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Stop&Shop has a system that allows to carry a scanner with you through the store and checkout items as you put them in your cart. Then you go through the self-checkout aisle to pay. The scanner uploads all your purchases right into the cash register. I also bring my own bags and fill them up as I go, so when I'm done paying I just head on out.

This process can be slowed down a bit by people scanning at the self checkout or if you are randomly selected to have your purchases verified. Overall, it's much faster than having to wait to have my purchases scanned and bagged at the register.

I try to avoid lines with "talkers"! I've been stuck behind the same person multiple times at my health food store and the tak to leg off of the cashier! Drives me nuts!!!

If someone has a lot of produce I try to avoid that line because the cashier has to look it up a lot of times. Forget the u-scans! I always have a flashing manager light.

I feel like I rarely have an option the "choose a line." Most stores have that huge line that wraps about halfway around the store and you just get on it and when you get to the front they point you to whatever number register is ready. Is this just NY, or is it just Trader Joe's/Whole Foods/Fairway?
When I do have the option to choose, I look at what people are buying! If there's one of those monster carts overflowing with stuff, I avoid! Three people in front of you with 4-5 items usually goes faster than one huge purchaser.

I just say to the store manager, "Can you open up another checkout line please?" And they do. And I'm first on it!

I learned this one from my boyfriend: Listen for the cashier beeping the items through the fastest. Also note the age of the customers in lineup, as the elderly often take a lot longer to pay.


Of course, still considering the relative length of line up and quantity of items.

i have perfected the art of going to the store on an unpopular day, at an unpopular time. Rarely wait for more than one person.
I have never been in a grocery store in LA with the communal line thing (including TJ's) they seem to have in New York, but i have been to more than a dozen cities in the UK, and they all have that system, and it seems to move a lot faster.
We do have more and more self check out, but if theres a line avoid it, its the longest wait in the store.

I second "Imrinc" on the produce thing, looking up takes a long time.

I always look for lines with men between 30 to 50, shopping alone - they're unlikely to use coupons or club cards, rarely buy vegetables or fruits, and are more likely to pay cash. They are very eager to get out ASAP.

Speed aside, I always avoid part-time teenage boys working at the register. They don't give a damn about putting watermelon on top of bread.

I look for an efficient-looking cashier and try to avoid lines with little old ladies who still pay with checks.

I avoid lines with kids at all cost, and this goes beyond the grocery store. Parents get distracted. Suddenly the kids wants something different. It just always seems to take longer. Once I was in line at TJ and mother with three kids with a very long transaction were in front of me. After money was exchanged I thought "me finally." No. The mother wanted a balloon for each of her three children and it just so happened that none of the colors they wanted were at the register. The cashier had to go to two different stations to get the balloons.

I have found the self check outs are always slower as there are lots of pauses as it waits for each items weight to be registered in the bagging area before proceeding and shoppers are not as fast with scanning as the checkers. I'm not sure why those are so popular, why do all that work when you are the customer anyway?

I avoid lines with elderly people - no one use checks in my area, but they always seem to pay with cash, and often insist on making exact change by pulling coins one by one from a tiny change purse.

i'm with zombiesgirl -- unpopular day, unpopular time. avoid Avoid AVOID sundays, unless you have a few hours to do your grocery shopping.

I never use the self check out just so people can keep their jobs!

I avoid lines that have grocery carts in them, particularly grocery carts with kids in them. I prep for my checkout while waiting; ready my tender and reusable bags, and when convenient, I have my cans at one end of my purchase pile, and my produce at the other for easy bagging. I swipe my card to pay as soon as they start checking, start bagging right away if there isn't a bagger handy. I have it down to a science and I am out of there in a flash.

I live in a very touristy part of San Francisco, and if you know anything about San Francisco, you know that we love to screw our tourists any way we can, and especially in restaurants. Therefore, my closest Safeway is always full of visitors stocking up on supplies they can stuff into the minibar fridge, or getting things from the deli, at more reasonable prices.

Unfortunately, our beloved tourists appear to be somewhat overwhelmed by their SF experience and have forgotten how supermarkets work. I seek out lines that look like they're populated with locals -- really, anyone who looks like they're doing a heavy weekly shop -- because sure enough every single person in the express lane will have some sort of special circumstance or language barrier that needs to be overcome so they can buy their Smart Water.

@icanmakeit - Because of course that'll be the one time corporate greedmonsters don't go with cost savings over customer convenience? Get real.

i love self check and am always surprised by people who don't like it. so i usually go for self-check first, even if i am purchasing alcohol or bulk items. its just not that much work.

otherwise i usually look for the fewest people with the fewest items, and when lines are long i look around a lot—sometimes you can catch a checkers eye as they come up to open another stand and *bingo* there you are!

i've also been known to check out at the courtesy counter, deli counter, etc... when lines are extra heinous.

I shop for fresh at the Maisonneuve market - no line! - and I buy the rest from an online grocer that delivers. It's a life saver.

http://dinnersanddimes.blogspot.com/

not too many people, a clerk who looks alert and is moving quickly, and customers without overflowing carts, unusual items, or checkbooks clutched in their hands....

I'm usually wrong anyway :-(

BrooklynBaker:

Fairway on long island has seperate checkout lines :-) I've never waited more than 5 min before being helped. I think the one megaline is a city phenomenon.... I hate them too

I try to find the line with the most unhappy looking men in it, because they don't make small talk and just want to get out of there.

Past that, it's a delicate balance of number of people and number of items. Though after reading that article, now I know not to count on a long line of people with one item!

