Express Lanes In Grocery Stores

The BBQ Pit
1

Seriously, what don’t you get?

The first lane is usually for “8 Items Or Less”.
The second lane is usually for “12 Items Or Less”.

All of the other lanes, where you see people waiting in line with their grocery carts full, that’s where YOU should be, if you have just done a week’s worth of groceries for a family of 4!

I really wanna know…
~ Do you just feel that your time is more important than the other people waiting to check out a big order?
~ Can you not read the signs? Never noticed that people don’t bring in full carts to this cash?
~ Is a member of your family in some type of grave medical condition requiring tampons, toilet paper, Pop-Tarts, sandwich meats, Tide, wine, rice, 4 pints of milk, and $50 worth of beef IMMEDIATELY?

When it comes right down to it, WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

No, it’s not a lane for Grocery VIPs. It’s a lane for people who only have a few things. Unless you can show me some Super-Shopper VIP card, back to the end of the line, Bitch!

The One Exception: When the Express Cash’s cashier is standing there, waiting for someone, go to her/him. Instead of standing like an ass in line elsewhere.

Other than that… There’s just no reason. I know you can stretch the truth a bit. For example, you buy 5 items which are exactly the same… Then you think, “Well she only has to scan it once, so that counts for one.” I’ll let that go. But a GROCERY CART FULL?

Not that it’s their fault, but I’ve also always wondered: “Why do none of the clerks ever give these people shit?” Someone needs to tell them. I never do. I just sit and steam. At most, a dirty look if our eyes meet, while I’m standing with a bag of cat food in one hand and some milk in the other.

I see it every time. What’s the deal with that?

2

ooh, I hate that ! Why do we always stand silently and steam, instead of causing a ruckus?

My local supermarket is the scene of many ruckuses. It’s great, there’s never a dull moment. Many’s the hour I’ve whiled away observing the laboratory of human behaviour that is a supermarket in a low-income area.

But nobody ever objects to the people who take advantage of the 8-items-or-less line. We should take a stand !

3

According to John Trinkaus, a 78-year-old emeritus business professor at Baruch College in New York, only about 15 percent of shoppers observe the item limit of supermarket express lanes.

4

I like the idea to ask the culprit
“Is it the counting or the reading you have difficulty with?” but I couldn’t bring myself to be so rude. I do though insist that if some one behind me is cheating badly then they let anyone behind them who isn’t go in front. I recon that if they are behind me they will know I am not simply trying to improve my own position in the queue.
What I would really like to see is the stores charging an extra 10 cents per item above the posted limit, as a donation to charity.

5

Two things:

1: It’s not always our fault. Last Friday I was pleasantly zonked out at the end of a three person line with my almost full cart, when the cashier of the next lane beckoned to me. “I’ll take you.” I look around, yes, she’s talking to me. “Uh. I got a zillion times 8 items.” “It’s okay, I’ll take you.” Yes, I see there’s no one else in her line. I shrug, jockey my cart over, and start piling stuff onto the belt. Before my cart is halfway empty, FOUR other shoppers are in line, glaring it me with their little baskets of 3-4 items righteously clutched to their chests. I cringe. “She called me over,” I say to the women behind me. She ignores me and pointedly stares at my cart, still way, way too full to let me be there legally. I cringe continuously until I’ve gotten my change and fled. :frowning:
2: What the hell is with you people who don’t say anything? Are you all mute? When I (legally) join an express line queue, I look at what the person ahead of me has. If s/he’s clearly over the limit and not already placing her/his goods onto the belt, I say to them, pleasantly, “Excuse me, I don’t think you know that this is the 12 item or less line.” Most of them, at least 80% immdediately look sheepish, say “Sorry”, and move off to the right line. If they ignore me, I’ll say it again, louder, and then call on anyone else – another shopper in line, or a line nearby, or the cashier – to confirm it. “Excuse me. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think this is the 12 item lane. That’s right, isn’t it?” Looks around at whoever else is within talking distance. “This line is only for people with 12 items or less, isn’t it? Am I right, miss?” Whoever I’ve picked out to appeal to will sooner or later agree – a nod, a ‘that’s right’, or the cashier is usually are happy to sing out loudly about “Yes, only 12 items in this lane” – they hate the hogs who try to pull this as much as the rest of us. I’ve never had one of these hogs persist in the face of this.

Hey, it’s called community pressure. If you won’t lend the weight of your disapproval to curb those who violate the rules that are there to keep the society running smoothly, you have no right to complain when people start to ignore them.

Sure, it’s a basket 0f 30 items in a 10-item or less lane right now. Before you know it, it will be people smoking cigarettes as they ride their motorcycles through the aisles. snaring items while their pillion-mounted offspring uses a broom as a lance to knock other shoppers out of their way.

FIND SOME GUTS AND SPEAK UP.

