As any savvy Upper East Sider knows, the new Shake Shack on 86th street opened this weekend. Unfortunately, as was expected, the wait for a simple burger has been out of control, with the line sometimes extending the length of 86th street.

In order to save myself the trouble of leaving my apartment to get a burger, only to realize the line is longer than any rational person would ever stand in, I have devised a system using popular social network FourSquare.

Some of the other Shake Shack locations have a useful “Shack Cam,” giving a live view of the current line. Since that doesn’t exist here, I just check FourSquare for the current number of people checked in and make my decision based on that.

It is completely unscientific, but from my early observations, 5 or less people checked in is approximately 20 minutes worth of waiting (in line and then waiting for the burger). Between 5 and 10 people is probably between 30 and 45 minutes. I have no idea how long the wait would be when there are more than 10 people checked in, since that is how many people were checked in most of the first weekend, and the line was too intimidating to even consider waiting in.

So, until a “Shack Cam” is installed, this system will have to do.