You shouldn’t queue at these supermarket checkouts if you want things to go quickly: In Swabia and Lower Franconia, customers who like to chat with the checkout staff at checkout can now shop. In Buxheim near Memmingen, Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) recently launched such a slow cash register in connection with a project against loneliness. “What is often annoying in hectic everyday shopping is expressly desired here: Ratcheting at the supermarket checkout,” said Holetschek.
The “Ratschkasse” in Buxheim’s Edeka store Abröll-Groiß will be open four days a week for two hours in the morning until July due to the current Bavarian focus on prevention of health consequences of loneliness. Management, store employees and customers will then be asked about their experiences. “If the Ratschkasse was successful, I would be happy if the idea found numerous imitators in Bavaria,” said the minister.
In Schweinfurt, supermarket owner Marius Höchner is already one step further. Almost two months ago, he had set up a Smalltalk checkout, called “Plauderkasse” there, and customers should feel like they used to be in a corner shop. “The response is excellent,” says the boss. The cash register is open four hours a day a week, sometimes longer. Höchner operates three stores and definitely wants to offer the range in the largest of them permanently. “We still have to see to what extent we can transfer it to the other markets.”
The initial spark for the checkout in Schweinfurt was an employee who, by her own admission, talks “so much anyway”. This saleswoman now sits at the checkout during business hours and chats. From the businessman’s point of view, Höchner has no problem with the slack checkout. “Of course I was aware that you don’t make sales at the checkout as usual,” he says. “If all of my twelve cash registers were so slow now, then I could close the shop at some point.” Ultimately, the relationship must be balanced. He also hopes for additional customers who may buy from him because of the “chatting box”.
The model comes from the Netherlands and Switzerland
The models for the projects in Schweinfurt and Buxheim were corresponding offers that have been available abroad for years, for example in the Netherlands. In Switzerland, a health initiative introduced “Plauderkassen” in a supermarket and a pharmacy in Basel in autumn 2022. The project, initially conceived for just six months, was used a great deal and is therefore now being continued, the organizers report.
The health aspect is also in the foreground in Bavaria. Lonely people should be given easy access to more contacts, because: “Loneliness can make you ill,” emphasizes the ministry. The risk of anxiety disorders, depression, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes or dementia increases. According to statistics, ten percent of older men and 15 percent of women are now affected by loneliness. The Ministry of Health also wants to draw attention to the topic with events this year.