Two dividers? Luxury!
For some reason, most of the supermarkets in this area (Barcelona metro) have one divider per checkstand.
I get a lot of dirty looks at the checkout lane just because I like to be different.
I like to take the items of the person in front of me an put them on the left ** side pf the belt closest to the checker and then put the divider lengthways** on on the belt with all of my items on the right.
I have yet to be congratulated for my excellent show of artistic expression.
But they’re cheap and they’re costing U.S. jobs. We’ve got a gap deficit! :eek: (dare I say, a gap gap? ;)).
Be sure to mind the gap.
I just stick my Chihuahua, Pedro, behind my groceries. He bites anyone who gets too close to my stuff…and sometimes poops on their produce.
The divider is only needed for the cashier, the gap method works well in any country and most languages till a divider comes within easy reach.
It’s like dividers, but a lot more fun.
Usually our checkouts have two dividers, I’ve even seen three. I don’t mind if it isn’t slid down, a lot of the time the person in front will take it upon himself to place it at the end of his order.
Don’t sweat the dividers, we need to have a separate lane for those that bring cloth bags. It slows the bagging down to a c-r-a-w-l and makes all of wait twice as long as we need to be.
Welcome to Obama’s America. 
On that topic reusable bags are almost a requirement here (charge for their bags and the stated intent of local government is to outlaw them entirely). Why does the checker assume that because I have my own bags I’m bagging my own groceries?
Sure I slow the line down but I’m unloading my cart, packing my bags, paying and trying to get out of the way while the checker simply slides each item over a scanner and tosses it into a pile where they used to put full bags. A slightly more even distribution of labour would speed things up greatly.
I’ve started opening my reusable bags and putting them directly on the bagging platform where they are tossing stuff. It works some of the time.
Only about 20% of all checkers have this assumption but man it’s annoying when it occurs. If you ask if I need bags and I say “No thanks” and HAND you mine that means they’re available for you to use, not to toss in the middle of a pile of groceries and hope some magical thing happens and they pack themselves. I don’t mind for a few items but I really can’t be in three places at once and if I’m still unloading the cart while they’re checking through groceries it can get really messy.
Hell, our grocery gives you the option of just having the clerk press about 3 buttons and you’re done, talk about a labor saver - for THEM. See, you get a handheld doohickey, and you shop, and everything you pick up you scan with the doohickey before bagging it right then and there. Checkout, then, takes about 45 seconds even if you go through the self-checkout line.
Of course, it takes THREE TIMES AS LONG to ACCOMPLISH the damn shopping… because you have to stop the cart, lean over (blocking the aisle as you do so) and place the food in one of your bags. Produce was a treat and a half - you had to take it to one of several electronic scales, find the name of the item on the electronic menu, and print a sticker to scan.
I tried it 2-3 times, found the checkout savings was not worth the hassle DURING shopping, and quit using the handheld thing. The one time where it was worthwhile, I was shopping for a Scout troop, had a specific budget, and could tell how much I’d spent as I went.
Psychologically, I suppose it feels good to put items up on the belt. It is something to do while waiting. But this action only gives the illusion that you are going to get out of the store faster. Once the customer in front of you gets his/her last item scanned, there is a process that will need to happen. This process is the payment.
Ideally, the customer in front of you will not have a stack of coupons. They will not suddenly realize that it is time to pay and just then pull out the checkbook and start a lengthy process of writing out their check with a last name of “Frankendebimuller” which must be slowly and laboriously spelled out. They will not begin a scavenger hunt through a monsterous purse/suitcase looking for some manner to compensate the grocer for their purchase. Their wallet will not be at home.
With any luck, the customer will have a credit or debit card ready to go. The PIN number will be right. There will be no confusion over any state EBT cards. The customer will not have a debate over the price of an item or need an over-ride from a manager in the back of the store. The bagboy will not be sent to Customer Service for cigarettes. Problematic rain checks are in the line one over.
No, the payment process will go rapidly.
But you will still have time to put your groceries on the belt during the payment process. I promise.
And the length of the wait will not in any way have been shortened by your undesired delay in loading the belt. This delay will in no way be a factor in how much time it takes to get to your car. Your ice cream will not melt.
So if, by chance, the divider has not been placed in easy access, it’s OK. Really.
Man, I love this option at my grocery store and don’t find it takes longer at all. Placing items in a bag in the cart doesn’t seem to be more hassle than just placing the item in the cart and then having it bagged at checkout. The big bonus for me is that I can easily have things bagged so that it’s more efficient to unpack them at home. It used to be a pain to try and accomplish this when loading items on the belt in a certain order for the bagger/checker.
Apparently “do you need a bag” means “do you want me to pack for you”, which seems confusing to me. I was embarassed in the opposite direction, where I was asked if I needed a bag, and sheepishly admitted that I did, because I try to bring my own but am normally shopping on the way home from work or something and don’t have any with me, and felt bad for adding to the environmental waste – and then was very puzzled why they started snatching bags away from me to pack them.
That said, I suggest “no thanks” isn’t the right thing to say, try saying “can you put it in mine”. I assume most of the 20% would be happy to do whatever you want, they’re just tired and used to “no thanks” meaning “I want to pack myself”.
What the fuck is this bitch ass pussy shit? You do know every second you are alive you are contributing to environmental waste? You’ve been throwing shit away ever since your very first shit and the diaper had to be tossed. Fuck, every time you breath you are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.*
The only way to stop “adding to the environmental waste” is to die, but even then your dead body is adding to the environmental waste. All those people crying at your funeral using kleenex, made of wood btw**, to wipe their tears will be thrown away.
*Thanks asshole for continually trying to kill me.
**Thanks asshole for continuing to kill trees even after your dead.
That’s assuming the customer behind you gives a shit about maintaining the gap.
Correct. Which is why you tell them, “Mind the gap!”
My dead what? My dead tree?
Why are you worried about dividers? You are supposed to blend your stuff in with the guy in front of you so he pays for it! You just have to catch him in the parking lot “Um, excuse me, but those two bags are mine. You must have accidentally grabbed them by mistake”.
Then he gives you the stink-eye so that you have to physically shove his groceries away from yours.