Ten vans in the car park before the shutters go up
At ten to seven the car park is full. Plumbers, builders, roofers and groundworkers all want to be on site by eight. The counter opens and the queue stretches back past the display of sealants. Each customer reads their list out, the counter keys it, prints a pick note, and the yard team goes looking for the goods while the customer waits with a coffee from the machine.
The ones at the back of the queue give up and go to the merchant that opens earlier, or go without and come back at lunchtime, which means a second queue.
Why the queue forms
The problem is not the counter staff's speed. It is that the whole order process happens in the busiest hour of the day, with the customer standing there.
- Most customers know the evening before what they need tomorrow, but there is no easy way to tell you.
- Orders are keyed and picked on arrival, one after another.
- Simple collections and complicated orders share one queue.
- The yard is at its busiest at the same time as it loads the delivery lorries.
- Customers who pre-ordered by phone still queue, because the order wasn't picked.
What the queue costs
Your customers pay their crews by the hour, so time in your queue is money to them and they notice. Lost sales at the back of the queue are hard to see because nobody records them. Staff are rushed, which is when picking errors happen, and those turn into returns and second trips. And the morning rush sets the mood for the branch all day.
It also limits what the counter can sell. Staff working through a queue have no time to ask whether the customer needs anything else for the job, mention a product that is on offer, or notice that a regular has stopped buying a line. Those small conversations are where much of a counter's value comes from.
Pre-ordering and picked-ready collection
- Customers can place tomorrow's collection the evening before by the branch's WhatsApp number, a simple web page with their account prices, or a quick call logged by the late shift.
- Orders are checked against the account, credit position and stock overnight, and anything that can't be supplied is flagged so the customer hears before they set off.
- A pick list for the next morning is generated in yard order, and the early yard team picks and stages orders in marked bays before opening.
- When the customer arrives, a text with a collection code tells them which bay to go to. A quick check at the bay, on a handheld, confirms the goods and the collector's name.
- The sale is completed in your merchant system on collection, with any extras added at the bay.
- Collections not picked up by a set time are flagged so the branch can ring the customer.
| Customer type | Route in the morning |
|---|---|
| Pre-ordered | Straight to the marked bay |
| Simple walk-in | Fast lane at the counter |
| Complicated order or advice | Main counter, without the queue behind them |
| Delivery customer | Not at the counter at all |
Seven o'clock after the change
The queue still exists, but it is shorter and made of the customers who need the counter. Pre-ordered vans are loaded and gone in minutes. The yard picks in the quiet hour rather than the busy one. Counter staff have time to talk to the customers who need advice, which is where extra sales come from.
Signs your counter needs this
- The queue at opening time regularly runs out of the door.
- Customers tell you what they need the night before, but it isn't picked.
- Simple collections wait behind complicated orders.
- Picking errors cluster in the first hour.
- You hear of customers going to a rival because of the wait.