MARTIN SLOANE | Supermarket Shopper Strategize your holiday shopping

With the approach of the holidays, it is time to think of the supermarkets, the employees and the manufacturers whose outstanding performance have won your goodwill and loyalty in 2002 and consider your nominations for the 2002 Golden Shopping Cart Awards. The awards, now in their 21st year, are the People's Choice Awards presented by supermarket shoppers.
Their purpose is both to recognize outstanding performance and the examples set by supermarkets that their employees and manufacturers can follow. If there is a supermarket, an employee or a manufacturer you would like to thank for outstanding performance, here is your chance. The nomination categories are:
UBest Supermarket of the Year: If you shop at a store that does everything right, it deserves your nomination. Here is your chance to show the store's management and employees that all of their good work is appreciated.
UBest Supermarket Manager/Employee of the Year: Do you know a supermarket employee whose work is really outstanding? Is there a store manager whose high standards and leadership create a store atmosphere that makes shopping a pleasure? This person deserves your nomination.
UBest Supermarket Promotion of the Year: This is an opportunity to let your supermarket know how much you appreciate low prices or a special sale or promotion that helped you stretch your grocery budget, for example, that free Thanksgiving turkey offer.
Outstanding performance by the manufacturer of a product you purchase at the supermarket should also receive your recognition. Here are your award categories:
UBest Manufacturer Customer Relations of the Year: Good customer relations is just as much a part of customer satisfaction as providing a quality product. In this past year, were you more than satisfied with the way a problem was handled? Did the company's customer relations department go above and beyond the call of duty? Here is your chance to show your appreciation.
UBest Manufacturer Consumer Offer: If you benefited from a consumer offer that exceeded your expectations, such as a merchandise premium offer whose quality impressed you, or a refund or rebate that helped stretch your grocery budget, this is the time to find pen and paper or postcard will do, and send in your nomination.
The nomination instructions are simple. Jot down the reasons why this supermarket, employee or manufacturer deserves a Golden Shopping Cart Award in any one or more of the award categories. You can include more than one nomination. All nominations must be submitted by Feb. 1, 2003. Send them to: Martin Sloane, Golden Shopping Cart Awards, in care of this newspaper. Your nominations are important to these companies and fine employees, so please send in your nomination soon.
Holiday hustling
The holidays mean doing the supermarket hustle, but, I know you don't want to dodge through crowded aisles and stand in long checkout lines. You don't have to if you plan ahead and think strategically.
Supermarket shoppers typically make a weekly stock-up trip -- the full shopping cart trip of the week -- and then one or two weekly fill-in trips that still require the regular checkout lanes. Change the pattern. If you are going to have to wait in that line, do it less frequently. Stock up on staples for two weeks rather than one. With the staples taken care of, plan to be an express lane customer between the bigger stock-up trips.
Another method to shop less frequently in the weeks ahead is to work down the stock of items in your pantry and freezer. Consider all those cans, boxes and packages that may be accumulating dust or frost. Now is the time to use them. Be creative! Think of a close-to-empty pantry and freezer to start the new year!
One of the best ways to take the dodge and wait out of supermarket shopping is to shop very early or very late. I prefer to shop late, about an hour before closing time. The downside of shopping late may be the produce section where the selection may be skimpy and some of the fruit and veggies may look like they have been there too long. On the other hand, if you can rise and shop early, you may get first choice.
Avoid the holiday grocery shopping hustle by finding a store that accepts telephone orders. Some independently owned supermarkets and grocery stores have phone-in order services and then either deliver or have your order waiting for you to pick up.
Consider doing grocery shopping on the Internet. If your supermarket offers online shopping, avoiding the holiday hustle may be a good reason try it. Most supermarkets that do, offer home delivery. If no supermarket in your area offers the service, consider visiting the Web site of www.netgrocer.com, which delivers dry groceries using Fedex.
If there are two of you who can do the shopping, shop together and divide the list so you both can use the express lane. I call this & quot;tag-team shopping. & quot;
Even lines for the express lane can be long ones during the holidays. So, for those needed fill-in items, find an alternative to the supermarket.
You may rarely shop at a convenience store, however if you need just need a few items -- like a quart of milk -- now would be a good time to try a C store.
If you are single, consider sharing the grocery shopping with a good friend. This isn't as strange as it sounds. The idea is to alternate shopping trips. In the aisles you keep your items and your friend's separate. At the checkout counter, the friend's items are checked out, bagged and paid for, first. Then you do it one more time for your purchases. This might easily save you an hour or two each week. You might even want to continue shared shopping after the holidays.
No matter what your holiday grocery shopping strategy, during this busy shopping period, be at your courteous best when you are in the supermarket aisles and in the checkout lines. Relax, smile and as a reader from Texas recently said, smell the roses.
XSend questions and comments to Martin Sloane in care of The Vindicator. The volume of mail precludes individual replies to every letter, but Martin Sloane will respond to letters of general interest in the column. Check out Martin Sloane's Web site at www.martinsloane.com.