4 ms·

What a great idea. The way I see it, there are a couple ways to work with it. 1) You've found a size hospital that it works well for and you get resistanc

by bmaier 19y ago

What a great idea. The way I see it, there are a couple ways to work with it. 1) You've found a size hospital that it works well for and you get resistance when trying to go to bigger hospitals? The forget the large hospitals and find hospitals that match this one's profile around the country. Interesting niche. 2) Use the technology and apply it to any place that you have to wait in line (for a table at a restaurant, public golf courses, etc...) What else am I missing?

paulgb 19y ago
Agreed. Lines are a waste if you look at them from an economics point of view - people willing to wait for something would almost always be willing to pay more to have it right away. but businesses are throwing that opportunity away because they don't have the technology to fix it or they don't see the problem. It is cool to see someone solve the problem with software. I wish I owned a grocery store, because I think it would be a neat experiment to post a different markup rate for each cash register, and see what would happen. For example, one cash register charges the advertised price (+0%), another +5%, another +10% up to 40%. At certain times the +0% line would be the obvious choice, but what would happen in the rush hours?
- woid 19y ago
  You are wrong with statement: "people willing to wait for something would almost always be willing to pay more to have it right away". It depends on the price of their time. If the price of their time is high, they would be willing to pay more. If the price of their time is zero, they will always stay in the line, because they have nothint better to do. Google for "opportunity cost" term.
  - paulgb 19y ago
    I disagree. I initially wrote that sentence without the almost, because everyone must have a non-zero value of their time. However, I can't prove that statement, so I added almost in order to not get into a debate about a theoretical person who's time is worthless. I am not saying that everyone is willing to pay 5-40% more to go in a slightly faster line, but I bet if you go anywhere that a line is formed there is some nonzero price which everyone in the line would be willing to pay to skip to the front.. Even if it is measured in cents. Your right, it is about opportunity cost. And opportunity cost is rarely zero.
- mechanical_fish 19y ago
  I have no data, but let me make some off-the-cuff predictions about your plan to create "premium" supermarket checkouts: Customers who understand your novel scheme will tend to queue up in the line which has the lowest prices, because people do not consciously understand what their time is worth. Then other customers will see the long line at the discount aisle and subconsciously decide to leave your store without buying, because the lines are too long. Or perhaps, instead of abandoning their attempt to buy anything, frustrated customers will notice an apparently empty checkout line with a cashier standing there. They'll approach that line, and be told that that it's a "premium lane" which will cost them an extra 5%. Then they will become enraged. Nobody wants to pay extra for a service that they're accustomed to get for free. And when they're told that they can always stand in the long, less expensive line, they will continue to be enraged at the sight of one or more cashiers standing around idle in the premium lane, waiting for premium customers, when those lazy cashiers could be helping out in the discount aisles! What do we pay those bums minimum wage for, anyway? Inevitably, unless you are on-site breathing down their necks, your cashiers will give in to popular pressure and go to work in the discount lanes. At which point the premium lanes will have no cashiers, and nobody will use them. Of course, if grocery stores were more like emergency rooms -- scarce, high-margin businesses which routinely force you to wait two to eighteen hours for service -- things might be different. For info on shopper behavior from a guy who actually does have data, I recommend Paco Underhill's Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping. UPDATE: I have the answer! You could invent a scheme where customers who want to avoid waiting in line can trade their own labor for a shorter wait -- by scanning and bagging their own groceries at an automated kiosk. Suddenly, via a series of psychological tricks, your idea works well. I should patent this amazingly original variation of your idea. :)
  - froeber 19y ago
    So re-label it as a discount line. People who are willing to shop at odd hours or are willing to wait during peak times can save 5-10%. Meanwhile mark the rest of your stuff up 5-10%. Not sure whether people pay enough attention to their grocery bills to tell a 5% increase, but I hear grocery store margins are terrible (like 2-3%) so maybe they would. It's tough to tell without some data. Good idea though.
  - 19y ago

by bmaier 19y ago

paulgb 19y ago

Agreed. Lines are a waste if you look at them from an economics point of view - people willing to wait for something would almost always be willing to pay more to have it right away. but businesses are throwing that opportunity away because they don't have the technology to fix it or they don't see the problem. It is cool to see someone solve the problem with software. I wish I owned a grocery store, because I think it would be a neat experiment to post a different markup rate for each cash register, and see what would happen. For example, one cash register charges the advertised price (+0%), another +5%, another +10% up to 40%. At certain times the +0% line would be the obvious choice, but what would happen in the rush hours?

woid 19y ago
You are wrong with statement: "people willing to wait for something would almost always be willing to pay more to have it right away". It depends on the price of their time. If the price of their time is high, they would be willing to pay more. If the price of their time is zero, they will always stay in the line, because they have nothint better to do. Google for "opportunity cost" term.
- paulgb 19y ago
  I disagree. I initially wrote that sentence without the almost, because everyone must have a non-zero value of their time. However, I can't prove that statement, so I added almost in order to not get into a debate about a theoretical person who's time is worthless. I am not saying that everyone is willing to pay 5-40% more to go in a slightly faster line, but I bet if you go anywhere that a line is formed there is some nonzero price which everyone in the line would be willing to pay to skip to the front.. Even if it is measured in cents. Your right, it is about opportunity cost. And opportunity cost is rarely zero.
mechanical_fish 19y ago
I have no data, but let me make some off-the-cuff predictions about your plan to create "premium" supermarket checkouts: Customers who understand your novel scheme will tend to queue up in the line which has the lowest prices, because people do not consciously understand what their time is worth. Then other customers will see the long line at the discount aisle and subconsciously decide to leave your store without buying, because the lines are too long. Or perhaps, instead of abandoning their attempt to buy anything, frustrated customers will notice an apparently empty checkout line with a cashier standing there. They'll approach that line, and be told that that it's a "premium lane" which will cost them an extra 5%. Then they will become enraged. Nobody wants to pay extra for a service that they're accustomed to get for free. And when they're told that they can always stand in the long, less expensive line, they will continue to be enraged at the sight of one or more cashiers standing around idle in the premium lane, waiting for premium customers, when those lazy cashiers could be helping out in the discount aisles! What do we pay those bums minimum wage for, anyway? Inevitably, unless you are on-site breathing down their necks, your cashiers will give in to popular pressure and go to work in the discount lanes. At which point the premium lanes will have no cashiers, and nobody will use them. Of course, if grocery stores were more like emergency rooms -- scarce, high-margin businesses which routinely force you to wait two to eighteen hours for service -- things might be different. For info on shopper behavior from a guy who actually does have data, I recommend Paco Underhill's Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping. UPDATE: I have the answer! You could invent a scheme where customers who want to avoid waiting in line can trade their own labor for a shorter wait -- by scanning and bagging their own groceries at an automated kiosk. Suddenly, via a series of psychological tricks, your idea works well. I should patent this amazingly original variation of your idea. :)
- froeber 19y ago
  So re-label it as a discount line. People who are willing to shop at odd hours or are willing to wait during peak times can save 5-10%. Meanwhile mark the rest of your stuff up 5-10%. Not sure whether people pay enough attention to their grocery bills to tell a 5% increase, but I hear grocery store margins are terrible (like 2-3%) so maybe they would. It's tough to tell without some data. Good idea though.
- 19y ago