The QLess Blog

Work queue management is a tech-savvy upgrade for any office setting, but government offices will find it especially helpful. From city hall to the Department of Motor Vehicles, government agencies are frequently on the receiving end of complaints by citizens who have no patience for time-consuming waits, disorganized processes, and crowded waiting areas. As taxpayers, the community members who come to you for aid and assistance feel entitled to high-quality service. Their expectations make sense. They pay for the local Parks and Rec service, as well as the building inspector and the county clerk. It's not an exaggeration to say that citizens deserve an impeccable level of customer service from the government agencies in their area.

As technology evolves at break-neck speeds, our world continues to grow alongside it. And although keeping up with the latest technological innovations is challenging, one thing is clear: technology breeds efficiency. By integrating contemporary digital solutions into their infrastructure, various institutions and organizations have been able to increase productivity, reduce expenses, and streamline their operations like never before.

Introducing queue software to a government agency is the first step in changing the way citizens think about the government. In an industry that has perhaps earned its reputation for inefficiency in terms of day-to-day processes and customer satisfaction, any improvement helps. A queueless system tackles every major issue that citizens have with government offices. Slow wait times, clogged lines and waiting areas, confusion, and frustration melt away as soon as you implement an efficient system that relies on communication, documentation, and transparency.

What's your workday like, in general? In far too many government offices, the day consists of impatient visitors, frustrating appointments, and acting as a referee while trying to appease citizens who are over it. No matter what your government agency, you can utilize queue solutions to start seeing a difference today. Whether you aim to decrease the amount of time a citizen has to wait or to streamline the start-to-finish process of assisting members of your community, implementing a system that eliminates the need for physical lines is an efficient, helpful upgrade. If you still rely on the old take-a-number system, it's high time to update the way your agency does business.

It may be hard to believe that something as simple as a web-based queue management system can change the structure and flow of your government office or organization, but it's true. You may have to see it to believe it, and that's perfectly fine. QLess happily offers demos of its queue platforms and management systems. The first step to accepting the line management options of the future is to become familiar with what it means to go queueless. For government offices, you have the opportunity to transform the very environment of your office. That, in turn, will improve the attitudes of the employees who work in your organization and the citizens you serve.

The Department of Motor Vehicles has a reputation that's basically become a punchline for jokes. Of all the government offices, the DMV queue has earned the department a rep for ridiculously long wait times, clogged lines, and impatient

Crowded lines are everywhere. People queue up at the bank. They clog the waiting rooms at the doctor's office, the DMV, and the city courthouse. They disrupt students trying to register for classes. Long-anticipated sales and other events become a nightmare due to impatient groups of people rushing to get where they want to go. The solution is a crowd queue system that can organize all of the chaos. QLess offers a platform that can benefit any business, office, or organization that relies on appointments, even if it's only on a case-by-case basis. For example, picture an organized Apple store the morning a new iPhone debuts. Imagine a registrar's office that isn't backed up for hours, preventing students from signing up for their classes.

The digital age has fundamentally changed what students expect from their learning environment. Having grown alongside modern technology that emphasizes digital solutions, today’s students applaud systems that rewire and streamline mundane tasks like course selection and assignment submissions.

Digital systems have ushered in a new era of convenience. From online shopping to online booking, the internet has streamlined how customers interact with the businesses and organizations around them.

Campus line ups can quickly become hubs of chaos during the summer and pre-semester registration periods, but they don’t have to be. Using cloud-based technology can change the face of your school by eliminating line ups without any fuss. See how mobile queuing technology can highlight your institution’s reputation as a global educational leader using new cutting-edge apps and a more modern approach to student service line ups.

As students set foot on campus tours each year, they quickly recognize that each one has a unique vibe. Prospective students tour schools, expecting to find a place that melds with their own values and needs. They quickly absorb the excitement and feel of each campus and analyze their own compatibility with the school.

As massive, sprawling institutions, the average university is home to thousands of students, hundreds of staff members, and dozens of departments. Sustaining a university’s daily operation is no easy task, and the process involves many complex, rigorous systems of infrastructure.

For many students, college is a transformative and invigorating experience. Broadening one’s horizons and learning new things while forging bonds with like-minded individuals can be immensely satisfying.

Although the beginning of one’s post-secondary journey can be an exciting time, the enthusiasm of many prospective students is often dampened by arduous college admissions processes.

As the cost of education continues to increase, many school and colleges are devoting more and more resources towards protecting their student retention rates. Through improving campus facilities, strengthening marketing efforts, and employing various other expensive strategies, schools are hoping to prevent student attrition by striving for higher standards of student satisfaction.

A college education can enrich someone's life, but only if they go through the process of enrolling and registering for classes. The problem lies in getting potential students to that point. A queue management device may not be able to help with the cost of college tuition, books, and board, but it makes the process of registering much less painful than it usually is.

A comprehensive customer flow management system is a must-have innovation for government offices. No other industry has a reputation for slow customer service, long waits, and complicated processes. It's not fair, of course. Government buildings and the people who work in them are there to help their citizens and constituents. High traffic offices may have trouble keeping up with demand, however. Some offices are understaffed. In other cases, communities can experience a surge of growth that stretches government resources to their limits. Regardless, you can't deny that everyone has a story about a less-than-stellar experience at a government office building. The complaints typically involve the amount of time spent waiting or poor customer service experiences.

The typical image of your local government office includes looks of frustration, disgruntled employees and long line ups. In a perfect world, every citizen is helped in a timely fashion and receives undivided attention. Staff members at the office have a smile on their face and a plan in place to help each individual. Providing services at a reasonable cost can be a challenge for both small and large government offices -- but it doesn’t have to be.

Managing the long office line up causes frustration and stress for government office employees and taxpayers alike. With wait times being unpredictable and ever-changing, it’s hard to know how many customers will be served in one day or how many staff should be scheduled during a given time period. For administration, this causes more headaches on high-volume days as customer complaints mount and staff burnout increases.

Citizens make time in their day to pay bills, apply for permits, or obtain information regarding other government policies and procedures to keep their homes and properties rule-compliant. However, walking into a busy office and seeing disgruntled office staff serving others who have been waiting for hours can make these simple tasks seem never-ending, frustrating and unproductive.

Two men walk by a agovernment building

Scheduling software can streamline government as a process.

Business partners shake hands

A line stretches across a walking space

A busy city street

A government offices and an old-style American flag

Students listen to a lecture in a big university lecture hall

Individuals use electronic devices on a couch

A student writes down scheduling information

Students have a discussion in a work room

Students talk together by a window

Students wait in a line

A student heads to school.

Good government both creates and requires efficient systems.

People wait in a line winding up an outdoor staircase

People wait in a queue

Waiting in frustratingly long lines at the local government office is nobody’s favorite way to spend the day. With other industries effectively converting to better practices when it comes to waiting in line, public services are swiftly following suit.

Like any locale issuing a large volume of high-security clearances, the airport badge office can become a congested and crowded place. Between providing a wide array of services, including fingerprinting, security systems management, and drivers training, the office should also aspire to a high degree of professionalism and customer service.

A student reads in the library.

Students study in a library

A college student works on homework.

Implementing a successful customer experience strategy can help your business achieve a wide range of goals; including increased customer satisfaction rates, reduced turnover, and increased profit. What’s more, when customers have a positive experience with your company they are more likely to tell others about your business.

