OT. Slowest line

[Dean Hoffman]

Bill Hammack, the engineer guy, explains why one seems to be stuck in the slowest moving check out line at stores. He relates it to the early phone systems.

[Mark Lloyd]

One of the worst situations is when I'm behind someone with a notebook. The notebook is a bad sign. I don't mind someone using coupons, but they could have selected which ones they're going to use before getting in line (same problem with checks, they don't do anything in advance). And then those notebook people have to argue about every coupon, and search their cart for the item.

[Frank]

Very interesting. I noticed self checkout lines can be slow but Walmart where I go has maybe 10 but one line to enter. There were maybe 10 people ahead of me the other day but zip and I was out.

[Ralph Mowery]

Either that or something that I think is similar to a food stamp type of book. Every item has to be checked to see if it is on the list.

[Ralph Mowery]

Walmart here has about 20 lines with registers to check you out, but only two or maybe 3 have anyone at them to check you out. Then there are several employees just walking around.

In years past it took some skill to enter the items correctly. Now with the scanners I am sure most could be taught in a few hours to do the basic checkout.

[rbowman]

Unlabeled produce can be a problem with the cumbersome code lookups. I generally get the same things so I quickly learned 4011 for bananas etc. I was surprised when shopping in a store from another chain that the same code was used. I don't know if that was a coincidence or if the codes are uniform.

[micky]

Or they're using a credit card and don't know they can put the thing in, and their PIN before the final amount, so they only have to push one button at that point. There was a hand-made sign up saying that for 2 or 3 weeks but the store gave up.

[micky]

I wonder what that is. Food stamps are replaced by a credit card-like thing , and the computer knows what is on the list and what isn't. At least in the USA. Unless it's a very small store. Are you in the USA?

[micky]

True, but doing everything, like cashing checks, backing out mistakes, weighing produce etc. seems to me to make it a fairly difficult job and that anyone who can do it well shouldn't stay more than a year or two before getting a better job.

One thing that keeps some of them is that the hours are flexible, I think.

The walmart here has about 20 lanes often with 20 cashiers, but their are 5 people or more in every lane and during busy hyours I've come in and left without buying anything rather than wait in line.

My supermiarket of 35 years closed recently -- maybe because of competition from walmart -- and I didn't know what I would do utnil I noticed anoteher supermarket I'd forgotten about (on a hill and hard to see from the street) and the one I didn't like was completely remodeled and quite nice. So I have two now and I'm eating again.

[Snarky]

.

Walmart attracts a lot of low-life welfare democrats.  Maybe try shopping at an upscale store?

[Roy]

I will not shop in stores with "self-serve" check-outs. Stupidest damned thing I've seen in years.

[angelicapaganelli]

xplains why one seems

Queuing theory tells us that this is the way to minimize the average wait.

Cindy Hamilton

[angelicapaganelli]

Are there no computers? The only thing I can compare this to is manufacturer's coupons. After all items have been scanned, coupons are scanned. If a coupon doesn't match anything in the previously scanned merchandise, it's rejected.

Cindy Hamilton

[Frank]

I have never seen a store with self serve only. Walmart I mention with them has over a dozen with clerks.

Acme up the road renovated and removed them, I think because of difficulty mentioned in checking out unmarked produce.

New Aldis here which is low cost no frill produce had only one cashier when I took a look at it. Big line and all I had was a box of tomatoes. I put them back and left.

[micky]

I don't think he's talking about coupons but about things one is allowed to pay for with food stamps. I haven't had that job but it's basically snacks, food ready to eat is not covered. Candy bars are not covered and food that they consider optional is not covered so maybe not candy at all. I don't know if pre-made sandwiches are covered. I think not, because even though supermarkets sell that, it's like restaurant food and not covered. But anyone who has been at the job for a couple weeks will usually know all this stuff by heart. Well, looking at the list below, maybe not 2 weeks but 6 months. Plus like Cindy says, if the cash register is connected to a computer, it should know.

