Waiting for a marshaller is one of the things that just drives me nuts. If you just paid one more guy $8/hr, you wouldn't have a widebody aircraft holding short of the gate with one or both engines running, burning fuel that costs more than you would ever pay a marshaller. Then imagine if waiting 5 minutes for a marshaller causes just 1 person to miss their connection... now they must be rebooked on another airline (along with their revenue). Plus it is really annoying for the pax and doesn't help with on time performance, especially when you are already late and trying to make up some time.

There are some places where it is ok to save some money. Running lean on marshaller's is not one of them (tripping over dollars to save pennies).