Express Checkout Line Offenders

One of the more frustrating parts of grocery shopping is waiting in line, but when you are in a hurry and just have a few items to purchase the people who use the Express Lane when they shouldn’t can be infuriating. The idea is to get through the line as quickly as possible. Things that slow things down are:

• People with more items than stipulated on the sign above the register.
• People who use coupons or food stamps and present them after the clerk has rung-up all of the items.
• People who write a check. The rule should be CASH ONLY, which is obviously the quickest form of payment, but debit cards are pretty fast too.
• Clerks who carry on long conversations with shoppers. I know you are just trying to be friendly, so why not keep it down to “Hope you have a nice day.”

When choosing which line will be the fastest, you might be surprised to learn that the “Express Lane” is not always  the best choice. Blogger and math teacher Dan Meyer took a scientific look at supermarket checkout times using data provided from a supermarket database and came to the conclusion that the number of people in line adds more to the wait time than the number of items each person has in their cart. As shown below:

• When you add one person to the line, you’re adding 48 extra seconds to the line length (that’s “tender time” added to “other time”) without even considering the items in her cart.
• Meanwhile, an extra item only costs you an extra 2.8 seconds. Therefore, you’d rather add 17 more items to a persons cart than to add one extra person!

If have any suggestions to get through the checkout lane in a hurry, please comment below.

Tags: Courtesy