Just Do It All Yourself! Is The Self-service Trend Going Too Far? Definitely.
It’s 6 a.m.
I’m standing at Vienna Airport, and I want someone to check in my luggage.
But no way: you can now do it yourself via terminals. To be honest: No, thank you. I’m stressed, I’m tired, I’ve paid for my plane ticket, and I want someone to send my luggage safely on its way!
I don’t want to do it myself.
What’s next? Pay for your ticket and walk yourself to your destination?
Of course, there are advantages to being able to check in conveniently from home or even on the road via cell phone or laptop, but as long as we can’t beam the luggage through laptop or cell phone, we will always have to physically handle it.
And a little help with that is not a bad thing.
Also, the error-proneness of the terminals described is just too high at the moment. And what’s the point of the whole thing if you have to put a person next to it anyway to explain or support the mechanical handling?
A desirable future?
Nevertheless, an aggravated version of this situation is planned at the airport in Singapore, where it is advertised that the airport of the future will be managed almost without humans. And at the unmanned Alibaba store FashionAI in Hong Kong, you no longer have to deal with human service personnel.
I don’t understand why a fully automated future without humans is sold as so desirable. Who would want that?
The victory of the human being
In turn, I read about the owner of a small fashion boutique in Germany who makes millions in sales through her personal commitment alone.
Every purchase with her becomes a feel-good experience thanks to her unique care, with satisfied clients often spending their entire annual bonus in her shop. She knows her clients so well that their husbands order Christmas and birthday gifts for their wives from her.
So, in the service industry, you can score points by engaging with your customers rather than providing them with self-service technologies.
Do-it-yourself service — no thanks!
If you look at the rush to DIY stores, trade fairs for do-it-yourselfers and do-it-yourselfers, there is clearly a trend towards people wanting to do many things themselves again.
But the service industry is completely misinterpreting this do-it-yourself trend.
In the service sector, I pay someone to do something for me. When I go to the bank or call my telecommunications provider, I’m not doing it out of a passion for DIY. I’m a paying customer, not a do-it-yourself handywoman who wants to build a wall shelf.
When I want to reserve a table for next time in a well-paid local restaurant when I am already there, I don’t want to be referred to a number where I can click my way through the telephone menu. And when I have queued up at the post office in almost Zen Buddhist calmness, I don’t want to be sent to a machine where I can post the package myself.
I actually expect to be serviced.
As customers, we like to have a choice.
Some things we want to do ourselves, others we don’t.
Admittedly, this varies greatly from person to person and depends on our personal preferences, but in the service sector, as the name suggests, it is quite appropriate for someone to do something for you.
And as the example of the boutique owner above shows, it can really pay off when customers feel well taken care of and warmly serviced in our hands.
