This article doesn't consider the myriad issues likely to be caused by as many people arriving as late as possible - like the almost inevitable delays to event start times or how in practice you would measure who the last person to arrive was..
Yeah. If I saw a queue like this, I'd monitor it before joining just before the next person was taken.
I'm trying to imagine this in practice at the local chain grocery store. I think what would happen is crowds of people would lurk at the ends of the aisles facing the registers. In fact, lines would form in the aisles, through which you would have to pass in FIFO order, until you'd earned the front slot that allows you to monitor the formal register lines.
Letting people join the queue without having to stand in line seems like a better solution to me. E.g. make them take a number or use their smartphone tolet them know when their turn is.