Regarding the "x items or less" checkout lines at the supermarket...

[StrongBad]

Today my girlfriend and I went food shopping together at the local Ralph's. When we were done shopping we had only 10 items so we headed for the express checkout (15 items our less) line to pay.

Ahead of us was a woman with a shopping cart. She clearly had over the designated amount but not by much. While waiting in line I did a quick count and she had about 22 items.

This didn't really bother me too much, however my girlfriend made a comment to the woman. She said something to the effect of "I think you are in the wrong line. This is the express checkout".

The woman did a quick scan of her cart, said "ok" and left for the regular lines.

I thought this was a little over the top and that my girlfriend was being a stickler to a rule that isn't really etched in stone.

She thought that supermarkets have these rules for a reason and that the woman shouldn't have been where she was.

A minor spat ensued and I thought this was an interesting social phenomenon to investigate. And what better place to ask an opinion than the DU lounge?

So, thoughts?

[charlie and algernon]

1. i try and stick by it

I may end up going into the express lane with 16-17 products, otherwise I just go into the regular lanes.

22 items isn't too bad, I wouldn't have said anything. Now if someone pulled in with a full cart, they may get a dirty look from me.

[Mojambo]

2. I was just writing about this yesterday

I was in a very awkward situation when the store manager told me to go to the express lane even though I had well over 12 items.

http://mojambo.blogspot.com/2009/11/on-rules-of-society-and-being-made-to.html

[StrongBad]

16. Nice post. I feel the same way about societal "rules"

[mamaleah]

3. I really really really am bothered by people who intentionally ignore their grocery count.

Most of the time they jump into the X items or less because it's moving faster or is shorter. And that's the point. It's for people with a handful of items so they can get in and get out. If you have a bunch of stuff, you have to wait with other people trying to do a lot of shopping. How hard is that?

[Captain Hilts]

4. X items or FEWER!!!!!

[Silver Swan]

5. I was once chastised by another shopper

Because I had only nine items in a regular, non-express, line.

She was certain I had to be in the ten items or less line.

[AmyDeLune]

6. Speaking as a cashier...

Generally, it's okay to be over by a few items. 22 items isn't going to kill anyone. It's the people who wheel up their carts piled high with merchandise who are the problem. Unfortunately, if they've already unloaded their cart, it will take longer to reload the cart and shuffle them off to the proper line than it will just to ring out their stuff. There's not much you can do except go as fast as you can and shoot apologetic looks to the customers behind them.

Occasionally, if it's slow, my manager will steer someone with more than the allotted items into the express lane just to keep the overall lines shorter and moving faster. Shoot, I'll wave people into the express lane (if I'm checking at one) if it's slow enough.

Remember, just because it's the express lane doesn't mean that the cashier is particularly speedy, just that customers are supposed to have fewer items. And watch out getting in line behind people with a hand full of coupons. That's never going to be a speedy transaction...

[StrongBad]

14. Thanks for the perspective!

[Wapsie B]

19. Wow

"Generally, it's okay to be over by a few items. 22 items isn't going to kill anyone."

It seemed to be doing in the one I ran into described in my post. But the fist-full of coupon people do take forever and those in the self checkouts paying for a cartfull of items with one dollar bills, feeding them into the money machine one bill at a time.

[emilyg]

7. Your girlfriend is right.

[smalll]

8. A lot of gray area here -- what counts as an "item" -- for example -

what if you have, say, 5 Danon yoghurts, same size, same price -- does that count as one "item?" Or three identical cans of beans? Hmm?

[Zomby Woof]

10. They count as one item

Because all the cashier has to do is hit the "quantity" key for the number of same items. Only one yogurt needs scanning, which is the real aim of the express line - scanning 15 items (or 10, etc.) or fewer.

[dysfunctional press]

23. only if they're the same flavor.

most stores these days use inventory control procedures that require the cashiers to ring up different flavored items separately.

[dysfunctional press]

22. everytime something gets run over the scanner and registers a price- that's an item.

if you have 5 individual yogurts- those are 5 items. if you have a 6-pack of soda- that's one item. if you have 15 cans of catfood- that's 15 items. if you have a 24-can carton of cat food- that's one item. the second item in a buy-one-get-one free sale wouldn't be an "item", because it registers no price. if something is '3 for $1.00' and you get 3- that's 3 items.

[madinmaryland]

9. Uh-oh! Do you use the self checkout lane?? and do you bag your own groceries??

:hide:

This could cause some serious agita in GD. The baggers vs. the anti-baggers.

:hi:

[StrongBad]

17. Apparently the grocery store is a hot-bed of potential flamewars!

:hi:

[PVnRT]

30. Self-checkout is EVIL and the only people who use them are ANTI-UNION FREEPERS

The Brain Trust in GD has spoken.

[MilesColtrane]

11. Most people think that rules do not apply to themselves, or they're simply unaware.

I generally estimate how many items I have when I get into an express lane so as not to be 'that guy'.

At 22 items, she was well over the limit. The fact that she was pushing a cart instead of carrying a hand basket should have tipped her off to the fact that she might be over.

I would not have busted her though. The matter is too trivial to get up in somebody's grill about it.

