sort of typical BF threads---I want advice, purportedly, but whatever anyone suggests I will reject, no matter how outlandish my purported reason for rejection.

Plenty of good answers here. Try some and report back, please.

GhostRider62

Stores are no longer allowed to provide bags here, we have to bring our own.

I just tell them the pannier is my purse and am identifying as a Karen today, now, get me the Manager immediately. Cue the iPhone.

Arthur Peabody

The stores have definitions of shopping bags that my panniers, and all I have seen, don't fit. I used the phrase to refer to reusable shopping bags that stores have to accommodate.
You misunderstand. The bungee cords are in the bag attached to my neck.
I didn't mention grocery stores. All of them in Albuquerque have guards at the entrance. All the ones at which I shop don't mind my panniers.

I wasn't responding to something that required bolting on.

If I could hide it under my shirt that would make it acceptable. I carry my shopping bag inside my shirt because it rides most easily that way.

I have tried. Some used to. The Mallwart that closed used to have lockers. They were vandalized.

Chuck Naill

I just realized that "Malwart" is referring to Walmart.

Keefusb

Just put your panniers inside a reusable grocery bag so you don't have to leave them outside the store where the panniers might get stolen. Stick the reusable grocery bag in the cart on the folding kiddie seat, and shop as usual.

When you get to the checkout, either give the panniers to the bagger, or bag them into the panniers yourself. Places like Lidl, Trader Joes, and Aldi all make you pack your own bags anyway.

My son lives in Baltimore and does his warm weather grocery shopping this way with his Cannondale R900 with a rear rack, and 1994 vintage red Cannondale panniers. He will also use a plastic milk crate bungeed to the rack for larger items like gallons of milk or laundry detergent.

I do like the kitty litter bucket idea, sometimes you want to be able to seal your cargo in a water and airtight container.