...when somebody has 20 items in the "10 items or less" checkout. That rule should be strictly enforced.
shareIt would take up even more time if you checked out the first 10 items, then had to delete them all because the customer had 11 items. I agree if it's a whole cart ful, but come on.
My rims never spin, to the contrary
You’ll find that they’re quite stationary
[deleted]
You won't believe what they do here in Spain. Actually, the speedy checkout is not for "10 items or less" but "baskets only" (you know, those plastic baskets with wheels that you get at the supermarket instead of the carts). Up to here, fair enough... those baskets are smallish, so you won't be able to load them with a lot of itmes, but here's the crazyness: one day my bf and I had bought a deckchair (too big to put in a basket, so we used a cart, but still only one item) and we weren't allowed in the speedy checkout. Even worse: we were asked to go to another till once it was our turn already at the speedy one, which meant a lot of hussle and "excuses me" and sh*t. How -in the name of the Lord- STUPID is that?????
sharemaybe midwest is just screwed up, but in michigan it's mostly '12 items or less'. twelve seems to be random to me.
shareTo answer the original question, yes I get upset. Esp. when the following conditions occur: 1) The person seems like they're trying to deliberately push more than 10 items through 2) It's grossly and obviously over the amount 3) it's really busy and 4) If conditions 1, 2 and 3 occur and the clerk does nothing about it. I mean, hey, if I wanted to stand in line for 15 minutes while catching up on the Weekly World News, I'd go stand in the regular lines. End rant.
In response to siggyh1015's comment, believe me, nothing in the supermarket business is random. The profit margins are so slim that they leave nothing to chance. One classic f'r instance: Grocery store ads are deliberately chaotic. Research shows that this gives a sense of urgency to the reader. They're more likely to hustle out and buy NOW NOW NOW!!! than wait til the sale's deadline some 3 weeks away. Even the layout of the market is studied and deliberate. Staples like eggs and milk are in the back so you have to traverse the most floor space to get there. In doing so, your chances of yielding to impulse purchase desires ("Oh look! Schmidt truffle bars! yummo!") are maximized.
Chances are people tend to buy more in MI (weather related vs SoCal?) so the minimum is bumped up. Here in NorCal, I see a lot of 7 or 8 items or less. Given the "foodies-that-don't-cook" populace here, 7 items is probably: your gourmet ready made hot $12 meal, $5 worth of cheese, a $20 bottle of wine, a $6 magazine, a $3 candy bar, etc.
Sorry. I worked for a vendor of Safeway a long time ago. All that suppressed knowledge came burbling out. Won't happen again.
oh trust me, i know nothing is 'random'. i'm in advertising, and with all the p-o-p ads and premiums, it's clear there is a reason behind the number of items for an express lane. but to me as an in-and-out shopper, twelve is random because i feel it is hardly 'express', especially when the jackass in front of me has a bunch of produce and damn coupons.
Interesting coincidence, I'm an ad guy myself with a minor in marketing (tho I'm now in the IT dept so have nothing to do with advertisng per se).
Conversely, in NorCal, there are also express lanes with up to 15 items. It depends on the context of the customers. If your standard customer is buying weekly groceries for a family of 6, 12 items ain't a lot.
One definitely gets upset.