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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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(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.