<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by umguy:
...it's not like crew members have the option of checking their bags so we could brings these items along with us.</font>
You could gate-check the bags so they're available at the end of the jetway when you deplane. As a crew member, you're going to be the last one(s) off the flight anyway, so the wait for ground crew to get your bag to the jetway shouldn't be a problem.