The Major Grocery Self-Checkout Rule You Shouldn't Break

Grocery shoppers fall into two camps: those who loathe self-checkout and those who prefer it vastly over full-service checkout with a cashier. The latter camp — which includes 77% of consumers! (Business Wire) — favor supermarkets where they can scan their own purchases, largely because they feel the process is faster. Plus, many prefer to do their bagging themselves. Then, there's the not-insignificant fact that, after you've pushed a heavy cart all around a huge store (including way in the back where they purposely keep the milk), sometimes you just don't want to engage in small talk. Self-checkout has a lot to recommend it, and you're not alone in wanting to use it all the time.

While every grocery store's self-checkout machines are a little different, there is a common etiquette that applies to all of them. You probably didn't realize you were breaking these unspoken self-checkout rules that help you and your fellow shoppers. There is one huge faux pas in particular that you should stop ASAP — going through the self-service line with a huge order. While you may not see the issue with scanning a full cart at the self-checkout, it's a misstep in both the areas of courtesy and common sense.

First of all, bringing an overloaded buggy through the self-checkout line snarls the process for everyone behind you. Remember that fact about folks preferring SCO because it's faster? When you use one of the limited checkout lanes to laboriously scan and bag dozens of items, you are making the other customers in line wait for much longer than expected. Some stores, like Target, enforce self-checkout as an express lane by limiting you to 10 items or fewer. Even if the rule isn't spelled out in black and white, however, it's good form to have some consideration for the other people waiting. Especially during weekends, which are the worst times to go grocery shopping despite being most convenient for the working masses, you should opt for a manned checkout stand if you have a big order.

Keep in mind that, no matter what your personal estimation is of your self-checkout skills, a trained cashier is likely to go faster than you ... especially if the lane has a dedicated bagger, meaning the duo can do twice the work in half the time. Also, a store employee likely knows the produce codes by heart and can easily deal with small problems like scanning errors and price corrections that would leave you waiting for assistance in the self-checkout and holding things up even longer. It really is a no-brainer to skip the self-checkout if you are buying lots of groceries.