1. Put your tall items at the side of the belt that is opposite of the screen and payment shelf. That way, they won’t get hung up and cause all the crushables to be smashed.

2. Group all your canned foods together, as well as frozen, colds, produce, boxes, etc. And put the heaviest first, on down to the most damageable.

3. Do NOT take bags off the carousel unless the cashier either tells you to do so or puts the bags on top of the carousel center shelf. When s/he turns the carousel away from her it does not mean the bag is ready to go. It means s/he’s waiting for like items to add to the bag. Grabbing the bag with one or two small, lightweight items is wasteful and uses too much plastic!

4. If you bring your own bags, you can offer to bag for him/her. The reusable bags do take longer because they are hard to keep in place until they have a few items in them, or unless they are the kinds with a loop that can be used to stabilize them.

5. If you are going to need items you can only get from the cashier – ice, garbage stickers, postage stamps, water softener salt – let her know early so she can get the items on your order before going to the payment screen.

6. One more thing – if your clothing or other non-grocery purchase does not have a price tag try to bring a like item that does have a tag. We can use that tag, even if it’s the wrong size or color, and still give you the one you need. We will see to it that the unbought item is returned to the department.

I know some of these seem obvious and you want to know why I’m mentioning them. Little changes in the way you help at the checkout really make the process go much more smoothly. Then everyone is happy.