Government agencies are not traditionally known for speedy service. You can change that with an electronic queue management solution from QLess. QLess solutions for government can help you reduce wait times, reduce costs, use technology to create seamless communication between staff and citizens, improve staff conditions, update operational processes, and much more.

There’s a reason people call difficult things a logistical nightmare—it’s because logistics is hard. You need to coordinate production, delivery, and time schedules of a variety of different people and companies—sometimes on different sides of the planet. That means you need to run a highly organized and incredibly efficient system to maximize your supply chain and deliver for your clients.

No one likes to wait in line. It feels like a waste of time and many customers will avoid or leave a retail environment rather than wait in a long line to make a purchase. As a business, one of your primary goals is to provide a positive customer experience. An online queue management system can help you eliminate long lines and deliver great customer experiences for all your clients.

These days, it seems like everyone is shopping online –– though you may be surprised to learn that that’s not really the case. While more and more people turn to the web for shopping, most people still prefer to shop at brick-and-mortar stores for most of their needs. But that doesn’t mean your storefront can rest on your laurels. If anything, now is the time to improve the customer experience of your store by delivering the convenience of online technology with the personal touch of in-person shopping.

Every business relies on a supply chain to ensure its products and services move from producer to the customer. Because your business relies on a system of people, organizations, data, and other resources to move your products and services into the hands of your customers, you need a system that you can count on.

When most people think about government customer service, they conjure up images of long lines at the DMV and miles of bureaucratic red tape. The difficult, time-consuming, and confusing process of navigating government bureaucracy is often made worse by overworked staff members who aren’t very helpful.

These days, customers have a wide range of options when it comes to acquiring products and services. So how do you ensure your business stands out from the competition and captures those sales? You need to provide a great experience for your customer.

For leadership at colleges and universities across the United States, learning how to increase student retention is one of the most important areas of focus. For many, a school’s retention rate is a reflection of the education and life it provides. In theory, if students are fulfilled in and out of the classroom, they will want to stay until they have graduated.

At QLess, our mission isn't just to eliminate lines and improve the customer experience – it's to do all that in the most cost-effective way possible. Sure, if cost weren't a consideration, you could just hire more staff or redesign your waiting room or store to account for service delays. But those aren't options for a responsible operation. With QLess' scalable, easy-to-use platform you can solve problems that are costing your organization major revenue at a price that you can afford.

Still skeptical? Check out our new ROI calculator. Walk through this simple and free resource to see how you can potentially increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction, and manage sustainable growth with QLess.

There is an undeniable shift in customer service. Today’s “on-demand” economy has fundamentally changed the way we deliver service.

In this new era of competitive advantage, customer satisfaction is set by high expectations. When expectations are not met, loyalty and revenue rates decline.

With technology empowering customers, a winning strategy includes consistent, personalized, and high-value experiences. In Part 2 of our 6-part series, host Rick Mischka uncovers how to engage customers with Remote Join Queuing and FlexAppointments to create a personalized digital experience, unlock 5-star reviews, and boost operational efficiencies.

Next to strong academics and a high-quality student experience, college sports represent one of the great pillars of school spirit. They’re also a great moneymaker, and not just in the form of millions of dollars of revenue. A top-performing sports program is correlated with larger alumni donations, more applications, and even a better academic reputation.

As American universities struggle with reduced public funding and increasing competition from online colleges and short-timeline bootcamps, they must focus on those aspects that differentiate them from these upstart competitors if they want to remain in financial health.

That’s why sports are so important today.

It’s no secret that today’s brick-and-mortar businesses must implement creative strategies to convert online research into offline sales. That means optimizing in-store experiences to capture those sales while also earning a customer’s loyalty.

We’ve created an infographic outlining the ways in which the QLess queue management and appointment scheduling solution for retail enhances your business operations, improves your customer’s journey, and helps turn them into loyal shoppers for life.

If you’ve set foot in a shopping mall within the last few years, you may have noticed a big, impressive automated concierge kiosk. With futuristic designs and interactive touchscreen maps, these features look like something out of Star Trek and can help visitors find the stores they’re looking for. And for the minority of shoppers who notice the kiosk and use it, they can be fairly helpful, and certainly feel futuristic.

But they can also cost more than $15,000 each to install and manage, cannot be used to make appointments, and are very definitely not portable. Digital queueing, on the other hand, provides all the functionality of a fancy kiosk and much more while leveraging consumers’ constant access to mobile technology.

Few things are as much fun for kids as a trip to the local museum. Whether it’s checking out dinosaur bones, moon rocks, or art, it’s a great way to have a fun and interactive learning experience. But what’s not so fun is waiting in line. It’s a drag for adults, but if you’ve ever seen a three-year-old have a full-on meltdown standing in a queue, you know that it’s a million times worse for children.

Maintaining an effective medical practice is not easy. With so many factors and moving parts to consider, making sure your office is running smoothly requires constant attention. And it requires identifying different areas that waste time or result in poor outcomes.

There is an undeniable shift in customer service. Today’s “on-demand” economy has fundamentally changed the way we deliver service. 

In this new era of competitive advantage, customer satisfaction is set by high expectations. When expectations are not met, loyalty and revenue rates decline. 

With technology empowering customers, a winning strategy includes consistent, personalized, and high-value experiences. In Part 1 of our 6-part series, host Kelly Kliner uncovers how to engage customers with Two-Way Interactive SMS Texting to create a personalized digital experience, unlock 5-star reviews, and boost operational efficiencies.

Putting the customer first is one of the oldest (and most successful) strategies in retail. But, in the 21st century, traditional customer service methods are not enough on their own. To keep up with your competitors and meet the needs of the modern shopper, you need to use modern technology and consider factors that have been shown to make a big difference.

Parents are a wonderful group of people, but those few times a year when moms and dads descend on campus tend to get pretty chaotic. Graduations, move-in dates, and parents weekends put a lot of pressure on your campus’ offices, stores and venues, and handling the diverse needs of thousands of students and their parents is difficult with limited resources. 

However, long lines and frustrated crowds aren’t the image you want parents – many of whom are paying significant sums for their son’s and daughter’s education – to bring home with them, and chaos and disorder aren’t the kind of thing you want students to have as their first (or final) impression of your institution. A queue management system can’t reduce the number of people that will visit your school during these events, but it can help you alleviate certain pain points and help maintain orderly operations during these trying times.

Think about the times you walked into a store without a particular item in mind—times when you knew you wanted to shop, but weren’t looking for anything specific. How were you able to locate the right products? Odds are that the store layout played a big part in your purchase.

The fires that raged across Sonoma County in Northern California in late 2017 killed 42 people, but the damage didn’t stop there. Thousands of homes were destroyed, wineries and other businesses were leveled, and cattle and horses were killed as well. It was the deadliest series of fires in California history, and in the aftermath thousands of people needed help. Unfortunately, this led to long lines of devastated citizens in government offices around the county who had lost homes, belongings, and pets.

Experts predict that by the year 2025, the US healthcare industry could face a shortage of primary care physicians ranging from 34,600 to 88,000 physicians. Undoubtedly, medical practices need to start preparing now in order to survive the burdens of such a shortage of key staff.

It’s 7a.m. and you’re waiting in a long line of other caffeine-deprived folks just trying to snag your extra-tall caramel latte and get to work on time. Then the door opens and you watch with incredulity as some newcomer walks in, strolls straight up to the the counter and gets served immediately. Sounds unfair right? 

If you’re the operator of one of the many businesses that now offers online and mobile pre-orders, you should know that this is how many of your customers could be feeling right now. 

