Subject: Re: o/t, American retail, shrink, DG,
(do US stores require checkout assistants to stand all the time? that would be outrageous in europe).

We noticed two things about the stores when we were vacationing in Europe.
1) The checkout clerks were sitting down.
2) There were one-way gates at the entrances and exits. The smaller 7-11 type stores were set up so that the only way to leave was to go past the checkout--and the checkout lane was narrow and only one person wide.