TIL at the grocery store that self-checkout scales can be off by a LOT

Was waiting in line at Kroger yesterday and the lady in front of me had a bag of grapes that weighed like 2 pounds on the scale but she was only ringing up a single banana. The cashier came over and said those scales drift like crazy and they have to calibrate them every week. Made me wonder how many times I've overpaid for produce because the scale was reading high. Has anyone else checked their grocery store's scale accuracy?

2 comments

2 Comments

torres.leo2d ago

Oh man, that's honestly kind of wild. I've definitely had moments where I looked at my receipt and thought "there's no way that bag of apples weighs that much." Now I'm gonna be side-eyeing every scale I use. I wonder if the deli counter scales are as bad as the self-checkout ones, or if they keep those calibrated better since the employees are the ones using them all day. Might start grabbing a pack of gum or something with a known weight just to test the machine next time I'm there.

amy_sanchez2d ago

Say you're wrong, actually. Those scales get checked by the county weights and measures people all the time, and if the store was letting them drift out of spec they'd get fined. Idk, maybe it's just me but I'd trust a machine that gets calibrated weekly over a cashier eyeballing a bag of oranges and punching in whatever they feel like.

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