Brits may be good at queues, but with mobile technology, you can often avoid them. Woolworths is planning to use mobile technology to reduce queues in the run-up to Christmas. It will introduce mobile point-of-sale terminals, linked to belt-mounted portable printers from US-based Extech Data Systems.

These can be used to add up the purchases of people waiting for a till and print out receipts. The system will be tested in 25 Woolworths stores, with the mobile "tills" communicating via narrowband radio. Eventually, Bluetooth short-range radio (and Wi-Fi) could be used, as the portable printers are already Bluetooth-enabled.

Steve Berry, a director at Axiohm Europe, UK distributor for Extech, says: "Mobile technology is coming into its own for queue busting; in the US, fast-food chains use it."

Back in the UK, Argos, the catalogue retailer, has launched a Text & Take Home service, to reduce queuing in its 500 stores. Customers can check the latest prices and stock availability by sending a text message (SMS), and then reserve the goods with another SMS.

Argos also has a web-based Click & Collect service accessed through the www.argos.co.uk website, and a Ring & Reserve telephone service. In all three, customers get a reservation number they take to the store to buy the reserved goods. Its text message service has been developed and is hosted by wireless application provider Scan Mobile and mobile network operator Vodafone, though it can be SMSed from any UK mobile .

To use it, customers look at the Argos catalogue (or website), decide what goods they want and which store they want to collect them from. For example, to buy an Alba CD-Radio from Argos in Crewe, a mobile user would text its product number 5123580 followed by a space, followed by the store number 209 to 07786 201201.

The retailer's computer system checks to see if the product is in store and texts back a message saying something like: "Your goods are in store at £24.99, type RESERVE if you want to reserve."

The system cuts out queuing to find out if a potential purchase is available only to have to go back to the catalogue and choose another if it is not. Kate Swann, managing director of Argos, said this way of ordering goods "follows the installation in a lot of our stores of quick-pay kiosks in which customers can fast track the ordering and paying system by using a credit card in a kiosk".

Any Vodafone Pay As You Talk mobile sold through Argos will now have the Text & Take Home service number included in the handset's menu. Orange customers have a text message service they can use to bypass stores altogether. They simply text 7467 and give details of what they want. For example: "Fever, Kylie Minogue CD." The network operator then texts them back with price and availability, though the response I got was: "We found the CD Confide in Me by MINOGUE, Kylie for £6.49 free delivery (2-4 days)."

There is no obligation to accept, but if you text back "Buy", Orange telephones to take card details and delivery address. This only has to be provided once and, thereafter, only a four-digit PIN number has to be SMSed to authorise a purchase. Nightclub or concert tickets can be purchased in a similar way. When you get to a club, present the TexTicket shown on your mobile, your card and give your name and the last six digits of your phone number for priority entry.

Taxi queues may also get shorter. On most networks, you can now text TAXI, followed by the town, to get a list of local taxi numbers, according to Hugh Griffiths, director of portals and content at 02. On 02, the number to text is 80202.

You can also queue jump by using touchtone services on a mobile. If you are in a queue for a UCI cinema, you can phone the reservations number, book a ticket, and print it out at a credit-card booking machine - in the time it takes to get to the front of the queue.

But one of the few areas where a mobile phone will not help is when you call the customer service department of a mobile operator. If you phone to find out what to do about a lost or stolen phone, you may find yourself hanging on and on and on.