How busy is Hakata JR Office?

Having recently been thoroughly overwhelmed by the crowds and queues at Kyoto station ticket offices and ticket machines, I am wondering how busy Hakata Station JR ticket offices and machines are in comparison?
This will be in a February, as we shall fly into Fukuoka.
We shall need to collect our JR Passes (the 7 day pass well and truly pays off for what we want to do, fortunately) and my usual method has been to have everything we wish to book printed out with dates, trains, times etc and do all bookings in one visit to the office.
We shan't need the pass for a few days after we arrive, but I am aware we should book seats in advance.
Online bookings still require a collection of the seat tickets anyway, so whatever we need to line up somewhere.
Kyoto station was truly awful : hoping Hakata will be less frenzied?

We did not have to wait for the machines, neither in May nor in November. The ticket office was also not busy (we waited less than 5 minutes), but it was the regular one, not the one with the counters for JR passes.

I can't comment on Hakata, but Kyoto is by far the worst I have seen anywhere in Japan. There are several staffed JR ticket offices there, and some are typically better than others, but I try to avoid ever having to deal with JR agents in person when I'm in Kyoto. However, I think you will find that Kyoto Station is noticeably less crowded in February than whenever you were there recently. I was in Kyoto for about 10 days this past February and didn't ever have to wait in line more than a few minutes to use a machine. (There was a really ugly long line at the staffed counter designated for foreign visitors and rail pass exchanges, though. Whew! I would never attempt to pick up a rail pass at Kyoto Station.) My best guess is that Hakata won't be too crowded in February, either.

As for collecting tickets, for reservations made online with your JR pass, you can receive those at a machine, and it's quite easy. It has to be the right kind of machine, but you can quickly learn how to recognize those, and there are usually enough at any given station that long lines don't form. And they usually move pretty fast except when you get behind people who aren't familiar with how the machines work. (And these aren't necessarily foreigners!)

In general, for reservations made with a JR pass I think it's better to reserve online, because if for any reason you want to make any changes later, it's very easy to do so online. (Once you collect tickets, whether from a machine or from an agent, you have to go to a staffed office to make changes.) Also, when you reserve online you see the seating diagrams for all the cars, and you can pick whatever seats you want. When you reserve at a ticket office, usually the agent picks seats for you, although you can tell them your preferences (window or aisle, or "Fuji-san side" etc.).

Making a substantial list of reservations at a staffed office with a line and only a few agents working is about as well-received as trying to get on the subway or a city bus with huge suitcases, by the way. Just something to keep in mind. Two or three, maybe, but any more than that and people waiting behind you will get annoyed. Of course, it being Japan they aren't going to say anything. It does definitely help to have all the details written out in advance.

One tip is to go fairly early in the morning, if you can. But that tends to be a time when there are fewer agents working...

JR-West provides congestion status for their main stations.

https://www.jr-odekake.net/railroad/congestion/

Hakata station

https://www.jr-odekake.net/railroad/congestion/hakata/

The number of people waiting is shown, but this changes from moment to moment. When I first saw it, Hakata had the most people waiting (7), but after that, the number of people waiting in Hakata decreased (1) and those waiting in Shin-Osaka increased (3).

I know what you mean about the Kyoto station ticket office. When I saw that big line I decided to go to another nearby office - Nijo station. No line there.

Same thing at Tokyo station and Ueno station. I went to a tiny station Hatchobori station instead. No line there, either.

I noticed you must collect your Japan Rail Pass at JR Kyushu ticket office which is different from JR-West ticket office.

https://japanrailpass.net/en/exchange/

Click "Hakata" to see the map.

Precise map of JR Hakata station.

https://nb-img.imgix.net/images-stn-hakata/Hakata-Station-Map.png

My previous post is for JR West ticket office so it might be somewhat different. The only line JR West operates is Sanyo Shinkansen so the JR West ticket office should be smaller.

Thank you everyone: comments all noted.
Very helpful and much appreciated.

"Making a substantial list of reservations at a staffed office with a line and only a few agents working is about as well-received as trying to get on the subway or a city bus with huge suitcases, by the way."

Thanks @Kim: just so you know; it was advice given on this forum many years ago (maybe not so relevant now: accept that) regarding how to organise seat bookings with a JR Pass, a Pass which we have used from 2008-2018 (then Covid hit, as did the increase in JR Pass costs)

We have no intention of either
1. inconveniencing others (ever) or
2. getting on the subway or a city bus with huge suitcases

We have been to Japan 8 times, and understand etiquette and are specially aware of numbers in queues etc
We have never experienced issues regarding booking tickets (ie being only 1 or 2 in line) until Kyoto in November last year

Just so you know

JR West ticket vending machines on the level 2 have smaller or no queues in Hakata station. As for JR Kyushu, I normally go to other stations, Yoshizuka, Hakozaki, Kyudai Gakkentoshi, etc. as there's no queue.

