Line Etiquette Pays: How I Accidentally Saved Money at the Grocery Store
image source: Jimmy_Joe’s via flickr
Recently, the supermarket gods have rewarded me twice with free food. I would like to say I planned this, but it really came about by accident. It happened because I was practicing good etiquette, and I like to think that no good deed goes unrewarded.
What are good manners?
I will take a moment to describe what I mean by etiquette, as it differs from the common meaning. To me, etiquette is not about rules like eating your soup by sailing your spoon away (though these articles are amusing to read). The real joy of etiquette is being considerate to everyone around you and spreading joy. These are things like speaking softly on your phone or giving your seat on the bus to someone needy.
If we all practiced etiquette, we could improve the worst part of shopping: waiting in line. It’s a situation that no one enjoys: shoppers are in a rush to get out, cashiers and baggers are tired from repetitive tasks, and managers are frantic to keep the whole system in order.
Good line etiquette
These are things that speed the process up and don’t bother other shoppers. Here are some things I try to practice:
- Saying hello and good bye to cashier
- Avoiding cell phone conversations
- Having payment and store cards ready
- Helping to bag own items, if no bagger is available
- Offering help to identify rare produce
And by far, here is the most important one:
6. Not questioning the price while in line (go to customer service instead)
The first five are common sense. A shopper should be responsible and considerate to keep the line going pleasantly. These things keep everyone’s blood pressure down.
It is the sixth tip that even I sometimes forget, but it’s the most important one.
Tales of bad etiquette
We’ve all seen what happens when someone doesn’t follow the advice. The cashier has to call for a price check and someone runs to the aisle to check the price. During this time, the line is not moving, and everyone gets edgy. Some people try to change lines. Ultimately, the price either gets fixed or the customer indicates it’s too expensive and should be restocked. No one can win in this situation. The shopper looks bad for holding up the line, the store looks bad for having a possible price mistake, and all other shoppers get angry in the meanwhile.
What I do instead
This is why line etiquette goes a long way. I actually ignore the entire price scanning process. It’s becoming harder to do now that stores have installed monitors for me to verify prices, but I try to turn my eyes away. I instead take a few deep breaths while I help the bagger place my items in the cart.
After I’m done, I check my receipt for errors. There is rarely anything wrong. But if there is, I simply walk over to customer service, with the item and receipt in hand and ask:
“Hi, I think this item scanned for the wrong price. Can you help me?”
By going to customer service, I’ve already done the other shoppers a big service by not holding the line. But even better, I am doing myself a service. This is because customer service is exactly set up for these problems. The customer service managers have the tools of:
- intimate knowledge of store sales
- bins to hold rejected merchandise for restocking
- experience that happy, repeat customers should be taken care of
These are things not available to cashiers who work on speed and constantly serve volumes of customers.
This method has worked. I typically get a price adjustment, but I some times get more. Twice recently, store managers have given me a free item because for pointing out the scanning error. I’ve gotten this even when it’s not a posted store policy.
I don’t want to focus on the money since it’s not appropriate to practice etiquette for that reason. We don’t get monetarily rewarded for 99 percent of the nice things we do, like helping a bagger, or being friendly to a cashier. But it’s those rare times we do that should remind us etiquette can pay. Besides, good habits are their own reward.
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14 Responses to “Line Etiquette Pays: How I Accidentally Saved Money at the Grocery Store”
Because I walked over to customer service, my melon was free, and I got $5 off my order. If I had complained to the checkout clerk, I might still be waiting on the price check.
The grocery stores I happen to shop at all have customer service immediately behind or alongside the checkout aisles. You’d be a fool to question the price with the 19 year old clerk who then must beg the 17 year old bagger to help him out with a price check.
Why don’t more people go to customer service? Stores make it easy (customer service is nearby), and incentivize (extra money back), and punish (restrict what the clerk can do), but it doesn’t work. You’re requiring action by the customer – walk over there and talk to someone else – when the customer is already right here.
How does this tie back into game theory? Why would the “rational” decision be to hold up the line, and ask a less competent person for assistance when you could get much better service by moving to the customer service counter. It even saves time because customer service is so much more efficient at finding the answer; when the manager asks the bagger for a price check it isn’t a favor.
Two things occur to me – inertia (I’m already here, not over there), and … thinking things through (you have to actually realize that you’re holding up the line and would be better served by moving to customer service).
Now … what about drivers who would like to relinquish their right of way by “helpfully” waving another driver through?
