# 12 items or less... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588 "2011-12-17T22:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/21 "2011-12-18T04:33:35Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > I knew the less vs fewer grammatical point would be brought up 🙂 Yeah, usually by people who haven’t consulted a reference: > [@Merriam-Webster](#): > > The traditional view is that less applies to matters of degree, value, or amount and modifies collective nouns, mass nouns, or nouns denoting an abstract whole while fewer applies to matters of number and modifies plural nouns. Less has been used to modify plural nouns since the days of King Alfred and the usage, though roundly decried, appears to be increasing. Less is more likely than fewer to modify plural nouns when distances, sums of money, and a few fixed phrases are involved \ \\*\* \\*\* and as likely as fewer to modify periods of time \. I think that fits in perfectly with the language of the OP. Have a nice day! ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/22 "2011-12-18T05:23:34Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > WT means white trash 🙂 Yeah I know, a bit harsh. Not harsh at all. No one, anywhere, has EVER snuck more items into the max-12 checkout counter unless they were white, trashy, female, and over 45. Never once has a male, a person of color, or an individual under the age of 45 ever violated this rule. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/23 "2011-12-18T05:33:40Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > 1. This one is contentious, but usually 2 6 packs is 2 items. 1 12 pack is 1 of course So help me God, **thelurkinghorror** , I will fight you to the death over this. Fourteen Cup-O-Noodles is one item. Three packages of ground beef is one item. Six cans of Campbell’s Soup is one item. Same thing=same item. Choose your weapon. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/24 "2011-12-18T10:44:31Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > I understand you are 45 and have dentures and leathery skin, but please read the sign. Is there anything relevant in this sentence? Or are you merely assuming that everyone who matches this description is somehow inferior to you? ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/25 "2011-12-18T13:25:10Z")
The WT, dentures, etc are just me being an ass. If anybody was truly offended, I am sorry. Both people who were breaking the rule fit that description. So I took a stab. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/26 "2011-12-18T14:20:23Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So help me God, **thelurkinghorror** , I will fight you to the death over this. Fourteen Cup-O-Noodles is one item. Three packages of ground beef is one item. Six cans of Campbell’s Soup is one item. > > Same thing=same item. Choose your weapon. No. Just, no. ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/27 "2011-12-18T14:47:32Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yes. That’s why I scan my own groceries if I only have a few. Plus then I can make sure that the canned goods don’t go in the same bag as the bread. my wife makes fun of me. when we shop, I purposely place groceries in the cart a certain way so that when I unload them to the belt the bagger doesn’t have to think about how he/she is bagging (because in my experience, they won’t anyway; not that I would for minimum wage, either) and still end up with the cans in their own bag in the cart with the bread and veggies on top when all is said and done. > [@notfrommensa](#): > > There should be a line for debit card only, no cigarettes from behind the counter, no coupons. preach on, brother! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/28 "2011-12-18T15:12:14Z")
The “number of items” limit is really number of discrete scans / inputs the cashier will have to do. That’s the factor which drives the time it takes to process a complete sale. And the whole point of the “X or less/fewer items” line is to ensure that only quick orders are in line ahead of yew pwecious sewf wif yew pwecious time & pwetentious sense of entitewment. 3 zukes in a single bag with one produce code = 1 “item”. 3 different veg’s each in different bags with different produce codes = 3 items. 2 identical cans of whatever = 2 items because it takes 2 scans. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/29 "2011-12-18T15:22:50Z")
What’s this about cans on top of bread - don’t you get a bag for each individual item, and double bags for individual heavy items? Nothing like buying 4 items and walking out of the store with 5 bags to hold them… :rolleyes: OK, partly my fault for forgetting (again) my totebags. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/30 "2011-12-18T15:43:54Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So help me God, **thelurkinghorror** , I will fight you to the death over this. Fourteen Cup-O-Noodles is one item. Three packages of ground beef is one item. Six cans of Campbell’s Soup is one item. > > Same thing=same item. Choose your weapon. You will not prevail against all of us. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/31 "2011-12-18T15:46:14Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So help me God, **thelurkinghorror** , I will fight you to the death over this. Fourteen Cup-O-Noodles is one item. Three packages of ground beef is one item. Six cans of Campbell’s Soup is one item. > > Same thing=same item. Choose your weapon. absolutely, 100% wrong. first of all, these are still individual items the cashier has to scan, handle, and bag. not to mention that if the cup of noodles or campbells soup aren’t all the same flavors, they can’t take the shortcut of hitting 6 quantity scan item, next. no shortcut exists with the ground beef, it’s packaged by weight so the price will be different and each one must be scanned. there is always someone in express lane threads who wants to play the philosophical “now what really constitutes an item” game, and it’s ridiculous. if it has a UPC, it’s an item. produce items go by weight or quantity. if it says .99/pound, you can put several in a bag, it gets rung up once, it’s one item. if it says .99 each, each one is an item. tldr version: your 14 cup of noodles, 6 campbells soups, and 2 packages of ground beef do not belong in the express lane. take it elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/32 "2011-12-18T16:30:15Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > What’s this about cans on top of bread - don’t you get a bag for each individual item, and double bags for individual heavy items? Nothing like buying 4 items and walking out of the store with 5 bags to hold them… :rolleyes: OK, partly my fault for forgetting (again) my totebags. Once again, [xkcd](http://xkcd.com/990/) has this covered. And just this week, too! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/33 "2011-12-18T16:39:38Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > absolutely, 100% wrong. first of all, these are still individual items the cashier has to scan, handle, and bag. not to mention that if the cup of noodles or campbells soup aren’t all the same flavors, they can’t take the shortcut of hitting 6 quantity scan item, next. no shortcut exists with the ground beef, it’s packaged by weight so the price will be different and each one must be scanned. It isn’t even just the number of scans. The express lane is often constructed differently from the other registers. There may be no belt, or a short belt, and there is likely to be no bay to place scanned or scanned-and-bagged items. If your items take up too much space, you will be slowing the whole line down. That doesn’t change even if all of them are identical. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/34 "2011-12-18T17:23:56Z")