[After reading what follows, there appear to be a lot of mistakes in what I wrote above]

What you can buy with SNAP

SNAP and its beneficiaries have plenty of critics, often people who feel that low-income individuals should be limited in what they are allowed to purchase with public funds. Critics of those critics would say that prescribing their shopping lists is intrusive. Generally, the rules limit SNAP purchases to food products, with some limitations and exceptions.

Energy drinks Energy drinks such as Red Bull have been available for purchase with food stamps since 2013, when companies making them began changing their labels to list "nutrition facts" instead of "supplement facts." Critics have tried to have them removed from eligibility, but as long as they are classified as a food item, they are likely to stay.

Luxury items Since they are clearly food items, you can, in theory, buy steak, lobster, shrimp, or any other high-end food with food stamps. Legislators have proposed removing such items from the program, but in reality there is no need: Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that people in the income group low enough to qualify for SNAP hardly buy any beef or seafood (only about 10 percent of the average monthly grocery bill), because it's too expensive.

Junk food There is some truth to the impression that a lot of SNAP recipients buy junk food. A 2011 USDA analysis found that 23 cents of every SNAP dollar goes to sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar. (The other 77 cents goes toward meal ingredients, such as milk, bread, meat, cereal, and vegetables.) However, non-SNAP households spent 20 cents of every dollar on those same sweet treats. So shopping habits were similar, regardless of payment method.

Nutritionists have expressed concern about the amount of junk food purchases funded by SNAP, which is meant to improve health, not to contribute to health problems such as obesity. But attempts to cut junk food from SNAP run into problems both with complexity and with the discomfort of making the government the judge of which foods are worthy and which aren't.

Another approach, presented in a 2016 paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, would be to provide incentives for purchasing healthy foods, either alone or in combination with limits on junk food purchases.

Birthday cake While you can't buy hot prepared food items, you can buy baked goods. Muffins, cakes, and cookies purchased at grocery stores and some bakeries are fair game.

Holiday items Since they are technically edible, you can buy your Halloween pumpkins with SNAP ? but not decorative gourds. Gift baskets, prefilled stockings or prefilled Easter baskets can be purchased as well, but only if at least 50 percent of the contents are edible items and the basket contains no prohibited items. For example, you could buy a holiday stocking with a few small toys and a lot of candy, but not a large stuffed bear holding a small box of chocolate.

K-Cups You can purchase coffee to make at home, in any form, with your SNAP card. This includes single-use pods such as K-Cups, instant coffee, cappuccino mix, whole bean, or fresh ground coffee.

Taco Bell (sometimes) The vast majority of SNAP recipients are limited to buying groceries with SNAP. But in some states, elderly, disabled, and homeless SNAP recipients can participate in the Restaurant Meals Program. In Arizona, participating restaurants include Taco Bell, Denny's, Subway, and others.

Seeds In 2014, SNAP began allowing participants to purchase seeds and plants that produce food, and launched a site to encourage gardening. Produce at the farmers market

You can legally buy fresh fruits and veggies, as well as homemade jams and honey, at farmers markets. The only catch is that most stands only accept cash, while SNAP functions as a debit card. The government is working with local markets to change that, including publishing a directory of farmers markets that accept SNAP and setting up incentive programs such as bonuses for SNAP users.

Food from online grocers The USDA is operating a pilot program allowing SNAP users to order groceries online. This could be a boon to people living in food deserts and homebound elderly and disabled people, not to mention parents of small children and those who work long hours and can't get to the store. (See also: 6 Ways Having Your Groceries Delivered Can Save You Money)

Cocktail mixers While you cannot use SNAP for alcohol, you can buy mocktails, bloody mary mix, tonic water, or margarita mix.

Things you can't buy with SNAP

Despite the fact that we just listed a wide range of items that you can buy, there are actually plenty of things you are not allowed to purchase with SNAP benefits. Some make perfect sense; there's no way taxpayers are going to fund cigarette or alcohol purchases. But there are valid arguments that some of the following items should be covered.

