At my club they allow 5 balls,sometimes this can be bad.In our group we have gimmies and it speeds play up.There are some other groups in the club that play for money,so gimmies are rare.Get behind a 5 ball that are doing this and its hell.
When we have charitable tournaments we have a circle around the hole, any ball in the circle you pick up.this speeds play up very much so.
Hurt pride is a reason some people will not let you through,they see slowness being a sign of lack of competence.