If you are an occassional traveler, do you take your shoes of ones you are 10 people away from the start where you can put it onto the table?

Also in America I have seen the longer lines which tried to get all their stuff quickly in the boxes, but had the problem that they had to wait for that to go through the metal detector.

Also experienced: You have to wait for the staff to hand you the boxes, which they will only do if it fits onto the table. Which they will then only give to the nearest pax who have seen that before and of course only start then.

As said before: Make longer lines where the boxes are available, but don't expect grown ups to put out their shoes, belts and other stuff for 5 minutes or more just because you think it is handier to have it ready once the staff is finally able to check this.

Airside check: Yes, I've seen that in LAX and SJC and found it to be a clever alternative - fast getting of the bags and made sure it is not tossed around the system.