Richard Tester, manager of White's Fresh Foods on West Elk Avenue, says many things have changed in the 30 years he has worked as a grocery store manager. Photo by Rick Harris

Tester: Many things have changed in 30-year store-managing career

By Greg Miller
STAR STAFF
gmiller@starhq.com

   Richard Tester, manager of the White's Fresh Foods on W. Elk Ave., says many things have changed in the 30 years he has worked as a grocery store manager.
   "Back when I first started, we had the type of registers where you had to key everything in," Tester said. "Now, we have the scanners. The scanner reads the UPC code on each item automatically and you don't even need to use a keyboard at all, unless the scan bar is messed up or something.
   "Also, when we used to order, we had to take a book around with us and take a pencil and write the items we needed for each shelf and send the book in. Now, we have a hand-held unit, and we just go around and zap the UPC code on it and it automatically orders for us."
   Although Tester says the "Good Old Days were great days, in order to keep up with the fast pace that we now have, it's better to have this new technology. We can keep up with the prices a lot better, and it helps the customers pay the right price for the items.
   "I'd say we can probably make an order 10 times faster with the machine. We can transmit it within 30 seconds over the phone. All the changes are better for the customer."
   Tester notes that employee personalities have had a tendency to change over the past 30 years. "The personality of your employees has changed a lot," he said. "It's a lot different. When I first started at Smithdeal's, it was more like a family. All the cashiers, baggers and stockers were very close-knit and worked together.
   "Now, with the newer generation coming on, it's a different ball game. With the computers and all the updated stuff, the kids are just not family-oriented like kids used to be. Back then, if a person had a big order, stock men, cashiers, baggers and everybody chipped in and helped. Nowadays, they feel if they're a bag boy, that's all they do. If they're a cashier, that's all they do. If they're a meat man, that's all they do."
   The store doesn't have much "bone-in" meat products, Tester said. "They call it boneless, and it comes in tryvaced. Most of our meat now comes in tryvaced or vacuum-packed. Instead of doing so much of the work with the saw, we just take the knife, cut and put the meat into packages."
   Chicken is coming in pre-packaged, labeled and ready to go into the case when it arrives at the store, according to Tester. "When we get the chicken in, all we have to do is open the box and place it on the rack," he said.
   Years ago, Tester said, "We used to have the ice-packed chickens at Shield's Poultry down here. When you got the boxes of chickens in, the chickens were whole chickens and they were in ice. We took them out of the boxes and cut them up. A lot of people around here got used to them and liked them. It took us a while to get them away from the ice-packed chickens."
   Danny Shehan, the store's meat department manager, says customers request special orders like "thick steaks and tenderized meats, or 10 pounds or more of ground beef."
   When it comes to chicken, boneless breasts and tenders, chicken breasts and drumsticks are among the more popular items, Shehan said.
   Tester has a total of 37 years in the grocery business. He began managing the White's on W. Elk about 14 years ago.