6

Ah, yes. #5 on my pet peeves list … or maybe it’s #4, I can never keep them straight. :slight_smile:

What really gets me is this situation - the grocery store I stop at on my way home is downtown, so gets a lot of people on the way home from work, just buying a few things. So, lots of people end up in the 1-8 items lines (luckily, there are a lot at this store). And there are rarely a lot of people in the regular aisles. So why would you people who have more than 8 items bother with the express lanes anyways?! It’s a longer line! Go to the aisle you’re supposed to be in, you’ll be out faster, I’ll be out faster (with my 3 items), and everyone’s happy! Please, people.

But really, I’ve decided I can’t blame the cashiers. By the time the food piles get close enough to the cashier, there’s already someone else behind the too-many-items offender, and it’s a huge ordeal. I blame myself - I should be, as you say cowgirl, causing a ruckus before they even put their stuff on the conveyor belt. I’d love to, and I mutter under my breath, but I just can’t bring myself to confont. I wish the cashiers would at least say something.

If you’re going to cheat, at least have the decency to feel guilty about it, and apologize to the people behind you. Then it gives us a chance to feel morally superior to you. Hmm, maybe that’s why they don’t apologize.

Bippy, I love the idea about asking them if they’re illiterate, or if they can’t count, and I also love the idea of making them pay when they’re over the limit of items. That’s the only way to make people think about it next time.

7

[chanelling Red from That 70’s Show] And once that happens, we might as well be in trees flinging crap at each other [/channelling Red] :slight_smile:

Good imagery, Starving But Strong.

8

At our local store, the express lane sign says “About 10 items”. This seems to work OK.

9

When I worked at Kmart, we were NOT ALLOWED to tell people that they couldn’t come through the Express lanes-no matter what. Even though they were marked Express. I got called on it many times, by customers.

But if I HAD said something, then managment bitches me out.

It was the stupidest rule. Eventually, they took down the “express” signs.

10

Guinistasia, I have one word for you:

WHY?

That’s got to be the dumbest thing I ever read. Not you, Kmart. :confused:

11

They probably figure that employees playing cop and having confrontations with customers is bad for business in this case. I tend to agree. This of course does not excuse the bad behavior of said customers.

Haj

12

Um, there have been rather urgent situations in my life , I might say, “requiring tampons… Pop-Tarts… wine… and $50 worth of beef IMMEDIATELY”.

But I wouldn’t say they rise to the level of “grave medical conditions”.
:eek:

13

At least you all still HAVE checkers in your express lanes. Around here, nearly all the grocery stores have taken out the express lanes in favor of self-checkouts. It wouldn’t be so bad if most people were not so utterly STUPID. There is nothing express about it at all anymore, unless you happen to get there when there is no one in line ahead of you. Otherwise, you are stuck behind a bunch of drooling morons who can’t understand the exceedingly simple machines. They stand there looking at the screen, which has two big red buttons saying “Touch here to start” in English and spanish, wondering what to do. Another hassle is that these machines, although they started appearing around the time the new $20 bills came out, do not ACCEPT the new $20 bills. You have to have the cashier (who watches over four of the machines) swap you an old one for a new one. This would be bad in and of itself, but then there are all these people who apparently can’t read the signs taped to the machines that say “Machines can’t accept new $20s. Give to cashier.” Most of time when I’m buying a few items, I find it easier to get in the regular line behind someone with a full cart. It’s probably not much slower, and a lot less aggravating.

14

Allow me to register my vote for “super express” lanes. This amazing idea would entail:

  • one item only, which must not require weighing (i.e. no produce or bulk products), and with UPC label still attached
  • not only cash only, but EXACT change only
  • no speaking
  • no eye contact
  • no receipts available

Any violations of the above result in the customer being immediately arrested and summarily executed.

15

No good, Fuji – I want a coke with my twinkies.
Now, make it TWO items, and let’s talk. :wink:

16

My main problem with these lanes is that it’s 12 items or FEWER, not LESS. I do not blame the cashiers for this. I blame the idiot management.

That, and I think the slowest cashiers get put on those lanes on purpose or something. Especially at Wal-Mart, where they enjoy being evil to customers and employees alike.

17

FTR, the express-lane signs at my local Whole Paycheck use “fewer” rather than “less”. There’s still some hope in the world.

18

Not necessarily.

19

When I worked at the ol’ Bi-Lo in Williamsport, I was often put on the express lane (yep, we just had one), and I, too, was told not to tell off customers who came through with 40 cans of cat food or some such. The stare-down technique just didn’t work.

While we’re on the subject, I’d like to pit my local grocery store. In every supermarket you see, the express lanes are the closest ones to the exit. That’s so people in a hurry can get out quickly. It makes perfect sense. Except for my local grocery store…which decided to move them to the far end…

20

Several years ago I was in a line behind one of those idiots, with a couple dozen items. The cashier said – politely – “Excuse me, sir, but this line is for 10 items or less.” “You just do your job, Girlie!” the moron retorted. She looked over at the nearby management booth for some support, but the manager suddenly noticed something on the floor he had to stare at.