Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
ScienceDirect
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
KEYWORDS Abstract Queues in a service process represent an unmet customer need and can
Service operations detract from the value an organization provides. In this article, we present a
management; framework based on three principles for managing customer queues to reduce the
Queueing theory; discomfort experienced while waiting: (1) eliminate or reduce the wait through
Queue management; process enhancements, (2) manage expectations through timely and relevant com-
Managing expectations munication with one’s customers, and (3) enhance the waiting experience. We
provide examples of historical and recent innovations along all three dimensions
in multiple situations and suggest practical approaches for managers to add addi-
tional value to customers while they wait.
# 2018 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2018.05.002
0007-6813/# 2018 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
672 E.N. Weiss, C. Tucker
Berra: “Nobody goes there anymore. It is too to the psychology of waiting rather than the
crowded.” Managers often must increase their costs efficiency of the operation itself, but the operations
by providing additional service capabilities to address manager ignores human factors at his/her peril.
the major causes of customer waiting times: high Basic operations-management principles can
utilization and excessive variability. Thus, traditional easily address issues of fairness: form one line
approaches to queue management are either to instead of many; apply first-come, first-served
(1) accept waiting time as unavoidable, (2) add principles (unless an express lane can be formed
capacity to lower utilization, or (3) attempt to reduce in a way that everyone finds fair); do not allow
variability. Each approach is costly in one way or line jumping. Innovative approaches to queue
another. management, though, can alleviate or reverse
Whether it is at a theme park or the department the boredom and manage expectations, making
of motor vehicles (DMV), the butcher counter or the the process less painful for customers and frontline
grocery checkout counter, on the road or on the employees via three mechanisms: (1) eliminating or
phone, waiting for your turn is a part of life. Queues reducing the wait, (2) managing expectations, and
are often connoted negatively in the public’s mind, (3) enhancing the experience.
being associated with the bread lines of the Great Some of these innovations in queue management
Depression, collapsing governments (e.g., 1917 have been brought about by sheer creativity, with
Russia), and other various crises and disasters. managers finding unexpected ways to solve an
Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance age-old problem. Many others, though, use emerging
released the board game Kolejka on the theme; technologies to extend the older innovations in new
the game is played by standing in line for the ways, and even the creativity-challenged manager
necessities on your shopping list while other players may find ways to apply them to his/her operation.
with a Colleague In The Government card can cut in
front of you (Petzinger, 2011). Line waiting can be
so onerous for some that they even hire people to 2. A framework for thinking about
do it for them (Elkins, 2015). Long queues can queue waiting times
occasionally have positive associations, as with
the arrival of a new electronic gadget, a movie, In her article “Breaking the trade-off between
or a book, though the positive association almost efficiency and service,” Frances Frei (2006)
certainly does not come from any joy intrinsic to the addressed the issue of waiting in line through
act of queueing itself. Long queues can sometimes two techniques: accommodation and reduction.
enhance the cachet of a luxury good or exclusive The managerial issue becomes one of determining
service such as a nightclub, where being seen in how to accommodate variability, either in arrivals
the queue is itself a Veblen good. The draw for or in service, without increasing costs; or to reduce
upmarket streetwear provider Supreme is as much variability without compromising service. Consider
about the wait in line as the merchandise (La Ferla, Table 1 as an alternative framework. The idea here
2017); as the Washingtonian reports (Schaffer, is that customers are dissatisfied when waits are
2017), “Waiting in Ridiculously Long Lines is Wash- longer than expected. The options are to modify
ington’s Latest Status Symbol.” the expectations, eliminate or reduce the wait, or
A Los Angeles Times article suggested that 5 years enhance the experience so that the wait does not
of the average American’s life is spent waiting in appear so long. Mathematical queueing models can
line (Smith, 1989) and while other research (Stone, help us predict wait times as functions of key
2012) puts the figure somewhat lower, the process is parameters such as number of servers, the mean
seldom pleasant. Stevenson (2012) suggested that and variance of arrival rates and service times, and
three specific aspects of waiting in queues are queue discipline. David Maister (1985) wrote about
sources of unpleasantness: boredom with the wait, rules of perceived waiting. Judicious application
unexpectedly long waits, and unfairness in the of these rules allows management of both the
process. These aspects pertain, in part or in full, expectation and the experience of waiting.
a reversal of this innovation, to the detriment of automatic e-mail updates close to the subscriber’s
some consumer categories (Harwell, 2015). flight departure time with information on the queue
times for the various security lines in the airport.
