8 ms·
It's true, but there are two things to factor in: 1) People tend to sort themselves by picking the shortest line. 2) Grocery stores try to staff only just eno
by defertoreptar 8y ago
It's true, but there are two things to factor in:
1) People tend to sort themselves by picking the shortest line.
2) Grocery stores try to staff only just enough registers so that no register ever has a gap.
If you combine those two things, the efficiency closes in on what a global queue would. My main gripe is the "unlucky" factor where the shopper gets stuck behind a very slow person, which the global queue would fix.
The third, dark-patterny part of this is how grocers benefit from people and their children being stuck next to impulse merchandise while they wait.
- roganartu 8y agoMy local cinema concession stand moved from a single queue to one queue per register. The variance increased noticeably every time I have visited since and all the staff I have spoken to hated the change and said they were regularly getting complaints about it. When I asked why they changed I was told one of the managers did it because it made the lines shorter and they concluded that meant the wait must also be shorter.
- munk-a 8y agoMaybe purchasing a text book on Queueing theory and giving it to one of the staff would help, topics that dense tend to change minds quickly when they are disseminated at high velocity toward management. You may read that as you please.
- defertoreptar 8y agoFlips to a page with a formula using sigma notation "This isn't rocket science bro. Obviously more lines = faster."
- turtlecloud 8y agoIf they could understand a book on Queuing theory they wouldn’t be working there in the first place.
- mch82 8y agoLuck can be a big part of it. Most people aren’t aware queueing theory exists. I even meet a lot of people who train Kanban software project management who are excited to learn about the math that is the basis of that method.
- taude 8y agoYou're not factoring the perception of the multiple shorter lines vs a long line. It's can be the difference between someone glancing who might/might not want popcorn and jumping in line (which ends up taking longer, but they're already committed) vs looking at a single LONG line, and deciding not to bother.
- bobthepanda 8y agoA Whole Foods near me used to have a system with a global queue, where you would sort into multiple lines (e.g. A, B, C, D) and there would be a screen saying which line's turn it was to send someone (A first, then B, then C, then D, rinse and repeat). It was pretty quick and nobody seemed to mind it much You can have your cake and eat it too, it turns out.
- setr 8y agoFry’s does the same thing with the screen (used to have a human for it), with a single global queue. Same thing; never had a concern with it. But whole foods and fry’s are bigger and I end up spending a good deal of time there just shopping uaually, so queue length isn’t as concerning as when I’m in a smaller grocery, just grabbing a gallon of milk
- mynegation 8y agoThe problem I noticed with the system like this is that cashier is idling for a bit while the next customer walks from the head of single line to the specific register. Depending on the layout this can be a significant distance. There’s no such idling in multiple lines. That is why some places started to use hybrid system. One single line until very end where someone marshals you at the end of many very short lines.
- bobthepanda 8y agoI should be clear; there are actually multiple lines and multiple registers. It's just that no line corresponds to a specific register. Imagine four lines arranged next to each other, at the head of eight registers arranged similarly to a self-checkout area. There will always be four people at the head of the lines. The first person in the first line gets to go, then the first person in the second line, then the first person in the third line, then the first person in the fourth line, and then it cycles back. Because in practice it is extremely rare for four out of eight registers to simultaneously open up, the next person is always at the front of their line already, which avoids this particular travel distance problem.
- chopin 8y agoA German chain for electric goods (Saturn) switched to a global queue recently (the first person in the queue gets called to the next available register). I find it a much better customer experience.
- ryanworl 8y agoTrader Joe's uses a single line (in every one I've ever been to) and it is wonderful. Even a line wrapping the entire store will only take 10-15 minutes because they staff appropriately and you're almost always moving. You also are always next to some kind of food item and the impulse buys are staged in an even longer display than in a regular grocery store. Instead of four feet wide and five feet tall, it may be 20-30 feet wide and 3-4 feet tall.
- Terr_ 8y ago> Trader Joe's uses a single line (in every one I've ever been to) Multiple lines in western Washington, FWIW.
- taude 8y agoMy Tj's has a single line at the front of the store (likely optimized for those taking public transport and purchasing fewer groceries). But in the back, where the parking lot is, it's a queue per register.
- MisterOctober 8y agoPhoenix area TJ's use multiple lines
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoMultiple lines at Trader Joes in Westwood LA.
- irrational 8y agoMultiple lines in Oregon.
- koolba 8y agoI’ve never seen a single line TJs. And that’s across four States.
- hackerbrother 8y agoSame. VA / WI
- SilasX 8y ago>My main gripe is the "unlucky" factor where the shopper gets stuck behind a very slow person, which the global queue would fix. Yeah, but that’s one important metric you should judge a queuing system by: standard deviation of wait time. It means entrants are less able to allocate their own time, since they have to anticipate higher variance.
- colechristensen 8y agoTarget did a trial of a global queue in a store near me, it lasted about a year.
- dylan604 8y agoI had a family member that worked at Target, and I asked about why they have 40ish registers, but normally only <10 of them are open. It's all about the holiday shopping. Those ~8 weeks see so much traffic it is worth the "wasted" square footage in the store the other 10 months of the year.
- tunesmith 8y agoWith multiple lines, there's also the excellent visual cue to managers - if the average line length appears too long, you know you need additional cashiers. And my local grocery store is excellent about bringing in additional cashiers if any of the lines are two deep or more. With a global line, the length of the line isn't a good visual indicator of needing more cashiers. I suppose you could just periodically count the line length, and count the cashiers, and divide, but it's not a quick eye check anymore.
- mynegation 8y agoIn the airports line to the passport control is usually global and formed into a switchback pattern by belt barriers. Sometimes out of boredom I measure the time it takes me to go one full section and multiply by the number of sections in front of me. Turns out to be a very good approximation of a total waiting time.
- jedberg 8y agoOr they just mark the line with "one cashier reasonable wait time" and "two cashier reasonable wait time" marks, and then add a cashier whenever the line is past the mark.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- scott_s 8y agoGlobal line length is no different than average line length of multiple lines.
- fwip 8y agoIt is when the number of lines (cashiers) changes.
- paulie_a 8y agoOn a global average that is probably true. On an individual/personal level it is not. I take a strategic approach, there might be twice as many people in one line but it will be faster. No one in that line is breaking out the check book. They won't be arguing about a 25 cent coupon that expired. On the plus side I've noticed less places accepting checks. Personally I think they should be banned for basic consumer shopping entirely. Unless it is 4 digits, use a card or cash. As for self checkout lines there should be a huge sign that asks "are you prepared for this technology?, Really? Are you sure?"
- AndrewKemendo 8y agoIn fact that's not how supermarkets evaluate queuing. They evaluate strategies based on exposing you to the most items while waiting - or you can check yourself out for the "discount" of not being exposed to impulse items.