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.