Author of PostgreSQL SKIP LOCKED feature here. I gave a talk about queues in PostgreSQL covering the question "why do this in a database", for what it's worth:

Author of PostgreSQL SKIP LOCKED feature here. I gave a talk about queues in PostgreSQL covering the question "why do this in a database", for what it's worth: https://www.pgcon.org/2016/schedule/track/Applications/929.en.html https://www.pgcon.org/2016/schedule/track/Applications/929.e... Mostly the same arguments made by commentators here. SKIP LOCKED exists in several major RDMSs. We borrowed Oracle's syntax and MySQL has just done the same. The Gray transaction processing book calls it "read past" isolation.