'Nerd-vana: important maths of supermarket self-service queue speed' blog discussion

kalaika

The blog appears to miss out what I would consider the simplest and most likely reason for the two queues being the same length - the people just hadn't thought ahead/looked ahead to notice that one bank of tills had twice the number of tills as the other.
Nothing to do with spotting the doofus, estimating ability, counting goods or being too tired to work it out, just simply not looking ahead. I expect their thought process consisted of seeing two lines and joining the shortest, without noticing that one had twice the tills available.

snapster

Anyone who queues in a supermarket order to scan their own shopping is a doofus in my opinion. You are all trained like cows at milking time and the supermarkets are having a laugh at you.

Some supermarkets have people trying to herd you through the self-checkouts. Not for me - I prefer to see a person and have a chat with them.

SunnySusie

I think it's pretty simple, people just don't pay attention. I'm not sure it's about maths, it's just common sense that more tills = faster service. Anyone knows that, but I don't think people bother to stop and think.

As the old saying goes, common sense isn't that common. I call it "joined up thinking", people just don't seem to make the connections.

I would bet a 50p that some of those in the observed queue were actually well educated and bright people.

I always way up the number of tills and the number of people, I find the amount being bought and what they are buying less important. So I would rather be behind one big trolly than several small baskets. It seems to be the paying part that is the thing most likely to cause an obstacle.

Of course, like the blog says, I always pick the slowest queue despite my logic so what do I know...

jrawle

Where I shop, in the local Sainsbury's, there are two banks of self-service checkouts. One with four tills, and one with six. I rarely have to queue at all, which is great. But I much prefer to use the four-till area unless it's significantly more busy because there is much more space to place purchased items: suitable for a weekly shop. The six-till area is only really suitable for a small convenience shop. If I try to use the latter with the number of items I tend to buy, the items end up overhanging the area, resulting in the dreaded "unexpected item" message.

I would also give some other reasons for using self-service checkouts to those above who criticise people for using them. Aside from the fact that they tend to be less busy (and are the only way to queue for multiple tills at once in our Sainsbury's) the fact that I am scanning my own shopping means I control the pace, and can select the order I scan items and put them in a bag. I need to pack my (large, reusable) bags sensibly as I don't have a car, and carry my shopping the just over half a mile home. It also makes it easier to scrutinise the prices as they come up, to make sure I get all the discounts and offers promised on the shelves. All good reasons serious moneysavers should be using self-service checkouts, I think!

ericthecat

I dislike the self-service tills, because, once you've finished, and start to do the payment part, they generally start shouting at you! Why do they seem to think that you need instructions to insert your club/advantage/nectar card or your payment method to the rest of the shop?

I just wish there was a simple "shut-up I've done this lots of times before now and I do actually know what I'm doing now" button...

I do like the self scan tills - well, my children do

But, if the queues aren't too long I'll generally go for the human option. Generally nicer anyway...