Whole Foods in Manhattan has made checkout line races a thing of the past by adopting newfangled bank-style checkout lanes. The new system queues shoppers in a single line, directing them to checkout counters as cashiers become available.
The single-line, bank-style system was quickly chosen for its statistical efficiency. Then, Whole Foods paired the system with possibly the largest number of registers in the city, more than 30 per store, and it hired an army of cashiers to staff them throughout the day (including “floaters” to fill in for those who need a break).The result is one of the fastest grocery store lines in the city. An admittedly unscientific survey by this reporter found that at peak shopping times — Sunday, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. — a line at Whole Foods checked out a person every 4.5 seconds, compared with 19.6 seconds for a line at Trader Joe’s.
Even without extra cashiers, the new system ensures that shoppers will never get stuck behind coin-fishers and coupon-cutters. Some grocers are already experiencing checkout-line envy, making us hopeful that the snazzy new lines will soon appear in rival stores. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
A Long Line for a Shorter Wait at the Supermarket [NYT]
(Photo: hyku)
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I’ve seen Best Buy do this. The problem was that there was only one check out guy, so it didn’t really help.
@Johnny: I’m talking about the Wholefoods on 7th ave between 24th and 25th streets.
@acambras: to add to the sexism, who waits until the bill is totaled before digging into their pocketbook and then begins looking for a pen?
the Fry’s problem is the lack of checkout people + constant supervisory call outs.
@TechnoDestructo: Sorry, my ADHD kicks in and I forget why I’m there.
When I lived in East and Central Texas in the 90s, it was quite common to see a man write out a check at the grocery store. Lots of men had rather large tooled-leather wallets that held their checkbook, credit cards, id, etc.
As a Yankee I thought it was kinda weird to carry around a big honkin’ man-purse and purposefully make life more complicated by dealing with checks every day, but hey, whatever. To each his or her own.
Spring & Clifton designer Michelle Zacks’ boutique M.Z. at 57 Clinton Street on the Lower East Side up for rent, via the Racked Flickr Pool Local · Whole Foods adopts bank-style checkout lanes [Consumerist] · What separates Hermès from Hermes [TFI] National · Ten great…
One more time with the “In Canada…..” quite a few chains already do this (rabba, some sobey’s stores etc) but they don’t really tell you that they are doing it so people who aren’t in the know are always confused. Although, it IS canada, so we just politely tell them how the system works…..
The single line always seems to be faster. I hate playing Russian roulette, and I inevitably end up behind the check writer or the multiple coupons.
However, as a single household shopper (few items to buy), I will always appreciate the express and self-checkout lanes.
I was so annoyed that a local Costco got rid of (or at least temporarily blocked) their self-checkout lanes.
@AcidReign: Not sure that’s so true, I think you have to be a really smart shopper to make it work, though. I was at Whole Foods this past Saturday and the woman in front of me bought at least 2 weeks worth of food and paid for it with food stamps.
@savvy9999: Do you watch the Office? If you look at Season 1, Episode 6, you’ll see that according to GQ, men carrying purses is the newest “in thing.”
I love this system, they have it at Marshall’s in Danviz, MA.
The other thing I like about it is that I don’t feel rushed if I want to fish out 4 pennies from my change purse – or if I want to question something that’s legitimately priced wrong. I shouldn’t feel like I’m being a total asshole for calling a store on something that’s illegal.
@TechnoDestructo: It is hard for me to say faster as I have nothing to compare it to – never been to a Fry’s that did not have a single line queuing system.
What I would suggest is that for the significant backup days that Fry’s mark the ground with colored tape or similar as to form a temporary lane. Not just have the lane form as it will
Kind of unfair, for a site that tells us how to save money quite often, this post mentions getting “stuck” behind a coupon-cutter.
I use coupons for many of the items I buy, and I’m not one of those people who will buy something just because I have a coupon. I realize that I will save more money by not buying something I don’t need in the first place, so I only use coupons for things I’m planning on buying anyway.
I keep them organized in a little binder just for coupons, and when I reach the checkout I give them to the cashier immediately without any fumbling around. Anytime I have a coupon for a free item I put it at the very end of the conveyor so the cashier doesn’t have to look through the entire receipt for the price to enter.
Sure, not everyone wants to go to the trouble of clipping and using coupons, but I try to make it as painless as possible for the person behind me. Last grocery trip I saved $20, which is totally worth the few minutes it takes to cut, sort and file coupons.
