"weather-drew" (noun):
A nickname used by a systems administrator, web developer and network engineer living in Oklahoma, working in the weather industry. He does not make donuts.
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- The Things We Do For Dogs (To Dogs?)
- Dreamworks + Ghost in the Shell
- The Ice Storm
- Beef Ribs, The Triumph
- Laughing Man Hacks You
- Gary Get's National
- SimCity 5 - Societies
- Digital Atmosphere
- New Friends, Old Friends
- Classic Super Cell Anyone?
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Self Checkout Lines and The People That Use Them
"The line starts HERE. As soon as the next register opens up, the front of the line feeds into it." I gestured waving both my hands in the direction of the four self service ACA machines at my local Albertsons.
"Oh, well that's..." A long pause ensued as the two women muttered amongst themselves. I turned around to save myself the embarrassment and the two women a day's worth of conversation about the "rude" young man they ran into.
"Interesting..." I finally heard one of them say aloud.
* * *
Interesting indeed. Ever since the installation of the self service Automated Checkout Attendant at grocery stores around the country, an interesting phenomena has developed concerning how people queue when the stations (usually in groups of four, six or eight) all become populated and people have to wait. This modern implemention of efficiency becomes a quagmire when a person is left with what seems to be an unusually difficult task of picking a lane to stand in.
Well that's where this whole process is thrown off balance. The legacy queuing mentality which has dominated grocery store checkout for, well, as long as grocery stores have had lines - now has carried over into the minds of patrons using self checkout. That is to say, you "pick a line and commit to it" until you reach the register.
Figure 1 - illustrates my point. A separate line develops for each lane when all lanes are full. The queued customer makes a best guess based on what each customer has left to checkout, if they are a senior citizen, etc etc - and then moves to a queue in that lane.
There are a variety of flaws with this method. First, the customer is "stuck" in that lane once they commit to it. Second, if the lane "breaks down" because of operator error, machine malfunction or a mis-placed item ("PLEASE REMOVE ITEM FROM THE BAGGING AREA" or "THE WEIGHT IS INCORRECT, PLEASE WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE") wait time increases. That nonsense greatly slows down the progress of the lane and only acts to aggravate people in the queue.
Meanwhile, the other lane across from you has not only moved forward; but the guy that just walked up with a basket full of cat food is now heading out the door. Meanwhile you've been standing in line for nearly 10 minutes. All because of a mis-managed queue system.
Imagine however that it could all be changed with just one simple adjustment. And perhaps some properly placed signage?
Figure 2, we see only one queue, neatly formed at the beginning of the checkout cluster. This method allows one customer to politely advance to the next open register and begin checkout. Problem customers are in essence "isolated" from impacting the rest of the group. And each customer now has equal chances of getting thru the line with the minimal wait. It's efficiency.
But Albertson's doesn't see the need for such a drastic overhaul of it's outdated queuing mentality. It's happy making customers sit in the traditional line at each register.
* * *
But I'm not happy with that, so each time I line up at Albertsons, I become the "Grand Marshal of Queuing" redirecting approaching customers to my newly created checkout hierarchy and demonstrating it's benefits aloud as passersby look on in fright.
"Change never comes easy" I tell the bewildered customers, "it's up to us to force the system to our advantage. Trust me, you'll thank me when we all get out of here faster."
Happy with the newfound ideology I've instilled in the shoppers at Albertsons, I quickly move to the next open register and begin my checkout. Within minutes I'm walking out the door toward my car heading back to the apartment for my first coffee of the morning. It's nice to know that helping people is really that easy.
And nice to know that even before my first cup of coffee in the morning, I'm still thinking of others.