Quote:
Originally posted by AGDee
I just see it as another indication that SERVICE is quickly disappearing in this society. A lot of you won't remember when you went to a gas station and they not only filled your tank but they checked your oil and washed your windshield while they did it.
You can't hardly get help in a department store any more because commissions are out the window.
I was always appalled, especially as a graduate student (after experiencing the real world for a while) how poor service was on college campuses! Universities do NOT treat their students as customers, they treat them as the scum of the earth! Online registration, etc has helped some, but back in my day, as a freshman or sophomore, we would stand in line for as long as FIVE hours to register for classes. Dealing with the Financial Aid office was always a nightmare too.
The self serve grocery lines are just another example of service going away.
The one time I used it, I had a couple light items that didn't register and this machine is yelling at me to put the item in the bag and it WAS in the bag!!!! It was very frustrating. I want real people. I still think it will lead to a loss of jobs because they will have one person monitoring 4 of the self serve machines rather than 3 lanes, each with a cashier and bagger. Maybe they are "just" minimum wage jobs, but some people rely on that income.
I don't profess to know the actual margin of groceries but 4% does seem awfully low!
Dee
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I think maybe what you are referring to when you say "service is going away" is
personal service is going away.
I would rather wake up at 9:30, go online and register for classes in my PJ's than wake up, shower, get dressed, take the 15-minute hike to the business building, register for classes and be done with it. I have no problem with the fact that I have to register online even though the advisor is not 5 feet away.
These self-service stations are supposed to make life more covenient and quicker for the consumers. It would be far faster to go to a gas station that has 4 pumps and no one outside, so you can drive in, pump your gas, pay (now they even have pay at the pump options!), and leave -- as opposed to going to a gas station that has 4 pumps, and one attendant doing everything, because you'd have to sit there and wait.
While you argue that you're paying people's salaries so you are wanting personal service, if the store has even one self-check machine, chances are, you are also paying for the cost and maintanece for that machine, so if a store has one or 50 self-check machines, money still needs to be made to help maintain the store's resources whether it is human-work-hours or machine maintanence.
The usage of the machines is also a way to create jobs. You are probably right that some cashiers will eventually lose their jobs, but jobs are also being created because of the machines in the process. Someone has to make those machines -- they just don't fall out of the sky. Someone has to program the machines. Someone has to install the machines. Someone has to deliver the machines. Someone has to train the employees how to use them so they can help customers. Someone also has to go on-site if the machines aren't working properly.
Stuff like this is pretty much happening everywhere and there really isn't a way to stop it. Even McDonald's is looking for ways to automate their hamburger-making!
As an operations management major it is really interesting to see stuff like this going on, because companies are not only doing this for their profit margin, but also to eventually pass the savings on to the consumers.