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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 30, 2020 13:33:13 GMT -5
Appropriate for so many reasons. Is the driver lost?
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Post by mikegarrison on Mar 30, 2020 13:45:36 GMT -5
Appropriate for so many reasons. Is the driver lost? Probably. But you never know for sure until it's over.
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Post by hammer on Mar 30, 2020 13:50:45 GMT -5
Costco did something I hadn't seen since elementary school days. There's a long line outside the store. The line moved relatively quickly. When I got near the front of the line, I noticed their queuing policy was different from other stores. For every 10 customers that walk out, they let 10 in. They make the 10 wait in line until 10 comes out. I'm not sure why they do this but I suspect they believe this will make the in/out process more efficient; that is, more customers can be processed in and out of the store per unit of time. I don't know if this is indeed more efficient but I got in and out of the store pretty quickly. And the checkout stations had, well, no long lines. In fact, I was the first one at my checkout station. At Trader Joe's, for every one customer that walks out, one customer is let in. One in, one out. The line moved slowly. It's also a much smaller store. I mention elementary school because when there was some activity inside an auditorium, groups of students were kept together until an entire group was let out. It was not one student in, one student out. Of course, this was done to make things more manageable for the teachers so that they can keep on eye on their kids more efficiently. You also don't want kids in one group hassling and mingling with kids from another group. That would be chaos. I've never taken any classes on queue theory, something that's fundamental for Industrial Engineering and managers. But I wonder if this is some fundamental queue principle. I know the major airlines have experimented for years with different strategies to load aircraft. This is different to some degree but clearly it could be modeled, then simulated. Costco, being an efficient well run company, probably has the IT staff to develop/run the models too (if they weren't already in place).
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Post by volleylearner on Mar 30, 2020 15:13:02 GMT -5
I've never taken any classes on queue theory, something that's fundamental for Industrial Engineering and managers. But I wonder if this is some fundamental queue principle. Queueing theory is straightforward, but in practice there are a lot of variables. Costco certainly isn't optimizing their in-store resources or your response time as an individual--between the 1st and 10th person that walks out you are waiting when there (potentially) is a free resource for you (the resource might be space in the aisles, waiting for checkout, etc.). However, my impression is that it was pretty common for a couple or family to shop together at Costco. That doesn't lend itself well to one-at-a-time (especially with children). Of course 10-in-at-a-time also might simplify the job of the workers counting/coordinating in/out and reduce the chance of accidentally exceeding the max-in-store number.
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Post by Phaedrus on Mar 30, 2020 17:43:50 GMT -5
I've never taken any classes on queue theory, something that's fundamental for Industrial Engineering and managers. But I wonder if this is some fundamental queue principle. Queueing theory is straightforward, but in practice there are a lot of variables. Costco certainly isn't optimizing their in-store resources or your response time as an individual--between the 1st and 10th person that walks out you are waiting when there (potentially) is a free resource for you (the resource might be space in the aisles, waiting for checkout, etc.). However, my impression is that it was pretty common for a couple or family to shop together at Costco. That doesn't lend itself well to one-at-a-time (especially with children). Of course 10-in-at-a-time also might simplify the job of the workers counting/coordinating in/out and reduce the chance of accidentally exceeding the max-in-store number. I don't think the queueing is the intent, it could be an ununtended consequence. They are managing the totwl number of people in the store.
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Post by joetrinsey on Mar 30, 2020 18:06:32 GMT -5
My guess is that they want to limit the number of people in the store. Hard to keep appropriate distance in a crowded store. Keeping a 6ft distance from everybody around me means that I take up like 100 square feet. So in theory you would need to keep the number of people in a Costco to about 1000 total in order to keep proper social distancing.
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Post by Wolfgang on Mar 30, 2020 18:53:01 GMT -5
Jeezus, you peeps...
If you want to manage the number of customers in the store, why not a simple 1-for-1 exchange: for every 1 that leaves, let 1 in?