Understood, AusTF. There are a lot of foreign tourists who do try to get a lot of reservations done in one trip to the midori no madoguchi, and over the years JR has implemented restrictions in some places, but it�fs still not uncommon behavior. These people quite possibly don�ft understand how long it will take, and how annoying it is to others. But showing up with a carefully prepared list is at least better than showing up at a JR ticket office and saying �gWe want to go to Mt. Fuji�c�h

Many years ago we used to do rail pass exchanges at Narita Airport so we could use the pass for the Narita Express going into Tokyo, but we stopped doing that a long time ago because the lines there were crazy and it was just too much after a long flight. As I recall, at that time there weren�ft even restrictions on how many reservations you could make.

I rarely go to staffed ticket offices at all these days, but sometimes it�fs unavoidable.

I am traveling intensively around Japan, and I have not been to a ticket office in years, and am using ticket machines only rarely. IC cards and ticketless services are now available for most important travel corridors. The only hurdle: your credit card must be accepted by these services. Here is the one for using shinkansen ticketless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gM6-SZMkvE

Last time I picked up passes in Hakata (last year) the queue was quite long, I came back a few times over a couple of days as it wasn�ft urgent for me.

As far as I understand it, you still need to go to a staffed office (travel service center or designated midori no madoguchi) to pick up a nationwide JR pass. You can get at least some of the regional passes at machines with passport readers. But not the nationwide pass.

Unfortunately, the process is somewhat time-consuming. They verify your reservation number, check your passport, and then for some reason it just takes time before you get your pass. The last time I did it, the agent at a Travel Service Center didn�ft know the process and had to bring in a senpai to help her, and it took about ten minutes. Allowing receipt of the pass at ticket machines (or possibly streamlining the in-person process) is one area where JR could possibly improve things. I still buy nationwide passes even after the price increase, but it would be nice if I could pick them up at a machine.

That said, the nationwide JR pass is still a wonderful product and a money-saver for some people, and I�fm really glad it is still available. It isn�ft a good match for point-to-point travelers with a fixed, conventional itinerary, but for some folks with a different travel style, it is amazing what kind of trip you can plan using the nationwide pass. The notion that you have to take a hectic, fast-paced trip packed with hours-long train rides in order to get the pass to �gpay off�h is a misconception. But you have to be able to think outside the box, and for many people, especially newcomers, that is usually usually just not realistic. It�fs hard enough figuring out just the basics, for a first trip.

It would also be nice if JR would drop the condition that you have to pick up actual tickets for seat reservations. In other words, if you could just be able to use an electronic device with a QR code or copy of a confirmation email to show evidence of your reservation. The truth is that as long as you sit in the right seat, they almost never ask to see your ticket, and I know that some travelers don�ft bother to pick the tickets up, but it is still officially required so I always do so. This means I have to go to either a ticket machine or a staffed office.

People who live in Japan can�ft buy most of these passes, so they don�ft have to deal with these conditions. And of course, visitors who use the online systems to buy point-to-point tickets don�ft have to either. But I see them as a minor nuisance, in light of the cost and convenience benefits I get from a rail pass. I expect the rules will probably stay in place, as I suppose they do help to reduce fraudulent use of these products. Maybe eventually there will be better ways to do this (facial recognition technology or whatever). It is understandably not a high priority for JR.

Thanks @Uji and @Kim and others
I understand all you are saying. And thank you. Very much appreciated.
Given there is no option other than collecting a JR Pass with Passport etc it needs to be at a designated Office.Hakata it must be.
1. agree: Exchanging JR Passes at Narita was deplorable: as everyone who disembarked from the plane from Australia (300+ of us) needed to do it, let alone any other plane landing, it was a farce.
And yes, we also used other options after our second trip, and started the pass the next day at a less crowded Office. That is easy in Tokyo, not so easy in Fukuoka.
2. In the day of digital, being able to book online and add a JR Pass to eg: Apple Wallet, as well as Seat reservations, would be excellent.
We recently had a trip on a very crowded Shinkansen, in reserved seats, and saw 3 people removed to elsewhere by the conductor who worked out they had just walked through the train until they found an empty seat. Cheeky plus, and disrespectful, as their smirks indicated.
Ok: So: We have no option: Hakata it is. It will be what it will be: we do not need to do it immediately, so shall try and see...wish us luck. It would just HAVE to be better than Kyoto.
And, experiencing the superbly polite and well informed staff is always worth the wait.
The thing about reservations etc in Kyoto was that we did need to exchange one way vouchers etc
I really thought it needed to be done at Kyoto: my bad

Being in early February we may be luckier, but it's fine: there are actually a couple of trips where we really need advice from a staffed counter, so what will be, will be.

Thank you so much everybody: really appreciate the advice, as always.