An orderly queue of one

[ewx]

I often go home from work via Sainsbury's to get some shopping. I've noticed the following things about the queues.

There are a dozen or so traditional tills, with one operator and a conveyor belt. Not all are always in use, but they generally have about equal queue lengths, usually between 2 and 5 depending how busy the place is.

There is also, at one end, a cluster of about half a dozen smaller tills, with just a shelf for your basket, and a single queue for the whole cluster. It's rare that all the tills are manned but I don't think I've ever seen them with less than three in use, usually more.

The cluster queue is usually the same length, to within one or two, of the main queues, despite the fact that it drains three to six times as fast. (No prizes for guessing which queue I choose to join.)

(A trolley would would be a bit awkward for the clustered tills but (nearly?) all the shoppers in this supermarket use baskets.)

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Then I wonder at the point of it.

Oh, hang on, it's 'one basket or less', on the grounds that you can't get a trolley in there.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Well, it packs tills and queue in much more densely than with the traditional arrangement, indeed at the expense of not being able to get a trolley in, though trolleys are at least extremely rare in that particular shop.