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posted by
martyb
on Sunday September 18 2016, @04:56PM
from the slowest-line-is-the-one-I'm-in dept.
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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Efficiencies in Supermarket Checkout Lines
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No self-made man ever did such a good job that some woman didn't
want to make some alterations.
-- Kim Hubbard
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:01PM
My gal claims that female checkers are faster than male, and after watching for the last handful of years, I think she may be on to something. The guys just don't move as fast.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:15PM
More than a quarter century ago I used to work supermarket retail as a starving student and even back then they had the technology to track "items scanned per minute" and stuff like that. Independent grocers just got laser scanners about the time I became a teen and got into the field, figure like late 80s.
Employment was very sexist in that hotties ended up with customer facing jobs like cashier (my boss thankfully was a dirty old man and the cashiers were all unusually attractive, which was nice because I dated a few) and large male barbarians like myself stacked 80 pound bags of salt all day, and there was and still is basically zero crossover. Observation in decades since, shows not a whole lot has changed since I was a teen McJob employee. We had overflow registers booted and loaded for rush hour times for the stockers or even managers to use when utterly necessary. I suppose all male shelf stocking crew was good training for later all male CS classes, all male EE classes, etc.
The hotties were ranked on job performance based on long term running total of drawer cash accuracy (like since you've been employed the running total difference of the register count vs the actual cash count of your drawer should trend toward 0 and be a small number) and the other thing they were graded on was speed. And the boss only hired them if they were like 9/10 or better. So their complete set of carrots and sticks were all sticks except for the carrot of being graded on speed. They were promoted to the cash room and the service center desk based mostly on speed. I know that sounds stupid to take the best cashiers and have them sell lotto tickets and process western union transfers instead of cashiering, but it made some sense in that they were probably the best because they were the smartest and fastest learning and the service desk did all kinds of crazy shit, like the general manager and/or owner didn't know how to say "no" so we accepted utility company payments and all kinds of weird stuff.
The guys, on the other hand, were more project success based ("I told you to stock those 9 pallets, you got all 9 done in your shift, good job") and when we cashiered during rush periods or covering for cashier breaks it was mostly just "god help me you will not sell beer or tobacco to the underage police officer" and they didn't really care how fast we worked ... just showing up to help the cashiers was considered "thanks!"-worthy. As part of our training, if we could pull it off, when we got lost and forgot what button to press or that code 4792 was produce-bananas-per-pound we were encouraged to talk to the customer vs looking pissed off or staring into space or swearing. Our old fashioned registers had like 200 keys and I think I eventually learned or pressed all 200 keys, possibly even correctly. I am not too proud to admit I'd ask the cashiers for help, while I was cashiering, with produce items because 1) I had no idea what the hell the plant was much less what its code was 2) I felt the need to flirt with the cashier.
In summary what looks to you like some weirdo talking about lasagna recipes was actually some kid who only cashiers like thirty minutes per week desperately trying to remember how to cashier.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @07:22PM
So this is what I gather from this thread.
Women are more likely to be selected for cashier jobs in the first place because employers prefer them for the job (ie: looks and getting customers in the door since customers prefer women too).
When there is a man at the cashier he is likely just filling in for someone else and so he has less experience.
Hence the women are naturally going to be faster since they are the regular cashiers and hence they are more experienced.
So when we see a slow man it's because he's inexperienced and he's filling in for someone else. He is being more chatty to kill time for the fact that he doesn't know what he is doing due to a lack of experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @10:24PM
Also men should be in the back someplace lifting something heavy not in the front attending to the cash register.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @12:16PM
When I were a lad they put the queer and camp fellows on the delicatessen and checkouts along side the totty.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 19 2016, @05:16PM
Additional detail: If the supermarket has a lingerie section, guy cashiers are kept as far away from it as possible, even when that requires switching multiple cashiers to cover a break.
The belief is that most women will just drop those purchases on the nearest shelf corner, rather than hand them to a guy cashier, and that's way too much margin to lose.
(Score: 4, Informative) by davester666 on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:45PM
You also have to evaluate the people in line. Is there an old lady with a large purse who is more likely to be a coupon clipper, but have to spend several minutes finding all the coupons (and thank goodness we're past the "How much is it again, I'm paying by check")? Mother with 3 infants all running in different directions? Person on phone more interested in the conversation than buying the groceries?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:04PM
Immigrant clerks are much more businesslike with only a quick smile when the bag is handed over. That's one of the reasons why shopkeepers like them.
