Newsweek upends the world with an explosive new controversy: Grocery store checkout dividers.

[OilemFirchen]

Local News Anchor Sparks Fiery Debate Over Grocery Store Checkout Dividers

A local news meteorologist has gone viral after sparking a debate about the dividers used on the conveyor belts at grocery stores.

Ryan Vaughan is the chief meteorologist at Region 8 News in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on the KAIT network which is affiliated with ABC, NBC, and The CW.

He took to his official Facebook page to educate his followers on "how to use the divider"—the steel or plastic rectangle tube which indicates where one person's shopping ends—at a supermarket checkout.

...

He captioned the Facebook post: "I'm at the store tonight and noticed some of you don't know how to use the divider. You need to put it long ways to trip the sensor and keep a distance. Some of y'all use it as a privacy fence.."

https://www.newsweek.com/new-anchor-debate-grocery-store-divider-1785086

[LymphocyteLover]

1. LOL! OMG!

[Kingofalldems]

2. Didn't know that.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. I Have, Literally, Never Seen It Used That Way

Every single time I've seen one used it's perpendicular to the belt direction.
I've even checkers grab one & put it behind the current order and even they don't run it lengthwise.
I'd like to know where the meteorologist got this information.
Also, Newsweek is covering this? How the mighty have fallen.

[irisblue]

19. I will do that on occasion when I want all of the small order on the belt

So I can watch the prices as they are rung up.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. That's Clever

Of course, we probably don't shop at the same supermarket! LOL!
I don't watch that closely, but I am a receipt checker. I also have a pretty good idea of cost before I even check out, so if the amount seemed wrong I wouldn't hit the "Yes" button for "Right Amount"?
But, using it like you do is pretty slick.

[SWBTATTReg]

41. Sometimes I have used it opposite the belt direction...mainly because there's so much stuff on the

belt already and I want to ensure that the checker knows where the dividing line is between customers, sort of aid them a little bit. I don't do it very often, just when there is tons of stuff on the checkout belt.

[Iggo]

34. I still don't know that.

[Takket]

37. you didn't know it because it is not a thing

[treestar]

3. early in the Covid crisis it was said not to

touch it - let the cashier do it. So fewer different people would be touching it. It didn't work though. Cashiers I ran into never did anything with it.

Then Covid because less of a don't touch thing and a wear a mask thing.

[Fullduplexxx]

4. Well we wouldn't want to talk about McGonagall

[LymphocyteLover]

5. utter madness!

I have used those countless times and not one clerk has ever said they should be used in that "right" parallel position. Crazy.

[hlthe2b]

9. I don't now but in the comments there was an embedded post supposedly from manufacturer

of these devices who said it was WRONG (horizontal use was correct).

[BootinUp]

21. The wrong aspect I think, is that

when its the long way, its like you are taking up space that the next person in line would like to use. The meterologist bring up the aspect of some sensor. I can't say if hes right, maybe certain stores have a sensor that only works like he says who knows.

[ornotna]

6. Local news meteorologist should stick to reporting the weather

This is what has your shorts twisted in a bunch?

[Auggie]

7. I like it!

[lame54]

8. Stop already...

I'm still recovering from the Biden's ordering the same dish at a restaurant

[LymphocyteLover]

10. LOL!

[irisblue]

23. I looked that dish up, Mezzi Rigatoni, I'd for sure order it, no matter how many at the table

[EYESORE 9001]

11. I'm sticking with making fences

I don’t have issues with grocery spacing. Sheesh!

[intrepidity]

12. No way.

It's enough of a feat to get the cart unloaded and everything ready (cards out, bags ready) to be able to start bagging without the added delay of dead space on the conveyor. The checkers at my store are fast, ans I take it as my serious duty to keep up with them, so that when the receipt is printed and torn, I'm just finishing up bagging the last few items.

It's a well-practiced, orchestrated dance, and that extra foot of conveyor space would throw it all off.

No.

[jimfields33]

16. You are awesome! Seriously if only everybody was like you.

The belt area is not big enough to begin with to have that thing go horizontal. Maybe for 10 items or less. But even then, it’s a crazy waste of space.

[intrepidity]

45. Thank you. I like to be efficient and as unobtrusive as possible

in pretty much all aspects of my existence. The checkers seem to appreciate it and often comment on it, lol.

[AllaN01Bear]

18. i usually shop using a scooter if the store has one . i can quickly unload

and that helps them a lot.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. come off it man. im tired of hearing the nonsense . eeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!

i wish the owneers would put in a stupid icon.

[brush]

17. During covid the grocery stores in my area...

Last edited Sat Mar 4, 2023, 06:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Las Vega, got rid of the dividers. There were 6ft apart footstep icons on the floor, but no converyor belt dividers.

