Speedy Check out? Sure..if you say so.
I remember when I was a kid, going to the store with mom. There was always a Speedy Check out line, quick checkout, express, whatever you want to call it. Well I remember these lines being 10 Items or less.. Which makes sense. 10 Items is rather quick to check out.
In the town I live at, we have basically 2 grocery stores. Store 1 (Name withheld) and Walmart. Both of them have express lanes…but both are 20 items or less. Now I can buy almost all the groceries I need for the week and keep it under 20 items.
Every time I have like 3-4 things to purchase and I go to a express lane, I seem to always be stuck behind people with just about 20 items, and since the checkout is smaller with no grocery moving device. Just kind of a small table space before the scanner.This makes things take longer because you generally have to wait for the person in front of you to have everything checked through before you can begin to load your stuff up there. Which adds a little bit of time for everyone.
Plus if you happen to put your stuff up before the other person has everything swiped, there is the chance the cashier will attempt to grab one of your items and swipe and bag it for the customer in front of you. Which causes confusion, they need to reverse that transaction (If anybody actually caught it before its too late). Sometimes this also requires a manager to come override something. I mean it’s just a recipe for disaster.
I’m generally a patient person, but I don’t like it when I see stupidity in a system. What is the point of an express lane if it moves almost as slowly as the regular lines?
I have a proposed solution that I would put in place if I owned a grocery store. I would have a few check stands labled “Short line.” They would be 10 Items or less. 25¢ for each item over 10 items!! That way nobody would try to take 15 items into the line just because it’s shorter causing all the other 10 item or less customers to wait longer. BUT, if you really are in that big of a hurry, and are willing to pay the fee for going over the item count, then that’s fine! Because I know if I was in line behind someone trying to pay for 15 items in the “Short Line” I’d be okay knowing that they are going to pay $1.25 more for inconveinencing everyone.
Heck, I could even turn it into an incentive program! If you go through the line with 10 items or less you can be entered in say a monthly drawing to win 50% of the money brought in by the Short Lines fee’s. That way you’d be even more encouraged to keep it at 10 or less! And those who go through the Short Line with more than 10 don’t get entered in the drawing.
So vote for me for your grocery store president! I’ll make a Short Line that really is a Short Line!!
