
Why Pre-Order Food Then Wait in Line - prostoalex
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-pre-order-food-then-wait-in-line-i-do-not-want-to-seem-like-an-ass-1525272972
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downandout
I have had to send cash to my sister a handful of times recently. Because her
bank (Bank of America) stopped allowing cash deposits to any account other
than your own, the most convenient and inexpensive way to do this was through
Walmart, which has its own money transfer service. You can arrange the
transfer through an app, then you go to an express line at a Walmart store and
complete the whole transaction in under a minute.

The problem is that Walmart underestimated just how angry its typical customer
would get by seeing someone skip the line (even though there is a special line
for app-based transactions). Of the three times I have done this, once I was
called expletives by a couple of the people in line, and a second time a woman
simply decided to come up at the same time I was called up and insist that it
was her turn, not mine. Only after the cashier threatened to call security did
she go wait her turn.

It turns out that the typical Walmart customer tends to already be stepped on
by the rest of the world a lot during their normal lives, and being slighted
in a Walmart seems to be a bridge too far for most of them. So while I enjoy
the convenience of skipping the line, I won’t be doing it again. Stores that
offer features like this need to consider how their clientele will react to
others skipping the line, and engineer the experience in such a way that
normal customers don’t feel slighted.

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hrrsn
>I have had to send cash to my sister a handful of times recently. Because her
bank (Bank of America) stopped allowing cash deposits to any account other
than your own, the most convenient and inexpensive way to do this was through
Walmart, which has its own money transfer service. You can arrange the
transfer through an app, then you go to an express line at a Walmart store and
complete the whole transaction in under a minute.

The fact that you can't just send money from your online banking to another
person absolutely baffles me.

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downandout
Zelle is supposed to be the magic bullet for this, but it isn’t supported by
all banks (including mine). I could technically send her a wire online, but I
think my bank would charge me $30 to send it and then her bank would deduct
$25 or so to receive it. Compare that $55 to the $8 that Walmart charges.

I could get myself a bank account at BofA for the specific purpose of sending
her money, but I just refuse to give them a dime of my money because they
suck.

~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
> Compare that $55 to the $8 that Walmart charges.

Compare that to €5 to SEPA transfers in the EU between banks in two countries,
or to €0 between banks in the same country.

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beojan
The whole point of SEPA is that they aren't allowed to charge more for a SEPA
payment out of the country.

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wyldfire
Starbucks designs their stores' flow to have cashiers near an ingress point
and the orders are usually delivered at the far end of the counter from where
queuing starts. Starbucks has signage indicating "mobile order pickup here"
and it's usually in the same location that normal orders are delivered. I
would probably wait in line at other stores but at Starbucks, I can see my
order waiting for me with my name written on it. I don't feel like I'm jumping
the queue -- most folks probably can't distinguish my order from one that was
placed at the cashier.

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skywhopper
Of course the reason is that the stores are not set up to accommodate pre-
orders. The design of the stores themselves imply a particular relationship
with the cashiers and other customers. It ought to be easy to fix for new
construction and renovation if it's part of the plan. But it's a risk of
pasting new business models onto existing infrastructure.

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tarheeljason
Panera has a really good model (Rapid Pickup) whereby preorders are name-
tagged and shelved on a self-service, grab-and-go counter.

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ggm
maybe its a "thing" for some of us, but if you are in a queue you can feel
like a prole, when somebody bypasses you to be served before you. Sure: they
paid and ordered first, but the emotion in the queue is very disempowering.

breeding resentment is usually bad.

I think if the 'pick up here' was a hole in the wall outside the store, it
would be more like drive-through with MacDonalds where everyone understands
its a distinct queue.

The way these pre-order lines work, it can feel like you've been put into the
second-class citizen box.

Queueing at Airline desks is often similar btw. I have high status, but its a
walk of shame to inact it sometimes. People in economy, 100+ deep, resenting
my ability to get quick service because the airline doesn't pre-empt my queue
to service them, in slack times. (some do, many dont)

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ryanbertrand
Very similar to CLEAR. I love the idea of expediting security at the airport
but I hate the way the agent moves them to the front of the line. It is very
awkward.

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capkutay
that's just a not-so-subtle marketing tactic.

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komali2
Why do government agencies need to market services?

Why are there slow lanes for people with less money in a government situation?

Can you pay extra to skip the line at the DMV? (actually, you can in
California, by having a AAA membership)

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enra
Clear is a private company though? I assume they have just negotiated a deal
with the airport and the TSA.

To the question for government agencies to market they services, I absolutely
think they should. Often marketing it's just informing people that something
exist, so if they government wants people to use some service or change their
behavior, they should do marketing.

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bfuller
This is how it is at Jersey Mikes. They'll give you a discount to preorder,
but you still wait in line and during lunch it can take 15 mins. without the
online code i don't know why you'd order online and have your sandwich sit
there for 15 minutes.

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c22
There's a sandwich place near my house that works like this. The line often
takes 15-20 minutes during lunch times, but I call just as I step into the
line. I can literally see the cashier way up at the front pause the whole line
to take my call. By the time I get up to pay my sandwich is ready while the
people before me are still standing around cramped against the counter for
another 10 minutes.

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sdca
Just use the drive-through and you'll skip everyone.

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neonate
[http://archive.is/XgyGw](http://archive.is/XgyGw)

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DecayingOrganic
I believe that another method to bypass the paywall is to copy the link and
post it on facebook and then click it again, preferably in incognito mode.

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dec0dedab0de
There is also the web link under the story

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Johnny555
The web link for WSJ articles haven't worked for me in a long time (even if
opened in an incognito window). The Facebook trick still works.

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lando2319
The best way I've found to circumvent the paywall is to simply edit the URL by
putting "full" before "wjs" so this link would be
[https://www.fullwsj.com/articles/why-pre-order-food-then-
wai...](https://www.fullwsj.com/articles/why-pre-order-food-then-wait-in-line-
i-do-not-want-to-seem-like-an-ass-1525272972)

It redirects through Facebook so you'll need a FB account.

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neonate
That doesn't work for me.

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sudouser
use outline.com

