Managing the customer queue in a bank environment has always been challenging. The key issue with banking is variable transaction time. This simply means that some customer transactions are fast, like making a deposit and some are slow, like arranging a cashier check.

With the traditional multi line queue with each service position having it’s own line customer suffered the frustration of being ‘trapped’ behind a customer with a slow transaction while others in the next line get served ahead of them.

Let’s face it no one likes to wait, especially by standing in line. Waiting for service is stressful, customers feel their time is being wasted, but how stressful the event is depends on how the waiting experience is managed. There are a number of ways in which poorly designed customer queues increase stress on patrons, here are a few common examples.