Queuing Models In today’s fast-paced environment, individuals are continually trying to do more with the same limited time constraints. In a retail store like Wal-Mart, explain how components of queuing systems can influence customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. How might the queuing process positively or negatively impact customer loyalty? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings. In this discussion post, with society’s fast paced environment in mind, we are asked to explain the components of queuing systems in large retail stores like Wal-mart while taking into consideration the customers satisfaction or dissatisfaction and how store lines may positively or negatively impact customer loyalty. We read in the text this week that queuing theory is the study of waiting lines or queues and takes into account the randomness of the arrival and service process and the perception customers have in regards to waiting in lines. According to Lawrence and Pasternack (2002), queuing systems have three basic components: Arrivals, a queue is formed when customers arrive faster than the can be served and are forced to wait to be served. Waiting in a queue, is simply the time waiting in a queue to obtain service. There are different queue configurations that can be applied to reduce the customer frustrations, boredom, and limit customer balking. Service, this takes place when customers are helped by the organization’s agents and then leave the system. In regards to retail stores like the Wal-Mart chain, the store’s queuing decision in regards to service operations often involves a trade-off between the operating cost and the service level offered to customers. Obviously, most people do not wish to wait in lines to checkout however, it is not economically efficient to have clerks sitting at registers not working so the store management must make staffing decisions that balance the labor costs with revenues. In many stores that I frequent, a common rule that I have observed is the practice to open additional checkouts when the length of the queue surpasses a given threshold. What is that threshold? That seems to be the million-dollar question, I can vouch that it is normally at the point where I am too close to checking out that it is not beneficial for me to “jockey” to other lane and I end up seeing the people that were behind me in the queue leave the store ahead of me. Another consideration is the perceived price savings, an example being the Black Friday, oops sorry, the Black Thursday sale at after Thanksgiving. First, we wait in line to get into the store, and then wait to get the “prized” product that is deeply discounted; finally, we wait in the long queues to checkout. In the mean time while waiting, you end up picking one or two impulse buys along the way, is this an accident, nope it is another method the stores use to increase sales and their revenue. If we the customer feel we are getting a significant deal, we will be much more tolerable to the large queues as long as it fair and equitable for all customers. Let oneperson try to jump the line though and see how fast an uproar begins. In most cases, customers (me included) tend to focus primarily on the length of the line when deciding to join a queue instead of how fast the queue is actually moving. This is the reason many stores have multiple queues instead of a pooling queue that is serviced by multiple servers. This gives the appearance the lines are smaller and reduces the number of customers that balk (walk out) without making a purchase. If a store like Wal-Mart can give the customers the satisfaction that they have an appropriate number of servers available to meet the normal demands, they will continue to gain customer loyalty, especially if the prices meet or exceed the competition. References Lawrence, J., & Pasternack, B. (2002). Applied Management science: Modeling, Spreadsheet Analysis, and Communication for Decision Making (2nd ed.) [with accompanying CD-ROM]. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.