Good Line, Bad Line

Why can't more checkout lines be like the one at Fry's?

That's right, one. Customers line up in one big line and are directed to the next available cashier, whichever register they may be at. No worrying about picking the slow line -- once you've decided to buy, you're out of the store as fast as your payment method allows.

Why are we dwelling on this now? We trekked to Babies R Us earlier this week to buy $12 worth of stuff for Little Miss Seattlest. It took us two minutes to find it -- and 15 minutes to check out.

Why? Multiple lines, no coordination. There weren't that many customers, but we ended up waiting in three separate lines. Two of them ended up blockaded by customers with large orders and special requirements. One blockaded line opened up -- to new people in line, not the people who'd been waiting at the second blocked register. We eventually got out when guest services noticed that we'd been in line for ten minutes while people who'd come in behind us were heading out the door.

This kind of thing isn't the customers' fault, of course. It's not even the cashiers' fault, though we'd expect basic register training to include noticing who's been in line for a while and serving them first. It's poor planning. Things won't scan, customers have special requirements, and the line grinds to a halt. Many cashiers don't seem to be empowered to do much without a manager, and no one keeps an eye on overall customer flow.

Why should leaving Babies R Us take five times longer than shopping there? Why should we have to guess which Safeway line, all of which look approximately equal, will actually move the fastest? Hey, big stores: Make one line and serve everyone in the order they finish their selection. If that line looks to big and scary, open another register.