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.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 19 2016, @05:33PM
While it is the correct solution, you're a tech person and therefore missing the important factor: The high-margin impulse buys at the cashier.
Making a long single line with that stuff alongside it (Fry's style) has not proven unquestionably superior to having them right by the belt ready to drop. I suspect that the fact the line moves much faster would be counter-productive.