There I was, standing in my local Coles the other day, and wondering which of the many queues to get into. Now.. I know Coles and I know which of their operatives are top notch and which are a bit sleepy, so usually I'm pretty good at picking the right queue.

However.. with QueueWatch™, there's no more guessing, a camera is mounted above each queue to count how many people there are, also the EPOS counts how many items/transactions each staff member completes, then, to cap it off, there's a little arrow at the end of each conveyor, pointing either to the nearest faster queue (it knows how fast average people walk) or the display just says 'ME' if you're already at the fastest.

Less time to look through cheesy magazines, but you'll be grateful for the 12 seconds saved when you're at home.
-- neilp, May 09 2005

Coles https://www.coles.com.au
There's one in Newcastle. [neilp, May 09 2005]

I've always hated choosing a line. It's stressful, and unecessary: why not just have one line that feeds into all checkouts? It removes the stress and is inherently more fair. Some stores do this already (like Fry's here in California).
-- drzeus, May 09 2005


+ You might need a method of payment button for the queuers (is that a word?) to push. I too often seem to get behind the people with cards or checks that won't be accepted.
I then stand uncomfortably trying to ignore the absurd arguement that always happens and watch as all the customers in the other checkout lines like race cars in & out of the pits.
As soon as I decide to change lines, someone with a cart stacked to the ceiling materializes out of nowhere directly in front of me.
By the way, how did you do the "TM" thing?
-- Zimmy, May 09 2005


There is a sort of hybrid between what neilp asks for and drzeus mentions. At some grocery stores there is one long line and an electronic sign that points (by number) to the next available checkstand. The downside is during busy times that one line gets extremely long.
-- swamilad, May 09 2005


Yes, the line with the fems is the place to go. Unless one is pressed for time, in which case one evaluates the situation. After all, it's only fiar [drzeus].
-- normzone, May 09 2005


Yes, how do you do the ™ thing? I want to....oh.. huh. weird.
-- SpocksEyebrow, May 09 2005


I always thought a queue announcer would be good, either in the style of a horse-race announcer, to spur the checkers on to higher pitches of activity, or else in the style of televised golf announcers, as more befits the usual sleepy mood which pervades most register arrangements.

"Ah, yes, that's Margaret Figbottom checking on register three. She usually has a brisk pace, but her pit crew reported that she's chipped a nail, which has slowed her checking speed appreciably. Now, on the bagging carousel behind Margaret is Billy Tibbs, also slowed due to a recent shoulder injury he received while conveying a 30 kilo bag of kitty litter out to the parking lot. Consider diverting to register 4, shoppers, for quicker service ..."
-- Soterios, May 09 2005


[drzeus], we've done the 'one queue or many queues' conversation before, but basically if you have more than 10 queues then one line goes horribly wrong. My local coles has 2 banks of 4 express tills with one queue each, as well as 10 regular tills with one queue each.
-- neilp, May 09 2005


AmiQueuedrightOrnot.biz?
-- reensure, May 09 2005



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