Who polices the 15 items or less line?

Who is responsible for enforcing the rules at the super store?

Recently, a large retailer that owns thousands of super stores worldwide that sell discounted items implemented a change to its checkout policy. It allowed individual stores to decide if it would place a limit on how many items shoppers could buy using the self checkout kiosks at some of its stores. Many stores opted to impose a 15 item or less policy when using the self checkout.

According to an article in the The US Sun, the online edition of Britain’s Sun newspaper, the policy was met with disdain by some shoppers, especially when only a handful of the regular non-self-checkout registers were open. But others have noticed an inconsistency in how well the 15 items or less policy is policed, leaving shoppers to wonder if it is up to them to try to re-direct shoppers who run afoul of the policy.

There are a few issues raised here. First, is there anything unethical about limiting the number of items shoppers can purchase as a self checkout register or, for that matter, in an express line at a regular register? There is nothing wrong with instituting such policies, particularly if they are intended to speed up the overall wait times for shoppers to checkout.

For such policies to work fairly, however, the right thing is for any store implementing them to make sure they don’t have the opposite result than intended. It should be up to individual customers with 15 items or less to decide if they want to use the self checkout or to wait on one of the lines with no limitations. But if the stores don’t hire enough cashiers to keep as many of the traditional lines as possible open, the end result could be long waits at both the traditional lines and at the self checkout lines that are supposed to allow for a speedier shopping experience.

It is also up to consumers to be honest about how many items they have when checking out and not use the 15 items or less line for checking out a basket full of dozens of items…even if no one calls them on it when they do.

Then there’s the issue of who is responsible for monitoring and policing the 15 items or less checkout lines. It should not be left to other shoppers waiting in line to do this. Little good is likely to come from shoppers confronting one another about trying to cheat the system.

The right thing is for any store implementing a 15 items or less shopping line policy (or 12 items or less or 10, depending on the store) is for it to make sure someone is on hand to re-direct customers with more than the requisite number of items to another full-service line. Stores should also make sure that there are enough lines open to accommodate those re-directed customers or any customer who chooses not to use the express line. If staffing is an issue, then it might be time for stores to examine whether implementing such a policy is fair to customers until they have enough staff in place to be able to do so.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues. 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jseglin

(c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

 

Do too many signature credentials smack of pretension?

Is it wrong or pretentious to list initials for your credentials in the signatures to your letters, emails or texts?

A reader we’re calling Thoth wrote asking if there was anything wrong with listing acronyms for degrees or licenses earned in your correspondence, particularly if the correspondence is not work-related. My sense from his email was that Thoth found it fine to include such credentials in work-related emails, texts or letters, but that including it in personal correspondence was a bit much.

Most businesses don’t have a policy dictating whether an employee should list their credentials in the signature to their correspondence. At any academic institution where I’ve worked, the decision whether to do so or not has been left up to each individual. Some of my colleagues include credentials (often several), while others like me don’t.

Including credentials for professional correspondence can certainly make sense. It can be a way of establishing credibility with the recipient…if the recipient actually knows what the many acronyms for various degrees and certifications mean. A link to a bio on the company website might be a better way to do this, but there’s nothing wrong with listing your credentials as long as they are accurate.

There’s also nothing wrong with not including every degree and credential you’ve earned in your signature. Presumably, there are stronger ways to exhibit credibility with the recipients of your correspondence. While they might want to work with someone who is well-trained, typically they are more likely to be impressed with the actual work you’ve done rather than the initials you’ve earned along the way.

If you check out sites like Quora and Reddit, there are long discussion threads about whether it is ever OK to list honorary doctoral degrees as a credential. Since these degrees are not earned but are offered as an honor to those an institution has deemed to have done something notable, it can be misleading to use “Dr.” before your name if that doctorate was honorary. The one exception is the institution that awarded you the honorary degree. It very likely will address you as “Dr.” to further signify the honor.

The right thing is for each individual to decide how useful or meaningful it is to include credentials in professional correspondence signatures. Even if some recipients might find it pretentious, it’s up to the individual to make the decision what to include as long as what’s included is accurate and doesn’t run afoul of any company policies.

Personal correspondence signatures are a bit different. It seems a bit over the top to include all of your credentials in the signature to an email you write to your book club or an old friend. The challenge for those using their business email for personal correspondence is that there is often a default signature set up that gets created with each email sent. Still, it might be worth editing the excess from those default signatures, or to consider using a personal email account for personal email.

We can’t always control what others will find pretentious. But the right thing is to try to control that any trappings surrounding the messages we send don’t get in the way of the message we would like to be received.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues. 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jseglin

(c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

Can neighbor dispose of trash next door?

Can you put your trash in a trash can on property not your own?

There are times when the desire to get rid of household trash doesn’t match up to when it is picked up in your neighborhood. And the thought of having that trash in a bin in the house or bagged up in the garage isn’t appealing.

A reader we’re calling Lee found himself in just such a situation. Lee was planning to take a vacation two days before the trash was scheduled to be picked up in his neighborhood. He knows that there is a regulation against putting out his barrels before 5 p.m. the night before trash is to be picked up. But after 5 p.m. the night before pickup he will be away with his family, so he won’t be able to put out the trash cans.

Lee also knows that trash is picked up a couple of days earlier on a street a few blocks away from him. He wants to know if it would be wrong for him to put his trash into a bin someone has pulled to the curb a few blocks over for pickup.

 

I am not a lawyer nor am I steeped in the details of trash regulations where Lee or even where I live. But I do know that in many municipalities, it is illegal for anyone to dump their trash into someone else’s trash receptacle without permission.

Do people engage in such behavior anyway? Yes. Is it OK for them to do so? No. Neither is it OK to drive around looking for a construction site that happens to have a dumpster on it and to toss your trash there without permission. Or to dump it in a receptacle up at the local park.

But is it wrong to put trash in a trash can on property not your own? Most regulations hold that it is wrong only if you don’t have permission from the owner of the receiving bins.

Lee has some options. He can ask a resident on the street with earlier pickup if he could place a bag of trash in one of their cans. That might be something Lee doesn’t want to do if he doesn’t know anyone on that street. Or he can ask a neighbor on his own street if they would be OK with him putting his trash in their bin before he leaves. Or he can ask a neighbor if they’d be willing to pull his trash cans to the curb and return his empty cans to their rightful place once they are empty.

 

If Lee doesn’t want to talk to his neighbors and ask permission or seek their help, then the right thing is to let his trash sit until he returns from vacation. A quick search of government websites around the country suggests that the fines for dumping your trash in someone else’s bins without permission can prove steep enough that an odorous garage is far preferable.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues. 

Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jseglin

(c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.