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posted by martyb on Sunday September 18 2016, @04:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the slowest-line-is-the-one-I'm-in dept.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports on a former math teacher who claims to solved the question "Which checkout line up will be fastest?"

In a nutshell he has concluded that the number of people in the lineup is more important than the number of items a person has in their cart.

The critical factor, he says, is the average of 41 seconds that it takes a shopper to pay the cashier and engage in idle chit chat.

So a long line of people in the Express line, with two or three items each, will actual move slower than the checkout with one guy with a full shopping cart.

YMMV.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:40PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:40PM (#403448) Journal

    Averages are all good, and everything, but there are times when the average doesn't work. I read this or a similar article some months ago. Needed some stuff for work in the middle of the night, and the only thing open is Wally World. Two lanes open (out of about twelve, I guess). One extra large middle aged dark skinned lady in the one line, and five assorted persons in the second line. I chose the longer line, but another person got there before I did, so I was customer number 7. I had paid for my stuff, and walked past the middle aged phat broad on my way out. She was nattering away with the cashier (a very pretty Pacific islander who I enjoyed nattering with when possible), her buggy only half emtied. I thought about telling them to get each other's phone numbers, but decided it might cause a scene. For all I knew, the middle aged lady might be from Guam as well, and they had some catching up to do.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @12:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @12:04AM (#403551)

    there are times when the average doesn't work

    Hence the word "average"

  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37AM

    by Francis (5544) on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37AM (#403576)

    Nothing is perfect. The point here is that there are several factors to consider, the number of people in the line, the size of the carts and the likely behavior of the people in the line. If you see an attractive checker and a lot of men, that might not be the line to get in, but if they're all men, then it's probably not a problem. Whereas a short line of housewives might well be a much longer line than a longer line of single men.

    The point isn't that you're going to be right every time, the point is that if you can identify some basic principles you can get in the faster line often enough that you save time over all. Which is really good for everybody. But, I suspect that if there's a checker that's really slower than typical that they probably aren't going to be up front for very long as they'd be annoying enough customers to be an issue.

  • (Score: 2) by CoolHand on Monday September 19 2016, @01:02PM

    by CoolHand (438) on Monday September 19 2016, @01:02PM (#403706) Journal

    I thought about telling them to get each other's phone numbers, but decided it might cause a scene. For all I knew, the middle aged lady might be from Guam as well, and they had some catching up to do.

    I always knew Runaway1956 was one considerate and kind dude, but now he has shown us concrete proof from his day-to-day life... :)

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