this seems more likely to exist as a discount for waiting than as a surcharge for being faster
What does this mean? That it would be better for a store to have a sole 5% discount lane and no other special lanes than a 5% surcharge lane, and that it would be better for a store to have no special lanes than a 5% discount lane?
I am suggesting that a grocery store could a) unilaterally b) bring the situation closer to a Pareto optimum and c) capture much of the benefit.
To the extent consumers are rational, the store pushes off the decision to commit to a faster or cheaper store until the consumer has more information. To the extent they are irrational, it offers them an impulse purchase that is easy to rationalize.
Suppose the local grocery store offers this option.
Now, whenever* you don't choose the toll lane, you'll be struck by how long the non-toll lines are. You may even wonder if it's a plot to make you pay 5% extra at the register and thus display lower prices on the shelves, or maybe to just waste your time if you don't want to pay the extra 5%.** You don't recall waits at the other grocery store being this torturous, and so you start going there instead.***
*Offer subject to availability and confirmation bias.
**Offer subject to attribution bias.
***Indeed, you...
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