Systems such as these provide the customer with
4. Approaches to expectations information to prepare themselves psychologically
management for waiting, and to avoid queues entirely when the
wait is longer than they can afford. These two
As we mentioned previously, the unpleasantness mechanisms work in tandem to make customers
associated with waiting in a queue derives in part from happier and to shunt away customers who would
waits that are unexpectedly long. Customers’ anxiety become displeased with the operation. A potential
can be relieved by providing realistic expectations of downside is that with the promise of a short wait
their anticipated wait time, then meeting or exceeding having been made, if something goes wrong to
that expectation. A famous low-tech example of this make the wait time longer than expected, the
idea is the signage at the queues in Disney theme parks. customer may be more displeased with the out-
In addition to aiding guests’ decision-making process come than if no promise had been made. A definite
by keeping someone who needs to leave in an hour from upside is that customers can redirect themselves to
getting in a 90-minute line, the Approximate Wait Time underutilized capacity within the system, balanc-
From Here signs are intentionally labeled slightly too ing the load and improving system performance as
high so that the average visitor is led to believe the if the system had reactive capacity at the ready.
queue for the theme park ride is moving more quickly
than anticipated. The small satisfaction experienced
as a result of the swiftly moving line enhances the 5. Approaches to eliminate waiting
guest’s experience with the ride, and therefore with
the company (Pawlowski, 2008). One category of innovative queue management is
A more high-tech approach to the same using technology to eliminate processes that
queue-management idea is employed with live require the customer to wait. From an operations
highway signage. By letting drivers know of delays perspective, this could be viewed as just another
before they pass the last exit before the delay, form of muda3 reduction, but it may be much more
commuters have the opportunity to bypass the important than that. Waiting in a queue is a pain
obstruction and not only reduce their own travel point for one’s customers, and addressing the root
time but also improve performance of the whole cause of the queue can be a fruitful target for
system. Even better than such messages as waste-reduction efforts.
Emergency Roadwork, Expect Delays are signs that One way to eliminate waiting times is to sched-
state the mileage and travel times to multiple ule an appointment or place in line prior to arriv-
destinations along a roadway, as these messages ing at the point of service. Depending on the
give motorists the magnitude of the delay and specific method by which it is applied, it can be
allow them to plan accordingly. If unexpectedly thought of as taking a number before arriving at
long queueing, rather than queueing itself, is a the service counter, or as making an appointment
cause of frustration, such signs may help to keep or reservation for a service that is traditionally
tempers calm on congested motorways. unscheduled. Call-ahead seating–—getting one’s
These queueing practices have also been party in line for a restaurant table prior to arriving
adapted to the internet. On the Virginia DMV web- at the restaurant–—was an early, low-tech appli-
site, one can view the approximate wait time and cation of this technique, but the ubiquity of the
the number of people already in the queue for each internet and connected mobile devices has per-
of the various services the DMV provides. Someone mitted many more applications.
in a metropolitan area in Virginia can select The Sentara Healthcare system of medical care
the least-busy DMV within driving distance; some- facilities in Virginia and North Carolina offers
one with fewer offices in their vicinity can at least online scheduling for emergency room visits.
steel themselves for the wait. The INOVA system of Online scheduling of medical appointments is
hospitals in northern Virginia offers a similar ser- not–—in 2017–—a groundbreaking innovation, but
vice, letting prospective patients know the wait
time at each of the 13 emergency rooms in the
system. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in 3
Muda is the Japanese word for waste, or non-value-added
Atlanta, Georgia, offers an e-mail information activities. Wait is one of the seven classic forms of muda: the
service it calls Trak-a-Line; this service sends other six are transport, inventory, motion, overprocessing, over-
production, and defects.
Queue management: Elimination, expectation, and enhancement 675
its application to emergency care may be. The for the customer as the processing time to make the
web-based system is simple to use and requests food or assemble the goods being purchased can
little more than the patient’s name, birth date, take place while the customer is on the way to the
and reason for visit–—simplicity that may be nec- store. In other implementations–—such as fax-ahead
essary when considering the user of the system is ordering or app-based ordering at Chipotle and
a person in need of urgent medical attention. Starbucks–—though, this innovation can have a
Emergency care can be scheduled within an hour downside. In a busy restaurant with only a single
of the visit to the website, and the patient can channel for order delivery (i.e., one burrito assem-
wait their turn at home rather than in the lobby. bly line or one barista), customers in the store
Another unexpected application of virtual queue must wait longer while the order-ahead meal
queueing to eliminate waiting is in theme park or drink is assembled; the technology does not
rides. In 1999, The Walt Disney Company introduced shorten the queue on average; it merely changes
the FASTPASS system at some of its theme parks. who must wait in it. The 400-restaurant chain
With this system, park visitors could request a ticket McAllister’s Deli found that its mobile-ordering cus-
to board a certain ride at a certain time of day; tomers felt they had to wait in the customer queue
upon their return at that time, they would be moved to pick up their to-go orders; in response, McAllis-
to the front of the queue to board the ride (Martin & ter’s instituted cubbies for mobile-order pickup,
Poston, 2017). A competing theme park, Universal thus shortening the wait for those customers and
Studios Florida, extended the concept, allowing lessening the appearance of wait for other in-store
visitors to check into its new Race Through New patrons (Jargon, 2017).