Housewives and retirees are much chattier. For example, the clerks at TJ's with their Hawaiian shirts - there better be at least four checkout lines or you'll be waiting what seems like forever.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:07PM
Hahahahahhah
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:32PM
They're like govt workers... Slower than a snail stuck to flypaper.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday September 19 2016, @04:30PM
I like your use of imagery.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:40PM
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.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @12:04AM
Hence the word "average"
(Score: 1) by Francis on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37AM
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
I always knew Runaway1956 was one considerate and kind dude, but now he has shown us concrete proof from his day-to-day life... :)
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Sunday September 18 2016, @05:56PM
Whichever line doesn't have the elderly woman who must write a check but can only start doing so once the total has been rung up. She can never get the checkbook out and fill out the name of the store before that moment.
Or whichever line doesn't have the single mom with three children with obviously different fathers, because she'll both need to use food stamps and still ask for a carton of Newports.
Or the college student stoners who each have to run back to get toilet paper or some gag item just because they're too stoned to do anything in an orderly way. And they'll still argue a price despite not being able to remember to wipe with something other than corncobs.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:04PM
Don't forget the woman who wants to return two shirts b/c they're the wrong size, but exchange one of them for the correct size, AND buy an additional five items, and ask random questions about their inventory during the same transaction. Obviously the big event of her afternoon.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:07PM
when I self scan, who's the impediment?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:26PM
The failure rate per transaction across multiple stores and multiple types of stores indicates that even with small "express" sized baskets, the failure rate per transaction is 10% to maybe 5% and it takes so long to get stuff fixed that its faster to use a human cashier, on average.
Of course that leads to self selection so at home depot the human cashier has to hand count 72 paver bricks because she doesn't believe in the astrological numerology of arithmetic multiplication and of course the victim has no idea the UPC code or cost per brick or qty discount and it just all turns into a giant disaster. Times like that, I'll risk the self check, I mean it can't come out any worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:27PM
That stupid machine. The same one that's in every store, that shuts down and calls an attendant if you don't place the item on the scale within the required 5 seconds.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday September 19 2016, @04:18AM
I like re-packing my bags. The automated checkout things don't like that either.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:35PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @03:40AM
I ran into just that the other week.
They were running a special on cream of something soup, so I stocked up.
On their Mix-and-match,-Buy-5-to-get-the-special-price deal, my cooking oil rang up at the reduced price (even though I didn't buy 5 of those) but the soup rang up at the regular price.
...then i had to wait behind someone at the service desk.
So, yeah.
.
Heh. Back when I worked in a grocery store, ALL of the prices were entered with buttons on the cash register.
The afternoon there was a power outage, the manager broke out the cranks that fit into those electro-mechanical registers and the cashiers kept right on going.
I don't think that would fly these days.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:36PM
When you stare into the scanner, the scanner scans you. Take care when you self-implement scanners, lest you become one.
Supermarket tabloid version of Neitzsche
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Monday September 19 2016, @01:44AM
The shitty fucking scanner. Anyone who has ever worked as a cashier and then tried to use one of those inevitably ends up frustrated. They are crippled, apparently to prevent theft, but do nothing to prevent theft. Using a real register it would probably take me 30 seconds - 1 minute to scan, bag and pay for almost any order except the very largest or smallest purchases. Using those crippled POSs it takes about 30 seconds per item because they suck.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday September 19 2016, @09:43AM
perhaps all packaging should be generic? Nice an geometrical and marketing in a fixed place.
Hence all things would be easily scanned by machine...;-)
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday September 19 2016, @10:24AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 19 2016, @08:57PM
I love self-checkouts. I don't know why everyone else seems to have such a problem with them, but if they're available, I almost always use them. They're usually less occupied than the human-cashier lines (because too many people don't like using them), and if you know what you're doing they're quite fast. The exception, I've found, is hardware stores if you're buying anything weirdly-sized. If you're just getting a few items that have clear UPS codes on them and will fit on the scale, no problem. If you're getting lumber or bags of topsoil or other "weird" stuff that won't fit in a grocery bag or otherwise on the scale, forget it; just go to a human cashier. But for places like Walmart, self-checkouts are a godsend, especially at Walmart since so many of the customers are incredibly slow.
YMMV, however; not all checkout systems are the same, and if they're poorly maintained (the scanner glass is dirty or scratched up for instance) then it might not be worth it.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @06:44PM
Apu: Let's go to...that line.
Marge: But that's the longest.