I use the express lane next to the self check out lanes usually. The one at my store is almost always empty because everyone seems to think they'll get out faster through the self checkouts. It's so not true because self check out is always plagued by people who don't know what they're doing, or it's slowed down by an inattentive cashier. I once walked up to the main computer and reset the scale myself because the cashier had walked off to who knows where.

I find that young and middle aged men are the best people to get in line behind (they don't tend to double check the prices or use coupons or checks) and young women are the fastest cashiers.

at the stores I regularly go to, I know which cashiers to avoid and which will move quickly.

and in my area, sundays are actually the day to go shopping--enough people go to church that all the stores are deserted. the church people are in church and the non-church people are sleeping in. if you happen to be a non-church person with a baby who won't let you sleep in, it is the time to go!

I avoid lines that have people with those huge carts overflowing with stuff in them, especially if they have small, misbehaving children with them. They always take forever, are distracted and use multiple coupons.

Self-checkout only works if I have a few things, never a cartload. Even then, I usually screw something up (I can never figure out what, and I'm not tech illiterate...I just think the systems are not very well-designed) and a cashier has to rescue me.

I wish there were a way to know which people are going to have their credit cards refused. That always takes forever to resolve and it's pretty embarrassing to witness too. I feel sorry for their troubles but also annoyed that they're backing everything up.

@miriamjudith There's no loud 'beep' at my supermarkets so its the checkout with the least amount of people and the least amount of things- unless I see a super quick check out person flying through someone's groceries- then I'm on that line. There's no coupons or anything here and people rarely use chequebooks- plus the 'swipe your card whilst your items are being put through' really quickens things up.

Oh, and never shop before a public holiday because people act like the world is going to end and shop the day before because they're all anxious over the fact the supermarket will be closed for ONE day. And the later in the day you shop the better- avoid the hour or so directly after school. 8pm is usually a good time although I do like to stroll the aisles at midnight.

I try to shop early mornings and on Tuesday and Wednesday (the slowest days). Typically, the younger the cashier, the better, and I tend to pick a line that has a few medium sized orders, because people who shop in very small or very large orders tend to be very slow in paying.

i pick lanes based on the operator

if they have served me before and i was happy with their packing then i pick them

if they have served me before and i was unhappy with their packing then i pick someone else

if there is no one i recognised as being good i pick someone unknown.

tired of squashed bread and meat leaking all over my vegetables. some people seem to think that if you bring your own bags it means you don't care how they are packed.

I try to avoid lines with people that have given evidence of being inefficient. This includes distracted parents with misbehaving kids, people yapping on cell phones, teenagers that are more interested in killing time than checking out, and people who I noticed in the store itself being inefficient.

I also try to shop efficiently too - I mentally plan a path of attack, keep to the less used paths of the store, try to go late at night or early in the morning when possible, use a basket instead of a cart for increased mobility, group items in the order I want it pacvked, and I hoof it pretty quickly too. I must look either pissed or hilarious when I shop I guess :)

I take an entirely different approach. I decided a long time ago that it wasn't worth the time or effort to try and guess the shortest/quickest/whatever-est line or get upset if it's not what I wanted/expected.

I end up in the line I end up in. And it takes as long as it takes. Stressing about it or spending energy trying to make something be a certain way doesn't do anything but spend my energy. I try to think of it as a "zen" approach.

Does wonders for my mood and the mood of my cashier. When I'm calm and relaxed they end up more calm and relaxed and it's must more pleasant for everyone involved. :)

i always end up behind the lady with a million coupons..

is that picture in an italian grocery store?

bina, I also think the pic was taken in Italy :)

As one of those people with a million coupons I pick a line with someone who looks like they know what they are doing. I also give warning to anyone who may get in line behind me that I have a million coupons and it could take a while. That being said- when it's my turn it's my turn. It takes as long as it takes. Just like when it's your turn it's your turn and it will take as long as it takes. Really, my life will not be affected by a couple more/fewer minutes in the checkout line. Life's too short to stress over it!

I also scan & bag while shopping at stop in shop. I get to control what goes in each bag (no more squished bread), the little scanner totals as I shop, I can place an order at the deli, continue on shopping and get pinged when my order is ready. Also, there are extra discounts on 10-12 items per week, available only to those using the scanner, and usually on staples (50 cents off a pound of butter, 10% off chicken or strawberries) or items I am already buying (2 for $3 for frozen meals for late work nights).

The s&s near me has enough self scanning lanes that there is almost always one lane open or at most has one person ahead of me. I do tend to get the random check once every few months, but I'll take that minor irritation for all the benefits.

Oddly, I'm sure, I choose the exit closest to the door that leads to where my car is parked...no logic there really, just a way to not get behind slow people on my way out the door.

I recently ended up behind a woman who made a huge deal about not getting the advertised 20 cents off a bag of cookies... turns out she had the wrong kind... so she just walked off to find the right ones... meanwhile, I'd already put all my stuff on the belt... and the cashier and I are just standing there staring at one another... and when the lady finally comes back several minutes later, she looks at the long line of irritated people behind her and says jokingly, "You all probably hate me now!" From the look on her face, I don't think she actually had expected me to say, "Yes."

I think it's impossible to check out quickly. I tell people that they should never get in line behind me: it will always turn out to be the longest line (and not because of me, you understand!)

I look for the isle with the cutest check out girl. I am not really in that much of a hurry. I am standing in line, I expect to wait, I might as well enjoy the view.

i do the same, it's all about the cutest chick on register.