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My 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

My 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 ago
Maybe 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 ago
  Flips to a page with a formula using sigma notation "This isn't rocket science bro. Obviously more lines = faster."
- turtlecloud 8y ago
  If they could understand a book on Queuing theory they wouldn’t be working there in the first place.
  - mch82 8y ago
    Luck 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 ago
You'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 ago
  A 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 ago
    Fry’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 ago
    The 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 ago
      I 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 ago
A 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.

munk-a 8y ago

Maybe 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 ago
Flips to a page with a formula using sigma notation "This isn't rocket science bro. Obviously more lines = faster."
turtlecloud 8y ago
If they could understand a book on Queuing theory they wouldn’t be working there in the first place.
- mch82 8y ago
  Luck 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 ago

You'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 ago
A 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 ago
  Fry’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 ago
  The 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 ago
    I 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 ago

A 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.