It's so rare here I can't think of another time I've seen it. I've always wondered why: comfortable people tend to be less grumpy and the typical cashier job involves "not leaving a very small space for a long period of time". This small space is about the size of ... a chair.

I think the perception of people standing in line is more likely to make them feel that the cashier is working slower because they're sitting[1]. Aldi's lightning quick cashiers would prove that wrong, but perception tends to be all that matters in these scenarios.

[1] People routinely over-estimate their waiting times in situations like this. This became apparent to me when talking to the helpdesk manager at my old company. He would get an e-mail from time to time from a person complaining that they were on hold for "20 minutes". The call stats for the day indicated a maximum hold time of 5 minutes.

Expect to see more of it in California in the future. All it took was a class action lawsuit (and 7 years).

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-court-sitting-wo...

Standing still for long periods is associated with and/or causes some bad health problems.

so is sitting for long periods of time.

It's the standard in Germany as well, at least for grocery stores.

Yup, basically all food stores are sitting, but clothing shops all seem to be standing, weirdly.

Cashiers in clothing stores are removing hangers and folding things all the time, which is easier if they're standing.

The difference is probably the combination of high footfall and continuous restocking in food shops, which results in role specialisation and hence a more static workforce where the role is static.

standard in France and Germany too. I don't think cashiers usually stand anywhere.