/soapbox
We have this system at the new downtown Super Fresh in Baltimore (which happens to be on the first floor of the high-rise building I live in… sweet). It works great, and, yes, you don’t have to play roulette with which line you get in and get stuck behind an idiot that can use an ATM card or has to write a check or bitch about a price being 5 cents off.
@lilyHaze: “The single line always seems to be faster.”
It IS faster. There are studies. It mitigates the overall impact of a single bad cashier or a single slow customer, as well as single-register computer failures or problems and slow management response to cashier requests.
(Also things like register tape changes, stuck drawers, price disputes, price checks, complicated returns, etc. etc. etc.)
Queuing theory aside throughput has to be a direct product of proper implementation: scale, scope, bounds, and command plus control.
I don’t know, some of the Krogers I go to have the same thing in a way, one line open and 350,000 people in one line that stretches down the shopping aisle.
A single line is neither “faster” nor “slower” than multiple lines, on average. How could it be? The throughput of the checkout process (taken as a whole) only depends on the number of cashiers and the duration of each transaction. Doesn’t matter (almost; see below) how you line up in front of the cashiers.
Now, having a single line AVERAGES out the waiting for everyone. The really slow transaction slows down everyone in the single line a little, instead of just the people in the individual line a lot. Same for fast transaction. It may be that people dislike the slower transactions more than they like the faster ones, so there is a psychological gain.
However, there is a small net slowdown to a single line, if the next person sent to the cashier isn’t sent soon enough to load the conveyor belt while the previous transaction is still taking place.
I read the article one poster mentioned (well, at least an article that was eerily similar) and it actually decided in the end that in stores where people were buying only a few things, like a convenience store or a drug store, the individual line was better.
But their conclusion was actually that for MOST stores, the bank line was in fact faster and more efficient. They mentioned Borders by name, which is why I was drawn to the article since that was who I worked for.
The only time the bank line system breaks down and is a problem is when you have people who won’t follow it and can’t understand it. I know it seems impossible, but there are people who just don’t get that when it says “Line starts here” and “please wait for next available cashier” it means stand there until a person says “Next in line please!”
No, they stand behind people, they stand at empty registers, they come up the wrong end of the registers and expect you to help them next even though there were four people there ahead of them…
Other reasons I prefer bank lines:
-My personal space is slightly more respected. I hate people breathing down my neck while I’m in line.
-Other people can’t stand there and critique if I’m using coupons or being difficult. This is especially nice at Borders because as an employee I have several different processes I have to go through, and often I end up rung up by a trainee and I have to walk them through the transaction. I don’t want somebody behind me while I do this.
-If you have a cashier who is abysmally slow, they do less damage. As long as you have one other person there to sweep through three customers to their one, then the line doesn’t build up like it could.
-You don’t have to deal with customers huffing off to alternate lines and then complaining when that one stops moving.
Bank lines are much much better than the standard system I think, but I also have a fine time at my grocery store because they never let the lines get more than two people deep. Harris Teeter for the win. I can pick any line I like, and no matter what happens in front of me I know I’ll get out of there at a reasonable rate, and they’ll put my groceries in the car for me.
As for checks…first, and foremost there are still banks out there that do not have debit cards. I know, it’s impossible to imagine, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes!
Sometimes, people even forget their debit cards but have their checkbooks.
Also, as a retail employee, I can say I see just as many men as women writing checks.
Though I will say that anybody who doesn’t start writing the check as soon as possible, to only fill in the amount after they hit total, needs to go back to common courtesy camp.
Man-purses make sense … the modern man might be carrying his wallet, his cellphone, his generic mp3 player, maybe his digital camera, maybe his Blackberry. Sure, in the summertime, you can put them in your pants pockets (if you’re wearing cargo pants) but it just doesn’t look very elegant.
Seriously, though, it’s almost like the entire clothing industry conspires to make women carry purses. None of the pants I wear have decently sized pockets, and the fashion for women to wear very close-fitting pants also means that I can’t carry anything thicker than a credit card without looking like I’d grown a tumour.
The last person I encountered writing a check was a man … very well-dressed, middle-aged with his daughter looking on, appearing hassled and embarrassed as he scribbled one out. That was years ago.
I haven’t seen a man write a check at a store in many years, good point.
Common courtesy FTW.. if you insist on writing a check, at least fill in the to: line and sign and date it before you get to the checkout stand.
