Shock report: Long queues shouldn't exist
Like most people, I hate queues. Of people, of cars, just generally waiting in line. Now, I recognise that some degree of queueing is inevitable. Waiting for food deliveries in some poorer parts of the world springs to mind. And in a shop you can't have 100 assistants standing around needlessly all day just so that no customer has to wait more than a second to be served. On the roads, you can't have 10 lane motorways everywhere so that noone ever gets caught in a traffic jam.
But ultimately, long queues are signs of inefficiency. On the roads, long jams are easily noticed and usually rectified in the end with slightly bigger roads, one way systems, flyovers, and so on. But to go back to my retail example, regular, long, frustrating queues are simply poor planning by the shop owner. To have to wait for 20 minutes just to pay them some of your hard earned money makes no sense whatsoever. That'll be one customer who thinks of your store and decides to go somewhere else to avoid the queues. Simply reassign extra staff to the tills whenever the queue length gets above a certain low limit and all will be happy again. Then, once the rush has died down, some of those staff can go back to managing the store, stock-taking etc. Isn't this sort of thing common sense? Sigh.
But ultimately, long queues are signs of inefficiency. On the roads, long jams are easily noticed and usually rectified in the end with slightly bigger roads, one way systems, flyovers, and so on. But to go back to my retail example, regular, long, frustrating queues are simply poor planning by the shop owner. To have to wait for 20 minutes just to pay them some of your hard earned money makes no sense whatsoever. That'll be one customer who thinks of your store and decides to go somewhere else to avoid the queues. Simply reassign extra staff to the tills whenever the queue length gets above a certain low limit and all will be happy again. Then, once the rush has died down, some of those staff can go back to managing the store, stock-taking etc. Isn't this sort of thing common sense? Sigh.
Comments