Yes, You Are In A Slower Queue
It’s the age old feeling, and no doubt it’s been honed over the last few weeks as you’ve stood impatiently waiting to buy Christmas presents. That other line is moving faster than yours.
Turns out that it’s probably true.
And in a perfectly valid academic exercise to enable shops to optimise checkouts, a study proving it has just been released in time for Christmas.
Using the work of Agner Erlang, a Danish engineer who helped the Copenhagen Telephone Company determine the best level of service with the minimum number of operators, Bill Hammack, from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois – Urbana demonstrates queuing theory in this surprisingly interesting (honestly!) video.
Ironically, the most efficient set-up is to have one line feed into several cashiers. This is because if any one line slows because of an issue, the entry queue continues to have customers reach check-out optimally. However, this is also perceived by customers as the least efficient, psychologically.
Or just buy online. No queues there.
Seems reasonable but what I want to know is why do people jam up the cigs and booze kiosk/5 items or less when there are normal tills vacant and cashiers twiddling their thumbs?
Merry Christmas Mr Eye.
How come no-one ever pays me large amounts of ‘research grants’ in order to state the bleeding obvious. Next we will learn that old ladies in queues slow things up.
And I always go to the ‘5 items or less’ queue to point out that it ought to be ‘fewer’.
HC & NY to all
In your own line of work, Peter, you do get paid large amounts of money to state the bleeding obvious.
It’s a conspiracy to keep you from hassle-free convenient buying of enjoyable and legal products. Undercover ASH pleasure-saboteurs hunting in packs,
And a Merry Christmas to you too, Banned.