Chatting in the Checkout Lane

For many of us, the grocery store is a place where we strive for efficiency, buzzing through the aisles as we check off our list and watch for the shortest checkout line. And more often than not, a pleasant exchange with a checkout clerk or a fellow customer will mark the difference between an irritating grocery errand and an enjoyable experience.

In the Netherlands, employees at the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo created an answer to our post-pandemic need for human interaction: A Kletskassa, or "chat checkout," allows customers to slow down and spend a little more time chatting with the grocery clerk. Originally designed for the Netherlands' 1.3 million seniors who are ago 75 and older, the chat checkout was so popular in the town of Vlijmen that the Jumbo grocery store chain decided to add 200 more chat checkout lanes across the country, as well as "chat corners" where customers can linger and enjoy a cup of coffee.

"Many people, especially the elderly, sometimes feel lonely. As a family business and supermarket chain, we are at the heart of society," says Colette Cloosterman-van Eerd, CCO of Jumbo. "At Jumbo, we want to be more than just a place where you do your shopping."

Jumbo first introduced their "slow lanes" as part of a government-sponsored National Coalition Against Loneliness. According to government research, about 50% of Dutch people aged 55 and older experience loneliness. In an era when self-checkout lanes are increasing as customers prefer to scan their shopping themselves, thereby minimizing human interaction, the Dutch government is seeking intentional ways to ensure positive human exchanges. And they are hopeful that other countries will decide to follow their lead.

Would you take the time to meander through the Kletskassa lane if one were added at Safeway or Fred Meyer's? Do you see a similar need in our communities, or is there another hole that you would like to see filled?

As we ponder our farewells to 2022 and usher in a new year this weekend, consider the ways the Holy Spirit may be calling you to encourage new solutions in the year ahead -- whether an anti-rush lane at a grocery store or another opportunity for people to slow the pace, breathe more deeply, and listen to one another more completely.

Blessings on you as you ring in the new year,

Jennie