Pre-ordering apps have quickly become popular in food and coffee establishments, but the roll-out hasn’t been totally smooth. 

There is an undeniable shift in healthcare. Today’s “on-demand” economy has fundamentally changed the way we deliver patient care. 

In this new era of competitive advantage, patient satisfaction is set by high expectations. When expectations are not met, retention rates decline. 

With technology empowering patients, a winning strategy includes consistent, personalized, and high-value experiences. 

QLess has been recognized with another top-shelf award in the struggle against lifelong line-waiting. I’m referring, of course, to our latest Gold Stevie Award for stellar consumer services at the 16th annual American Business Awards.

 This past winter was an absolute disaster for Americans who had to get on airplanes. A January storm grounded nearly 2,000 flights and more than 5,000 more were delayed. A month later a nor'easter caused more than 2,500 planes to remain on the ground – including half of the flights scheduled to depart from Newark, one of the country’s busiest airports. In total, tens of thousands of flights were delayed by bad weather, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stuck in airports wondering how (or if) they would reach their destinations.

And every single one of those people had to get in a line to get even the most basic information.

One of the most difficult tasks for a medical practice is reducing patient waiting times. Caring for every patient with the punctuality they expect takes a lot of work, and inevitably, the combination of packed schedules, longer-than-expected appointments, and walk-in patients are going to lead to delays. The key, then, is to limit those lag times as much as possible—and to ensure patients are cared for as they wait.

Regardless of what kind of medical practice you work in, understanding how to improve the patient experience is critical.

When a medical practice is short on personnel, operating efficiently and giving patients the care they expect can be difficult. Whether you’re lacking an ideal number of physicians, nurses, or administrative staff, carrying out useful short staff solutions for medical offices is a tremendous challenge. It’s also one that will only become more necessary in the years to come.

It is a well-established fact in the psychology of queueing that no one actually likes to wait in line. Time passes much more slowly to the idling human mind, and if individuals have nothing to occupy themselves with, waiting can feel very frustrating and time-consuming. Of course you can find all of this out just by talking to anyone on the street. No one likes waiting in line!

It’s no secret that brick-and-mortar stores are in deep, deep trouble. Major chains like Toys “R” Us are gone, and others like Sears and JCPenney are on life support. It’s not that Americans aren’t buying things – Amazon managed to bring in more than 8 billion dollars last year – but in a world of instant gratification the paradigm of walking into a store and walking out with a full bag just isn’t working. 

Except it actually is.

Congratulations to Houston’s McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library for being recognized as a recipient of the 2017 National Awards for Passport Acceptance Facilities and Agents!

Over the past 10 years, the Apple brand has become one of the most popular – and profitable – brands in the world, thanks in no small part to the company’s revolutionary products like the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Macbook. 

With more and more people around the world pledging their allegiance to Apple products, many are beginning to wonder if the company has the capability to properly service its fan base. The average Apple store wait times suggests the answer is a resounding... maybe.

Keeping your clientele happy is, of course, an important part of building a successful business. To accomplish this, you need to know about the most common causes of customer frustrations. 

Read on to uncover the seven common customer service complaints in retail to avoid.

There is an undeniable shift in the world. Today's “on-demand” economy has fundamentally changed the way we conduct business. 

In this new era of competitive advantage, customer satisfaction is set by high expectations and the desire for instant gratification. 

With technology empowering consumers, a winning business strategy includes consistent, personalized, and high-value in-person and digital customer experiences. 

If you work in the freight and shipping industry, you’ve probably experienced your fair share of inefficiency when it comes to supply chain process. For those working with trucking transportation specifically, almost nothing is worse than an endless truck line: a long column of sixteen wheelers, idling their diesel engines and belching fumes, while the drivers wait for the arrival of cargo from a distant port of call. It is a problem in need of a technological solution – and now one exists.

Institutions are under pressure to maximize student retention and improve the student experience while being resource constrained – leading to high attrition rates and dissatisfied students.

With enrollment on the decline, colleges are forced to create an environment to foster positive student experiences. In fact, students with high satisfaction levels are 80% more likely to remain enrolled and graduate.

We recently announced a major milestone here at QLess: Our customer interaction management platform has saved more than 100 million customers over 5700 years’ time waiting in line. To put in perspective just how long that is, imagine what an individual could have done instead of queuing for 5763 years. If you’d started queuing 5700 years ago, you would have missed out on seeing the Great Pyramids of Giza built, worshipping at Stonehenge, and traveling along the original iteration of the Great Wall of China... with hundreds of years to spare in between. Someone who began queuing 5763 years ago would have been waiting since 3746 BC – Hammurabi didn’t even pen his famous law code until the 18th century BC. And I get frustrated just waiting in line at the grocery store!

Johnstone Supply – a wholesale HVAC supplier with over 400 stores across the US States – is the top cooperative wholesale distributor in the country and a recognized national leader in the HVACR industry. 

Despite getting a lot of walk-in business from HVAC and construction professionals, customers often neglected to browse the store’s 1,500 square foot showroom because they wanted to secure their place in line. 

To address this issue, store manager Jake Bishop sought a solution beyond outdated take-a-number systems. While researching virtual queuing solutions, Bishop found QLess. After a swift and smooth implementation process, Johnstone customers are deeply attached to the QLess system, which not only makes shopping easier and less stressful, but also provides invaluable data for the company to use.

We’ve all seen those ticket machines labeled “PLEASE Take A Number.” These internationally recognized symbols of long queues are the best way to signal to visitors that your waiting room is about to live up to its name. They’re out-of-date tools for an obsolete system.

Technology is making all aspects of our lives easier and more efficient, and the same goes for waiting your turn. Here are the top 7 reasons to scrap the take-a-number system:

Where are the best places to work in LA?

Today, the entire QLess team celebrated our recognition by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the best places to work! 

Since our founding, QLess Liberators strive to follow our mission to eliminate lines around the planet. In pursuit of that mission, we provide a modern solution to the outdated practice of waiting in line – effectively transforming the way the world waits. Our recognition by the LABJ as one of the best places to work demonstrates that we are delivering on that mission, as well as our core company values.

Today’s consumers have endless options when it comes to where to spend their money, so the savviest businesses (from retailers to doctor’s offices) know they’ve got to set themselves apart from the pack. The most impactful and low-cost way is to deliver stellar customer service. People remember when they get it, tell others about it, and honor it with repeat business. Just as true: people don’t hesitate to bail when service is poor. Below are five ways to help ensure that customers stick around:

Fall semester 2017 is around the corner, and as a college student it would be reassuring to know that I don’t have to spend hours and hours waiting in endless lines during my first week back to campus. I started as an intern for QLess this summer, and the experience has provided an eye-opening look into how lines should be managed on campuses across the United States. Having been in college for a few years the amount of hours I have spent on campus compared to the amount of hours I have spent in lines on campus is not a satisfying ratio. With a solution like QLess deployed the time spent in campus lines would be diminished to a mere fraction of the current average time wasted.

Watch this complimentary webinar to discover the 5 ways to deliver a 5-star customer experience.  

Hosted by Dr. Alex Bäcker – technology solutions expert, TEDx speaker, and Gold Stevie winner for IT Executive of the Year – you will gain insights to create a great customer experience and get a closer look at technology that will make you a hero at your business and with your customers.