Furthermore, if you’re going to use coupons, have them in order before you get to the checkout. Nothing’s more infuriating than watching someone dig through their wallet for 5 minutes just to dig up a couple of 50 cent off coupons and change.
This is kinda a small town here, but less and less people are accepting checks.. reminds me of that visa commercial…
Just to add, the Trader Joe’s in DC (Foggy Bottom/West End) uses the bank line system, which I do love until I make the abysmal decision to go on a Sunday afternoon. But they do give you cookies and fresh fruit, and the last stretch takes you right by the sample counter and the wall of wine. Amazing!
It’s bound to make for less grumpy cashiers, as well. Having served my time on the other side of the counter, I can tell you a number of stories involving a full bladder or sudden onset of food poisoning, with nothing to do about it until the dratted customers went away. It did not make me all sunshine and roses, let me tell you, especially when I’d finally shooed away my line, only to have another person delightedly approach me, chortling about how smart she was for avoiding the line at the other registers.
Of course, I know now that the store where I worked should’ve had a better system that didn’t leave me stuck as I was turning green, but at the time, it was the customers who bore the brunt of my “go away” vibes.
Taking the pressure off the cashiers is bound to improve the moods of said cashiers, and make it easier for them to give good customer service. It also gives them time to listen to their customers, rather than shuffle them through just to keep the line moving.
@agent2600:
The one in D.C. does!
It’s the fastest grocery line I’ve ever been in! Even when it’s clear to the back of the store, it never stops moving.
@dhmiller: Agreed…I was going to say the same thing. I go to the whole paycheck foods in union square and I still find the wait terribly long and people particularly uncivilized being all bunched up together like that.
I like that it averages out everyones wait time but the wait time at union square WF is still way too long…
Which method you prefer depends on whether you are trying to optimize throughput (traditional lines) or response time (single line to multiple checkouts). The former has a better throughput because an individual checker is never idle. The latter has a better response time (minimum and average) because one slow job doesn’t block the entire batch.
This is funny what century was this article— Did ANYONE goto B&H in NYC….
(bandh.com)
That store is amazing…..they’re crowded + organized + great+ GREAT customer service+ No ~5th AVE like stuff….+ {personally} one of the most efficient stores in the world…
They have a system where you :
1> Place your order ~almost anywhere in the store
2>Get A receipt
3>Goto payment counters where the system is as above
4>Goto pickup counter{as above}
5>Be amazed by their over-head system of {go there and find out your self*this is the main part*go there your self}…..
This is all contradicting my great hypothesis on supermarkets, which is why I have always despised them… and suggested others do the same. Supermarkets are one of the few stores where people go into them only when they have to, or want to, buy something. Nobody goes into the supermarket just to browse, everybody plans on buying something… so they have you as soon as you walk in and there is no escaping their nefarious lines. They just milk you for time and make you wait endlessly, costing them nothing because you have to buy something; you’re going to buy something. It is infuriating.
THis changes everything… and while one might guess that I would like it because I hate Super Market lines, I’m going to disagree and say that I dislike it because I’d prefer to be able to continue criticizing supermarkets, rather than actually be convenienced.
@krylonultraflat: Yeah, it moves pretty fast in DC, but argh, it’s so annoying when I go in to buy like one item for lunch, and I have to wait behind a bunch of GW students/their parents or stay-at-home-moms buying absolute cartloads of stuff (it’s less bad now that the students are gone for the summer, though).
Seriously, they still should have a 5-item-or-less lane even when there’s bank-checkout. I don’t know why few-item buyers should be lumped in with everyone else.
It’s a really simple insight from queuing theory that a single line will move faster than multiple lines, regardless of whether there is one cashier or multiple cashiers. I remember when I lived close enough to shop at WF in Union Square, they had basically the same system but with two or three separate lines, so as a register opened up they would send out someone from one line, then someone from the other, then back to the first, etc. It was kind of ridiculous.
@MichaelBrazell: You don’t shop at Harris Teeter do you? They’re not the cheapest or most expensive supermarket around by far, but I’ve never had a single bad experience in their stores, unless you count kids on Heelys. But they just banned those and are enforcing the restriction because I haven’t seen a wheeled kid since.
Of course, they only exist in a relatively small area. My husband had this great HT loyalty I never understood because there wasn’t one in my hometown. Then we moved to within a block of one, and I completly understand.