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Comment by davidw | Hacker News Reader

I wish they had 'airline' style dispatching: one line, and then you go to the first available cashier. Oh well.

A Whole Foods in NY has that. Everyone just gets into 3 lines and a note pops up telling you which cashier to go to. I think they have 3 lanes just to hold more people - the system would be identical with any N lanes.

I was at the one in Union Square (5 lanes express, 3-4 normal) and I've noticed that frequently the express lines will be totally full (10+) and on the other side of a small barrier the normal lines will have almost no one in them. Once I don't think I had any wait at all by not using the express checkout.

I sometimes wonder if people at the Whole Foods think they have to use the express if they have fewer than 10 items.

How about the Trader Joe's line? For those that don't know, there are two lines (express, non-express) that extend the entire perimeter of the store. I'm not joking, the line goes through aisles and blocks you from getting certain things.

The trick to this is to gather all the items not bordering the line, then get in line and shop while you advance in line.

Most medium-size supermarkets in the UK do that (Tesco Express, Sainsbury's, M&S Simply Food). I've never seen it in a large one though.

Tesco, an enormous supermarket chain, had that in some stores. It was so efficient, and (what I'd never considered) took up much less space: you don't need to keep waiting room for 20 lines, just one long line.

I find it odd that the only place you get airline style dispatching is the self service lines. But, I think it's a space and time issue. Adding the time it takes to find the next open spot and move there is going to reduce throughput.

actually they don't do this, because this decreases the control a customer has, and customers like to feel like they control something, even if it is as silly as selecting the line where they wait.

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