The Psychology of Waiting Lines: why appointments are important

On Monday I mentioned The Psychology of Waiting Lines. Consider this, from the introduction:

…the waiting-line experience in a service facility significantly affects  our overall perceptions of the quality of service provided .. the bitter taste of how long it took to get attention pollutes the overall judgments that we make about the quality of service. [emphasis added]

That was 1985, but it’s still true today, yes? The penalties for making people wait were clear, and still are. But back then it was costly to prevent waits by offering appointments. It was a different world: the Mac and PC had just been introduced, it was nine years before the first web browser, seven years before the Motorola Bag Phone that would be my first “car phone,” and author David Maister talks about waiting in line at Eastern Airlines, worrying that if he hands them his paper ticket, he might not get it back.

Today none of that’s true – except that the penalties for making people wait are still valid.

We don’t use “bag phones,” we all have cell phones. Eastern is gone, and heck, we print our own boarding passes at home. So I have to wonder, why do we still make customers wait?

Posted by cterry