Thinking backwards can actually be quite brilliant.

Recently, I've been reading a lot and have come across some ideas that would normally prove that the creators are out of their minds.

The Freakonimics Blog shares a story about a gas station owner in California who had obviously let the high prices rampant across San Francisco go to his head.  His Shell gas station was charging $4.33/gallon of gas.  And it wasn't just the market price--the gas station across the street was charging $0.70 cents less per gallon.

Then, I read on the Fast Company Experts blog that some airlines, including British Airways, are literally thinking backwards.  They're exploring the idea of seating half the passengers backwards on their flights.

Finally, the New York Times reveals that when Whole Foods designed its new stores in New York City, the company deliberately made the check-out line long... very long!  Instead of having multiple checkout lines like all the other grocery stores in NYC, Whole Foods has only one winding line to service the entire store.

Luckily, those ideas aren't as nearly as crazy as they sound.

The reason gas prices are so high at that particular station is that the owner is protesting what he considers unfair business practice by Shell Gasoline.  He raised the prices so that the station wouldn't sell a thing and so customers would associate Shell's brandname with extremely high prices.

Nor is it so stupid to create alternative front-to-back seating on airplanes.

Not only are backwards-facing seats safer in an accident, the new arrangement would also give passengers 2 extra inches of legroom and a whole armrest to themselves (without the usual battle).

It would also allow airlines to add 50 seats to existing planes, which might make them stop complaining of bankruptcy. (Unlikely, but I can dream.)

And Whole Foods didn't commit market suicide in New York City by going down to one checkout line.

In fact, Whole Foods' customers are thrilled because they wait for less time.  That one line goes to multiple checkout stations, so customers never have the bad luck to get in the "slow lane".  Even when the line reaches over 50 people, Whole Foods customers usually breeze through their checkouts in about 5 minutes.

It's usually not a compliment to say someone is thinking backwards, but today I'm thrilled to make a couple exceptions!

Anyone else have any examples of fantastic backwards thinking?

Comments

[Matthew Greber]

Interesting - I'd seen (and reported to Freakonomics about the Shell station) all of these stories, but hadn't connected them in this manner.

There's the flip side of this, of course -- airlines insist that everyone has to check luggage instead of carry them on for a variety of reasons...now, airlines have found a HUGE increase in cost for fuel, because their planes are much heavier. Turns out when you know in advance you have to check your bag, you pack a LOT more.

Matthew, how did you know I pack so much more when I have to check my luggage? ;-) It makes sense for customers though--why not bring those extra 3 shirts, the big camera and a couple more books if we have to check the suitcase anyways?

And airlines are also struggling because they didn't anticipate the huge increase in checked luggage that they now need to scan. Brilliant, huh? Of course, in the case of the airlines, their "creative" thinking usually just moves them backwards with customers.

Also, Matthew, thank you very much for passing on the Shell station story to Freakonomics!

[Kathleen]

I came over from Paull Young's blog to read your post about Facebook but I really loved this one. I didn't guess the brilliance behind any of these ideas before you revealed their logic.

I wonder how that gas station owner is surviving if he's sabotaging his business? Perhaps he is independently wealthy, or still sells items at the convenience store inside (I worked at a gas station once and this was the only part of the store that earned the franchise owner any profit).

Actually, he's not surviving. Bob Oyster, the owner of that gas station, raised his gas prices to protest the high costs of operating a Shell station in that area of San Francisco because he had nothing to lose. He was planning to get out of business and decided to go out with a splash (and ruin Shell's chances of continuing a gas station on that spot in the future).

For anyone who is interested, the gas station really closed with a bang on May 31, 2007. Bob Oyster dropped the prices down to $2.98/gallon for the last day. People waited in line up to 3 hours.

The article is here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/31/BAGKCQ52044.DTL