York Starring Jimmy Fallon attraction using the A new system introduced at Domino’s Pizza res-
theme park’s app (ICFlorida, 2017). taurants in India takes the idea further. Partnering
A more mundane application of the same concept is with Nuance Communications, Domino’s imple-
virtual queueing at call centers. Rather than wait on mented a natural-language-processing automated
hold for an operator to become available, the caller telephone service for placing orders. The customer
can request a call back from the call center. Depending can place their order in a conversation with a
on the implementation, the customer can receive a computer system in English or Hindi, and the system
call back when it would have been his/her turn on hold, converts the conversation into an order for pizza
or at a later scheduled time and date. The first imple- (Link, 2017). The customer does not have to wait
mentation, from the customer’s perspective, turns while their call is routed to a human, so there is
waiting on the phone to waiting by the phone; in never a queue to reach a live operator. Meanwhile,
the modern age of wireless technology, that prospect in the restaurant, the employees do not need to
is more pleasant than it was just a few decades ago. stop what they are doing to answer the phone,
The second implementation, from the call center’s potentially leading to faster service for customers
perspective, turns an unscheduled arrival that must be queued in the store.
predicted into a scheduled arrival that can be planned Also in the food-service industry, touch
for. Sophisticated call-center-management software screen-based ordering is gaining traction as a means
may also divert calls to entirely different locations if to eliminate the need for some queueing. The mid-
the anticipated waiting time is deemed too long. Atlantic convenience store chain Sheetz was an
Automated teller machines (ATMs), versions of early adopter of touch-based ordering, having in-
which first appeared in 1967 (Rodriguez McRobbie, troduced such a system for its made-to-order food
2015), are an early example of technology offerings in 1996 (Phelps, 2016). In 2015, McDo-
eliminating the need to queue. In a world without nald’s began introducing touch-screen ordering in
ATMs, customers had to visit a bank branch during its stores, converting standing in a queue at the
business hours and wait in line for a teller to counter to waiting seated at a table for a meal to be
perform such transactions as cash withdrawals delivered (Peterson, 2015). In the same year, San
and check deposits. With the introduction of ATMs, Francisco-based quinoa chain Eatsa launched with
customers were freed not only from queueing in an extension of the touch-screen concept: having
teller lines but also limited banking hours; the no cashier or other visible employees at all, with
1978 blizzard that shut down New York City played cooked meals being placed in cubbies for customer
a major role in earning popular acceptance of the pickup. The only queueing with the concept is in the
devices (PYMNTS, 2015). wait for the meal to be assembled (Schneider,
Other uses of technology to eliminate queueing 2015). Not only do such systems reduce queueing
include fax-ahead, call-ahead, and internet-based and increase accuracy, but they also can increase
ordering. When these technologies are used in retail the per-customer revenue for restaurants that
stores and restaurants, they can eliminate queueing implement them (Krystal, 2017).
676 E.N. Weiss, C. Tucker
Similar queue-reducing innovations are being in- comedian Don Rickles, and, in addition to prerecord-
troduced in the beverage-service industry. Bars can ed jokes, some queues feature interactive entertain-
install self-service beer and wine taps that use near- ment. Perhaps the most outstanding innovation yet
field communication bracelets (Edelen, 2015) or RFID has been employed at the Dumbo the Flying Elephant
cards (Pour My Beer, 2018) to charge customers by the ride, where the waiting happens in an air-conditioned
ounce poured. Customers can get their next drink tent full of playground equipment, and a pager buzzes
without queueing for the bartender’s attention, and guests when it is their turn to ride (Martin, 2013).
indecisive tasters can get multiple small samples Many retailers find it worthwhile to offer free
without slowing down the operation. product samples (Reyhle, 2015); some retailers
provide these samples to customers waiting in line.
