Question

To a consumer, time spent waiting can seem longer or shorter than the actual number of hours or minutes spent. That is, perceived wait time is often unequal to actual wait time. To help service providers and managers manage customer perception of wait times, the authors of your textbook outline the eight principles of waiting, which they have borrowed from Maister’s (1984) book The Psychology of Waiting in Lines. One of these rules (Principle 4) states: __________ feel longer than __________, but __________ feel longest of all.

Answer 1

"Preprocess waits" feel longer than "in-process waits" but "post process waits" feel longest of all.

Step-by-step explanation:

David Maister in his book; "The psychology of waiting lines", states that preprocess waits feel longer than in-process waits but post process waits feel longest of all.

Preprocess wait according to Maister, is the wait experienced by customers when they are yet to receive a service they crave. Waiting in line to board an airplane is an example.

In-process wait refers to the length of time a customer has to wait while he is in the process of being served. An example is sitting in an airplane for hours while en route to your destination.

Post process wait is the time a customer has to wait after receiving valuable service before he or she can leave the service area. An example of this is waiting to get off an airplane after arriving at your destination.