Grocery Baggers Finally Get Their Due at National Best Bagger Championship

All hail the grocery bagger, the unheralded hero of the grocery store, the person who makes sure your eggs don’t get broken and your bananas don’t get smashed. In many grocery stores these days, checkers have taken on the duties of baggers. But at the annual Best Bagger Championship, sponsored by the National Grocers Association, baggers still get their due. And this year’s competition is coming up next Monday in San Diego, a highlight of the annual NGA show.
The competition began modestly back in 1983 when the American Paper Institute sponsored a bag-packing competition with a grand prize of $1,983. This year’s contest, sponsored by PepsiCo, has 22 contestants, the champions of their home states, all vying for a $10,000 cash prize. Their medium is reusable bags, which they must fill with between 30 and 38 common grocery items. According to the official competition handbook, “Contestants are judged by speed of bagging, proper bag-building technique, weight distribution, in the bag, as well as style, attitude, and appearance.”
The competition has two hashtags—#BestBagger and #NGAShow20—so you can cheer on your state champ from afar. Iowans have won the past two years in a row. Will this year be a three-peat? The Best Bagger Championship will be streaming on the NGA’s Facebook page starting at 5 p.m. PST.

Here’s the complete story from The Takeout.

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