Queued customers appreciate the gesture, as it
6. Approaches to enhance the waiting seems like a reward for having to wait. In addition
experience to the goodwill it can generate, in some circumstances
it can make more sense to provide samples to cus-
If a queue is unavoidable, a better outcome for both tomers in line as opposed to offering the same samples
the customer and the firm can be achieved by elsewhere in the retail experience. While all custom-
making the queue part of the service process rather ers pass through the checkout point, not all customers
than merely a prelude to it. An author of this article might notice a similar promotion elsewhere in the
was confronted with a 2-hour line to vote in the store, particularly in a large-format retail environ-
2012 U.S. general election. An election official went ment like a supermarket. Providing samples to queued
through the queue with a device to check voter customers may also provide a low-risk way to test new
registration of the citizens in line to ensure that, product lines. Stacy’s Pita Chips (Morell, 2012), a
after waiting for 2 hours, they did not find they were prepared snack company, started as a small sandwich
at the wrong polling station. food cart. The proprietor, Stacy Madison, distributed
Customers of retail stores–—supermarkets, most baked, leftover pita bread from the previous day to
notably–—may notice that the checkout lines are customers waiting in line for sandwiches, as an incen-
flanked with high-margin, low-dollar-value items tive to stay in line (Stacy’s, 2018). The pita chips
(e.g., candy, tabloids) in attractive displays to en- became more popular than the sandwiches, leading
courage impulse purchases or, at a minimum, to Stacy to close her food cart and launch a snack food
distract customers from their wait in line (Nathan- company, which she eventually sold to PepsiCo.
son, 2013). The checkout queue, from a merchan-
dising perspective, is another aisle and another
opportunity to drive revenue. 7. Discussion
Customers waiting in a queue can also be a recep-
tive audience for increased brand engagement. Star- Your customers may experience queues waiting for
bucks partnered with music-streaming service your business to serve them. A manager should
Spotify to allow Starbucks rewards members to dis- periodically review the processes in his/her purview
cover the music being played in its stores, and to have to identify customer queues and evaluate the ex-
access to that playlist even after exiting the store perience customers have while waiting in them.
(Starbucks, 2018). In the past, Starbucks offered Note that queues may not be physically manifested
free downloads of a selected app, book, or song to if, for instance, clients wait in a sales department
customers visiting the store (Clay, 2012). Under this for a quote or in a production department for a
strategy, captive audience members in store queues custom order. Take stock of how long customers
find a way to pass the time and continue engagement wait, and how they experience the wait. Make sure
with Starbucks long after leaving the store. they know their place in line is being held and that
Walt Disney World Resorts are exemplars of turning they receive realistic and timely updates on when
queue waits into entertainment experiences. At Dis- they can expect to be served. Finally, examine
ney, the queue is thought of as part of the attraction whether your firm can take a creative approach
(Pawlowski, 2008) and is often, at a minimum, deco- to manage customer expectations, eliminate the
rated as such; for example, the queue area for an wait, or enhance the experience.
Indiana Jones ride looks like an archaeological dig, A design shop working on a custom order can
while a Star Wars-themed ride looks like the inside of a manage customer expectations by switching to
starship, building anticipation for the ride itself while more customer design reviews with shorter periods
distracting from the wait. The queue for a Toy Story- in between. Rather than endure one long wait, the
themed attraction at a Disney park in California customer will experience several shorter, and
features an animatronic Mr. Potato Head voiced by therefore more pleasant, waits. The increased
Queue management: Elimination, expectation, and enhancement 677
interaction between the customer and the design Edelen, A. (2015, July 27). Denver’s first self-service bar opens
staff will increase customer satisfaction with and in RiNo. The Denver Post. Available at https://www.
denverpost.com/2015/07/27/denvers-first-self-service-bar-
ownership of the finished design and will give your opens-in-rino/
employees the opportunity to build enduring rela- Elkins, K. (2015, October 25). People are paying up to $1,500 for
tionships with your customers. someone else to take their place in line. Business
Any business can benefit from the use of Lean Insider. Available at http://www.businessinsider.com/
principles to minimize waiting time in customer- professional-line-sitters-2015-10
Frei, F. X. (2006). Breaking the trade-off between efficiency and
facing processes. A bank lending operation can target service. Harvard Business Review, 84(11), 92—101.
its training programs and streamline its information- Harwell, D. (2015, January 29). Hershey’s plan to hook Americans
technology systems to ensure that the data collected into impulse-buying chocolate again. The Washington
by loan officers is in the precise format needed by the Post. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/
business/wp/2015/01/29/fast-checkouts-are-crushing-
underwriters. If all of the necessary information is
impulse-candy-sales-heres-hersheys-plan-to-change-that/?
collected correctly the first time and presented to utm_term=.383403245941
the underwriters in the proper format, the loan ICFlorida. (2017, March 8). Universal Orlando’s Jimmy Fallon ride
decision can be made more quickly. introduces new virtual queue system. Available at http://www.