But Costco did something different. For every 10 that leaves, they then let 10 in. What this means is that they made the 10 standing outside in line wait to get in until the 10th customer left. So, if you're standing in line, you see customer after customer leave the store but they won't let you in until the 10th customer leaves.
That's what I was wondering about.
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Post by ironhammer on Mar 30, 2020 19:56:18 GMT -5
Anyone going crazy with the kids stuck at home all day with no school and you trying to get some work done while they tear the house down? No. Next question. Some will experience it. And I like to stay on this question.
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Post by hammer on Mar 30, 2020 20:33:22 GMT -5
Some will experience it. And I like to stay on this question. Remember when we were young and could party? Kids + COVID-19 really put a damper on our fun ...
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Post by XAsstCoach on Mar 30, 2020 20:46:39 GMT -5
Jeezus, you peeps... If you want to manage the number of customers in the store, why not a simple 1-for-1 exchange: for every 1 that leaves, let 1 in? But Costco did something different. For every 10 that leaves, they then let 10 in. What this means is that they made the 10 standing outside in line wait to get in until the 10th customer left. So, if you're standing in line, you see customer after customer leave the store but they won't let you in until the 10th customer leaves. That's what I was wondering about. Well, one time at Shanghai Costco they wouldn't let us go onto the escalator to the first floor (where the store is) until it was clear. Also, they wouldn't allow us to walk down the escalator...standing only. When it was my time I was already frustrated by: 1. Other people cutting line; 2. Poor management by the Costco staff which allowed people to cut in line; 3. Escalator was empty for more than 5 minutes before they allowed my group on So I walked down the escalator. Staff at the bottom was telling to stop, but it was really pointless to stop so I kept walking. Told them they need to manage traffic better. All this frustration because I wanted a lobster roll from Costco. On my way back up to the parking garage, they weren't sending customers down in groups.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 18:37:57 GMT -5
My doggy has a bandana which he got for free from PetSmart. He doesn't wear it. So, I stole it from him and I've been using it for myself over my nose/mouth when I'm out shopping. Or robbing the local 7-11.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 1, 2020 18:39:39 GMT -5
My doggy has a bandana which he got for free from PetSmart. He doesn't wear it. LOL.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 1, 2020 18:47:19 GMT -5
So I walked down the escalator. You would think that walking down a stopped escalator (I am assuming you mean that it was stopped?) is fine. I mean, when an escalator is not moving, it is stairs, right? But no, typically you are not allowed to walk up or down stopped escalators. The safety codes are different from stairs. We had some underground transit stations here that were built with no regular stairs. Only escalators and elevators. (There were emergency exit stairwells.) When the escalators broke down, they made everyone take the elevators, which could not handle the volume of people. It was a real mess. They eventually decided that in the future if the escalators broke down, they would open up the emergency exit stairwells. Just using the escalators as stairs was out of the question. Didn't meet safety codes.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 1, 2020 19:20:11 GMT -5
What I’m wondering about today is: what will become of weddings and other milestone celebrations with relatively large gatherings? Late spring and the summer months of June and July are big for weddings.
I don’t have an answer myself because I don’t have any weddings or big parties I’ve been invited to in the next few months. Do they postpone? Can they even book banquet rooms, restaurants, and the like? I suppose it depends on the location and whether there’s a shelter-in-place mandate.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 1, 2020 19:27:07 GMT -5
What I’m wondering about today is: what will become of weddings and other milestone celebrations with relatively large gatherings? Late spring and the summer months of June and July are big for weddings. I don’t have an answer myself because I don’t have any weddings or big parties I’ve been invited to in the next few months. Do they postpone? Can they even book banquet rooms, restaurants, and the like? I suppose it depends on the location and whether there’s a shelter-in-place mandate. I am of an age where I don't get invited to weddings. When I was younger, my friends were all getting married. Now my friend's kids are getting married, but generally speaking people don't invite their parents' friends to their weddings. (Also, some of my friends' 20-30ish daughters are pretty hot. I have to kind of restrain myself from mentioning that to them. I assume they already know.)
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