That's why egg cartons are really opened at the supermarket checkout

Created: 07/18/2022, 22:22

By: Maria Wendel

You think the cashier at the supermarket opens the egg carton to check if all the eggs are whole?

You can find out here why that is not the reason.

You probably know the situation: You place the egg carton on the belt and before the person at the checkout pulls it over the scanner, he or she takes a critical look at it.

Anyone who thinks that this is a service for customers to sort out broken eggs is unfortunately wrong.

You should do the quality check yourself before you put the eggs in the shopping cart.

The cashier's glance into the egg carton has another reason.

When shopping, you should check in advance that none of the eggs are cracked.

© Ute Grabowsky/Imago

That's why supermarket employees open the egg cartons at the checkout

Rather, it is a check against theft: An attempt could be made to smuggle smaller products – such as chewing gum, lighters or surprise eggs – out in the egg carton without paying for them.

In order to prevent these thefts, the cashiers check the boxes before they run them over the scanner.

That is the reason for the strict look in the egg carton.

It also has the side effect that the eggs are checked for completeness and integrity if you have missed it yourself beforehand.

The same applies when buying newspapers and magazines: Here, cashiers check whether there is another newspaper or magazine between the pages.

This can also happen unintentionally.