Sand timers and CVS receipts - how much time is wasted?

Every year, the time spent waiting for that extra long CVS receipt to print plus the time waiting for sand timers to reset during board game play totals over 500 years!

Think about how much advancement can happen in 500 years:

-In 1525, the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun was just gaining traction. By 2025, we’ve sent probes beyond the solar system.
-In 1525, most Europeans didn’t know what lay beyond their continent. The Americas were barely mapped. By 2025, we’ve explored every continent, mapped the ocean floor, and sent robots to Mars. You can fly anywhere in the world in under a day.
-In 1525, printing presses were new. Most people were illiterate. Messages were sent by horse. By 2025, anyone can access almost all human knowledge from a phone in their pocket. AI can write, speak, and translate languages in real time. Global video calls are routine.


Show your work:

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Step 1: Estimate # of CVS Transactions Per Year
• CVS has about 9,000 stores in the U.S.
• Let’s conservatively say each store handles 300 transactions/day
• (Some are higher, especially in urban areas, but we’ll average it)
• That’s:
• 300 × 9,000 = 2.7 million transactions/day
• 2.7 million × 365 = ~985 million transactions/year

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??? Step 2: Estimate Extra Time Waiting for Receipt

CVS receipts are notorious for being long, especially with all those coupons and loyalty program printouts.

Let’s estimate:
• A normal receipt takes 3–5 seconds
• A CVS receipt can easily take 10–15 seconds, or even longer
• Extra wait time: Let’s say 10 extra seconds per transaction on average

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?? Step 3: Multiply
• 985 million transactions × 10 seconds = 9.85 billion seconds/year
• Convert to minutes:
9.85 billion ÷ 60 = ~164 million minutes
• Convert to hours:
~2.73 million hours
• Convert to years:
2.73 million ÷ 8,760 = ~312 years

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Estimate how much total idle time per year is spent waiting for the sand to reset (flow all the way down) between uses in board games.

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Step 1: Keep Some Original Assumptions
• 125 million games per year use a sand timer (out of ~500 million total board game plays)
• Average of 5 uses per game
• ? 625 million sand timer flips per year

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Step 2: Estimate Reset Wait Time
• After a timer runs, if it must be flipped and fully emptied before reuse, you often need to wait for the sand to finish falling.
• Players usually wait ~5 to 15 seconds for this — let’s average it to 10 seconds of waiting per use.

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Step 3: Multiply Uses × Wait Time
• 625 million uses × 10 seconds = 6.25 billion seconds of waiting
• Convert to minutes:
6.25 billion ÷ 60 = ~104.17 million minutes
• Convert to hours:
~1.74 million hours
• Convert to years:
1.74 million ÷ 8,760 = ~198.6 years

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