GAME WELL AND TRULY OVER

Queuet. Very Queuet.

I bought my lunch today from Pret, where something interesting happened. One of the cashiers came around and separated the queue into two queues. I'm not sure if this was a result of his own initiative or company policy, but it was the first time I'd seen it happen in Pret. I've summarised the situation in the following diagrams, including US/UK terminology (because, well, I felt like).

So previously...

And then...

Let's excuse the fact that he should have actually formed three queues instead of two. I stood there wondering how helpful that exercise really was ie. moving from single channel queueing to multiple channel queueing. Sure, I was third in line now as opposed to fifth before, but I'm certain it was previously moving faster.

Queueing theory is a part of organisational behaviour and operations research, and I stumbled upon a great five page document specifically about this subject, using a McDonald's restaurant in Singapore as the test case:

Discrete-Event Simulation of Queueing Systems by Zhang Laifu Joel, Ng Wen Wei Jonathan Louis and Tay Seng Chuan

Skipping to the conclusion (with deserved kudos on the quality of diagrams. Especially compared to mine):

Our simulation results show that a single-channel queue is more efficient than a multiple-channels queue.

If so, why does McDonalds still want to use the multiple-channels queuing system? From our observations, one reason is that in a multiple-channels queue the customers can hop from one queue to another. Another reason is the impression of shorter waiting time but our simulation result has proven it wrong. While hopping queues may seem to allow customers to get to the server faster, it is not always true. A customer can hop to a shorter queue but the service time needed by the customers in the queue may be longer thus resulting in an even longer waiting time. Another side effect is that it can lead to disorder during the crowded hours and the most recent incident is the fight at McDonalds during their Hello Kitty promotion.

I can't wait to take this to Pret on Monday.

Tibetian Coke

I saw this Olympic Special Edition Coke can this afternoon. Well, an English equivalent of this Olympic Special Edition Coke can:

and all I could think of was how similar it looked to the flag of Tibet:

Irony? Coincidence? Using a cause as a target market? Or was I really hungry and seeing things?

Afternoon Coffee

I just read this article about a new Starbucks promotion in the US.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Looking to bring more value-seeking consumers through its doors for a late afternoon caffeine fix, Starbucks Corp. said it will now offer its morning customers any iced grande beverage for $2 after 2 p.m. To get the discount, customers must present a receipt from their morning Starbucks visit.

Let me see if I get this straight. So going chronologically, a customer would
1) have to get a cup of coffee in the morning
2) have to get a receipt, and keep it somewhere
3) have to wait until 2pm to get his/her post-lunch caffeine
4) have to to get an iced drink in the afternoon instead of a hot one
5) have to get the medium "grande" size

To me, this requires much too much thought and planning. And I don't like to be told what I can have - I'm fine making that choice myself thank you. And I don't know if this is a personal preference, but coffee in the afternoon is impulsive to me. Not every day, just sometimes. As a reward, or when you REALLY need it.

"I think we've kind of hit the nail on the head," said Brad Stevens, vice president of customer relationship management.

I think they kind of didn't.