<p>Over the last few months I’ve been making quite a few trips to our local Home Depot to pick up supplies for some projects around the house. Anyway, this location rarely keeps more than on of the traditional checkout locations open forcing anyone without massive bits of large supplies to use a bank of self-checkout machines. </p>
<p>There are four of these checkout machines arranged in a square. If I’m the first person to arrive (and all the machines are current in use) I’ll stand in the middle of the entrance to the four machines in an attempt to form one line for all 4 machines. Probably about 50% of the time the next person will arrive behind me and, in a very annoyed voice, say “are you waiting for the left side or the right side?”. To which I always respond “Both… I’m forming one line for all of them.” </p>
<p>Quite often this yields an annoyed response (rolled eyes, bit of a snerk sound). Are there really this many people out there that don’t understand the basic concept and mutual benefits of ‘one queue, multiple service points’? Yes the line is longer… but it also moves much faster. </p>
<p>You’re of course essentially guaranteed to get the same or faster service than if everyone tries to form separate lines for each service point. There’s a small possibility that you’ll have to wait slightly longer if, for example, you happened to get lucky and join a line that was moving much much faster than the others… but in that case it’s not really fair to get served first if you arrived after others anyway.</p>
<p>Occasionally I’ll arrive at the bank of automatic checkouts and it’s total utter chaos. Generally this is because someone decided it would be a good idea to form 4 separate lines for 4 machines… causing a total traffic jam and almost certainly ensuring that some folks will have to wait much much longer than they should to get service (as there will unavoidably be the ‘slow’ lines).</p>
<p>The other huge pet peeve is when I’m at the supermarket waiting in the queue and an adjacent line opens up. You always get those folks who seem to have no problem walking from the back on one line right to the front of the new one (without allowing those in front of them to move forwards first). </p>
<p>I realize some may think I’m odd for complaining about all these queuing annoyances, but having partially grown up in England (where proper queuing is practically a national pastime) I’m particularly sensitive to other folk’s incompetence in this area.</p>
<p>Anyone else in the same boat of annoyance? ;-)</p>
<p>Drives me nuts as well - and I am not English!!! </p>
<p>In part it is definitely an issue of our culture - and the idea that somehow you should be able to “beat” the system (and the other guy). </p>
<p>But the other part is the businesses like Home Depot and the supermarket in your example. They ought to be able to deal with this stuff as a matter of course… I often say that anyone who deals in customer service and queuing ought to have to go take a course at Disney University. IMO Disney handles large volumes of people better than anyone - and knows all about how to manage queues.</p>
<p>The problem with the Home Depot in my area is that there are 4 self-service terminals, but they’re separated by a fairly wide aisle and so this confuses people - one line or two? or four even? I think if there were a narrower “funnel” into the self-serve area, it would be more obvious that one line/queue serves all.</p>
<p>As far as grocery stores go, at mine the checkers themselves come out and offer their newly-opened line to the first person in the existing long line who hasn’t yet put his or her groceries on the counter. That way there’s not a mad dash by people at the end of the long line to be first in line at the now-open register.</p>
<p>^It works that way at most of our grocery stores too, mainly by a “I can help you over here, sir/ma’am” to the person in the front of the line.</p>
<p>I agree with the Disney comment…their lines are incredible. We always complained about the Space Mountain line, but once you get inside it’s really quite incredible how quickly the line moves.</p>
<p>We usually shop at Lowes, but it has the same deal, with only one or two cashiers open at any given time. At the stores where I shop, people always make one line for the self check-outs. Maybe it’s a regional thing. Keep it up, and hopefully it’ll catch on where you live too.</p>
<p>One queue isn’t actually faster, but it is fairer. If one person is really slow you aren’t disadvantaged if you pick the wrong line. I don’t know why people don’t do this automatically. They’ve started doing the one line thing at our CVS, even though there’s no rope or anything to encourage it. Our Home Depot however is the same as yours. I think it’s because there’s too much space between those foursomes of machines. What I really hate is that if you touch anything in the bagging area at HD it confuses the machines.</p>
<p>“What I really hate is that if you touch anything in the bagging area at HD it confuses the machines.”</p>
<p>When these self-serve machines work they can be quite convenient… but if they’re not set-up or maintained properly they quickly turn into a total joke. For one, they’re supposed to ‘check’ that you’re not cheating by knowing the weight of each scanned item and then checking that what you put in the bag is the same weight… but if it’s not properly calibrated or the store hasn’t placed the bag holder on the machine properly the system quickly starts freaking out. The ones at Home Depot (and likely many others) run on Windows (I watched them boot one up once after it crashed) and they have a nasty tendency of just freezing up too (surprise surprise).</p>
<p>In general, the queuing problems generally fall down to poor management by the store. At home depot using rope barriers to form a single queue is a bit difficult when people have carts full of big stuff… but it isn’t exactly difficult to simply put up a sign asking people to form a single ordered queue for the checkouts ;-).</p>
<p>I agree that it’s a pain when people don’t understand basic queuing protocol at Home Depot. I run into the same thing. It could be easily rectified if HD would place some physical queuing guides (making one lane) at the entrance.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there are some completely incompetent people at those machines who simply don’t understand them and take forever to check out one or two items and generally need help - even when the machines work okay. I’m usually in and out of there in a flash once I get a machine while others are still fumbling around.</p>
