h a l f b a k e r yGo ahead. Stick a fork in it.
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This usually happens when I find myself at the back of the store, my cart is full, and I'm ready to checkout. For some reason whichever aisle I pick to head towards the checkout lanes tends to be filled with slow-moving shoppers who've parked their carts side-by side forcing me to wait or pick another
aisle. It shouldn't be too hard to create an overhead counter showing how many people/carts are in each aisle. It would even make everyone's shopping faster since they could arrange their routes according to the emptiest aisles. The advantage to the stores would be come in a smoother and faster flow, making the shopping experience a little more pleasant (and keep frustrated people from leaving their cart where it is and just walking out).
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Two words:
Ramming. Speed. |
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I'd try that but my valium slows me down. |
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It is quite possible for shorter queues to move slower than longer ones. |
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It is possible that given the same information as you the lumpen proletariat will make the same decision as you. |
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Read up on The Nash Equilibrium or Equilibrium points in N person games.. |
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A simple "reserve aisle #" button on your cart could take care of the game theory problems. You'd see an empty, or nearly empty, aisle, press the reserve button for that aisle, and the counter would show you as already being in it. When you exited the aisle the counter would automatically be decremented, and if you entered it without first reserving it the sensor would also pick up your presence and add you to the count. (The counter would also delete your reservation and decrement the counter if you didn't enter the aisle within a reasonable amount of time). |
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Sure, then you could sell your "reserve aisle" to some aisle hedger (it has an expiry time). Taking on any number of aisle reserves and arbitrating against shopper frequency this aisle reserver could either sell on his reserved aisle, or collapse the market. |
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for some reason the vegetable aisle is usually the worst possible one in the shop. |
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po - True. Maybe that's because the lanes are so asymmetrical in the vegetable aisle that people can't easily figure out how to manuever around them. (Not sure if they're asymmetrical everywhere else but they sure are at the stores around here - Florida, US.) |
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My local grocery store solves it with a few of those big wide-angle mirrors. Dunno why the big stores don't do that. |
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How would you count the people? RFID in the shopping cart? |
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Something like RFID would work for the incomming and outgoing sensors. Might have to use something else for the reserve button. |
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sp. lumpenproletariat, a word first used by Marx and Engels, to describe the power base employed by Louis Napoleon (aka Napoleon III, not to be confused with Napoleon Bonaparte) in the "July Monarchy" of 1848. |
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"for some reason the vegetable aisle is usually the worst possible one in the shop."
Ah, but the deserted aisle is the loneliest. |
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It may well be, but there's probably a lifetime supply of toilet sanitising products available. |
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