I see this too, and yes, it's getting worse. People arrive 5 minutes before the scheduled start and expect to be able to register, pick up their bib, tie on their chip, and mosey on over to the start, oblivious to the fact that they're holding everyone up.
My running club actually advises runners to arrive an hour before the start and we state that registration/packet pick up closes 15 minutes before the start. Now, if someone wants to give us their money one minute before the start, we still take it, but we do not hold up the start for them. When we say 8:00, we don't mean 8:01. We've had a few get upset, probably because they're used to other races delaying the start for them, but they can't say they weren't warned.