As an expert in SaaS solutions, Alex works closely with a variety of retail businesses to cultivate 5-star reviews – such as at Vodafone, MTS Allstream, Tire Rack, Mecum Auctions, The Chicago Cubs, and Tourneau.

On behalf of everyone at QLess, we are so grateful for the honor of winning our fifth Gold Stevie® Award for "Best Computer Services Company" from the 2017 American Business Awards. This awesome distinction is a testament to the excellence of our entire team and our amazing partners.

And to thank our hard-working employees at QLess, we set-up an internal contest so that one of our employees could journey to New York City and accept our award. And our winner was the amazing and dedicated Pilar Ransome,  Support Manager!

Watch this complimentary webinar to discover the 5 best practices to improve campus operations.  

Hosted by Dr. Alex Bäcker – technology solutions expert, TEDx speaker, and Gold Stevie winner for IT Executive of the Year – you will gain insights to create a great student experience and get a closer look at technology that will make you a hero – both at your office and with your students.

As an expert in campus procurement, Alex works closely with colleges and universities to oversee the deployment of SaaS solutions and cultivate 5-star campus reviews – such as at NYU, Kent State University, Santa Monica College, and the University of Texas.

At QLess we empower people to manage their own time and wait anywhere they want.

Help us eliminate lines around the world by sharing a photo of a long line – be it at a bowling alley, a theme park, your favorite restaurant, at a doctor's office, on a college campus, at the DMV...anywhere! 

Just snap a photo of a long line, tag your location, and #EndTheWait!

Check out the 3 amazing prizes!  We will announce the winners on August 31. 

Watch this complimentary webinar to discover the 5 best practices to improve government operations.  

Hosted by Dr. Alex Bäcker – technology solutions expert, TEDx speaker, and Gold Stevie winner for IT Executive of the Year – you will gain insights to create a great citizen experience and get a closer look at technology that will make you a hero – both at your office and with your citizens.

As an expert in government procurement, Alex works closely with agencies – such as the Michigan Department of State, the Nevada DMV, and the Texas Department of Public Safety – to oversee the deployment of SaaS solutions and cultivate 5-star reviews.

The population of the world is increasing at an extremely fast pace.  No matter where you go or what you plan on doing, you will have to wait in line somewhere along the way – from a busy restaurant to your local airport, waiting in line has become a part of the process. Almost everyone is forced to wait in long queues, either on the phone or in a physical line.

Time management has become increasingly important and our patience has become (not surprisingly) extremely sensitive. A virtual queue management system doesn’t only save time, but rather it creates time, resulting in a productive relationship between the consumer and the business.

Deserved or not, if there’s anything synonymous with horrible customer service, it’s the Department of Motor Vehicles (or really any government office). People complain about interminable waiting times, poor communications and instructions, endless bureaucracy in getting the most routine tasks accomplished, and uncaring or downright rude workers. But the worst part is that society seems resigned to the notion that it won’t change, because it needn’t; there’s zero competition and there’s even less incentive for workers to go over and above.

But is there hope for improvement? And how?

Three universal truths for humanity:

1.  No one likes paying taxes
2.  No one likes going to the dentist
3.  And no one – nobody – likes waiting in line

Now, the first you have to do for the good of society and to avoid going to jail. The second you should do for the sake of good health. But the third…well, the third one, no one wants to do, and quite often they won’t. When people walk in to a retail business and see a long line, they often march right back out – taking their dollars, their loyalty, and their business with them.

The reality is that long lines kill business.

Apple hit a new market cap record this month. Valued at over 732 billion dollars, it's the most valuable company in the known universe. So you'd be forgiven for thinking the future of Apple is bright. But unless big changes are made, Apple's past will shine brighter than its future. 

Look, I'm no anti-Apple boy. I am writing this on a MacBook Air, while my iPhone 7 sits nearby. I lost too many iPads to keep track of, and frankly haven't bothered to replace the last one. I've even been paid by Apple.

Yet the signs are all too clear that Apple is no longer the innovation powerhouse and meticulous perfectionist it was under Steve Jobs.

There’s no question that customers are becoming more demanding. The reason: in our consumer-driven economy today, we all have access to lots of information and many, many more choices than we did in the past.

With the growth of internet commerce and shopping over the past 20 years, shoppers have become sophisticated and savvy with access
 to all the pricing and quality information about anything they want to buy right in the palm of their hands. 

Customers – even the most enthusiastic, brand-loyal customers – will only tolerate poor service for so long before they become ex-customers, and often enthusiastic ex-customers at that, willing to tell anyone with an eardrum about their inglorious experience.

All it takes is a long line at checkout, a disengaged salesperson, or a stick-to-the-rules-at-all-costs mentality for a customer to abandon your business and head for the exit. Knowing what compels customers to walk away will prepare your staff to never commit these blunders.

We put together the 5 things businesses should never do. Top on a customers’ “I’m-out-of-here” list:

The biggest dig leveled against the construction industry by those who don’t know the ins and outs of it goes something like this: “All construction workers do is stand around while one or two people do all the work.” Industry professionals, of course, know that there are many reasons for workers to be temporarily idle or “just standing around, watching people work” on the job site.

From civil engineers whose sole job is to ensure safety and compliance, to laborers who need to be available whenever duty calls, to tradesmen who sometimes have to wait their turn in a long process, workers who appear idle are often doing exactly the job for which they were hired. And most of the time this leads to greater efficiency, not less.

However, there are plenty of construction managers that constantly battle factors that impede productivity on the construction site often leading to missed deadlines, costly delays, and unsatisfied clients. Some of the most common blockers are:

People love to take their place at the bowling alley, batting cage, shooting or driving range. That’s a fun way to line up. What isn’t fun is waiting in a queue for your turn to bowl, swing, shoot, or play – or even stuck in a waiting area until your number is called.

People don’t usually show up to auto parts and services locations in the best of moods. Cars are absolutely indispensable to most American lives, so a car in need of parts, repairs, or servicing can put a serious strain on its owner. Not surprisingly, most consumers waiting for a smog check, oil change, or tire replacement would like their needs met with minimal time spent. A customer who drives to the local oil change station and sees a long line or full waiting room is likely to drive off and take his or her business elsewhere. No one likes waiting in line, after all.

We're delighted to announce the appointment of Darren Gasser as our new Vice President of Engineering!

Darren brings nearly 30 years experience in systems architecture and is a seasoned leader in developing SaaS solutions. Having worked for both international corporations (FedEx) and start-up companies, Darren’s deep experience ranges from defining, designing, building, and troubleshooting large-scale systems in a variety of business and technical environments.

On this Thanksgiving, we would like to express our gratitude for the honor of winning our second Gold Stevie® Award for "Best Computer Services Company of the Year" from the 2016 International Business Awards. This awesome distinction is a testament to the excellence of our entire team and our amazing partners.

And to thank our hard-working employees at QLess, we set-up an internal contest so that one of our employees could journey to Rome and accept our award. The catch? Nominees for the road to Rome were considered based on the "miracle"  they delievered to QLess. After a democratic vote across the entire company, we had not one, but two winners: 

The countdown is on. Black Friday's marketing plan is launched and businesses are lacing up their cleats, preparing for their Super Bowl. And they best be in top condition: the National Retail Federation expects retail sales this November and December to increase a solid 3.7%, to $630 billion, a significant leap from the average yearly increase of 2.5% over the last decade.

