Again and again, supermarket customers discuss tricks to slow down checkouts. There is also the banana and the bun trick for this. What's that all about?
Munich – Cashiers in the supermarket have a stressful job. And they should do it quickly. Nevertheless, there are always tricks circulating to slow them down and have more time to pack. That's questionable at least once. And not always successful either. After all, placing the goods on the conveyor belt at a great distance – as is repeatedly rumoured on the net – may seem clever, but cashiers know a simple antidote.
Banana trick in the supermarket: Individually weighed fruits with specially glued labels
Another trick to gain more time at the checkout has also been circulating online for some time and is discussed again and again, for example under a Facebook post from March 2023: the banana trick. It was probably "invented" and first made public by a Twitter user in 2019. He wrote: "Weighing 6 bananas one at a time and sticking the barcodes exactly into the curvatures saves valuable time to pack at the supermarket checkout. Tested for you!"
In other words, while the cashier has six times extra trouble scanning the individual bananas with the folded labels, the customer gets much more time to stow away his purchases in peace. The old tweet got more than 2,000 "likes" and hundreds of shares, as well as rows and rows of comments. Rather, it seems as if it was written with a wink. But some people seem to take him seriously. "Great idea!! I'll test it too!" and "Great tip", they say - is there any irony in it?
Banana trick in the supermarket "impossible for the staff"
Some warn that the trick is simply reckless. One writes: "The punch line itself is funny ... but this is impossible to the staff ... after all, cashiers (especially in discounters) have to work so fast ... in some cases, the times are even measured ... then you have to buy where there are more staff ... MORE EXPENSIVE ;)."
Bananas on Rewe checkout belt. © mix1press/Imago
Another comment reads, "And you're going to feel all the wrath of the cashiers eventually... Believe me." Because one thing is clear: Probably every cashier notices when she is fed six individual nerve bananas that she can hardly scan. Apart from that, fruit is weighed directly at the checkout in many markets anyway - so the supposed trick doesn't work anyway.
Bread roll trick in the supermarket: Mixed or individually wrapped baked goods from the self-service counter
Other supermarket customers know another option to slow down cashiers: the bread roll trick! "At Lidl, I always put the baked goods from the fresh food counter at the end of the conveyor belt, either in individual bags or in mixed bags. This also slows down the scanning process immensely and gives you more time to pack," reads one comment. And another: "I always solve the stress of packing by putting three bags of differently arranged rolls at the end of the treadmill ..."
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Both banana and bun tricks show a lot of selfishness. Anything that costs the cashier more time and nerves to their own advantage is not exactly nice. Fortunately, not all supermarket customers are so elbow-like. Some have even developed their own way of packing away their purchases stress-free without annoying the supermarket staff. One of them: "I pre-sort while shopping, then I can put everything on the checkout conveyor belt in such a way that I can put it in my cart at the same pace as the cashier - saves us both valuable time."
"You're not alone in the world and it's fun to be prudent"
Another obvious option: "Or you can quickly pack everything into the car and get out of the way, have an infinite amount of time to pack everything up wonderfully and don't even have to waste resources, time and the patience of your fellow human beings." Attached to this tip is an appeal: "You are not alone in the world and it is fun to be prudent."
Consideration and respect are needed in this world – even at the supermarket checkout. By the way, you could also avoid a saying that employees can no longer hear. Or avoid a common mistake on the checkout belt. In fact, you shouldn't put down a certain drink at all. (lin)
