https://katsnelson.org/tags/optimization/Recent content in Optimization on Sasha KatsnelsonHugoen-usFri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000https://katsnelson.org/blog/grocery-store/Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000https://katsnelson.org/blog/grocery-store/<p>More grocery stores should move to a non-gameable queuing system. It seems that there is no agreement on the best setup as the stores I see in New York have wildly different systems. E.g.:</p> <ul> <li>My neighborhood supermarket has 8 registers with their own lines, 1 of them is express</li> <li>Wholefoods on 25th and 7th has 4 lines for 10 active registers, and 1 line for 4 express registers</li> <li>Trader Joe&rsquo;s on 21st and 6th has 2 lines for 10 active registers, and no express lines</li> </ul> <p>For the shopper, the best grocery-shopping experience is focusing on picking out food and then getting out as quickly as possible. I don&rsquo;t want to think about which lane is best and I don&rsquo;t want to feel stupid/unlucky for choosing the wrong lane. Also, extremely long lines can be annoying as constantly moving a few steps at a time is quite frustrating.</p>