Many of us enjoyed an extra hour’s sleep this past Sunday, November 6^th, thanks to Daylight Savings Time (DST). The practice of setting clocks back in the fall and moving them forward every spring to maximize evening daylight has its defenders and detractors, but nobody can deny the feel-good perk to “fall back” an hour once a year to sleep, play, read, finish projects, or go shopping.

Now imagine that you had an extra hour every day – imagine saving not one but dozens of hours a year. In fact, you can! That’s because all of us waste hours a year waiting in line. That’s useless, inefficient, frustrating time that we’ll never get back. By avoiding lines at the hospital, DMV, airports, and other places where people are forced to stand around, you can reclaim wasted hours every day. That’s where mobile queuing technology can play a key role in saving time.

Picture a line of frustrated and footsore citizens stretching around a city block on a cold autumn evening. Some people see that line and head home, realizing they can’t afford to wait hours just for a chance to vote and let the government hear their voice.

This is not a scene from some former Soviet dictatorship, but a look forward at the upcoming United States Presidential election. The choice that America makes this coming November is an important one, yet some of the citizens making it will spend hours waiting their turn to vote. 

“I just love waiting in line,” said no one in the history of the world.

Indeed, the age-old custom of waiting in line wastes the average person up to two years of their life.

In a presentation delivered at Innovate Pasadena's "Friday Coffee Meetup" on October 14,  Dr. Alex Bäcker recounts the genesis of QLess technology – a platform that finally affords a modern savior to the outdated practice of queuing. As our founder and CEO here at QLess, Alex also shares the trials and successes of a SaaS start-up with 19 practical lessons for entrepreneurs learned from the trenches.

True story: I had to visit the DMV this week to register my car. As an employee of a queue management software, I resent lines a little more than the average person because I know there is a solution that eliminates lines and waiting (ahem, QLess).  

As the old adage goes: time is money. But how much money? According to an economics feature on Nate Silver’s statistics-driven site fivethirtyeight.com, New Yorkers pay an average of $56 a month to shave a minute off their daily subway commutes. As such, renters in New York City are willing to pay that much more in rent for a one-bedroom apartment that is one minute closer to popular Manhattan business districts. Want to move 10 minutes closer to Wall Street or Times Square? That’s going to cost you $560 per month!

What does a queue management platform have in common with Michael Phelps? The GOLD – six gold medals to be exact!

QLess earned the Gold Stevie® Award for "Company of the Year" from both the 2016 International Business Awards and the 2016 American Business Awards. The double distinction marks our 6th win for the top honor in the "Best Computer Services" category: two consectuive years from the IBA and four consecutive years from the ABA – a testament to the excellence of our entire team and our amazing partners.

And now we are hoping to win the People's Choice award – please vote to eliminate needless waiting in line!

One of the key issues in US elections today is the mechanics of voting. It’s a hot topic that pundits from all parts of the political spectrum are commenting on – and it often comes down to the fact that voters in many areas have to wait in line for hours to cast their ballots.

As filmmaker Michael Moore recently wrote, “People have to leave the house and get in line to vote. And if they live in poor, Black or Hispanic neighborhoods, they not only have a longer line to wait in, everything is being done to literally stop them from casting a ballot. So in most elections it’s hard to get even 50% to turn out to vote."

There’s nothing more dispiriting than checking in only to find that the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) security checkpoint line stretches on forever, and may even cause you to miss your flight. It seems like the TSA is constantly warning travelers about unusually long wait times during the summer or holiday season. Sometimes the agency initiates a hiring splurge and beats the rush, but more often travelers are left waiting and waiting for the privilege of taking off their shoes, sorting their possessions into plastic bins, and standing in an awkward body scanner before rushing to (maybe) catch their flight.

“Support Our Troops” is a common sentiment in the United States, but the men and women who have served in the armed services often don’t get the support they need. A prime example of this is the Veterans Administration (VA), the government department responsible for providing services to people who have served in the military.

What’s the worst part about visiting the doctor or going to the DMV? For most people, the answer is “waiting in line.”

We are thrilled to announce that the QLess app is now available on both iOS and Android devices! Effortlessly join a “virtual line” with our app. The real-time graphical queue manager and simple UI make it easy to track your place in line and arrive shortly before an appointment begins. With the app, you can also ask for more time, request status updates, or leave the line.

In the wake of the surge of complaints about long waits in Transportation Security Agency (TSA) lines and Veterans Administration (VA) facilities, our brave CEO offers a solution to the problem for both government agencies within 90 days:

David Maister authored a brilliant article entitled, “The Psychology of Waiting Lines,” identifying eight anxiety-inducing reasons why people loathe waiting in line.

It’s fair to assume that we can ALL relate that waiting is the hardest part:

• Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time;
• People want to get started;
• Anxiety makes wait seem longer;
• Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits;
• Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits;
• Unfair waits are longer than equitable waits;
• The more valuable the service, the longer the customer will wait;
• And solo waits feel longer than group waits.

So you have tons of customers -- bravo!

In our latest webinar, CEO Alex Bäcker unveiled the top 4 predictions for 2016. More than 85% of our attendees found the presentation insightful! In case you missed it, watch the recording here:

Conventional wisdom says the best way to avoid getting sick is to stay away from sick people. However, easier said than done when patients need to visit a doctor's office. Whether visiting your clinic for a routine examination or accompanying someone who's under the weather, patients enter your waiting room where germs lurk on every surface.

Are you using the latest technology to improve public perception of your government office? Agencies are rushing to adopt a wide range of technology improve front office tools for citizens and harness data.

Are you headed to Indianapolis for EDUCAUSE 2015? We are too!

Are you curious about using QLess at your college or university?

When it comes to choosing a college, today's students must grapple with a relatively new but crucial decision: will they strap on their backpacks and venture off to a brick and mortar school, or stay in their PJs and go to college online?

College administrators are pretty adept at and know the importance of giving students an excellent education, but they often overlook the value of something else: a great higher education experience. While colleges don't receive recognition or funding because their students are satisfied, that doesn't mean they won't reap the benefits from fostering a fantastic, service-oriented environment for their students.

For Apple fans anticipating the new iPhone 6S, the wait is finally over.

Or is it... ?

Queuing for the Apple device du jour is a notorious tradition. And since its debut last week, lines around the world to purchase the iPhone 6S could virtually wrap... around the world.

In Sydney, Australia, one enterprising woman sent a robot to do her bidding so she wouldn't have to wait overnight, sleeping on a sidewalk in front of the Apple Store with thousands of others.

But in an age of thriving technology, does it make sense to wait in line several hours, if not overnight, for the most high-tech phone available on the planet?

Sure, no one wants to stand around in line, but that doesn't mean you aren't willing to wait. The reason why there are long waits for anything is because it's something you have to do or something that's worth the wait. Here's a line that some people are happy to finally be able to join:

I am thrilled to share wonderful news: this month QLess earned the Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year, the top honor in the "Best Computer Services" category from both the International Business Awards and the American Business Awards!

Right next to the Hilton Pasadena, on the top floor of the Pasadena Office Tower.

There is a great deli at bottom, The Pumpernickel, that's been open since 1972. Great chicken breast sandwiches.

This week’s news brought us a couple of stories about people lining up and what gives us the most satisfaction.

Standing in line is frustrating, and when you’re there, you’re stuck with whomever arrives before you and after you. Sometimes it’s someone that you can commiserate with as you slowly trudge forward. Sometimes it’s a harried parent with a screaming five year old that hasn’t been taught boundaries or public behavior. Sometimes it’s magic that you haven’t torn the place apart with your bare hands.

