Actually there IS a sign and it's right in front of your face!

[Primer]

I can tell you why plastic lines go faster: Fewer choices.

Sometimes (rarely) I need to know what the total is before I decide on my method of payment. Also, if I know the total will be rather large, and I already know I'll be paying cash, I don't really like to be flashing bills before I have to. That said, I do try to have my wallet at the ready before I receive the total, and I very rarely write checks any more.

However, I DO read signs and act appropriately!!

[AFpheonix]

And this is why we need to invent a sign-bouncer.
Sign Bouncer would not only be large and obvious, it would also wield a large club to smack people with that obviously ignored it on the way by.

Upgraded versions could have a built in taser.

[Pagan]

This is more of a sighting, but it sounds like the gal I saw while in the Garden Center at Wally World yesterday. They have an entrance/exit there, no register, but a clerk checking receipts. Well, she sits her stuff down and starts rummaging around in her purse, presumably for her receipt, right? Nope, she was wanting to pay. Clerk tells her, sorry no register here. Lady gets a bit upset. Of course, that's when I, being in a "mood" already, point out the BIG ASS sign that she's STANDING IN FRONT OF that says, in effect, "No Register Here"!

[protege]

Sign Bouncer would not only be large and obvious, it would also wield a large club to smack people with that obviously ignored it on the way by.

Nah, I'd rather see the bouncer throw them *at* the sign, causing them to bounce off of it

I've been to the local IKEA many times, and haven't had problems with their signs, even the little ones. In fact, because of one of those signs, I got a nice discount on a CD rack I wanted. It was in the "clearance" section, and nothing was wrong with it. After checking it over, I bought it, and put the boxed one away. Why pay twice as much for something...when all that's really wrong with it is it's assembled already and missing its box?

[ken]

I would have thought it was the other way around. As a cashier, I could make change in less time than it took someone to punch in their PIN or sign their credit card slip.

In the last years, card terminals in Sweden have been changed to let
the customer swipe the card and enter the PIN code while the cashier rings
up the purchases. When that is done, all the customer has to do is to accept the
transaction (pressing the OK button again). Some seconds saved...

[Kilamon]

Too bad for the OP that the first dude wasn't a little on the short side, balding and saying, "INCONCEIVABLE!"

[DesignFox]

Don't give people too many choices. It confuses them.

^-.-^

That is soooo true.

actually, it's one of the things my boss at the cell phone store tells me all the time...show two or three phones. They don't need to know anything else- you'll be here all day.

People are idiots. I think lanes should have eject buttons. If you ask a customer if they are paying by credit or debit, and they respond with cash...a big red light goes off, sirens blare, and a recording spouts off something about a user error before ejecting them out through the ceiling.

[MrSunshineState]

You could start your own grocery store, make it 100% cash free, name it "NO CASH GROCERIES". The radio jingle could go "Save time at no cash groceries! We do not accept cash!"


Yes the cash paying people would still lurk.....

[Jack7957]

actually, it's one of the things my boss at the cell phone store tells me all the time...show two or three phones. They don't need to know anything else- you'll be here all day.

That's what I was taught my first day at Silo. Ask the customer what features they are looking for, price range, etc. You can usually narrow down their choices of product from around 50 down to 10 or under at that point.

[Enjis]

Seems to me the problem often is not that the customer did not see the sign, it is more that the customer did not like what it said, therefore it became irrelavant!

"I want to pay in cash...therefore, when I get my items rung up, the cashier WILL take cash. After all, they can't turn me away after I'm there, right?"

The fact that you would turn away cash (because your register CAN'T take it!) never occurs to them.

[Becks]

On the extremely rare ocasion I will use a check at a register, the only thing that isn't filled out by the time the cashier is finished ringing me up is the amount.

Back in the day when I wrote checks for grocery shopping, I'd do the same. Everything written out except for the total. Quick and easy.

You could start your own grocery store, make it 100% cash free, name it "NO CASH GROCERIES". The radio jingle could go "Save time at no cash groceries! We do not accept cash!"


Yes the cash paying people would still lurk.....

Geez...first hating on the check writers, now hating on the cash payers. I have no place in society. (j/k)

[rerant]

This isn't where the thread is going, but I was struck by how the "plastic" lines moved faster than the cash. I would have thought it was the other way around. As a cashier, I could make change in less time than it took someone to punch in their PIN or sign their credit card slip.
Of course, if someone decided to dig through their pocket or coin purse for exact change, all bets were off. Maybe those people make a bigger difference than I think.

Aside from the other comment about giving customers less options, the other reason why plastic lines are shorter is simply because more people want to use cash, than do just credit or debit.
Smaller purchases, etc.

[Kiwi]

The craft store had signs every 2 feet "YOU MUST HAVE A REWARDS CARD TO GET THE DISCOUNTED PRICES, it was on every single flyer, sign, badge they made the staff wore and hung from the ceiling. You could not spin around without seeing it at least 8 times. Our sign out front of the store was 10 feet high and 25 feet long and didnt even say our store name it looked like this...

DO YOU HAVE YOUR **** CARD TODAY?
Kiwi's craft store

and yet every single transaction almost it was like pulling teeth to get people to hand it over! Point being sucky customers will not read signs if it means effort or intelligence on their part!

Kyle just about came to blows with a customer in IKEA, they were letting their child push the long low trolley and the kid of course couldnt judge the distance and rammed my legs twice moving forward in line. Twice I asked nicely to give the child a little help... or at least stop him just before he was about to ram me.... I was told "hes learning" learning, give me a break your just to freaking lazy to pay attention to him. Granted the kid was trying but he had to practically throw his body weight into the cart to get it moving and then couldnt stop it in time.

My boyfriend finally told the dad after the second time that he would "learn him some manners if he didnt quit it" (the dad not the son) and the dad put a hand on the cart.... jeez big effort there dad thanks for "teaching your son"