Reader Colin was watching his groceries travel along the conveyor belt at the Kroger checkout counter when he noticed some of his fruit snacks suddenly vanish from the line of items. With his interest piqued, Colin looked carefully and discovered a strange hinged door at the end of the belt. Upon making the discovery, the cashier slowly raised the steel flap and discovered Colin’s lost fruit snacks along with a bounty of hapless groceries that had that had been arbitrarily swallowed by this clandestine trap. Because the items had already been scanned and purchased, the cashier offered them to Colin as a prize for unlocking the secret of the mysterious trap-door. Colin’s letter, inside…
Hello,
I had an experience tonight that I thought might help quite a few people save money when they grocery shop, especially nowadays when every dollar counts. I was doing some late-night grocery shopping at my local Kroger Supermarket and as is customary this time of night especially on a Sunday there was nobody around to help the cashier bag my groceries. While my girlfriend stood across from the cashier to pay for our items, I stood at the end of a second conveyor belt that pushes the items from the cashier to a larger area where the items are collected for the bagger.I noticed, thanks to my vantage point where the bagger would normally be, that after the cashier scanned a handful of packets of flat fruit leathers that as they moved to the end of the conveyor they actually fell in a opening between the belt itself and a stainless guard at the end of the belt. I immediately informed the cashier as to what had happened. I was surprised that the stainless steel piece was actually hinged and even more surprised that when he opened it, there was far more in there than just my few packets of fruit leather. There were at least four large, flat, foil packets of tuna fish filling up the void at the end of the belt. As the cashier was taking the leathers out of the trap, the cashier mentioned that I could have the tuna if I wanted, as it had been paid for.
This left me wondering how may times I’ve lost Kool Aid packets, taco seasoning and many other similarly shaped items in a such fashion. Of course, none of these things are a big monetary loss, but a waste of money all the same. If it happened before an item is scanned, I’d say no big deal, however seeing as how this can happen after the item is paid for, I’d say that savvy consumers should keep an eye on their similarly packaged items and make sure that they don’t literally fall through the cracks!
Sincerely,
colinjay
We’re not sure what such a door is for, but to think that innocent Kool-Aid packets, seasonings and other slim groceries which have already been purchased, are being systematically abducted on a daily basis gives us cause for concern. Are there any shoppers or cashiers out there that can tell us the true purpose of this grocery-eating menace?
(Photo: Getty)
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I worked for Kroger’s for about 5 years (high school through college) and we all knew about it.
Occasionally I had kool-aid or other packets get stuck in the crack next to the door flap but never go down it.
Maybe the one he hit was just a loose one?
My Mother would notice a dust bunny missing from her grocery bag. The go back to the store and give somebody fifty different kinds of hell. Thank God she still likes ME…
the consumerist reworded description is misleading. it says “fruit snacks” disappeared, and im thinking “i think i know what this hinge thing is, but how does it swallow an entire box of fruit snacks?”. Then I see the person bought the flat fruit leather packages which indeed would probably get sucked under the flap. they used to have conveyor belts like that at the Thriftway near my house, because the conveyor belt assembly could physically move in and out to let the checker to their post.
@Youthier: Fruit leather is easier to chew than whole dehydrated fruit, because it’s pre-pulverized.
@AD8BC: Fruit leather is great but not on my list anymore thanks to my tight monthly budget of 150 for groceries.
That mysterious trap door needs to be investigated by cops if you ask me. Either that or the pair from X-Files will do.
I used to work at a Krogar, and they told me the trap doors (there are many along the line) are for maintanence.
The trap doors are a trash catch. There’s a tray at the end of the checkout lane, underneath the belt that is removable that catches all of the trash/pieces of produce/various other dust/dirt that happens to make it’s way onto the belt.
Trust me, I’ve worked there for years.
The door is to rip you off – all companies are trying to take your money and give you nothing in return. Come on, Consumerists, have we learned nothing?
In seriousness, it’s to cover the rolling mechanism on the belt and allow access. There has to be space between the metal and the belt, so the door is supposed to lay right on top of the belt. It’s hinged in case something does get wedged in, you can get it out.
I work at a grocery store. Those doors are there for two things….
1. Maintanence
2. Getting the things that get caught between the belt and the counter.
After all, there has to be a gap where the belt ends. If you look, there is actually a little door on the main belt too. However much less gets sucked down there because of the electric eyes. But we have it there for the dodos who put money and coupons on the belt. Don’t do that.
At the grocery store I work at, there is a small drawer that pulls out under the check writing platform (so on the customer’s side) that collects the dirt, onion peels, etc. I have noticed, however, the entire scanner platform lifts out and can usually find tons of old coupons that got sucked under the whole counter.
@SeanMike:
Sounds like college.
HEY!!! give me my tuna back!
I wish I had found the door and secret food stash. Maybe it is the store managers way of saving non perishables for his bomb shelter.
The door is probably for the sake of cleaning these items out. Because I’m sure it’s inevitable that small packets will fall through the gap above the belt.
They are for getting the stuff out that falls through the hole at the end of the belt. If there was no trapdoor, it would fill up.
–Michael
There is one of these at every register I’ve ever worked at or seen, and the cashier should be noticing items slipping through the crack. The crack needs to be there so that the belt can keep moving smoothly.
However, I won’t pretend that I didn’t get a kick out of it when I told a customer to please not place their coupon/cash/credit card on the belt, and then see them freak out when it disappeared underneath and they thought it was gone forever. (Until I stopped the belt and retrieved it for them.)
I always thought that little door was in case you left money on the conveyor belt….??
@SkokieGuy: “Think of a pear in assless chaps”
ALL CHAPS ARE ASSLESS!
The grocery store I worked at had these. They are for maintenance, mostly. I wouldn’t want anything found down there, though. If I recall it could get pretty gross down there.
Cheers!
Jeesh! Now I have to look in another place for my groceries! I can imagine the cashiers’ stash when I realized a few times that I left without, because the cashier was bagging some of my items out of sight and didn’t put the bag up on the counter or in my cart before I left.
Now I’m gonna go searching everywhere!
@aaron8301: Yeah, that phrase gets me too. Chaps with an ass are otherwise known as “pants.”
I almost lost a package of bacon to one of those trap doors at Star Market. You just have to stay aware when you’re shopping!
This story is very reminiscent of the Walmart “spin the bag-rack” game. You know, the one where they try to make sure you leave one of your sacks of groceries in the store, and don’t know till you get home!
@aaron8301: @edosan: You’re probably not wrong, but I, personally, would not let it be publicly known that I know that fact.
The trap door is there specifically to allow recovery of small items that fall through the gap between the belt and the platform. The cashier should have been paying better attention.
Oh man, exciting.
The “door” is for cleaning out the crap that makes it’s way down to the end of the belt… dust, particles, food bits, etc…
@AD8BC:
It’s what the chaps for people in San Francisco are made out of…