It’s day 2 at Comic-Con. Pictures are crawling into my Facebook feed. News articles are rearing their heads. I should be there, but I’m at work…not because I couldn’t get the time off if I had the chance. I’m not there because I don’t know if I could deal with paying to stand in lines much of the time, the massive crowds and the rabid fandom.

Inspiring people to take on difficult challenges since 1962:
JFK's We choose to go the Moon speech

There is a great language divide even across English speaking countries. A sidewalk is a pavement, coriander is cilantro, a car trunk is a boot. In the US, a queue is a letter of the alphabet, the moment when you're supposed to say or do something, or an object used in a game of pool. At least it was until recently. It looks like Americans have gotten in the queue, too. From your Netflix movie queue to news publications such as the New York Times, you may not be lining up much longer.

The critical situation that Venezuelans have been living with for quite a while now is no secret to anyone. In the last months, we have seen in the news and particularly through social networks (due to media censorship) how a country that in theory is rich or at least it was rich, is being submerged in a series of tragic incidents. Venezuela has seen violence, student protesters, insecurity in the streets, political repression, hyperinflation (currently the highest inflation in the world) and now product shortages which have led to endless lines in supermarkets.

Okay, you got us!

Last week Alex Backer made a quick stop at the Huffington Post Live studios for a chat with host, Marc Lamont Hill. They discuss the birth of QLess, long lines and working to end those lines. Alex also talks about what it's like being the CEO of a growing start up.

Pi Day is amongst us! Lots of people are celebrating with parties and pies including one of our headquarters' favorite places to grab lunch: Blaze Pizza. We were really excited, like you have no idea, when we heard about their Pi Day promotion! Pizza pies (get it, pie?!) are $3.14 for the day. Well, we decided that we were hungry then and took a quick walk over.

QLess is not just about increasing customer satisfaction. QLess establishments get a treasure trove of data about their customer flow. The plot below, for example, shows the increase in urgent care visits during the flu season for a couple of QLess urgent care locations in Texas:

Recently we posted the great reviews that one of our healthcare clients was receiving due to improvement in their waiting system, among other reasons.

I can see it now…soft mood lighting, clinking glasses, a waiter pouring a tasting of the wine you requested when you made the reservation 3 months ago.

Wait…

That’s not what it’s really like is it? You forgot that Valentine’s is just around the corner despite all the stuff at the grocery store in pink and red. I mean, if you don’t have the day off, why else would it be on your mind? And then it arrives and you’re at work thinking, “What do I do? I mean s/he says it’s not important, but if I come home empty handed, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Hello world! It's been a while since I posted on our blog. We've been pretty busy cranking out new features for you, and building a world-class support organization. But I wanted to share some thoughts about QLess Support with you today.

 For many years I worked in retail and although it is exciting, it's almost like live TV: it leaves little room for errors. In fact, one of the key factors is to resolve any possible incident immediately and minimize the impact on the client.

There's a lot of queuing going on today in the news with a variety of outcomes. We're calling it the good, the bad and the ugly.

Weather across the country has been unbelievably cold with the exception of California, home to QLess headquarters. There are lots of jokes that have been made about the disparity and our comfortable (no pun intended) state. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around those negative temperatures even when we see the pictures and videos of waves freezing as they grow up a lake beach. But this week, Alex and a few of our team members are in Michigan for an important event. As Alex sat in the airplane, we looked up the weather and saw 11°F(-11°C) was awaiting him, a stark contrast from our 80°F(26°C).

Attention refers to how we actively process specific information present in our environment. Attention is what allows us to tune out information, sensations, and perceptions that are not relevant at that moment in order to focus on what is important. Combined with working memory; the short-term, “erasable” memory used while dialing a new phone number; attention allows us to learn new things, or follow along in a conversation. Described by psychologists as the cognitive process of selective concentration, attention is the allocating of mental resources to help in understanding the current environment and task.

Greg from Mobile Mixed, emailed us yesterday, after interviewing Alex (our CEO), expressing surprise at the amount of time people spend waiting in line:

Fast Casual, the premiere outlet for innovative restaurants, recently highlighted QLess’ acquisition of assets of the mobile paging provider Textaurant Corporation and the momentous changes this will be creating for the restaurant industry.

QLess Speaks about Textaurant Corporation Acquisition with Boston.com

Time is money. It’s an old reliable adage. If you could return wasted time to your customers, that wouldn’t just mean more money, it would mean customer satisfaction. The QLess time management platform frees up customers from waiting in line by sending them a text reminder a few minutes before it’s their turn. This kind of superior customer experience can improve your reputation, create stronger customer loyalty, improve customer retention and increase your bottom line.

A virtual queue management system is really helpful, as it is a time saving technology. Your customer will know about the status of their turn in line as well as their number in the overall queue. They will also be informed of the estimated time that it will take until they are in the front of your line. In the case that your customer is up in line but cannot make it back, its also possible to get back in line and avoiding the situation where they could have missed their turn. Utilizing SMS queue management will make sure that every customer gets his turn in line without wasting their time or yours.

Barbie mania, that’s the best way I can describe the Barbie Village at GirlTopia, the largest girls’ convention in the US. A Girl Scout sponsored event, the scouts and their den mothers came in droves to see the Barbie exhibit where girls got to dress in some of their favorite Barbie outfits, take pictures and get a special Barbie badge for their uniforms. We volunteered to help manage a QLess queue for the event. Mothers texted in and we were able to call them to the front so that there would only be 1-2 groups ahead of them when they arrived.

We’re excited to be gearing up for Blackboard’s newly updated mobile app. Blackboard is a leading developer of software for K-12 and higher education institutions and students.

I recently visited West Los Angeles College (WLAC) during a visit by several of our overseas partners, who wanted to see a QLess queue management installation.

Mobile queuing solutions allow customers to avoid physical lines and get on with their lives so they can take care of other errands while checking on their place in “line” via updates using their smart phones on the go. Implementing these solutions leads to time saved not only for customers, but for staff.

We had a real treat at the headquarters of QLess a couple of weeks ago: Dave Logan, best-selling author of Tribal Leadership, and his partner Carrie Kish, a successful serial entrepreneur and uber-likeable woman, led a session on the stages of tribal leadership. They shared with us how they think the revolution of eliminating standing in line is a stage 5 play --the way the Manhattan project or the race to the Moon were. Their ability to influence people's language subsequently was truly remarkable. Interestingly, Dave's TEDx talk at USC had focused on DMV lines as an example of a stage 2 tribe. We are privileged to count them among our good friends.

Great meeting with Alcatel-Lucent CTO, Jean Pierre Albinet, and Nicolas Duez, Sr. Director for Professional Services Worldwide, and John Smyrnos last week at Educause. Great people. They've done a beautiful job integrating QLess into a full interactive smart display and emergency notification system for colleges, hospitals and others.

Time is money. It’s an old reliable adage. If you could return wasted time back to your customers, you could improve the overall customer experience and increase customer retention. The QLess time management platform frees up customers from waiting in line by sending them a text reminder before it’s their actual turn in line.

QLess, Inc., the world’s first mobile queuing solution, has now been honored with 10 Stevie Awards, including seven International Business Awards and three American Business Awards, over the past four years. The six latest 2013 awards will be added to QLess’ four existing Stevie Awards that recognize the company’s innovative technology in helping organizations everywhere replace physical lines with virtual and mobile queues.

