[dyarosla]

Pretty sure the idea here is to quicken the checkout and lines-> having someone fill bags as someone else handles payments and you handle paying, makes queues move faster than having them grind to a halt due to someone packing their bags too slowly.

[tigroferoce]

IN Italy there’s a little desk behind the cashiers and it’s split in half so while you fill your bags using one half the next client uses the other half. The amount of useless jobs in the states always amazes me, but then you look at the unemployment rate and everything becomes less useless ...

[foobarchu]

The US has this depending on the establishment. The chain "Adli" (German in origin I think, but they're common in the US) doesn't have baggers, they just have a counter past the checker and you are expected to bag your own groceries. I'm also pretty sure they require you to bring your own bags too, though, so baggers wouldn't make much sense.

[dyarosla]

This too can get clogged. Been there and seen it take forever to go through lines in Italy.

I think you may not realize how many shoppers/how much person-density there can be in the US.

[reitanqild]

When LIDL came to Norway this was one of their mistakes. They insisted on not having the split desk behind the cashiers.

Norwegians was confused every time AFAIK.