Actually, my 12th grade English teacher told us that when she was working at a grocery store while going to college, the express registers were indeed set up this way. They could only take so many items. Damn, that would be great.
A few weeks ago, I’m shopping in a seemingly all-but-deserted grocery store nearby. I grab supplies for a couple weeks so I don’t have to do it again any time soon, and go to check out.
As I walk down the aisle, looking for an open lane, I notice that they’re ALL closed off except for the one at the end… the express line. There’s two people in it, with maybe 3-4 items each. And I’ve got this cart with at least 20. Not packed full, but obviously well over the express lane limit.
And nowhere else to go.
So, yup, I pull into the express lane.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, people start to appear, as I’m sheepishly unloading my cart onto the conveyor belt.
Within seconds, there’s a line of people behind me, staring. And I got nowhere to go. I kid you not, they’re snaked out behind me down the aisle and up to the shelves, I don’t know how many there are.
And I’m in the express lane with a BUNCH of stuff.
I’m pretty sure these marks on my cap are scorch marks from my ears blushing so hard.
Fortunately, within a few moments, some angel of a grocery store clerk came running out with a change-drawer, and opened up another lane.
I took it like a man. I reloaded my cart, apologized to those behind me, and moved over to her lane, thanking her profusely.
Ah well. Got a good story out of it, at least. :::chuckle:::
Oooh, that makes me crazy! Yesterday I was in a similar situation, but it was made worse by the fact that this dipshit was on his cell phone and didn’t realize or care that not only did he have a cartload of stuff in the express lane, but the person in front of him was done, and he couldn’t be bothered to get off of his cell phone and start unloading his stuff onto the belt. Then he got pissed off when the person behind him tapped him on the shoulder and indicated (politely) that he was next, and would he please get his ass moving 'cause he was holding up the line.
Phnord That doesn’t count. If the express lane is the only one open, the limit is lifted. If you feel awkward, you may turn to the other shoppers and explain this.
‘Sorry. This is the only one open.’
‘I know I’m over the limit. But, there are no other open registers.’
‘It’s not my fault! The express lane is the only one open! I’m not the one on trial here! You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!’
When I was in high school, I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. Not only was the express lane poorly marked, the entire register area was smaller. There was no conveyer belt to send the groceries trundling down toward the bag boy. There was a shelf. That’s it. I would try to motion people away by pointing out this was the express lane, but it wouldn’t always work. Finally I had to stand there one day while this woman had a full cart, and I had a tiny shelf in which to ring things up and bag everything. That’s when we started sticking handwritten signs all over the register, since the sign was out in the middle of the walkway.
Since then, I don’t go near the express lane unless I have the requisite number of items.
After reading your post, I think you may be right. When I worked at the Bi-Lo, I often spent the entire eight-hour day working on our one express line. Not counting people who made honest mistakes, like having 11 items instead of ten, I don’t think I ever had a day when there were more than two or three flagrant offenders. And most of those people were people hollering that “I GOT ta’ catch the bus!” (This is Williamsport! You know the bus is going to be late! But I digress…)
I think customers only think it happens a lot because, when it does happen, they are stuck in line longer, and they notice it.
Sat on Cookie (btw, I hope Cookie isn’t a pet you sat on) I hereby challenge you! I also go to the grocery store quite often, maybe every 2nd or 3rd day ~ almost every time, through the express lane. I challenge you to report back to us the next ten times you go through the express lane. I too will do the same (though it will take me a bit longer than you). I venture to say that at least 6 of the 10 times I go through the cash, someone will be ahead of me with over the allowed items.
I understand the phenomenon of people thinking things happen more often than they do. I was a dealer in a casino ~ the players REALLY believed that I got “21” or “BlackJack” at least every second hand. In fact, I got it as often as they did, which was much less. But you have a tendency to count the times things do NOT work in you favour and forget the times when they did.
It’s possible that I’ve fallen victim to this “phenomenon”, but I really seriously doubt it. If at the end of our ten times, we are both right … I guess you’ll have to tell me what grocery store you go to! LOL
I will start reporting as of tomorrow.
