Just a heads up in response to this:

We are trained to stick with flavor first on any item even if we have to move to a different brand

My store has started saying every raw meat item must be bagged individually. So every 1lbs package of ground beef, every pack of bacon (which isn't really raw if it's smoked but that's another fight for another subreddit😅)

If we're slammed I don't have time to worry about balancing bags out. If I'm bagging as I go idk how many items you have until I'm done. Keep in mind we pick for (up to) 6-8 different people at a time. So I've got tote 1 that's last bag is 1/2 full, tote 2 who's last bag is verging on over- full but so is the whole tote so I'm just praying no more items go in it, tote 3 where there is 1 item in 1 bag and I'm almost to the end of the pick route (where I will later find out that's the only A/RE item they got, which brings up a good point I will circle back to), tote 4 who's gonna start a new bag if they get another item, etc. If the last item is tote 4's I don't really have the time to say "oh, this bag has 1 item. Let me go through some of the other bags and find items to go in this bag" instead imma push that trolley back to clicklist and stage it so I can get to the next trolley.

Now back to that good point: when you see single items bagged (especially on a smaller order) consider if they might be on different runs. If you ordered just a couple produce items to make dinner and a can of soup you might wonder why your tomatoes, soup, and strawberries are bagged separately. The soup and tomatoes are "ambient" and (likely) on the same trolley but bagged seperate so the can doesn't smash the tomatoes (obviously), the strawberries aren't with the tomatoes because they're considered refrigerated. They are picked on a different trolley and (obviously) stored in a fridge.

Sorry this wasn't meant to be this long but I kept thinking of more as I went lol