No one likes to wait, but they say that the best things do indeed come to those who wait. Americans are estimated to spend 37 billion hours annually just waiting in lines; that amounts to nearly two years of a person’s life spent waiting. Even though no one likes to wait, the only thing worse is getting skipped in line or not being recognized when waiting. This is in part why businesses employ crowd control techniques such as queue lines to keep customer’s organized and informed on when they will be next in said line. Here are some of the most widespread uses of crowd control techniques and why they can spare businesses time, money, and unwarranted customer confusion.
Entertainment Venues
Sporting events, amusement parks, and concerts all use crowd control techniques to ensure that each and every person waiting can get to the entertainment that much faster. Big sporting or entertainment events can draw in crowds of over 70,000 fans. The concert business alone has climbed from $1.3 billion as of 1998 to $2.1 billion in the last year; this was the culmination of a four year climb in sales. In the United States alone there are over 39,056 movie theater screens in 5,317 locations. By employing retractable belt barriers or other crowd control barriers, entertainment venues can continue to keep fans safe while handling lines in the quickest way possible.
Businesses
Businesses like banks, post offices, and other high-traffic enterprises benefit greatly from a sense of order. Safety barrier systems inform customers on where their boundaries are while indicating to them where the service queues are. The Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation (FDIC) reported that there were 6,799 FDIC–issued banks as of February 2014; on average each person will wait in line at the bank or post office for nearly a half hour every month. Even though no one likes to wait, nearly everyone obeys the unspoken rules decreed by a velvet rope barrier.
