It may be the one place nearly every South Florida resident has found themselves during their years in the Sunshine State: the 10-item-or-less line at their local Publix supermarket.
Now this convenience, which has long rescued Jupiter moms rushing kids to soccer practice and West Palm Beach office workers pressed to return to work, is going away.
Florida's signature grocery store has announced it is moving on from the check-out lane that bonded people from Palm Beach Gardens to Wellington to Boca Raton. Here's why it made the choice — and what the Lakeland-based chain's customers and employees are saying about it.
What changed at Publix for customers using express lanes?
Previously, Publix's express lanes were for customers with 10 items or less — a debatable number, since a dozen eggs and a bunch of
bananas counted as one item.
The supermarket now will not set a specific item limit for any of its cashier lanes.
Why did Publix change its express lane policy?
"To better serve our customers and improve checkout efficiency, we recently updated our express lane process to provide associates with greater flexibility in managing customer flow," said Lindsey Willis, Publix media relations manager via email Aug. 10.
"Rather than adhering to a specific item limit, our focus is on reducing wait times and ensuring customers can be served as efficiently as possible," Willis said.
The move also follows Publix's move to multiple self-check-out stations at most of its stores. Many customers with a small number of items have chosen them instead of a conventional cashier.
Reddit users react to Publix change on express lanes
Reactions to the change varied. Here's how Publix customers and employees expressed themselves on the social-media platform Reddit.
- "They just updated our express lane. The cube that sits up top no longer says 10 or less. It just says express and we were told that even though it still says express, we're required to take anyone at all and not allowed to direct them to another lane. So what the ... (expletive) is the point of it being called express anymore??? Just make it another regular register and push SCO as the express option."
- "An express lane with no item limit is just another checkout lane."
- "The point of this is that in our current society no one wants to tell anybody no and have them abide by the rules. It is just easier to let people do whatever they want and go about your day."
- "It’s just like the 'no parking fire lane sign.' Rules only apply to those who are willing to follow them."
- "They got rid of the express lane at my store. It stands there empty, like a ghost observing the self-checkout machines."
- "I actually kinda like this. Express is meant for quick orders. 8 different bags of dog food is gonna take way longer than 15 cans of vegetables. Sometimes people say to me, 'I have 12, is that ok?' Yes, it’s fine lol. Just as long as it’s a quick order."
- "When surveys are done of areas of customer dissatisfaction, one of the things at the top of the list is always 'failure to enforce' the number of items in an express lane. I'm not the main shopper in my family, but when I go, I tend to buy higher dollar items (yeah, that's me). But there are usually only a half dozen or more. If I show up at the express lane and they're taking someone with a cart full, I park my cart and head to the car. It's that annoying."
Are grocery store express lanes really faster? One survey says no
Some research has shown express lanes may create the appearance of faster service and can shorten small-order queues, but they do not consistently cut actual wait times.
A simulation study by Jin Kyung Kwak of Ewha Womans University in South Korea found express checkout lanes do not consistently reduce customer wait times. Key findings in the study included:
- Express checkouts do not always reduce wait times. In fact, separating lanes often does not improve, and can worsen, overall wait times and queue lengths.
- Pooling effect is critical to reduce the number of idle employees while others are busy with customers
- Express lanes can be beneficial in reducing queue lengths when customer arrival rates are high or when regular checkout times are long.
Arianna Otero covers breaking news for the Palm Beach Post. Contact her via email at AOtero@pbpost.com and follow her on X: @ari_v_otero.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Publix in Palm Beach County ending 10-item-or-less checkout lanes
