Hate waiting in long lineups? Here are some tips to make it less annoying | CBC Radio

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is — you won’t catch Lorina Rigaux waiting in line. 

“I’ll do anything to avoid a lineup,” says Rigaux, a working parent of two young children in Calgary.

“I am an incredibly impatient person. I will come back at an alternate time or come back right when the store opens up if I absolutely can’t avoid shopping at brick and mortar.”

She says she prefers to shop online after the kids have gone to bed.

Rigaux is far from alone. Sam Maglio, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in consumer psychology, says when you’re pressed for time, it’s hard to wait in long store lineups — especially during the busy holiday season. But he also says people are more impatient than ever these days. 

“The pace of modern life keeps accelerating,” Maglio told Cost of Living. “We just want to get more done with our time. And our time is becoming more and more of a precious resource.” 

People want things fast. And when they don’t get them, it can cost retailers a lot of money, said David Ian Gray, founder of DIG360, a retail consulting firm in Vancouver.  

“If you’re in a very [competitive] environment where shoppers have choice for whatever they’re shopping at and… a retailer perpetually has lineups … then shoppers will pick other locations,” said  Gray. “And I think any good retailer really wants to avoid that.”

Cutting the queue

Businesses are always looking for ways to cut the queue — everything from hiring more staff over the holidays to replacing them with technology like self-checkout.

Despite complaints about them being glitchy — and the fact that some big box retailers have removed them altogether for reasons including technical and theft concerns — self-checkouts are now showing up at some fashion retailers like Uniqlo and Zara.

But unlike grocery store self-checkouts, their machines use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology — no scanning necessary. Customers just drop all their items into a bin and seconds later, the price of each item pops up on an adjacent screen. 

For the most part, people either love self-checkout or hate it, says Gray.

“And then there’s people in between that kind of flip back and forth depending on … what the situation is.” 

Because customers value choice, Gray says he sees a future that includes both.

‘You’re in and out fast’

Michelle Neuls recently tried out the self-checkout at the newly renovated Zara in a mall in Calgary.

“I think it’s kind of nice,” she said. “You’re in and out fast. There’s no lineups.”

Neuls said she believes self-checkout is the wave of the future but worries it will take away more jobs.

Lorina Rigaux said she prefers the human touch. With two kids in tow, she finds there are more chances of hearing that dreaded message in the checkout’s AI voice — “unexpected item in bagging area.”

“And that’s annoying, right?” said Rigaux. “So I might as well just go through a [cashier] because in some ways it is faster than doing self-checkout with a three- and a six-year-old.” 

Managing expectations is key

Sam Maglio said we can manage wait times by managing expectations. People don’t mind lineups as long as they know what’s coming.

You may go eyes-wide open into Ikea on a Saturday, for example, prepared to stand in line for some time staring at those packs of tea lights and frozen meatballs. 

“[But] when you are unexpectedly robbed of your time, it’s very frustrating,” says Maglio.

“The Psychology of Waiting Lines,” a frequently cited paper written in 1985 by David Maister — then a professor at Harvard Business School — outlined a list of factors that impact how customers feel about waiting in a queue.

For instance, it says unfair lineups feel longer than equitable lineups. So, no butting in — and first come, first served.

Maister also writes that unexplained waits seem longer than those that have an explanation.

“[And] time never drags longer than when you have nothing to do,” said Maglio.

Distraction is key — even it’s a winding aisle filled with impulse buys.

And Maglio says, there’s always your phone.

Text your sister, play Angry Birds or better yet, get to know the person behind you.

“Look at what someone else has in their basket and say like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that Costco sold that…Hey, dude, what aisle was that in?'” said Maglio. “So every negative moment could be an opportunity to turn into a positive moment.”