Apu: Yes, but look: all pathetic single men. Only cash, no chitchat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @07:13PM
I hate when I'm driving and there is someone getting arrested or a fire or an accident and so some people slow down because they want to look and they slow down traffic.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday September 18 2016, @07:32PM
This is way too simplistic a view to warrant a news article. He hasn't "solved" anything.
Yes, you should allow for a semi-fixed amount of term per individual. But it's not absolutely fixed, and nor is it always going to outweigh the number of items.
The guy says it takes around 3 seconds to scan an item. Therefore, just 14 items is equivalant to an another "chitchat/pay" session.
So if there are two people in the express line with, say, 5 items each, and one person in another line who has 28 items, you're not going to be better off in the second line.
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.
Might. The word is "might".
And in the twenty seconds it's taken to you to run the numbers and work out which line to join, someone else has joined the express line. Nice work, dummy.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @04:10AM
He mentioned coupons, checks (cheques), and cellphones.
I'll add 1 more variable: Produce
On a typical shopping trip, most of my stuff will be fresh fruits and vegetables.
If the other line has somebody with an equal number of items--but those are packaged stuff, you probably don't want to get behind me.
With produce, the cashier has to make sure it's on the scale right then punch in the code for each item.
...and the other day, I saw a rookie who didn't even know what yellow squash is and had to ask a veteran.
I saw somewhere that there's a laser gizmo that can put UPCs on produce.
Anybody seen that stuff in a store?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 19 2016, @05:27PM
Growing up, most supermarkets had automatic scales (with an attendant nearby) to print a barcode for your produce in the produce aisle. Seal the bag, print, stick it on.
I'm not sure how many people tried to cheat, and how often the cashier would catch them, but the concept lasted long enough to believe the loss was worth the time savings.
(Score: 5, Informative) by mtrycz on Sunday September 18 2016, @07:50PM
I can't believe that at 20 comments it doesn't have a comment about the simple solution to a non-problem.
A single line is the theoretical optimum, you can't get better than that no matter what. It's simple maths.
I always thought "Yeah, but that won't ever catch up, people are too grounded in their habits", until one day they did implement it at my local supermarket (Rome, Italy), and it took exactly 5 seconds to adjust. Not just me, who was laready educated on the subtelties of single-line superiority, but your local hosemaids, kids, grannies etc.
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Sunday September 18 2016, @08:07PM
A single line? That sure cuts down on the math as to which line is the quickest... I don't even think they need to do a calculation...
I thought that was how it was done in Soviet Russia? And Disney World and Apple stores? Just one long, snaking line, waiting for something good, like an iphone, a ride, or vodka.
Of course, one person fumbling with their wallet when it is finally their turn then ruins it for everyone... so I guess in that case, In Soviet Russia (or the small world ride), Supermarket line waits on YOU!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @12:22AM
In Soviet Disney World, they've found it's most efficient to line the customers against a wall. Of course, one person fumbling with their bullet when it is finally their turn then ruins it for everyone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @08:23PM
Single line requires allocation of floor space for the collection area, or else rely on community behavior from the people waiting in line (which often breaks down when someone "doesn't see" the line and walks up right behind the customer being tended to at a checkout station).
(Score: 5, Informative) by darkfeline on Sunday September 18 2016, @09:37PM
To clarify, in case anyone else misunderstands, I believe parent is talking about one line feeding multiple cashiers, not one line and one cashier.
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(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday September 19 2016, @04:24AM
My local store does a hybrid lien during peak times.
They have a line manager check which short line is almost empty, then pull people from the long line.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Monday September 19 2016, @08:05AM
The obvious problem is that a short line is in no way guaranteed to be faster than a longer line.
Remember that granny who had quite a problem counting her pennies, blocking everyone for 10 mins? Or when the guys card couldn't be read?
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday September 19 2016, @08:23AM
Depends what the optimum is -- is it to maximise till occupancy (and thus maximise throughput), or is it to keep the maximum wait for an individual low, or is it to ensure a first-come first-served system?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 19 2016, @09:06PM
The single line optimizes all those things at once. It's mathematically superior in every single way.
The only thing it's bad for is (as another poster pointed out) it likely reduces the number of impulse buys from the crap for sale in the checkout line (the place where they have gum, gift cards, drinks, Weekly World News, etc.), because customers are moving through it faster on average.