Now thins are back to normal, and by normal I mean the dividers are used across the belt to separate orders. The other way as proposed in the photo makes little sense to me.

[tanyev]

20. Tell that to the person behind you unloading their entire cart practically on top of your stuff.

Honestly.

[Kaleva]

31. That's one advantage of self checkout

[Quixote1818]

22. I just asked a friend who runs register and she doesn't know what he means by "Trip the sensor"

She said in her store it doesn't matter at all. They push their hip against the button to move the belt. No sensor involved. Maybe newer stores have a sensor? She said something like this might irritate her just a bit as it would take a few more seconds before she could reach the food to start scanning it.

[zipplewrath]

25. 15 degrees

I've been known to place the divider at about a 15 degree angle from the "horizontal" configuration. It's mostly because many of them are hollow and the laser can shine right through them allowing the belt to continue to run.

Alternately, I've now spent more time on this subject than it really deserves. I've got to get back to that all important discussion about how many fairies can balance on the head of a pin.

[grumpyduck]

26. Oh, stop being woke, already!

[FrankTC]

27. Proper Placement is 30 Degrees

Longitudinal placement (180 degrees) wastes too much belt space. People approaching the belt need to get their groceries on there, and if several preceding customers place their spacers longitudinally, there may be no room left on the belt.

Horizontal placement (0 degrees) means a narrow gap between orders, and people's groceries may touch across the spacer, depending on the shape of the items, of course. This means that one person's germs may migrate across the spacer and infect another person's groceries, leading to a mingling of illnesses, a veritable death cocktail, to the detriment of all.

Proper placement is about 30 degrees, give or take a few.

People are of course sick and tired of being told what to do, so don't expect this guideline to be widely adopted. Unless vigorously enforced. Maybe by scowls or shunning. No need to pack heat. Just bring a protractor.

Does this need a sarcasm symbol?

[OilemFirchen]

30. It's always been a plot by Big Grocery to pad their profits through theft.

Obviously the engineers at the massive corporations which design and manufacture grocery store checkout dividers were under strict orders to attempt an exact rectangle, just short enough on each end so as to allow certain selected products to worm through and be added to the forward customer's checkout. It's a perfect design for large volumes of Point-of-Purchase impulse products to be sold to unwitting customers. PoP displays only contain small items specifically designed to easily bypass the dividers' otherwise impenetrable defense against accidental throughput leakage - and that's not by accident.

We know that because, as you correctly observe, a parallelogram with 30° ends, exactly the adjusted width of the belt, and preferably equipped with spring-loaded bearings, would totally eliminate the possibility of "accidental" over-purchases. the fact that all divider designers opted for the sloppy single rectangle design proves the conspiracy.

CALL CONGRESS RFN! We cannot allow this to continue unchecked!

[rsdsharp]

28. I'd rather have a discussion about whether people should park their carts

crossways in the aisles.

[Takket]

38. along with treason, this should be punishible by death

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. I mean, if this was meant as anyone other than a joke ...

It's a "divider" - he calls it that himself. It's there to "divide". It's not there to stop the conveyor. The goods can do that if it doesn't for some reason.

[TlalocW]

32. All I kniow is when I try to buy some new ones at Walmart

The cashier keeps putting them to the side of the belt. I guess they don't want competition from my store.

[OilemFirchen]

33. It really sucks for collectors.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=grocery+store+divider&_sacat=0

[Pinback]

42. OMG, when my wife gives me grief about my collections

I can show her this and say, “It could be worse!”

[Iggo]

35. Yeah, and the J6 traitors were just delivering donuts. Tell me another one.

[Liberal In Texas]

36. Utter nonsense. That would waste too much space on the belt.

The divider when crosswise easily trips the electric eye to stop the belt when it reaches that point.

Also, I have NEVER in all my years seen anybody in a store do this.

I've worked with a lot of local weathermen and weatherwomen over the years. Some of them I wouldn't trust to walk my dog.

[LisaM]

39. I don't use it that way, but I am intrigued.

Mostly because I hate when the cashier starts ringing things up before I can get up to the register. This would make a forced stop. I also don't like when they don't stop the belt before I start unloading my groceries so I either have to run with the belt or there is a big gap.

[Earth-shine]

40. A weatherman is wrong about something. Imagine that.

[Renew Deal]

43. That might make sense with the sparse populations in Arkansas

But places with actual people need to conserve space and use it the right way.

[localroger]

44. I always put it at a slight angle

maybe ten degrees from pependicular to the belt, to make sure it catches the photo eye and stops the belt before getting past it. But putting it parallel to the belt is stupid. You don't need a divider nearly the width of the belt if you're going to use it that way.