Yes, I’ve seen it a few times at Safeway. The clerk will tell the full-cart person that they’re in the express lane and need to go to another one.
They either look sheepish, or apologize profusely. They always move, though.
How much does a Missy2U go for nowadays?
Ah, the difference a comma makes! 
Missy2U, of course, is priceless.
Aw shucks - you’re so sweet, WhyNot - I was just gonna tell Hamlet “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” 
Careful! If you forget to close your “thingie”, people will start thinking you’re cheap!
Me, too. I even tried to argue with the manager, but he grabbed my cart and pulled it into that lane anyway. Since I didn’t want to get into a tug-of-war with him, I let it go.
I did once accidentally get into an express lane with a full cart and the employee said something to me about it. (And yes, sticking express lanes in the middle of the checkouts is silly. I’m already on sign overload; it’s easy to miss yet another express lane sign.)
You’re not allowed to take the shopping cart home you know.
It is a great source of amusement for my Norskie friends who visit the States: “So we stopped at a supermarket to get some sodas and snacks for the drive, and the woman in front of us in line paid WITH A CHECK! Can you imagine? I mean, she didn’t have blue hair or anything, in fact I’d guess she wasn’t more than forty. And the clerk just took it like it was the most normal thing in the world!”
And I say, no offense to my homeland, but you have to remember it wasn’t too long ago that they thought pay-at-pump gas stations were a pretty neato idea 
I was at the supermarket once and the couple in front of me had way too many items for whatever the limit was. When they started putting them on the belt the people behind me noticed. They all began to bitch and moan about how “this is meant to be the express lane” or “the sign says 12 items only” or other ways of recounting the obvious. I turned to all of them and said loudly, “Don’t worry I’ve checked their trolley and they only have 3 items - food, cleaning products and other stuff.”
End of complaints. So I have used it a couple of times since.
Yeah, but if you are picking up a bottle of wine, or a six-pack of beer, you have to wait for a cashier to come over and verify your ID. I know they have to follow the law, but that defeats the whole purpose of “self” checkout.
And don’t even get me started about buying smokes (before I quit). Not even five to ten years ago, you went down the tobacco aisle and picked out a carton, a pack, whatever of smokes and loaded it in your cart with your other stuff. Today they are kept behind bomb-proof glass and the only employee who has the key to the case is currently taking a dump.
Because this held up the line (no shit, Einstein) now they only allow tobacco purchases at one lane: the express lane. So, if I have a full load of groceries AND I wanted a carton of smokes, I had to go through TWO checkout lines. Well, fuck you very much, but I don’t have time to start a new life inside your store. My tobacco purchases happened elsewhere.
And this idea about shopping during the off times. It doesn’t work. Go to Wal-Mart at 3am and try to beat the traffic? Well, there will be three of you waiting to pay, one open checkout counter, and the checkout girl will be outside taking a smoke break. Then the manager will see this mini-queue forming and say to herself (out loud) “Where the fuck is Shannon? I’ve told that fucking girl never to leave the register!” using curse words in front of customers.
No thanks. I’ll just let my wife do the shopping
Just out of interest, when I was at the grocery store yesterday I actually looked at the sign instead of just taking in the number (which is what I usually do).
The signs at my Safeway say 15 item limit.
Of which I had exactly that so I went through there.
My grocery store often has two express lanes and one regular lane which then gets backed up several people deep while no one is in the express lanes and I wait and wait for someone in an express lane to call someone over to their line but they usually take the opportunity to go on break or gab with their coworker instead.