By Tim on May 12, 2008
This reminds me of a true story. A friend of mine shops at a grocery store which does not list the price of their produce for some reason. His method of dealing with this is to choose what he wants and cancel the transaction if it is too expensive when it rings up. Obviously this is not good line etiquette, especially since every cancellation requires a manager with a special key. So one time he rejects around 3 or 4 items, and needless to say the cashier is getting a little annoyed and less willing to cancel items. Then she rings up his mango…. a single mango. The price? $69.99! This is a great example of something that would be better taken care of at customer service. But I must say, it would be hard to pay $69.99 for a mango without a guarantee that you would get your money back.
By Paul on May 12, 2008
Tim: Excellent game theory analysis of the situation–I never thought of it in those terms.
One answer might be limiting the cashier’s options by making it impossible to correct errors. If a customer has a complaint, the cashier could simply print out the receipt and send them over to customer service to pay and discuss the issue.
For the driver issue, I hear that waving another driver or biker makes it your responsibility if there is an accident. I guess that has made me a less friendly driver, but perhaps a safer one.
By Presh Talwalkar on May 13, 2008
Paul: Wow, a $69.99 mango. I wonder what that would taste like. We have recently gotten Indian mangoes in my area that are $3 mangoes. I’ve grabbed some on clearance and say they are worth every penny.
I do get annoyed when stores fail to label prices. I try to ask staff when I’m shopping rather than when I’m in line. But sometimes they tell me just to ring it up and see the price, so this is one rare instance where I might hold up the line, but I don’t like to do it.
By Presh Talwalkar on May 13, 2008
Excellent, I thought I was the only one who felt this way. In the grocery store I go to you recieve 2x back on the mistake. This actually encouages the shoppers to not mention the scan mistake to the casheir. Shoppers almost hope for a mistake for the 2x back! Shifting the focus to where it should be for the customer service.
By michael cardus on May 13, 2008
Michael Cardus: Getting 2x the mistake is an even better incentive. I can see stores might worry about losing money on low margins, but I wonder if that policy reduces mistakes to begin with.
I also have noticed places with higher prices tend to have better store policies. Perhaps the losses might be passed on in higher sticker prices, but in expectation, the customer pays about the same as other places.
By Presh Talwalkar on May 13, 2008
http://www.emilypost.com/ is a nice website about etiquette.
Etiquette is one of the nicer ornaments of humanity and this quote by Archbishop Desmond Tutu moved me.
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
By Mahesh on May 14, 2008
Mahesh: Thanks for the recommendation and the very interesting quotation.
I also like the John Donne quote, “No man is an island.”
By Presh Talwalkar on May 14, 2008
I’m a cashier. I have a request. Please don’t mix your plums with your peaches and nectarines. Don’t mix your green peppers with your reds and oranges and yellows. Don’t mix your oranges with your grapefruits. Some are sold by weight. Some are sold by unit. Just put one type of item in each bag. Also, it doesn’t really matter if you say that something is .99c a pound. I have to have that code. It is distracting when I’m trying to look up the code and the customer is saying over and over and OVER again, “It’s 99 cents! It’s 99 cents!” I find that a majority of people tend to sway the price by 20 cents in their favor. Oops! Guess you were wrong! It WASN’T 99 cents! The PLU helps the store keep track of inventory so that they know how many plums to order in a given period of time, as opposed to peaches. When they’re all getting mixed into one bag together, it’s not feasible for the cashier to divide it up at the register, so we have to pick a PLU code to use from the mixed up items in the bag. Just one of my little pet peeves. I’ve always been a considerate shopper, and now that I work in a grocery store, I’m amazed at how inconsiderate customers can be and how much they’re willing to try to get away with.
By Lou on Sep 27, 2008
Lou:
Thanks for the inside information. I face this situation frequently because I buy “exotic” vegetables that cashiers don’t recognize. I usually have to wait for them to ask someone for the PLU. Makes sense that it would track inventory.
Waiting actually sounds like a win-win in net. The cashier gets the job done right, and I ensure the store keeps a good inventory of the food I like.
By Presh Talwalkar on Oct 1, 2008
I don’t so much blame the customer. I blame the corporate retail’s policy of “customer first” which everyone, myself included, takes ruthless advantage. Rather than take a product back to where you found it, you dump it on the nearest shelf. If you have a problem of any sort, you stamp your feet until some overly-earnest manager comes to your rescue. People want to feel like they are somebody, even if it means obnoxiously holding up a line just to make a point of being the “key stakeholder”.
By Prabhu on Nov 17, 2008
Yes, the world would be better if people acted considerately. I make it a point to act nice so as not to add to the mess
By Presh Talwalkar on Nov 19, 2008