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A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

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Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#31

Post by Muzza »

smackfu wrote: post #18
nlawalker wrote: post #9

Most of the grocery stores in my area have installed self-checkout systems that are especially great if you just have a handful of items that all have UPCs (no produce or bagged bulk), don't have any items requiring an age check and possess at least the intelligence of a fifth grader. I mention this not just because it's relevant to the idea of waiting in line at a store, but because in every store where I've seen th…

Around here, the grocery self-checkout works the same as the normal checkouts, mainly because they just replaced the normal ones in place. (Also, self-checkouts suck. I bet their throughput is terrible compared to manned checkout lines. That teenage checkout girl is WAY better than I am at scanning stuff.)

Self-checkouts don't have to suck, though. The version where you scan all your items at a single location is clearly crap, but there are systems where you get a small hand-held device when entering the store so you can scan your items as you go along.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#32

Post by getsat »

smackfu wrote: post #28

What I didn't see in this article is why retailers don't do this today. I see a lot of positives listed and no negatives, so it seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet the biggest retailers like Walmart and Target have tons of lanes, and even do staggered front/back lanes which are terrible for the customers. Is it because there are negative feelings to seeing a long line, and that people do not expect it to be fast so t…

Illusion of choice.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#33

Post by yesimahuman »

smackfu wrote: post #18
nlawalker wrote: post #9

Most of the grocery stores in my area have installed self-checkout systems that are especially great if you just have a handful of items that all have UPCs (no produce or bagged bulk), don't have any items requiring an age check and possess at least the intelligence of a fifth grader. I mention this not just because it's relevant to the idea of waiting in line at a store, but because in every store where I've seen th…

Around here, the grocery self-checkout works the same as the normal checkouts, mainly because they just replaced the normal ones in place. (Also, self-checkouts suck. I bet their throughput is terrible compared to manned checkout lines. That teenage checkout girl is WAY better than I am at scanning stuff.)

In my experience, the slow down is the cost of the extra features of the self-checkout system running on (I'm guessing) weak hardware. There is a rather large delay when choosing payment sources or in between bagging items.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#34

Post by smackfu »

jff wrote: post #25
smackfu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around here, the grocery self-checkout works the same as the normal checkouts, mainly because they just replaced the normal ones in place. (Also, self-checkouts suck. I bet their throughput is terrible compared to manned checkout lines. That teenage checkout girl is WAY better than I am at scanning stuff.)

Ah, but you see, anyone who writes checks (hellooooo, slowdown!) and anyone who is scared of technology (I think the two groups overlap a lot) will go wait in another line. So at least at my store, the self-checkout lanes have a lot of young people buying one or two items and paying with credit cards, which works out to a pretty good speed. Occasionally you get somebody who sits and stares at each screen of instructi…

I guess it depends on the quality of the self-checkout system. At my Stop & Shop, there are four or six self-checkout lanes staffed by a single person (Go go union job elimination!) If you get through a purchase without running into "wait for attendant", sure it's fast. But if you do have to wait, because their fundamental distrust of the customers makes the system get many false positives for stealing, now you are in a secondary line of people waiting for the attendant, and the time for checkout is terrible.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#35

Post by Zaak »

smackfu wrote: post #28

What I didn't see in this article is why retailers don't do this today. I see a lot of positives listed and no negatives, so it seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet the biggest retailers like Walmart and Target have tons of lanes, and even do staggered front/back lanes which are terrible for the customers. Is it because there are negative feelings to seeing a long line, and that people do not expect it to be fast so t…

I always figured it was because of the layout problem of getting many cashier stations clustered together at the end of a long queue area. I hadn't thought about the psychological effect of a single long line though.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#37

Post by tgrass »

hrabago wrote: post #10
smackfu wrote: post #8

Wouldn't it be 3x the velocity, but the line is 3x longer, so your total wait time is the same? The article is mainly saying that people like moving faster, but is that really a phenomenon?

No, because the cashiers handling smaller transactions finish quicker and can process more people. If you're stuck behind a guy which takes 2 minutes to check out, people in other lanes will be in their cars before you even begin checking out.

This is theoretically appealing but the data does not always back it up: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=4646

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#38

Post by twelvechairs »

smackfu wrote: post #28

What I didn't see in this article is why retailers don't do this today. I see a lot of positives listed and no negatives, so it seems like a no-brainer, right? Yet the biggest retailers like Walmart and Target have tons of lanes, and even do staggered front/back lanes which are terrible for the customers. Is it because there are negative feelings to seeing a long line, and that people do not expect it to be fast so t…

There are many pros and cons other than just time-efficiency in a store.

Spatially, its actually quite complex to make one long line (it will probably have to snake around your store, and you'll need those awful movable tape barriers everywhere to make sure everyone keeps in line - customers hate these) and then to make one long line split evenly into several end points is not easy either (doing this may also take up a lot of valuable floor space).

Also, you could just have a store layout inherited from the 60s and its too expensive to change it right now...

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#39

Post by rdtsc »

smackfu wrote: post #8

Wouldn't it be 3x the velocity, but the line is 3x longer, so your total wait time is the same? The article is mainly saying that people like moving faster, but is that really a phenomenon?

Nope.

Because when you pick a line you don't know which line will go the fastest ahead of time. Neither do others on average, so everyone ends up spending more time.

Re: A single line to 3 cashiers is ~3x faster than a separate line for each cashier

#40

Post by jrockway »

nlawalker wrote: post #9

Most of the grocery stores in my area have installed self-checkout systems that are especially great if you just have a handful of items that all have UPCs (no produce or bagged bulk), don't have any items requiring an age check and possess at least the intelligence of a fifth grader. I mention this not just because it's relevant to the idea of waiting in line at a store, but because in every store where I've seen th…

Most of the grocery stores in my area have installed self-checkout systems that are especially great if you just have a handful of items that all have UPCs (no produce or bagged bulk), don't have any items requiring an age check and possess at least the intelligence of a fifth grader.

I love these, because I can be done in 10 seconds. The people in front of me in line to use these, however, are rarely able. It's actually faster to wait in the non-self-checkout line these days because the people in the self-checkout line use them so slowly.

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