<p>there out to be an intelligence test for anyone to do a self check out at any store. I have seen too many people who have no idea how to use the machine (one person even said, what is a UPC code). You, out of the gene pool</p>
<p>Even when the store tries to do it properly, sometimes people just mess it up. At Kohl’s they have one line for all the check outs. But inevitably, someone comes up from the other side and goes straight to a check out that just happens to be empty. Then there’s an argument and the poor checkout clerk has no idea what to do. People should not be allowed out of the house if they don’t know how to shop.</p>
<p>May I add a pet peeve? It seems to me, lately, that young people waiting in line stand unusually far behind the person in front of them. You could fit two people in between easily. I mentioned it to my kids who are 20, 22, and 24 years old. They don’t find it annoying, so it may just be me, but I always want to push people forward!</p>
<p>My pet peeve (and I am in my 40s) is the exact opposite of yours - people who have no concept of physical space - back off a little bit - I should not be able to tell what you had for lunch when you are standing behind me in line.</p>
<p>and the people who have a cart full of stuff and show up in the 15 or less items line… I want to hurt them. But the clerks are not permitted to say anything.</p>
<p>and if you buy produce and don’t know how to do the lookup for your item, go to a regular cashier for goodness sakes.</p>
<p>Yep, my DH is not allowed to do self-check out and he hates it. I love it, so I can put all my items in the proper bags, just the way I want them- control freak, eh?</p>
<p>I agree it should be one link, like banks were in the olden days when there were tellers Same at border crossings, I always pick the wrong line and get stuck behind the slow person</p>
<p>I love the Southwest Airlines queuing system. Unfortunately, some passengers have decided that if you’re in the 1-15 group, you don’t have to line up in numerical order–that it’s a group, not a line. I saw this happen recently, where someone with 15 went right to the head of the line. I’m sure no one got inferior seats as a result, but it’s just an annoying, “me-first” kind of attitude.</p>
<p>Rocketman, I’m in that boat too! Speaking of queues, let me ask you all to weigh in on a similar situation. When you’re driving on an interstate highway and you see a construction sign indicating that the left lane is closed 3 miles ahead, do you move into the right lane at the first opportunity? I used to, thinking it was the polite thing to do, but then I would get frustrated as hundreds of cars would pass me on the left and merge into the traffic ahead of me. I think the best and fairest approach may be to fill all the lanes evenly and merge like a zipper only when you run out of road.</p>
<p>Give me opinions about this circumstance. I arrive at the deli counter at a grocery store. A teenager is already in line and tells me that the little number dispenser is out of numbers so I get behind him. I didn’t check the dispenser but could see no ticket sticking out. Another man comes up and we tell him it is out of numbers. Instead of getting behind us, he goes to the dispenser and sees that there are indeed tickets inside it so he opens it up and takes the next number and acts like he won the lottery. He keeps the number, expecting to go next rather than give it to the kid who was obviously there before either of us. I spoke up and said “I can’t believe you are going to keep that number and not give it to him.” He got really angry - tossed the number towards the kid and stomped away. I thought he might return with a weapon. Was it unreasonable to think that the people waiting before him should still go first even if we were mistaken about the little numbers? I would have taken a number and handed it to the first person in line and taken another one for the second person and kept the third one for myself.</p>
<p>There’s actually been a lot of research done on traffic jams from things like this. If everyone maintained a cool head and tried to maintain a consistent, yet slow, speed during these lane merges during heavy traffic then things would be much better, and faster, for everyone. It’s actually the competitive nature of everyone gunning ahead to get into the ‘best’ position that ultimately slows everyone down. This is why, for example, you’ll be in some massive traffic jam and when you finally get to the bit where it opens up again you think “geesh how does that little lane shift cause such a huge traffic jam.” </p>
<p>It’s difficult for most people to grasp the concept that the best outcome for themselves is achieved when they take into consideration not only their own desires and interests but those of the group as well. Most people seem to think that if they only think about themselves and keep doing things that benefit only them, that they’ll come out on top… they won’t and everyone suffers. </p>
<p>Maybe when we all have computer controlled cars that can talk to each other and collectively ‘chill out’ such traffic jams will be a thing of the past. </p>
<p>On the subject of automotive queuing another major pet peeve here in the Northeast is when I’m approaching a major bridge or tunnel where there is a toll collection. During peak periods there are often massive queues for those who need to pay in cash and special lanes designated for those with EZ-Pass (who can just drive right through without stopping). The ‘EZ-Pass Lane’ starts well before the toll plaza and is designed to ensure that those with EZ-Pass can just zip right by the huge traffic jam forming at the toll booths… however you’ll inevitably get some idiot who either didn’t see the huge massive signs saying to stay out of this lane if you don’t have EZ-Pass (unlikely) or is just trying to butt-in before the other cash paying folks (more likely) who drives all the way down to the toll booth and then stops there while they try to force there way into the cash queues. The net result is that a jam develops in the EZ-Pass lane too while the idiot without EZ-Pass is parked in the express lane trying to get over. Very annoying indeed.</p>
Same at border crossings, I always pick the wrong line and get stuck behind the slow person</p>