Enhancing the customer experience while waiting icflorida.com/entertainment/entertainment-headlines/
may be the easiest and least costly method for queue universal-orlandos-jimmy-fallon-ride-introduces-new-
virtual-queue-system/500856388
management, providing the quickest return on invest- Jargon, J. (2017, October 15). Mobile-ordering apps create pro-
ment. A business whose customers endure waits on blems for restaurants. The Wall Street Journal. Available at
hold on the telephone can ensure that the hold music is https://www.wsj.com/articles/mobile-ordering-apps-
tasteful and soothing, and does not sound shrill or create-problems-for-restaurants-1508119500
harsh when played through the phone system. The Krystal, B. (2017, March 2). Why touch screens are changing how we
order at restaurants. The Washington Post. Available at
manager of a professional service firm’s office should https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/
verify that the seating and lighting in the waiting area why-you-may-soon-be-ordering-lunch-on-a-touch-screen-
are appropriate and adequate, that entertainment kiosk/2017/03/01/0b964a90-f915-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_
and refreshments provided send the right message, story.html?utm_term=.7947f0a6bf5d
La Ferla, R. (2017, August 3). The cult of the line: It’s not about
and that everyone is greeted swiftly and convincingly
the merch. The New York Times. Available at https://www.
upon arrival. You can find specific ideas for enhance- nytimes.com/2017/08/03/fashion/waiting-in-line-supreme-
ment by viewing your service processes through the streetwear-merch.html
eyes of your customers, for example, by calling your Link, K. (2017, March 8). Domino’s India delivers on innovation;
own phone tree or waiting in your lobby yourself. simplifies ordering with conversational IVR from Nuance. Nu-
By adopting innovative approaches to queue ance. Available at https://www.nuance.com/about-us/
newsroom/press-releases/dominos-india-adds-nuance-
management, firms can find new opportunities to conversational-ivr.html
add value and improve customer brand perception. Maister, D. (1985). The psychology of waiting lines in the service
An unexpected, unexplained wait in uncomfortable encounter. In J. A. Czepiel, M. R. Solomon, & C. Suprenant
conditions can sour a customer relationship; a firm (Eds.), The service encounter. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
that is mindful of its customers’ needs and respect- Martin, H. (2013, August 8). More theme parks make sure waiting
in line is long on fun. Los Angeles Times. Available at http://
ful of their time has an opportunity to improve its articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/08/business/la-fi-theme-
standing through thoughtful, creative approaches park-lines-20130809
to queueing. Many opportunities exist to enhance Martin, H., & Poston, B. (2017, July 12). Disneyland raised prices to
the customer experience by managing customer shorten waits. Here are the results. Los Angeles
expectations, replacing queues with appointments, Times. Available at http://www.latimes.com/business/
la-fi-disneyland-wait-times-20170712-htmlstory.html
eliminating queues entirely, or adding value during Morell, K. (2012, May 11). The story behind Stacy’s Pita
the wait. Chips. American Express. Available at https://www.
americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/
the-story-behind-stacys-pita-chips/
Nathanson, J. (2013, September 24). Are smartphones making us less
References impulsive? Priceonomics. Available at https://priceonomics.
com/are-smartphones-making-us-less-impulsive/
Clay, K. (2012, September 18). Download free pick of the week Pawlowski, A. (2008, November 20). Queueing psychology:
from Starbucks app. Forbes. Available at https://www. Can waiting in line be fun? CNN. Available at http://www.
forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/09/18/download-free- cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/11/20/queuing.
pick-of-the-week-from-starbucks-app/#7a2d5f8d6691 psychology/
The Economist. (2015, May 9). The Piggly Wiggly way. Available at Peterson, H. (2015, August 25). McDonald’s turnaround strategy
https://www.economist.com/news/business/ has one major flaw. Business Insider. Available at http://
21650554-businesses-should-think-carefully-about- www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-turnaround-strategy-
continuing-heap-work-their-customers-piggly doesnt-help-drive-thru-2015-8
678 E.N. Weiss, C. Tucker