Buying produce the Swiss way

In comments to this post, Junebee asked how the Swiss buy produce, and since I'm still having jetlag-induced fuzzy brain, I thought I'd make a post out of my answer to break up the flood of pictures I'm posting, for those of you who are interested.

The produce is all set out the way you'd expect it in a grocery store in the US, except that next to each pile of fruit is a number. For whatever reason, bananas are always number 1. Apples might be 2, carrots 23. You get a plastic bag and fill it up with your fruit or veggies and then take it over to a scale. The scale has been programmed with the price of all the fruits and veggies - so if you're buying bananas, you put them on the scale and press number one. The scale prints out a price label and you slap it on your bag; then at check-out the cashier scans this label same as any other label*. One major advantage to this, from my oh-so-un-Swiss perspective, is that once you've weighed your fruit you can feed as much of it as you want to your child as you finish your shopping without ripping off the grocery store. I once weighed three apricots and by the time I reached check-out handed over a bag with three apricot stones and a label!

Some things are sold by the unit - mangos and avocados, for example - but most things you weigh yourself and the cashier just scans them. It just makes so much sense to me; but I guess anything that you get used to over time becomes the most logical way to do anything.

* Actually when I buy bananas I don't use a bag, I just slap the price label on the banana. If I buy Small Boy one apple, same thing. And if I buy two carrots and two zucchini I use one bag and stick both price labels on it. I try to reduce my plastic produce bag consumption as much as possible.