Tiffany Fountain, a vice-president at marketanalyst firm Gartner, points to the example of Apple shops, where customers whoneed a technician to examine a broken iPod or Mac can book an appointmentbefore travelling into town.
“It’s kind of like fast-tracking but it’smore prevention – before you arrive at the store, let’s make sure the line isnot there,” says Fountain.
Whether it’s scanning groceries while youshop so you can pay on the fly, or instantly managing bank payments onlineinstead of waiting to do it in-branch, physically standing in a line toaccomplish something seems increasingly archaic. Queues will surely never dieout completely – as mentioned above, there are times when we actually enjoythem. But we probably all share the creeping realisation that queuing is veryoften superfluous. If X business or Y service just organised themselves better,we wouldn’t have to stand here for so long, would we?
Priority queues and fast-track lanes areperhaps just money-making schemes. But they are schemes that nonethelessrespond to our nagging knowledge that, most of the time, queuing is for dopes.
“
The technology is there, right?” says deputyCEO Tobias Bessone. “It’s just a matter of whether people are going to acceptit or not.”
But that’s the trouble. Not everyone isenthused about the rise of “priority queuing” or “fast-tracking”, whichsometimes involves paying an additional fee to jump the main queue. The conceptis thought of as an American phenomenon but is now spreading worldwide. Queuescan effectively be skipped everywhere from airport security to music festivals.Just buy a fast-track ticket or “VIP access” pass.
In 2017, Julian Baggini, a columnistfor the Guardian, wrote that this represented atakeover of “money-talks culture”. While he argued that queuing hasnever been as egalitarian as it seemed – the rich have always been treateddifferently – priority queues simply mean that cash is doing what class used todo; segmenting society.
And yet priority access continues topop up in more and more places. It used to be the preserve of theme parks,notably Disneyland in the US or Alton Towers in the UK, where a pricierentrance ticket would let visitors skip the main queues for rides. Jumping tothe front at banks – oreven Santa’s grotto – suggests the idea has now become pervasive incertain countries.
There may be legal quibbles overpriority queuing in certain contexts, though. Constitutional lawyer Andrew LeSeur hasargued that having the option to pay for fast-tracking at the UK borderwhen entering the country seems to conflict with human rights principlesregarding travellers. “Speedier and more private decisions should not be boughtand sold by the state,” contends Le Seur.
Time versus money
Government services aside, priorityqueues often make a lot of sense, says AyeletFishbach, an expert in behavioural science at the University of ChicagoBooth School of Business.
Fishbach says having a priority accessline allows people to choose what resource they want to use to get to the front– time or money. For many people, time is more precious than money, so beingable to hand over money in order to save time is a boon.
And customers who don’t actually usethe fast-track option may still end up forming a rosy picture of a business’scustomer service – so long as the main queue doesn’t take forever.
“It communicates good service, even ifpeople opt out,” says Fishbach.
She also argues that, in manysituations, the act of queuing increases the perceived value of a product orservice. Sometimes this doesn’t quite work – no-one appreciates waiting for twohours at the post office just to send a parcel.
But elsewhere, people lovingly embracequeues. Recently, thousandswaited in line overnight in London to buy a pair of trainers as soon asthey went on sale – the shoes cost ￡180 and were designed by none other thanKanye West. Streetwear brands are increasinglyhyping up the launch of new products in this way – and people seem toadore standing in line for what’s called the “drop”.
This is a form of recreationalqueuing, if you like. It’s camaraderie and anticipation rolled into one. Thething that makes waiting for hours to get into the Wimbledon Lawn TennisChampionships not just enjoyable, buta source of national pride.
Any business thinking of offering apriority queue has to consider whether it makes sense for a particular brand –is speedy access something people actually want? Or could it undermine andcomplicate the whole experience of making a purchase?
Nick Carroll, associate director ofretail at market analysts Mintel, points out that in the context of groceryshopping, queues continue to irritate customers – with 24% currently notsatisfied with waiting times in supermarkets.
Various ways of evading lines in suchplaces are now being trialled. “There is particular interest in what Sainsbury’sis pushing forward in terms of self-basket scanning via smartphone,” saysCarroll. More than half of 16–34-year-olds think such technology should be moreavailable in grocery shops, he adds.
As with 10-items-or-less priority checkouts, this is a way of categorisingcustomers to try and improve their flow through a retail system. But thestickier issue remains when people can simply pay a fee to move faster throughthat system. This is what seems to irk many.
Does the phenomenon dictate atwo-tiered society? It seems the answer is “yes” – but as columnist Bagginipoints out, that two-tiered society always existed. Does cash replacing classrepresent a problem? That depends on who you ask.
“These are just market forces that aregradually taking over a lot of things,” explains Dick Larson at MIT – an expertin waiting in line who goes by the nickname, Dr Queue.
He also points out that people’sexperience of a queue isn’t necessarily all about how long they spend in it.More important, it turns out, is what happens while they wait. Famously, mirrorswere installed next to lifts in many New York skyscrapers during thepost-war era in an effort to reduce complaints about waiting times. Instead ofirately twiddling their thumbs, office workers and hotel guests could insteadcheck out their appearance. Complaints about waiting times, which remainedunchanged, plummeted.
Spending a little longer in line mayonly be seen as unfair, then, if the experience of spending that time itselffeels troublesome.
There is another way to look at allthis. Take the idea, simply, that queues are old-fashioned. With technology andan improved understanding of what customers want and when they want it, aninteresting question may be raised: why should anyone ever have to wait in lineat all?
Tiffany Fountain, a vice-president atmarket analyst firm Gartner, points to the example of Apple shops, wherecustomers who need a technician to examine a broken iPod or Mac can book anappointment before travelling into town.
“It’s kind of like fast-tracking butit’s more prevention – before you arrive at the store, let’s make sure the lineis not there,” says Fountain.
Whether it’s scanning groceries whileyou shop so you can pay on the fly, or instantly managing bank payments onlineinstead of waiting to do it in-branch, physically standing in a line toaccomplish something seems increasingly archaic. Queues will surely never dieout completely – as mentioned above, there are times when we actually enjoythem. But we probably all share the creeping realisation that queuing is veryoften superfluous. If X business or Y service just organised themselves better,we wouldn’t have to stand here for so long, would we?
Priority queues and fast-track lanesare perhaps just money-making schemes. But they are schemes that nonethelessrespond to our nagging knowledge that, most of the time, queuing is for dopes.
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