But for customers, a single line is always better: it's always first-come-first-served (you don't have to try to guess which line will be fastest, there's only one choice), your wait time will be minimized (there's no chance you'll be stuck behind some slow-ass who's paying with a check: you'll just go to the next available cashier), and it maximizes throughput (no cashiers will stand empty because customers didn't see them).
I guess there is one exception: if you're prescient like Paul Atreides, or some kind of mind-reader, or can otherwise somehow predict which line will be fastest for you, then you'll do better in a traditional checkout arrangement, but you'll do so at the expense of other customers.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday September 19 2016, @10:14PM
No it doesn't solve the problem, as there is a non zero time from head of queue to counter.
And impulse buys have nothing to do with it - many supermarkets have impulse buys in the single line and at the till while the basket is wrung up.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday September 18 2016, @11:00PM
I was in a supermarket at the station the other day, one line feeding about 12 self service and 5 manned checkouts. Half the self-service checkouts weren't being used as people at the front of the line didn't realise they were empty, the manual ones had to wait 10-15 seconds saying "next please"
The optimal I would imagine is a typical immigration line, where you have a long line which feeds into a smaller "buffer" or 3 or 4 people at each desk, and one person at the front of the snake to keep the buffers full
(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.
(Score: 1) by charon on Tuesday September 20 2016, @11:38PM
The only problem with a single line setup is that people are fiddling on their phone or looking at the interstitial merchandise and don't advance when it's their turn. Also it drives me nuts when the cashiers say, "Can I help whoever is next?" instead of looking at the person who is next and saying, "Can I help you?" Nuts, I say.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2016, @08:27PM
Always women - in the check out line. After they cashier has rung up their shit they all of a sudden realize "Oh, I have to PAY for this."
Then they open their purse, dig through it to pull out their fucking CHECKBOOK. Then they have to find a pen. Then they have to ask what the DATE is. Etc., Etc., Etc.
These are the same idiots who block grocery aisles by standing in the middle with their carts and are totally unfucking aware that they are BLOCKING THE FUCKING AISLE.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @10:46PM
People still use cheques where you live?
(Score: 3, Touché) by VanderDecken on Sunday September 18 2016, @09:56PM
I find the biggest single factor is the clerk. At my regular store I'll look for the one who processes things quickly, even if she had four extra people in line, rather than the slow-as-molasses one who had to examine everything in detail before slooooowly scanning it... And then try to figure out the optimal way of putting canned goods on top of my bread loaves.
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
(Score: 1) by kramulous on Monday September 19 2016, @05:41AM
Yup. I always do a very quick items per minute estimate of the checkout clerk.
I remember something about the number of people in the line taking longer being part of a paper published years ago. I take it into consideration but, here in Aus, majority people just wave their cards to the sensor and the transaction completes in a second or two. It is not really much of an issue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:56PM
i used to be a cashier for sam's club.
wal-mart policy (they train the COS to do this) purposefully puts the slowest cashiers on the express lane. the intent is to keep all lanes moving at the same speed. this only applies to wal-mart stores though; sam's club doesn't do this, and smarter COSes might not.
COS is also supposed to watch the lines progress, and direct members to lines to keep things moving. not all of them actually do this as aggressively as they should; wal-mart COS are definitely not as good at it.
a strange thing occurs though. people tend not to get in lines if there is nobody in that line. if you are open, people will ignore you if your line is open; most will go to the overfull line next to you. the COS is supposed to direct people to your line to get it started, but cashiers (at sam's anyway) are trained to actually go and "poach" members from other lines if theirs is empty. in practice most are not that proactive though i did it all the time.
however, this strange thing with people preferring non-empty lines, i see it everywhere now that i noticed. i even see it at tollbooths and stuff. people are less rational than they think they are.
one thing that really kills me - as a sam's club cashier, it was not unusual to be dealing with 100-800 dollars in cash. i got very good at counting it very fast, and doing change fast, and (if necessary) counting it such that it was hard to argue with how i did it or where the money is (some wiseguys would insist you just pocketed their money, etc). now whenever i use cash, i have to practically restrain myself, cashiers are so slow- i want to jump over the counter, do it for them! i assume they don't get much practice these days.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 19 2016, @09:09PM
however, this strange thing with people preferring non-empty lines, i see it everywhere now that i noticed. i even see it at tollbooths and stuff. people are less rational than they think they are.
It's classic herd behavior. Humans are herd animals, and it explains a lot of their behavior.
It'd be really interesting to do some kind of scientific study, picking out people who don't exhibit this behavior (preferring non-empty lines) and then examining these people in greater detail.