Generation Y has a different mindset than previous consumers. Compared to the blind consumerism of the 80’s, young people today are product savvy.

Generation Y is changing everything. Born roughly between 1978 and 1994, my generation grew up online. Those of us born after the 80’s can’t remember a world without the Internet or cell phones.

Not too long ago, as Generation Y began entering the workforce, older employers were hesitant. This group of young people seemed unable to focus, addicted to our smart phones, overly casual, and uncommitted.

As the school year is starting to ramp up, Fullerton College has begun to use QLess, the world’s first mobile queuing services, again to help students stand not in physical line, but virtual and mobile lines. This allows students the freedom to socialize and go about campus on their own time with their spot held in line.

As we mentioned in our last article, having to wait a long time in a queue has an enormous negative effect on customer satisfaction and therefore can also debilitate revenue growth.

Waiting in line is frustrating.

Given that access to information is available from anywhere in the world in the palm of one’s hand, how organizations address their queues and lines can determine their longevity and if they will operate efficiently.

Through analytics provided from the QLess services, it has been determined there is a clear relationship between positive customer experience and revenue growth, referrals, return visits and customers’ experiences when dealing with something seemingly as simple as physical waiting rooms and lines for service.

Liz Ohanesian of LA Weekly, one of LA’s top publications, spoke with QLess Founder and CEO Alex Bäcker and quickly learned he is a problem solver. After standing in line himself at Knotts Berry Farm, Alex came up with the idea for QLess, which is now applicable for all theme park lines. A quick thinker, Alex came up with the idea by the time he reached the front of the line.

QLess Inc, the mobile queuing solution that allows customers to wait in virtual and mobile lines, has been named by the International Business Awards the winner of six of their most prestigious awards. Founder and CEO, Alex Bäcker was named the Gold Stevie Winner of IT Executive of the Year, Silver Stevie Winner of Innovator of the Year, and Bronze Stevie Winner of Executive of the Year in Computer Software.

QLess, the mobile queuing solution serving over 10 million customers, has expanded its list of acquisitions with the London-based virtual queue management company, Supalocal.

On average Brits will wait just under six minutes in a shop queue before they walk out. That's according to a survey conducted as part of an investigation by Omnico into the effect of queues on retailers' businesses. The survey also found that over half (56%) of Britons would be less likely to return to a store if they'd had a bad queuing experience, with men more likely than women to hold a bad queuing experience against a store (58% versus 55% respectively).

This video shows just how angry customers can get when you tell them to wait in line. The Apple store needs QLess. You cannot just tell walk-ins to walk away or wait hours. Especially while people with appointments are late. I once stood waiting for service at an Apple store without luck while a so called genius screamed the name of a person with an appointment at the top of his lungs. That person did not show up, and I did not get service. Patented QLess FlexAppointments fixes all of that by letting those with appointments who will be late push themselves back and automatically replace them with others in the QLess waitlist, letting those who won't show up to cancel their appointment from their phone and be replaced with someone else, too, and seamlessly integrating FlexAppointments with the waitlist.

Colleges are mostly about students. And it turns out the best way to get students to rave about their college is to use QLess to liberate them from waiting in line. QLess was mentioned in 22% of the Yelp reviews 3-stars and above about WLAC since QLess was deployed. Just read what Aiden Y. of Irvine, CA wrote in his 4-star review :

We just conducted a thorough data analysis to look into whether not having people waiting in a waiting room for service relaxes DMV staff and makes them less efficient, or more. It turns out that QLess has reduced the average transaction duration at QLess DMVs throughout Kansas. The decreased stress on staff from facing happier customers rather than people tired from standing in line seems to have a dramatic improvement on productivity. Since launching QLess, each of the QLess offices average transaction durations has gone down, from 31% for Andover to 76% for Wichita.

If demand was evenly spaced across time and space, and assuming that every customer eventually gets served --not always true as our data shows that up to 50% of potential customers leave during their wait for service--, there would be no wait times. Yet demand inhomogeneities mean that wait times can be hugely different across locations, creating long waits at one while others are empty. QLess provides a simple solution for this by alerting your customers of real-time wait times at each of your locations, increasing demand for lower wait locations while reducing demand for higher wait ones, thereby smoothing demand across supply. The effect of this load balancing was staggering at Johnson County's two QLess locations: the month that QLess launched, average wait time at one location was 250% that of the other location's. By the next month, both wait times were within 1% of each other!

Last week, as we inaugurated our first Black U.S. President for his second term, we also honored the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--a man who had a dream, and who against all odds succeeded in helping to make that dream a reality. The coincidence was fitting, and for many (myself included), inspirational.

Beginning with Denver, polling stations will serve voters with the first and only integrated, Mobile Queue Management and Mobile CRM platform.

Beginning with Pflugerville, Driver License Mega Centers serve citizens with the first and only cross-industry, integrated Mobile Queue Management platform.

LOS ANGELES, CA – October 30, 2012 – QLess, Inc. is proud to announce that it has been selected to provide its patent-pending Mobile Queue Management platform for several new driver license mega centers being opened by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The first mega center opens its doors in Pflugerville on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

“QLess DMVs have been winning national awards for years and saving citizens decades of waiting in line. The Texas DPS is now taking that to a whole new scale, and will enable DPS employees to more efficiently serve their customers, while improving customer convenience, which is a top priority for the department,” said QLess CEO, Dr. Alex Bäcker.

Get in Line

DPS mega centers will leverage the QLess technology platform to help DPS employees more quickly and effectively serve customers at these driver license offices. The Mobile Queue Management system will offer customers the convenient option to “get in line” without going to the office. Customers will join the virtual line online or via any phone. QLess will also provide customers interactive options allowing them to make adjustments to their place in line – for instance, if they are running late, they can push themselves back in line. Walk-in customers will use the self-service check-in kiosks and will have the option of returning later, closer to the time they will get served, notified by QLess via text or phone call as their turn approaches. This level of interactivity is unique to QLess, and allows for an unrivaled customer experience, effectively giving customers back lost time.

“We are committed to ensuring Texas driver license customers have a quick and efficient visit to our offices, and using the QLess system will give our mega centers the technology needed to take a major step in advancing our goals of providing effective and efficient service to our customers," said DPS Director Steven McCraw.

In order to deliver a seamless experience for both staff and citizens, QLess worked in close partnership with DPS officials throughout the entire setup process. The result will be a Mobile Queue Management experience that is convenient for both the Texas citizen and for DPS staff.

With the announcement, QLess continues to advance towards its vision of liberating people from the act of waiting in line. Texas is in good company, with QLess locations in California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as around the world, from Barcelona to Winnipeg and British Columbia to Melbourne and Vienna.

The Pflugerville announcement further solidifies QLess as the world’s premier provider of Mobile Queue Management and Mobile CRM. The QLess Mobile Queue Management platform is unique in many ways, not the least of which is that it works in any industry where people wait in a queue, allowing for rich ecosystem experiences when QLess merchants are in close proximity to one another. QLess can also be localized to operate in any geography and in any language, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, German, French, Catalan, Dutch, and Arabic.

In addition to enjoying increased customer satisfaction, QLess customers gain access to an entire suite of QLess Analytics tools, which allow for rich data capture and analysis of customer and staff metrics unavailable anywhere else.

