
Is the express line really faster? - snewe
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=4646
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jazzychad
Waiting in line at the grocery store is one of my greatest pet peeves. To
avoid this I usually do one of 3 things:

1) Move to the lines further from the store exit. I've noticed that people
tend to queue up in lines close to the exit (this is usually where the express
lines are, too).

2) Use the self-checkout. At least this way I feel like the process is going
as efficiently as possible because I am in control of it (plus barcode
scanners fascinate me). I will only do this if there is an immediately
available self-checkout station. Otherwise, it's guaranteed to take 10x longer
than just waiting in a normal line (only being slightly sarcastic).

3) Go to the 24hr grocery store at 2am. No lines! (This only works because I
am usually up really late coding, and it serves as a nice break.)

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yason
While I generally reserve enough time for shopping groceries so that I never
need to hurry, I do exercise some preference between cashiers. It, however,
isn't necessarily for the fastest route but the most pleasurable route.

My highly scientific method (=i.e. where chemistry kicks in) to ensure this
goes like this:

\- Prefer younger cashiers to older cashiers: I empirically know that middle-
aged and older people can be unbearably slow. Note that I don't mind queueing
as long as I see some progress: unbearably slow is slower than that.

\- Prefer women to men: they're not necessarily faster but I find it more
pleasurable to spend my time queueing while observing a female cashier.

\- Prefer attractive women to others. They're not necessarily faster but I
find it much more pleasurable to watch them while standing in the queue.
Moreover, given the (speed-wise) age range from the first bullet, the woman's
age doesn't really matter. General looks and vibes matter most. Breasts do
play a part.

Yeah, I'm a man.

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Steve0
I disagree: give me a cashier in their forties or fifties anytime. They are
work fast and are more experienced than a young temp or weekend worker. For me
the people who are waiting makes a big difference. Couples are good, because
when one is paying the other will be handeling the groceries.

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eru
People usually queue so that the queues of the same length in meters when I
arrive --- so I go for the queue that has the least amount of stuff in it.

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edw519
OP is missing one critical piece of data: in many stores, there is a much
higher probability that a junior cashier is on the express line. The express
line tends to have simpler transactions, so it is a more natural training
ground. This progression would have cashiers "moving up" to the lines with
greater volume and complexity. Ironically, express line cashiers end up being
_slower_.

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davidw
I wish they had 'airline' style dispatching: one line, and then you go to the
first available cashier. Oh well.

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dangoldin
A Whole Foods in NY has that. Everyone just gets into 3 lines and a note pops
up telling you which cashier to go to. I think they have 3 lanes just to hold
more people - the system would be identical with any N lanes.

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JeffJenkins
I was at the one in Union Square (5 lanes express, 3-4 normal) and I've
noticed that frequently the express lines will be totally full (10+) and on
the other side of a small barrier the normal lines will have almost no one in
them. Once I don't think I had any wait at all by not using the express
checkout.

I sometimes wonder if people at the Whole Foods think they have to use the
express if they have fewer than 10 items.

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lionhearted
I find the biggest time sucks are: A cashier who can't take payments fast, and
a customer who can't pay fast. Someone who doesn't know how to work their
credit card adds a lot of time.

Based on just being observant, I've got a general intuitive sense of when the
people in front of me might take a long time to pay. I look for people who
seem unaware, in a zombie-like trance, shuffling their feet along the floor
with their eyes blurred off into nothing. It's a pretty decent judge. For
cashiers, just waiting in the line a moment usually gives a good idea, and
I'll move lines if I'm in a hurry and the cashier appears new or particularly
slow.

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Dobbs
I find it frustrating that there are 3 major credit card companies but every
store has a different procedure for accepting credit cards. I can never
remember if it is 3 screens I need to tap yes on, or 5.

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mhb
It looks like not many people have experienced the ethereal reaches of grocery
store technology embodied by some Super Stop & Shops in New England. You scan
your groceries with a handheld unit as you put them in the bags in your cart.
All you do at (self) check out is pay.

Vast amount of time saved by not unloading the cart and reloading your bags.

I don't understand how theft isn't a problem since it is easy to even
inadvertently forget to scan something as you put it in the cart, but it is a
huge improvement in the shopping experience.

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dhoe
The store where I shop here in the Netherlands works like that - no
interactions with humans required for the whole process, which I appreciate. I
believe there's some sort of sanity check heuristic at the checkout - I once
did forget to scan something, and a friendly store employee walked over to me
with a different scanner and scanned a couple of items until a light went
green.

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buugs
Usually when I choose to go through the express line it is because the line is
around the same length or barely greater than the other lines and there is a
clear advantage because the normal lines have people with groceries filling
their carts to the brim.

Something confusing me was the pleasantries exchange and cash is faster than
debit. People do say hello and ask if you found everything fine and whatnot
but while they are saying that they have already scanned 3 or 4 of my items I
haven't ever had the trouble of someone talking and waiting for response
before scanning items.

In response to cash is faster than debit there are always people fumbling with
wallets to get cash out and such while with a debit card you just slide (most
of the time before the checkout is even done) and enter pin/ sign receipt and
you are on your way, you don't even need to wait for someone to count out
change back to you.

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BearOfNH
In response to _In response to cash is faster than debit_ , it never happens
that way here in New England. I watch as the register total increments. Every
$20 I pull another $20 out of my wallet so when I'm done I just hand the wad
of cash to the cashier.

Compare that to someone with a debit card who always has to wait for the
cashier to do _something_ (I dunno what it is) then tell the customer to swipe
their card and enter their PIN, except the swipe often needs to be repeated,
and then there's the wait for approval.

Not only is the cash-pay mean time lower than the debit-pay method, by my
observation, the debit-pay time has a huge variance depending on equipment
reliability, account status, the occasional desire for extra cash and other
technical issues I've encountered only once:

Many years ago I tried a debit transaction but was denied, so I paid cash with
my "emergency" $100 bill. Later that month the store charge showed up on my
statement, but of course by then I had no evidence I had already paid the bill
in cash. Of course this would never happen to anybody else, and it sure as
hell isn't happening to me again.

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s3graham
I'm horrible at choosing lines, and it aggravates me to no end.

As in most endeavours, the vastly more important factor in determining
efficiency is the person doing the job. i.e. the cashier or the programmer,
not the type of line, or the language.

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codeodor
I've often felt they drop the new employees in the express lane as the reason
it seems to go slower.

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Chukwu
I've always thought that checkout speeds are negatively correlated with the
amount of register localization. By de-localizing the registers, one could map
a redistribution that makes the distance from each shopping section
equidistant. This would effectively eliminate the need for "express" lines.

This can't be a novel suggestion, so why has it not been implemented? It
shocks, to think that major companies would sacrifice efficiency so as to not
disturb a consumer's sense of familiarity.

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jdale27
Sorry, I stopped reading at "It's my DaVinci code."

