Yahoo Finance Overdue Idea: The Tim Hortons Priority Card
THE ISSUE: We’ve all been there. You’re in line for your medium black with sugar, knowing you have 8 minutes to get your coffee and get to work. There are a few people ahead of you, but the line is moving smoothly; people are rattling off their regular orders quickly and getting them filled. Suddenly, it all stops.
Up front, you hear: “Can you tell me about the sandwiches? Does the BLT have ketchup?” The momentum lost, all eyes wish death upon the Tim’s newbie at the counter. Might as well text “Running L8” to your boss right now.
THE VICTIMS: Believe it or not, there are some Canadians who never visit a Tim Hortons. But check the lineups at any Timmy’s in a high-traffic area and you’d have to wonder where those people are hiding. Whatever the virtues of the coffee, we pour it down our throats like ritual. For the true believers, to interrupt that is disaster.
And Tim Hortons knows it has a problem with long lines. In fact, they’re over the moon that they have more customers than they can fit inside the stores. They’ve experimented with coffee-only lines, but haven’t found the solution. Drastic measures are needed.
THE FIX: Lots of retailers have VIP cards, but ‘VIP’ doesn’t really fit the Tim’s ethos. Instead, we need something to separate the fast-moving coffee, pastry-and-gone crowd from the sandwich-buyers, the tourists, the people out for a stroll. They may object, but who cares? We’re looking out for the main demographic here.
The Tim’s Priority Card would not be fee-based, it would be usage-based, and it you’d have to earn it. You start with a tracker card that you scan every hit up a Tim’s. It would record your orders and frequency of visits, with the aim of singling out the hard-core drink-and-donut crowd from the civilians. If, over a one-month period, you show yourself to be a daily visitor with a simple recurring order, you get your permanent card, and access to a high-speed no-nonsense line: the Priority Line.
If you only go twice a week for a mid-afternoon iced latte, no dice. If you wander in for lunch once in a while, enjoy your wait. Remember, the card can be revoked at any time if you stray too far from your normal ordering habits, so stay sharp! (Like a newspaper, vacation stops and starts could be requested online).
It may not be the perfect solution, but it’s close enough. These are desperate times. If I have to wait behind those slow nitwits again, I’m going to do something drastic, like go to the trendy little coffee shop next door. (Nah, who am I kidding?)