I propose you go easy on the people with dentures and leathery skin, if these are a proxy for “old”. Keeping your teeth isn’t the only obstacle. Pretty much everything gets harder - being observant about the sign, craning your neck to look at it, focusing on it, whatever. It isn’t just random coincidence that people breaking the rule tend to fit the same description. As a practical matter, you might reconsider sowing discontent with a demographic group that you are inevitably heading into. On another front, multiple items of the same product DO count as a single item for the purpose of the express checkout line count, according to the checkout person I asked. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/35 "2011-12-18T17:27:02Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > I’ve done this before too. You show up with a basket full of stuff and there aren’t any other customers so they invite you over to their lane. Inevitably, as soon as they start to ring up your stuff some other guy with like 2 items comes in behind you and looks at you like you’re the biggest asshole in the world. I’ve done that to. I had words with the Target shift supervision - they only had three lanes open - two regular, one express. The express was something like “eight or less items” it was small. Both the regular lanes were backed up with one person being rung up and at least two more waiting. The cashier at the express lane had nothing to do but stare vacantly into space. I had ten items (or whatever, it was some small amount over the limit) and she chose to enforce the rule. She was spoken to, with me standing there, and I got an apology and she got a lecture of “customer service and common sense.” Although you have to blame the cashier supervisor as well - because when you get a rush, you need to adapt your lanes quickly. You shouldn’t have five people waiting to be rung up if you have staff available. I would have not done this if her lane was backed up as well. If there are people IN the express lane, I’m a stickler for counting my own items and not getting in that line over limit. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/36 "2011-12-18T17:29:00Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Sure, and then when the six-pack goes across the scanner, the thumble dick cashier looking at the 104 year old man purchasing the beer must ask for his picture identification. Then, 4 minutes later when he produces it, the cashier cannot enter his birth date in the computer without mistyping it 4 times causing a manager to have to override the code by typing the highly secret birth date of 1/1/1980. > > So, I take my jar of mustard and loaf of bread to the self-checkout where there are four lanes, two of which are out of service, one contains a woman buying 3 cartloads full of groceries and the other one is occupied by the 104 year old man’s 102 year old sister not returning her item to the baggage area. > > I go to the regular aisle behind the extreme couponer. I get out of the store faster. Suddenly, my life looks a whole lot better comparitively. (Yeah, I know, first world problems. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/37 "2011-12-18T17:59:22Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > On another front, multiple items of the same product DO count as a single item for the purpose of the express checkout line count, according to the checkout person I asked. the only time i would consider multiple identical items to be a singular item is if they don’t have to be bagged. for example, if someone shows up with 5 12 packs of coke, 5 12 packs of sprite, and 5 12 packs of mr. pibb, fine. 3 scans and you’re done. however, if you show up with the above mentioned cup of noodles and cans of soup, those all count because the cashier has to bag them for you. i know some will cry “there’s too many rules! i’m confused!” but really it just takes common sense. if you show up with the aforementioned 12 packs of soda, it takes hitting 5 quantity and scanning thrice, no bagging involved, so you’re fine. if you show up with the same quantities of soda, only in two liters that you expect to be bagged, go somewhere else. think of it not in terms of how many items you technically have, but in how much of the cashier’s time you’re taking. that’s why most express lanes don’t take checks. see, it’s easy. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/38 "2011-12-18T18:52:12Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I propose you go easy on the people with dentures and leathery skin, if these are a proxy for “old”. Keeping your teeth isn’t the only obstacle. Pretty much everything gets harder - being observant about the sign, craning your neck to look at it, focusing on it, whatever. It isn’t just random coincidence that people breaking the rule tend to fit the same description. As a practical matter, you might reconsider sowing discontent with a demographic group that you are inevitably heading into. > > On another front, multiple items of the same product DO count as a single item for the purpose of the express checkout line count, according to the checkout person I asked. The insult was pointed at people who are too young to have, but still have those issues. It was probably too subtle. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/39 "2011-12-18T18:52:15Z")
And why is it assumed at the express self checkout that one can get all their 12 items in the space provided for two bags? light saber cordless phone jar of pickles 2 bags of chips six pack of TP toothpaste shampoo charcoal box of cat fud 2 sketch books I ran out of room to load my stuff, I put some back in the cart then it would yell at me if I took something off the shelf. The WT cashier monitor just threw me a rolleyes - ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588/40 "2011-12-18T19:08:54Z")
I was a grocery store cashier for two years, and I spent many days on the express lane. So I speak from experience when I tell you this - unless there are significantly fewer people in the line, the express lane is usually the slower option. The amount of time spent scanning and bagging individual items is small. An order of 24 items takes fractionally longer than an order of 12 items. What takes time is giving the customer the total, taking the money,giving the receipt, etc. So a customer with 24 items is going to move through the line a lot faster than two customers with 12 items each. Add the fact that the express lane usually doesn’t have a bagger, and the cashier is usually the go to guy if another cashier needs help with something. Also, people paying with cards are only faster if they actually pay attention to the words on the reader. Which I found was only 50% of customers. Most just swipe their card and immediately put it away, assuming the magic box will take care of everything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-items-or-less/606588.md?page=3)