A student rushes to the checkout line. She pounces on the balls of her feet waiting to pay. Her stomach growls. She does not have enough time to stop and get food before her job starts. She quickly grabs a bag of chips and a soda from the checkout lane and pays for them.

In September of last year Jane Kramer, a mother from Michigan decided to start a petition to ban junk food and magazines from check out lanes in supermarkets. Kramer is worried about the example the items set for her young children.

“Almost every single person buys junk from the line,” said junior and employee at Belton Price Chopper, Christian Morehead.

Morehead observes most of the customers getting items from the checkout line as he bags their groceries. Although there is a big majority who buy from the checkout line, there are still some who do not.

“I like never buy from the checkout line,” said junior Hannah Marxer.

Marxer ignores the junk food and simply buys her groceries. However, Marxer does see the appeal of purchasing items while you wait to pay for your items.

“It’s convenient, it’s cheap, it’s easy if you want a snack,” said Marxer.

The availability of the snacks make them an easy purchase. With there being pros and cons of the petition there comes a wide array of reactions.

“I think it’s a good idea. There are too many people buying too much junk food, it’s not healthy,” said Brenda Wyatt, a nutritional specialist.

Wyatt has specialized knowledge about the health drawbacks of junk food, and believes removing junk food from check out lines could help reduce the amount of unhealthy food bought. Marxer has an opposite view on the petition.

“This petition does not sound very good because it’s very convenient to just grab bag of chips when you’re on your way,” said Marxer.

Marxer believes that the petition will have a negative impact rather than a positive one. She is also skeptical that the petition will change anything at all.

“Either way people are going to buy unhealthy snacks, and unhealthy drinks, any candy, this is just a way to make it less convenient, “ said Marxer.

Marxer thinks people are stuck in their habits. Simply removing the availability would not solve anything.

“No I won’t stop buying that stuff, I like candy and looking at the magazine pictures,” said Morehead.

Morehead proves what Marxer had said, people buy what they want, no matter the location. If the petition gets enough signatures then people may start to see changes at the checkout line when they pay for their food.