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Path: utzoo!dciem!ntt
From: ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Supermarket Flames! (Post Offices, single combined queues)
Message-ID: <715@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Feb-84 15:38:21 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.715
Posted: Wed Feb 15 15:38:21 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 20-Feb-84 16:15:55 EST
References: <5543@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Organization: NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 30

[Unfortunately not superstition when the first line is INDENTED:]


	What would be wrong with a queue structure similar to that of the
	post office?  Single stream, multi-processor system.  That is,
	have one long line with an n-way branch to the cashiers...

Do all US post offices use the single-queue-multi-server (SQMS) system, then?
I wish Canadian POs did.  But no, they typically have three or four
wickets, each of which has a distinct function in addition to selling
stamps, two of which are closed (including the "stamps only" wicket, if any).
AND they have managed to incrementally reduce service to Monday-to-Friday
8:30 am - 5:45 pm at most locations.  How sweet it is to be a monopoly.
Oh well, at least the lineups here are shorter than in the US in my experience.

Some banks here use SQMS for all transactions, and I think all the rest use
SQMS for ordinary deposits and withdrawals but you go to a special counter
for other stuff.  I think the latter is silly (and confusing).  Major bus
and train stations use SQMS.  This is nice; it's such a fair arrangement.
And people are used to it; I've seen people spontaneously form SQMSs when
several people are lining up to use a cluster of automatic teller machines.

So why don't supermarket checkouts use it?  I'LL TELL YOU WHY NOT!
In the present arrangement, you spend several minutes waiting next to a
stand full of magazines and candies and Midnight Globes and disposable
razors and Management-knows-what-else... anything they hope you'll buy on
impulse.  And people do buy the stuff.  So do you really think supermarkets
will adopt a system where you will be separated from those displays?  HAH!

Mark Brader