It takes twice as long to reach the front of a queue as it did two years ago, according to a new international survey.
In the Europe-wide poll, researchers in 24 countries were asked to join queues in businesses and services, including banks, grocery stores, travel ticket offices and fast food outlets.
They found on average it takes just over 10 minutes to reach the front of a queue – twice the time taken in 2008.
The survey, organised by the European branch of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, saw researchers assess 2,000 different queues.
They also found on average post offices had the longest queues, as well as the most dissatisfied customers, closely followed by banks.
According to the poll, Russia had, on average, the longest and slowest queues, but the Bulgarian Passport Office was found to have the slowest queue – taking six hours to process 36 customers.
As well as reporting on the time taken to get to the front of the queue, researchers also assessed the response from the member of staff when they got there – discovering only half could manage a smile.
They found Belgium and Ireland came top of the “smiles league”, and clothing stores came top for best quality of service.
According to the results, top of the list for queuing times was Sweden – with an average of two minutes.
Also in the top 10 were Denmark, Spain and the UK, with an average of three minutes.
In a top ten of the worst offenders for queuing, post offices topped the table with average queues of 19 minutes, followed by banks at 18 minutes.
Department stores were also high on the list at 11 minutes, followed by train stations at eight minutes.
But at the bottom of the table, with much smaller queues, are clothes shops with average queues of four minutes and bus stations with queues of 3.45 minutes.
Julian Chamberlain, managing director of UK mystery shopping company Retail Active – a MSPA member – said Britain also fell into the top five of countries in a table of overall customer satisfaction, including queueing times and the way people are treated by staff.
He said: “This is a fascinating piece of research and demonstrates the value of mystery shopping in helping businesses to discover the way in which customers experience shopping in this country and in continental Europe.
“Retail Active’s experience in the UK fully supports the comments of MSPA president Cristiani Oliveira that the survey indicates that in difficult times for retailers, lowering standards may be having a detrimental effect on customer service.
“Mystery shopping is the only way organisations can measure how well or badly customers are being treated.
“In terms of overall performance the UK came out well.
“Like everywhere else, people are having to spend longer standing in queues – but for satisfaction in the quality of customer service received, we came in the top five, along with Ireland, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands.”
The new statistics come just weeks after another study revealed British people are far less willing to queue now than they were previously.
The poll of 2,000 consumers for Barclaycard found two-fifths (41 per cent) of shoppers refuse to queue for longer than two minutes, and two-thirds (68 per cent) regularly abandon purchases if they are expected to wait.
Waiting at food and drink outlets is the most frustrating for shoppers, with supermarkets considered the best at managing queues, the study found.
It also showed half of shoppers (51 per cent) refuse to even enter a store if they see a queue.
The top 10 countries by queuing time, according to the survey, are:
Sweden – 2 mins, Denmark – 2 mins 40 secs, UK – 3 mins, Spain – 3 mins, Estonia – 3 mins 30 secs, Lithuania – 4 mins, Macedonia – 4 mins 10 secs, Ireland – 4 mins 30 secs, Austria – 4 mins 50 secs and Portugal – 5 mins 15 secs.
The top 10 worst offenders for queueing, on average, according to the survey, were: Post offices – 19 mins, Banks – 18 mins, Department stores – 11 mins, Train stations – 8 mins, Grocery supermarkets – 6 mins, Pharmacy – 5 mins, Liquor stores – 4 mins 30 secs, Fast food outlets – 4 mins 30 secs, Clothing stores – 4 mins and Bus stations – 3 mins 45 secs.