Do you ever find yourself in the grocery store after your cart is full trying to determine which checkout lane will move the most efficiently? Do you count up your items and wonder if the 15 Items or Less Express Lane with three people in it will move more quickly than the regular lane with one woman and her 30 items? Which is the most efficient and will save you the most time at the grocery store?
Yesterday, I stumbled upon a fascinating article about the mathematics of grocery store checkout lanes that answers this exact question. The article, written by a professor, is crafted around creating a math problem for students to solve. However, at the end of the article, the answer is given as to how to determine which lane will be the fastest (assuming all checkout clerks are of similar proficiency).
Each person in a grocery store checkout lane approximates 48 seconds in addition to whatever is in his/her cart (this average time includes exchanged greetings and the payment process). Each item in a cart is only 2.8 seconds. Therefore, 17 items in someone’s cart is the same as an extra person. So, it is usually better to hop in line behind the one woman with 30 items (132 seconds) instead of the three-person Express Lane (which will be between 153 and 270 seconds).
I was also surprised to learn that paying with cash is a faster transaction than paying with a credit card.
“From my observations, the fastest cash transaction will outpace the fastest credit transaction by a wide margin but there is also huge variance in credit transactions. I mean, some people have absolutely no idea what they are doing with that thing. The same can’t really be said of cash.”
The next time you head to your local grocery store, do the math and figure out which lane will get you out of the store the fastest.
My friend uses the tried and true “pick the checkout lane with the cutest cashier” method of choosing his line. Works for him, if he/she is cute, those extra 48 seconds don’t matter as much.
I recently heard about an “in store shopping tool” that Giant supermarket is offering to customers. It’s called “Scan It” and it’s activated when you scan the bar code on your bonus card (i.e., loyalty card). You then scan the bar codes on all the items you pick up as you roam the aisles (you can bag the items as you pick them up). “Scan It” also gives you a running tally of your total cost and lets you know when items are on sale. When you’re finished shopping, you go to the check out lane, scan your bonus card, pay your bill, and viola!, you’re done. This is supposed to make your whole shopping experience more efficient…no waiting to bag items and you get to use a special “Scan It” checkout lane, so there may be shorter lines and/or less waiting.