Self-service retail kiosks gradually on the rise
The AP reports: “At airports, supermarkets and big-box retailers, ‘customer service’ in recent years has meant self-serve — aided by touch-screen kiosks. As digital kiosks become more user-friendly and capable of handling more complicated tasks, health care providers, fast-food chains and other businesses say trading face-to-face encounters for face-to-monitor transactions improves service and saves money.”
I consider myself one who prefers the personal touch in lieu of self-service kiosks, usually. At the post office, I bypass a line of 15 people in favor of the kiosks. I’m in and out in 2 minutes (because no one else seems to use the kiosk) while others can wait up to 45 minutes to send something. However, at Walmart and other stores employing self-service kiosk, I almost always opt to wait in line for 5 minutes to encounter a human.
I can appreciate the cost savings of kiosks from a business perspective, but the human element in me questions the so-called “improved service.” Our new motto as humans: Get in. Get out. Do your thing. Avoid humans at all costs because they get in your way by slowing you down. That doesn’t sound right…
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August 2nd, 2007 at 5:08 pm
There’s a Macy’s in downtown Boston that has an iPod vending machine. I can understand getting accesories from it, but to buy a whole iPod from one? Crazy.
Also, I actually saw a kid renting a video from the red DVD rental kiosk at the grocery store. The store was smart and put a rack of “movie theater” style candy next to the machine!
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Well crap. There goes the neighborhood.
I vented about these contraptions a while back. It’s been pretty funny to track the popularity of that post. I think it’s because I used the word retard a couple of times, and apparently that’s a pretty popular word in search engines. Go figure.
I’m all for the personalized contact.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
It is interesting that you and Lindsey had the same theme on the same day. Huh, what a team you two make!
August 5th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I do find kiosks very helpful at times; however, as someone who recently spent four months resolving a service problem with the impersonal customer support structure of my phone company, I say amen to the lack of personal touch that is pervasive in business today.