Patent ID: 7516818

Claim:
A checkout system comprising: a checkout scanning area; an accumulation area for the accumulation of items fed from the checkout scanning area, the accumulation area having an entry zone through which items enter the accumulation area and a boundary to retain items in the accumulation area; an elongate flexible divider coupled at one end to the boundary, the divider for partitioning the accumulation area into two partitions; a motor coupled to the other end of the flexible divider and configured to move the flexible divider between the two partitions for directing items from the entry zone into one or the other of the partitions; wherein the flexibility of the divider enables the relative sizes of the two partitions to be varied to accommodate a variable number of items and an end of the flexible divider is mounted using a retraction mechanism which houses an extension section of the flexible divider, wherein the extension section is dispensed when a force is applied to the flexible divider and retracted when the force is removed.