ESL Podcast 231 - The Supermarket Checkout

cashier - a store employee who takes the money for things that a customer buys and provides a receipt

The cashier said he couldn't help me with the clothes I wanted to buy because he works only in the shoe department.

lane - a narrow (small and long) area in a grocery store where shoppers stand in a line to wait for a cashier to help them make their purchases

I wanted to use the express lane at the grocery store, but in that lane, people can pay only with cash and I needed to use a credit card.

15 items or less - a restriction at express (fast) checkout lanes at a grocery store, meaning that only people buying 15 or fewer items may use that lane

Mindy became very angry when she saw that the woman in front of her had at least 20 items in her basket, even though the sign clearly said, "15 items or less."

coupon - a small piece of paper usually cut from an advertisement or a newspaper that gives a shopper a lower price on a particular item

Brice found a coupon for $0.35 off his favorite brand of shampoo in the magazine.

belt - a wide band of rubber (soft plastic) that moves along the counter at a checkout lane to move groceries from the end where the shopper is taking items from their cart to the other end where the cashier is checking prices

Please don't let your child play with the belt! His fingers might get caught underneath it and I don't want him to get hurt.

cart - a large basket with wheels and a handle that is pushed through a store by a shopper, who fills it with the items that he or she wants to purchase

Every time I go to the grocery store, I get a cart that has broken wheels!

per pound - for each pound (one pound is approximately 2.2 kilograms)

In the early summer, strawberries are very inexpensive, but in the winter, they can cost up to $5 per pound!

price check - an employee in a store asking or finding out the price of something for a customer

I thought the TV was on sale, but the cashier's computer showed that it cost more than $500, so I asked her to do a price check to make sure.

club card - a membership card that gives shoppers lower prices on many items

With a club card, my favorite ice cream is only $1.50 this week.

to swipe - to quickly move one's card through an electronic machine that gets information from the card about the cards' owners and their accounts

I swiped my credit card four times, but the machine couldn't read it, so the cashier had to type in the account number by hand.

debit - a type of card that deducts money directly from a person's checking account; to take money out of an account

He tried paying for his purchase with his debit card, but the computer told the cashier that he didn't have enough money in his account.

credit - a type of card that connects to a credit card account and allows a person to buy something now and pay for it later

When I got my first credit card, my father warmed me that if I don't pay the entire credit card bill every month, I'd have to pay a lot of interest.

cash back - money in cash (dollars and coins) that one receives at the end of a debit-card transaction by adding that amount to the total amount of the purchase

Going to the bank to get cash is inconvenient, so we usually ask for cash back at the grocery store instead.

Paper or plastic? - a phrase used by grocery store cashiers or baggers to ask shoppers if they would prefer to have their purchases placed in paper or plastic bags

When the cashier asked, "Paper or plastic?" Sharon pointed to the cloth bags that she had brought from home and asked them to put her items in those instead.

tabloid - a newspaper with scandalous (shocking) stories about unusual events or famous people, usually which cannot or should not be believed

Reading the tabloids is a waste of time. Why don't you read about world news instead?

Do you need any help out? - a phrase used by grocery store cashiers to ask shoppers if they want someone to help them carry their purchases to their car

The cashier asked me if I needed any help out, but I said "no" because I only had one small bag of groceries.