Which Line Do You Pick?
Perhaps one of life’s great dilemma’s that even Seinfeld hasn’t addressed is: Which line is the best line to pick?
You’re in the supermarket finishing up. There are five check-outs all with three customers. You push your buggy to look what’s inside the people waiting in their buggy to make your decision. After careful consideration, you pick a line.
Invariably, you check other lines to see if they are moving faster. Sometimes to your surprise, your line moves the quickest. Then just when you think it’s your turn, the cashier can’t scan the last item and calls for a price check. Instantly and I mean instantly, you sigh, blood pressure increases and every second seems like a minute. Or even better, the person in front of you spends $17.42 and writes a check for $37.42 to get $20.00 back. The cashier needs approval and of course, there is no manager around.
Another instance of line frustration is at the airport. If you have to clear customs, which line do you pick? Once you pick your line, you identify an individual from each of the other lines to check to see if they are moving faster, slower or equal speed. If they are moving faster, you are cursing yourself for picking the slower line. If they are moving slower, you are pleased that you picked the right line.
Whether it’s a line to buy movie tickets, buy goods at Costco or anything else to do with lines, we are enthralled at the speed of which line we choose. Why?
So which line do you choose?
Happy Friday!
February 12th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I choose the line with the most enganged looking cashier. It’s all about the cashier. look for the vetran with a sence of urgency.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:59 am
It doesn’t matter which line I pick, It’s ALWAYS the wrong one. LOL!
But I guess it doen’t matter, it just allows me to read the entire people magazine without having to actually buy it.
February 12th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Ever see Office Space??…traffic lines are just as annoying!
February 12th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Love office space! …. and you see grandpa inching along the sidewalk with his walker and yet he passes you. LOL isn’t that always the story?
February 12th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Did you know that the average person throughout their lifetime spends fives years waiting in lines…
February 12th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Patience is a virtue. The hurrier you go the behinder you get. Sometimes you just have to laugh about it…..
February 12th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Ha, this is so true. I’ll do a quick visual assessment of each person’s items ahead of me. If I’m the one that needs an item price checked, my heart starts racing because I’m keeping the line up and partly mortified. You can practically hear the sighs of the people waiting behind you, lol.
And the best feeling in the world, when a person with a full grocery cart takes compassion on you and the couple of items you have in your basket and lets you go first
February 12th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Wait times are all a matter of how we perceive them. The same person who happily camps outside Best Buy to get the deals on Black Friday to save $200 (I’m not one of them) will complain if they have to wait a minute in a line to buy groceries.
We also don’t mind waiting an hour at an amusement park to take a minute long ride on that cool roller coaster.
My first job in high school was as a supermarket cashier. I had a customer tell me that she “always” got in my line even if it was longer because I made sure that her groceries were bagged correctly every time. Sometimes a longer wait it okay if there is a perceived value.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
I pick the latitude and longitude lines that run through the state of Florida.
February 13th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Gary Lincoln how the heck are you? and what the heck are you talking about?
February 14th, 2010 at 9:13 am
Which ever line has a person cashing you out! I strongly dislike the electronic checkout, I feel like it takes jobs away from high school college stay at home moms people that need a part time job to get threw a hard time. And now that job is gone. Beware and use a cashier!
February 15th, 2010 at 11:43 am
While lines are unavoidable in life, a strategy to consider (at the grocery store) is to select the retailer/grocer that will most efficiently move you through and out of the store.
Too often, store operations -although often out of necessity- will cut the number of employees working in a store at any given time. (Laws of variable labor I suppose). The store that can do this without impacting the traffic flow out of the store will ultimately be the most profitable.
In the past, I will admit that I have avoided stores where the lines to check out and leave the store are ridiculous. There is a point where a few dollars saved is simply not worth the wait at the check out. And with the competitive pricing in the market, I can usually have minimal wait time (if any- and note that I quantify wait time as anything more than 3 minutes or so until I’m being processed at the register) and savings.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Two points:
(1) It is a fundamental law of nature that whichever line you choose will become the slowest line; and
(2) Costco must have specific training devoted to checkout cashiers and speed…the lines at Costco more often than not move faster you would suspect.