Como dizer "Caixa de pequenas compras" em inglês

Marcio

Sometimes it`s called "express cashier", "express check-out," and sometimes the only sign you see is "8 items or less," etc. Regards

Henry, thank you for replying. Here in Recife I have had to put up with half an hour or more of standing at Walmart-owned Bompreço's long express-checkout line. Sometimes just to buy a single piece of chocolate. With the line inching along a person at a time, sometimes it takes so long to get to the cashier, that I simply place the goods I came in for back on the racks and leave!

Sure some of them are far from being "express"!

Marcio_Farias escreveu:Henry, thank you for replying. Here in Recife I have had to put up with half an hour or more of standing at Walmart-owned Bompreço's long express-checkout line. Sometimes just to buy a single piece of chocolate. With the line inching along a person at a time, sometimes it takes so long to get to the cashier, that I simply place the goods I came in for back on the racks and leave!

Marcio, this is really well written. Obviously you have an ear for languages. Congrats!
P.S. Is this possibly a deliberate corporate policy, if they`ve calculated it`s not worth the effort to meet your needs?
Regards

Flavia.lm escreveu:Sure some of them are far from being "express"!

Don't you love them! Long lines have a reputation of getting on people's nerve. You will overhear irate people standing in line mutter stuff like, "Where (the hell) did the other cashiers go?" "Not enough cashiers to handle the line!" "Line too slow. Can't it move any faster?" etc

Henry Cunha escreveu:Marcio, this is really well written. Obviously you have an ear for languages. Congrats!

Henry, thank you for re-replying. I'll get there yet!

P.S. Is this possibly a deliberate corporate policy, if they`ve calculated it`s not worth the effort to meet your needs?

Thank you for asking, Henry. I don't know if Walmart would rather deliberately keep it that way. More often than not, supermarket goers feel inclined to blame long, crawling lines on bad management (and poor team tactics).

Sirs,

There's a law stating that one should stay the maximum of fifteen minutes in the line at banks here in Brazil (or is it only Sao Paulo?). What if we suggested the same for supermarkets?

Flavia.lm escreveu:Sirs,

There's a law stating that one should stay the maximum of fifteen minutes in the line at banks here in Brazil (or is it only Sao Paulo?). What if we suggested the same for supermarkets?

Here's someone else who's writing good, complex English. The expression "[to] stay the maximum of" is precise and exact. I also like "in the line at banks"; it's clearly more precise than "in line at the banks," and shows desterity in manipulating elements that even English speakers wouldn't pay much attention to. Good stuff!

to stay in line = ficar alinhado (no sentido de regularidade linear)
to stay in the line = ficar na fila

We have the same problem here with wait times in banks, stores, etc. There are no laws here about maximum wait times. I guess the expectation is that they would be unenforceable, for one thing, and that customers can and will vote with their feet -- i.e., go elsewhere. Now, going elsewhere isn't always possible (especially when it comes to banking). I have noticed, in any case, that my supermarket lineups and wait-times are reduced, even though there are fewer such stores around. I attribute that to better personnel management and better product identification (fewer items that don't scan at the cash register). Perhaps competition is still the key to better service.