I get as aggravated as anyone when the [NUM] ITEMS OR FEWER rule is violated. However, the whole concept of the express lane confuses me. “Pardon me, but I’m a terrible customer, I hardly buy anything here, I’m wondering if you might give me a dedicated cashier while someone with a hundred dollars worth of purchases waits in line?”.
I could see the business model extending to other industries. “Sorry, this hotel reserves the express check out for people who stay fewer than 7 nights a year”; “The cars closest to the airport are reserved for people who haven’t rented with us for at least 3 months.” “The seats at the front of the plane are for travelers who fly less than 5,000 miles/year”.
I understand that in theory it may be that those “quart of milk and a loaf of bread” purchasers buy higher margin items, or that by bringing them into the store in the first place you might turn them into higher volume buyers, but I’m betting there’s no legitimate business reason for what seems to me to be a completely counterintuitive practice.
I think you’ve got it exactly backwards. I’m a regular at my local King Soopers. Every weekend I go and plop down $75-100 on food and stuff. When I run out of say, bread, or milk, or get a wild hair up my butt that I have just GOT to have enchiladas for dinner tonight - well, if I go in and have to wait with my three items behind four people with loaded carts, I’m eventually going to start looking for another store. I believe it helps to retain the regulars.
I was in a supermarket recently behind what looked like newlyweds, they had a trolley full of stuff. As ther turn came up the woman said, “Oh no, we’re only meant to have 12 items.” I jumped in and said “You’ve only got 7 or 8 - eating items, drinking items, cleaning items, meat items…Don’t worry about it.” Even the pissed off people in the line laughed.
On the other hand I heard about someone recently who, in the same situation, had the checkout girl smile nicely and ask “Which twelve items are you actually buying?”
I dunno about that. I often use the express line, and I always look to see if people are actually observing the limit. I can only recall one time when a person went over the limit.
That study seems VERY out of line with my experiences.
It’s never been clear to me how the express lane twelve items or less rule works when I’ve got ten different items and then four identical cans of corn. The corn can be scanned once, if the cashier chooses, so do I have eleven or fourteen items?
Also, what if I’ve got four cups of yogurt, two strawberry- and two peach-flavored? In that case, I’ve got four items that have the same price, and might be scanned once, but actually should be scanned twice if the store wants accurate inventory. Do I have eleven, twelve or fourteen items?
I need a ruling from a supermarket judge.
It’s not necessarily the case that people using the express lane are infrequent customers at that store. For example, I don’t have a car. If I filled up a cart with $100+ worth of groceries, I would have no way to get it all home. Therefore, I wind up going to the supermarket two or three times a week and just get what I can carry home, which is normally a small enough amount that I can use the express lane. Of course, seeing as I live in a neighbourhood that has a lot of students who also shop the same way I do, the express lane often isn’t any faster than the other lanes.
We were in line at Wal-Mart today (okay, okay, I know it’s the Evil Corporation and all that, but it’s the only store that carries the inexpensive sugar-free popsicles that diabetic Papa Tiger likes for a snack) and their “express” lines are 20 items or less. (No danger of Wal-Mart ever using “fewer.”) We had to look at FIVE open express lines before finding one that actually did NOT have at least one overflowing cart in it.
Around here, express line limits are observed mostly in the breach.
I had the experience of having 7 items in a 6 or less lane (by accident, of course) and the clerk, when he reached my 7th item, pointed out that it was an express lane. He told me that I would either have to forgo that last item, or pick out something that I didn’t want and he would re-ring the sale, or I would have to go to another line while he cancelled the sale. It was closing time at Target, so there were a bunch of people behind me and long “normal” lines, so I just opted out of the 7th item, but I was so flummoxed by the request that the clerk had to explain the whole situation (and the principle of the express lane) to me, and of course I had to argue a little about why the hell he couldn’t just ring up the last thing, so the transaction probably took three times as long as it needed to. That was absolutely ridiculous. (And I know that the register takes over 6 things, I’ve been in line behind others who have made much more offensive counting errors.) Interesting how and when shop clerks pick their battles.
You know what I don’t get? When there are 20+ people in the express lane, but the ‘normal’ lane/s is/are empty. I walk my three items over there, and I’m done before everyone else. Let’s think people.