Rotisserie chicken Those hot roasted chickens in the deli are sometimes cheaper, pound for pound, than raw chicken. [???] And for people who don't have access to a kitchen, they could be included in many healthy meals such as chicken tacos or chicken salad. However, most SNAP recipients can't purchase any hot prepared foods, including these.

Toiletries Since they are not food, you can't use SNAP to buy household items such as soap, laundry detergent, diapers, sanitary napkins, or toilet paper. Since these items are essential, this restriction can be a hardship for SNAP recipients.

Pet food As mentioned above, a petition asking the federal government to include pet food in the SNAP program recently received more than 230,000 signatures. While there's a valid argument to be made that pet ownership is a luxury that the American taxpayer shouldn't have to support, the counterargument is that pet owners that fall into poverty are more likely to give up or abandon pets if they can't feed them ? and housing these pets in shelters or euthanizing them costs the public money.

Grocery bag fees More and more local governments are discouraging waste by requiring stores to charge for grocery bags. SNAP cannot be used to pay those fees, and the local law may not exempt SNAP users. So SNAP users should either bring their own bags or be prepared to pay for disposable bags with cash.

Food shipping charges SNAP users participating in the trial of online grocery ordering must pay any delivery or convenience fees in cash.

Live animals While you could buy live crabs to cook at home, you can't use your SNAP card to buy a piglet to raise or a cow to milk ? even if it would save you money and provide more nutritious food in the long run. Livestock just isn't part of the program.

Alcohol and cigarettes Alcohol and cigarettes aren't food, they're not nutritious, and the public doesn't want to pay for them.

[micky]

I don't like that either because there are too many things I don't know what to do with, vegetables with no labels, for example. Another example of what the cashier has to know.

and expecially when there is a line to self-check-out. The idea was there would be no line

At one of those stores I've started going to, they have two colors of bag, white for food that should be cold and blue for everything else (or vice versa) Wow.

That's another thing the baggers (usually the same as the cashiers) have to learn, although frankly I don't like it. they sort the food according to meat, groceries, salad, a separate bag for the newspaper... well I'm not sure, but sometimes I have two heavy bottles in one bag and barely anything in others. Until 5 or 10 years ago, they'd make the bags weigh the same. So the bagger had to learn one method, or maybe they just did it that way, but then they made them learn this other method, and they're good at it.

(People don't want chicken juice getting on their other food.)

[micky]

I've almost never thought the other line is moving faster.

The rest of his video is okay (though a little obvious) but I think he titled it what he did to get attention, even though it's not true.

And oh yes, at banks these days they normally have only one line and I don't see people wishing they could jockkey for position. I think they don't do it at supermarkets because it would take up a lot of space plus time while people walked from the single line to the open cashier who might be 40 feet away. OTOH, surely he didn't just make up what he says abou this; maybe that's what supermarket designers think.

Also at Marshalls, a local chain that pretends it sells nice leftovers, and maybe it does, there is only one line. I think they have a light that goes on so the cashier doesn't have to yell for the next person. They have space for a long line, folded in two, with possible impulse purchases linning the line. I like it because I know it's fair. Compared to K-mart that usually has only two lines running and it seems to take forever for the cashier to take out the hanger and fold each item the person is buying, and tjhey seem to buy so many. Sometimes it's just oen line so it's not unfair but it still takes forever.

[angelicapaganelli]

I get that. "Coupons" was an analogy. I still don't understand why the cash register doesn't just handle all of that.

Cindy Hamilton

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

A local grocery store (not Walmart) has 6 checkout lanes, 3 of which are express (15 items or less). The last time I was there, the express lanes were open and had no more than 1 customer each. Only one of the regular lanes was open and it had 5 or 6 customers waiting.

OT: the countdown in my sig reminded me of "Get Smart", one of the TV shows my parents liked in the sixties.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

They seem to work OK as long as you know what to do and don't require assistance, like with the "customer annoyance devices" and other assumption-of-guilt things.