It’s frustrating to make your way to grocery or retail registers only to find long, winding lines that await you. And, sometimes it feels like you get stuck in the slowest one.
These six tips will help you select the line with the shortest wait time.
Get behind a full cart. Greetings, payments and goodbyes take an average of 41 seconds per person. Scanning individual products only takes about three seconds. Therefore, a line with more customers but fewer items per customer could end up adding time to your wait.
Keep left. Most right-handed people tend to veer to the right when choosing a checkout line. Because there are fewer lefties, you may find shorter lines to the left.
Study the baskets. Items like produce often require manual punch-in and can take longer to process. Baskets that contain a number of the same items will often go quicker, as repeat SKUs can usually be input at once.
Check the self-checkout. If you don’t have irregular items like produce or bakery selections that require individual code entry, checking yourself out is often faster.
Observe obstructions. If the line is partially hidden behind a display so the cashier can’t tell how many people are in it, the cashier’s assessment of line flow is also obscured. This could lead to a longer wait.
Make it easy. Face bar codes toward the cashier. When buying clothes, remove hangers and make tags visible. Split items with a buddy, so you can both use express lines.
Try these tips for a quicker queue up and checkout!
Source: New York Times