Answer Man: In the age of COVID-19, what are Ingles, Publix doing for workers?

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: We’re hearing in the news that across the nation some grocery and shopping/delivery workers who are truly on the front line and vulnerable to the novel coronavirus are pressing for and receiving paid medical leave, increased protection — gloves, sneeze guards, masks, hand-sanitizer — as well as increased pay for “hazard duty.” What is Ingles doing to increase their protection and care for the front-line staff? Since Ingles is based locally, and employs our neighbors, family and friends, I want to be sure they’re caring for “our” cashiers and other staff. (Answer Man editorial note: I've heard from a few other readers asking about Ingles in particular and worker safety. I'll continue to update changes as this evolves).

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My answer: I'd like to just note for the record here that we should all be sure to thank our grocery store workers for continuing to show up every day to keep us fed and taken care of. Nothing snarky here, I've just heard of some folks being really rude to grocery workers, and this is not the time for that, my friends. These folks have a lot of exposure, and they're generally not making a fortune, so be kind.

Real answer: Based in Black Mountain, Ingles has about 200 stores in six Southeastern states, each of which has their own guidelines and pronouncements about COVID-19, essential workers, outings, safe numbers of groups and more. So in short, it gets complicated.

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"As you might imagine, we are getting new guidelines each day and those guidelines are not the same for each state," Ingles Chief Financial Officer Ron Freeman told me the morning of April 7. "In the meantime, we are installing Plexiglas, marking safe social distances and one-way aisles for all 198 of our stores."

The Plexiglas provides a shield between customers and cashiers during checkout (I'll note that French Broad Food Coop in downtown Asheville put these up a couple of weeks ago, and they seem to work well).

"The marking can be done quickly, the Plexiglas takes time, and we are working to get all the stores done as soon as we can," Freeman said. "Please check the website often, as we update it frequently."

That website would be: https://www.ingles-markets.com/covid19

In an April 3 post, Ingles noted it has a "contactless payment" option that allows customers to pay by "placing a smartphone or pay-enabled debit or credit card near a contactless-enabled devise, rather than swiping or inserting a card into the PIN pad." Cashiers can help you with the process, if you're unfamiliar with it.

"This will help customers reduce contact with commonly used surfaces like PIN pads," Ingles said on its site.

The Florida-based Publix grocery store chain, which has multiple stores in our area, announced last week it too was putting in place a touchless payment system, with the rollout expected to be completed by April 4.

Publix, which is privately owned and operated by its more than 200,000 employees, has 1,242 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.

Publix also has started "installing Plexiglas shields at all cash registers, pharmacies and customer service counters," according to a company press release. And it has "increased sanitization efforts through frequent and regular cleaning of high-touch surfaces like carts, door handles, PIN pads, ATMs and vending machines."

And yes, it has suspended product sampling, so you can't get a free lunch by browsing the store anymore.

Ingles has a section about "Social distancing guidelines" on its website, noting the company cares "greatly about the health and safety of our customers and our associates that serve them."

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"In our stores, we have prominent signage and we use our in-house radio to encourage recommended social distancing," the Ingles website states. "We have begun the processing of marking our checkout lanes to keep customers safely separated while they check out."

Also, customers who bring in reusable bags will be asked to bag their own groceries.

Another reader mentioned to me that on a recent trip to Ingles, "though most of the customers were wearing either a mask or gloves or (both) at least half of the employees were not wearing any protection at all."

I suspect in coming days, just about any employees with public contact will be wearing masks and gloves, partly because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced April 3 that it now recommends that people wear cloth or fabric face coverings when going to public places such as grocery stores and public transit.

For weeks the CDC and other health experts had said you needed to wear a mask only if you're sick or caring for a sick person, but that policy has been tweaked, obviously. As I mentioned in my Sunday column, mask wearing is about to become very commonplace, much as it is in Asian countries with more experience dealing with these outbreaks. 

The idea is to prevent those people who have the novel coronavirus but might not know it from unwittingly spreading it to others.

So, stayed tuned on the mask front.

Ingles and Publix also have announced shortened business hours.

Additionally, on its financial page, Ingles announced that it's looking to hire over 5,000 workers, and it's offering an "enhanced two-week COVID-19 leave, and pay and appreciation bonus totaling over $5 million." The leave program is for "associates who test positive."

"In addition, we have modified our sick pay policy, and enhanced our medical plan to provide covered members with additional benefits," Ingles states on its website. "Ingles Markets will provide a one-time bonus payment of $300 to full-time and $150 to part-time active retail, distribution, and corporate associates who were hired prior to March 1, 2020. The bonus payment will be made on or before April 23, 2020."

Ingles Chairman Robert P. Ingle II said: "Our hard-working associates are truly heroes. We are proud of their dedication and support during this unprecedented time."

On its website, Publix notes that it has "installed signs, marked distances on the floor where customers line up and initiated intercom announcements to remind customers to maintain the recommended 6-foot distance between themselves and other shoppers."

The company also has "provided store associates in non-food handling roles, such as cashiers, baggers and pharmacy clerks, the option to wear gloves and masks and implemented emergency pandemic pay for full- and part-time associates who show symptoms of, are diagnosed with, are caring for someone diagnosed with or are self-quarantined due to COVID-19." 

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com