About QLess

QLess is dedicated to letting people live more and wait less. QLess Mobile Wait Management dramatically reduces waiting in line or on hold by letting people join a mobile queue from their phones, roam freely and get notified as their turn approaches. QLess also notifies hotel guests when their room is ready for check-in. QLess is the first true mobile CRM and boasts a powerful analytics & SMS surveys suite for brick-and-mortar merchants. QLess serves retail, government, education, hospitality, healthcare and everywhere people wait, and has saved millions of users well over a century of waiting. Customers include T-Mobile, Vodafone, the largest college districts in the nation, Rolex/Tourneau, DMVs and leading healthcare providers such as the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about QLess at www.qless.com.

About Texas DPS

For more information about the Texas Department of Public Safety, visit www.dps.texas.gov.

It has long been known that the average shopper in a retail environment like a shopping mall spends about USD$1.5 per minute (see also this whitepaper).

The beauty of living in the 21st Century is that for the thousands of people attending the 2012 London Olympics this year, tickets could easily be purchased online and from every corner of the world.

Here is a Fox News report on how Twin Peaks is growing fast in this economy. Want to know how? Here's part of their secret:

If you want to work and learn with one of the fastest-growing most exciting companies in the planet, send a cover letter, a resume and your favorite joke to interns@qless.com today.

Raw, unedited student feedback about QLess --some of it quite funny, a testament to the many ways youth has to express happiness:

As the 2012 Olympics draw near, and amidst reports of rampant border control queues at Heathrow Airport, I can't help but imagine the systemic chaos that will likely ensue over the next few months. It will culminate on August 13, the day after the Olympics closing ceremony, when Heathrow will experience its largest volume of passengers--ever. Authorities insist that the airport is prepared, but I'd be willing to bet that Murphy's Law will have a hand to play.

"This is by far the best system I have ever used. Lets you anticipate your time. It also give you more freedom to make a call or use the bathroom, knowing where you are in line. Thank you." -QLess user with a Las Vegas phone number in an SMS to us when we asked about his/her experience

It's always a pleasure to meet accomplished people who raise our standards, who humble us with their record of accomplishment. Yesterday, the LA Times wrote on its cover about one such entrepreneur: Elon Musk, of whose Saturday launch of the latest SpaceX rocket the future of the space age may depend, something he does in his spare time when he's not running Tesla, the first successful electric car company and a solar energy production company (you want to have the electricity to run his cars be clean, after all) to save the Earth (you can tell he's not confident of his success and is hedging his bets with an escape plan). It's good that Elon is up to something these days, as previously he had only co-founded and led the Internet's largest payment platform (Paypal). And that after he created his first multi-hundred-million dollars success. Wishing him and SpaceX all the luck on Saturday's launch.

Johnson County's DMV is closing their offices for a week starting tomorrow, so there's a rush on their two offices today. As I write this, they have 925 customers waiting in their virtual queues for service. The lobby at each office can accommodate abut 120 people. Imagine, for a moment, if Johnson County did not offer QLess service, to allow customers to use their cell phone to manage their spot in line. Imagine how crowded both offices would be. Imagine yourself crowded into a standing-room-only environment, waiting for 4 hours for service. Then imagine that someone at Johnson County asked you for feedback on your waiting experience. Ok, now you have your non-QLess base-line. :) QLess sent each customer that queued by phone at Johnson County today the following SMS once they were done with their transaction:

Check out this great customer feedback from QLess users at the Johnson County DMV.

Check out this very well-done video explaining how QLess is saving families at Washington Square Mall this year from having to stand in line to see Santa.

750,000 residents use the Providence, RI DMV system annually and most note long lines as the reason for the negative public image it has. So what do you do to solve the biggest problem they have? You bring in an insurance company to teach sensitivity training to the workforce of course. It all makes perfect sense, just combine the bureaucracy of the insurance industry with the great taste of a government run DMV and you've got a recipe for success. Instead of fixing the problem, utilize significant funding and resources to train a workforce that likely already has low job satisfaction and high turnover. Perhaps they didn't know that QLess is ending long lines and improving the customer experience at leading DMVs across the nation. If you're one of those unfortunate Providence customers, let them know there is a better way... with QLess :)

When it comes time to be heard on an issue that is sensitive to public policy and personal convictions, the governing body has an obligation to listen to its constituents and gather information and insights before rendering decisions. Municipalities small and large face issue ranging from smoking bans to permitting to budget. This week in Manhattan, the sensitive topic of hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as Fracking, comes to light in public hearings that are expected to draw extremely long lines of people waiting to be heard. And guess what happens when people endure long lines and tireless hours waiting to be heard in these public forums? You guessed it. They get angry. Let's put an end to the disorderly and ring in a better way to let voices be heard with QLess.

For any parent, seeing your young child meet Santa, sit on his lap and share her Christmas wish list is a time-honored tradition. Extending the holiday shopping season means there are more opportunities for the kids to see Santa, and more locations to do so as well. At the same time, the outfits have gotten more high-tech and opportunistic. Now, there are professionally-taken photographs and packages that can be ordered, limitations on personal camera use, and even candy and hot chocolate buying opportunities in some high-end malls. And unfortunately, most have one thing in common beyond the jolly man with long white beard: the wait in line. Kids don't want to wait. Adults don't want to wait. Frankly, we'd rather be spending money at other stores than spend it standing among crying toddlers. Luckily, there are now several malls where Santa uses QLess to virtually manage long lines, so we as parents don't have to stand in them!

The Thanksgiving holiday means retail deals like no other and lines like no other. While not all result in pepper spray to get ahead, most involve spending far more time waiting line than most can or care to stomach. A father and son team in Flagstaff, AZ spent over 30 hours waiting for color coded vouchers at Best Buy. Their entire turkey day was turkey-less. What if you could have your turkey and eat it too? Well...with QLess you can. Retailers can manage lines virtually so consumers get what they want in an orderly, pepper spray-free environment, so they can spend time with friends and family instead of wasting it in line.

This year it is starting earlier than ever, but so far, the results have been largely the same. Long lines and big headaches. Every year we hear the stories of people camping out, going sleep deprived - and even getting downright nasty (taking cues from the honey badger). Luckily, Walmart and other retailers have started early so you can experience the frustration earlier than ever. Get a glimpse of some interesting tips here. And if you're searching for luxury timepiece for someone on your list, the Tourneau store in NYC uses QLess so you won't have to wait in line. Have you got an early Black Friday experience to share? Let us know.

Many people fear the dentist more than any other common human experience (even more than marriage). They agonize over the drill, the smoke, the sounds, latex - you name it. But for some it comes with an additional price. On this Veteran's day it has been brought to light that many of those who have served in the armed forces so courageously are faced with the additional frustration of waiting in exorbitant lines for free dental work. It is truly a tragedy that so many Veterans return home, struggle to make a living and have to wait for hours for healthcare. QLess can help end the wait for these heroes.

You'd think that a brand as innovative as Apple would leverage its own technological and process design assets to take the pain of out its product release. And professional queuers? Check out this article and video to see the chaos in action. There's certainly a much more affordable and customer-friendly way to solve this challenge - QLess.

I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to exercising your right to vote, we have a better job as a nation to do in making sure people are both aware of the issues and able to actually make their vote count. That said, when people make the effort to do so with pride and conviction, shouldn't the government at least be prepared? In yet another case of voter administration challenge (just wait until the next election phase really comes into full swing), people were denied a right to vote, actively being discouraged due to long lines. See the full post here. Let's make it easy on people in the future Mississippi, let's make sure every willing voter gets to cast their interest -and that it is counted, not discounted. It can be done with QLess.