The Curse of the Invisible Shoppers: No Signage and Tripped Sensors

TL:DR – Lack of simple signage means that people exit the ‘wrong’ way and make it appear that there are more shoppers in store than there actually are

The Problem
My local Co-Op store in Mumbles only has one way in and out.

As COVID19 regulations means there can only be a certain number of people in store, a sensor to track people coming in and out of the store was placed at the entrance.

If the store is full, the red light goes on and the doors won’t let anyone in.

Sounds great in theory

In practice, it doesn’t work for one very simple reason

The sensor on the left (1) tracks people coming into the store and sensor (2) tracks people leaving the store.

Mumbles Co-Op Entrance

However, there are no markings in the store as you leave, so a lot of people leave on the right for two reasons.

Mumbles Co-Op inside

1) There are more shops to the right
2) They live on that side of the Co-Op and are going home

This makes the system think that someone has entered the store rather than leaving

Which results in queues like this that which just frustrate people

mumbles co-op queue

The Solution
Add clear signage on the floor and doors, plus a narrow barrier in the middle would make it far more obvious which way to go

I’ve contacted Co-Op to see what they say