I wonder why queuing physically was so common. When scarcity is so widespread you’d expect that at least that part would be solved some other way (rationing, queue numbers, ..)

The impression you get from history books is that people were literally queuing for hours not only for perishable things, but also as in the article for things like fur coats. How did people find out where and when the queue started for a fur coat? If the store was about to get a delivery of fur coats, couldn’t they have a lottery instead of endless queues?