COLUMBUS, OH—Citing widespread confusion among customers, a national pharmacy chain announced Thursday it would add a fourth line to its stores, dedicated entirely to explaining which of the other three lines customers should be standing in.

"Our research showed that the average customer spends 11 minutes in the wrong line before being told, by a pharmacist who is also in the wrong line, that they are in the wrong line," said Marcia Tolland, vice president of customer experience. "With the new system, they'll spend 11 minutes in the right line learning that."

The existing Drop Off, Pick Up, and Consultation lines will remain, though the company acknowledged that no customer, employee, or regional manager has ever been able to say with confidence what the difference is.

The new line, marked "Start Here," will be staffed by a single associate holding a laminated diagram. Customers who reach the front will be directed to Drop Off, told it is actually Pick Up, and sent to Consultation, which is closed for lunch.

The change is part of a broader modernization effort that includes a self-checkout kiosk that asks customers to wait for an associate, and an app that texts when a prescription is ready, followed by a second text explaining that it is not.

"People don't come to us for speed," said Tolland. "They come to us because their doctor sent the prescription here three years ago and nobody knows how to change it."

At press time, a line had formed behind the Start Here line, made up of customers asking whether this was the line for Start Here.