[StrongBad]

15. Those are exactly my thoughts on the matter...

[Kali]

12. if there is nobody else in the store and the regular check outs are busy

I just ask if it is ok - sometimes the check out person themselves tell you to come over or a manager

Most of the time I'm loaded to the gills (only shop every 2 weeks if I can help it) so I usually stay in the regular line.

[Orrex]

13. Dump her.

:hide:

[Wapsie B]

18. I remember being in the Fareway store in Marshalltown, Iowa one day.

I was in a hurry to pick up some things and get home. They are known for long lines at the checkouts so when I saw one open I hurried on over not realizing until it was too late that it was the express lane. I can't remember how many items I had but it was obviously over whatever limit this store had to be in this lane. But rather than politely correct me the cashier exclaimed to me in a loud, very rude voice, "This is the express lane. You can see the sign." You simply do not talk that way to a customer, ever. If I had been managing the store she'd have been out the door. Period. So for every customer from hell story I'm sure I could find the cashier or store clerk from hades as well; that day I certainly did.

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. If I had been managing the store, I would NOT have done anything to that employee

except to say "dude, next time, even when the customer is clearly a self-absorbed shitpot, you should be more tactful in how you tell them to go to the proper checkout lane so that the people who truly qualify for the express lane can take advantage of it".

But then, I'm speaking as one who has three years actual experience as a checker in a grocery store.


Seriously, your post is so laughable that, in all honesty, I can't even muster the energy to laugh to the fullest extent that it demands.

Seriously,if you think that is the most vile, heinous, abusive fire-requiring language that a checkout clerk can muster for a customer, then you have a sensitivity level set way, way, way beyond poutrage and whaaaambulance.

[Wapsie B]

28. Gosh, well it seems that others in this world are held to much higher standards of behavior.

I can only imagine what would happen if someone in health care would address a patient in that manner. Spare me your attitude.

[PVnRT]

31. Let's compare pay for doctors versus cashiers

Yeah. Frankly, the way House is glorified, I don't think it would be a problem.

We could also talk about the heaps of abuse left on cashiers, who are apparently responsible for store pricing strategy and layout according to self-absorbed customers who think they are like unto demigods simply because they are spending money at the supermarket. Maybe that cashier was a little rude, but demanding they be fired for it? Stupid.

[Rabrrrrrr]

33. If you were managing the store, you'd know how difficult it is to find people to do that job

for the simple reason that it breaks people down having to deal with abusive, needy people like yourself who expect perfection at all times and make no allowance for human frailty and fumbling.

And then you'd understand why it's a better option to remind the cashier to be tactful than to just fire him.

And you would have dealt with needy, obsessive, abusive customers on such a regular basis that part of you would know and understand why a cashier might snap in that instance.

And you probably, like many managers, might have also on numerous occasions chewed that cashier out for taking people into the express lane who had more than the allowed number of items, probably because you, as the manager, then got chewed out by abusive needy customers who had to wait an extra few seconds because they got "stuck" behind the jackass with the too-many items.

[mattvermont]

26. I grew up near Marshalltown..You? nt

[Wapsie B]

29. I moved there from another part of the state,

growing up in NE Iowa.

[Mutley]

32. Think of it this way...

Every time a customer gets in the express lane with more than the allotted items, the cashier has to endure at least the next five customers bitching at him/her about not making the offender change lines. This can happen 30+ times in an 8 hour shift, and more often if it's busy (plus if it's busy, the customers tend to be crankier).

Add to this all of the other complaints the cashiers have to deal with (expired coupons, items not in stock, something didn't ring up correctly, the music is too loud, the bananas are turning brown, someone busted a jar of pickles in aisle 5, etc, etc, etc), as well as managers who are often nasty, aching backs from standing in the same position for hours, screaming children, the $25 steak someone decided they didn't want and left to rot on top of the Snickers bars...

Plus, everything that may be going on in their personal lives (sick kids, bills they can't afford to pay, a raging headache, trouble with spouse/SO, etc).

So sure, a cashier should not get snappy with a customer. But guess what, they are just as human as you are.

[XemaSab]

20. I think it's a little rude to violate the rules

but it's rude on the level of not moving to the next lane when there's traffic entering the freeway.

As long as everyone is happy 5 minutes later, does it really matter? :shrug:

[struggle4progress]

21. I pay some attention but not strict attention. My general view is that if I have all

my stuff in a handbasket, rather than a cart, I'll go express. I'll usually count "3 for $5" things as a single item. I'm less strict with myself if the express lines are short and stricter if all the lines are really long. If somebody complained at me for having 11 (instead of 10) items, I'd ignore the complaint. If I were the only person in the express line, and the cashier complained I had too many iitems, I'd pleasantly note I was holding anybody up and the cashier didn't have anything else to do. If all lines were middling long and somebody complained at me for having 25 (instead of 10) items, I apologize and move to another line

[seabeyond]

25. i think we could give people a little leeway and going over a few items is not a big deal. 20 items

is the magic number for a lot of places. just not a big deal.

[blueamy66]

27. Okay. How about the guy or gal

that goes to the express lane and buys cigs? The cashier has to find the keys and walk to the locked cabinet all the way down the length of the store, try to find the right box, lock the door and then mosey on back to the lane.

That pisses me off.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. If I have a few items over the number and the express checkout is not busy,

I will ask the clerk if I can checkout there. If I have a whole cart full of stuff, I go to one of the regular lines.