More And More Businesses Have Minimal Human Contact

[Chekhov]

59 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

EDIT:   

That wouldn't happen if Mr. Amazon's warehouse was run by way of handwritten order forms, dispatch notices typed by Brenda in the typing pool and be mailed out to the distribution centred down the road.  

That is all irrelevant, that is not customer facing.

Most people (normal people anyway) like dealing with, and interacting with, other people, because Man is a social animal. 

[Chekhov]

46 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

Love Taco bell, what did you order?

I can't even remember, it's so complicated.

Taco Bell is nice, but often the food is not that hot, that's the big problem with it, and McDonalds for that matter.

[ECCOnoob]

3 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

That is all irrelevant, that is not customer facing.

Most people (normal people anyway) like dealing with, and interacting with, other people, because Man is a social animal. 

If that's the case then how come Amazon with its almost zero interaction with a human being is making billions of pounds out of millions and millions of customers every day whereas department stores with their friendly person behind the counter and hands on customer service and great levels of expert advice in store are becoming almost extinct.

 

Where are all these 'normal people' with their great resistance and push back against automation and self-service then?

[Delayed]

19 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

I was always led to believe, and run my own business on this basis, that successful businesses provided good customer service.

You may like all this but I can assure you most people (including the employees) do not.

Ah the old "most people" trope. 

 

I'm sure most people (and not just you and a random employee) actually enjoy the instant on demand services, just like 'most people ' using Amazon.

 

And guess what? If "most people" didn't like it, businesses wouldn't use it....

[Delayed]

21 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

I was always led to believe, and run my own business on this basis, that successful businesses provided good customer service.

You may like all this but I can assure you most people (including the employees) do not.

And as a small business owner (or anyone with half a brain) you'd know that good customer service encompasses more than just being able to speak to a staff member 

[despritdan]

There seems to be an assumption that everybody's 20 years old and confident using technology and AI, which isn't the  case. A lot of older people find these changes bewildering and confusing. I wouldn't go somewhere where there's a screen and nobody to speak to as I'd be afraid of getting it wrong.

[Mister M]

51 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

If you deal with the public you have to take the rough with the smooth, but, in my experience both at work and not so, the instances of bad customer behaviour are very rare. If the odd employee wants to limit their contact with the public to avoid the risk of coming into contact with the odd bolshy one then I think we can safely assume they are in the wrong job anyway.....

Except we're not talking about the 'odd bolshy one' are we?

BRC reports 50% growth in retail staff violence and abuse in UK (retail-insight-network.com)

[melthebell]

3 hours ago, Chekhov said:

We went into Taco Bell up at Hoyland today and I must say I was shocked. 

Gone is the counter where you dealt with a real human being and the staff were behind them making all the meals. Now there is just a full height wall with two screens built into it.

It used to be that as you ate at the tables you could see the staff behind glass screens (and, of course, they could see all the customers) but now that screen has been painted over.

I hated it, it's even worse than McDonalds, and that is bad enough.

Interestingly we were talking to one of the staff and he said he did not like it either.

 

Who is pushing all of this and why ?

Do they not realise that humans are social animals (most of them anyway.....) ?

 

And does anyone  actually like it ?

 

We are already in a dystopian world......

Sounds great, means I don't have to deal with People.....like you, bonus 

[melthebell]

15 minutes ago, despritdan said:

There seems to be an assumption that everybody's 20 years old and confident using technology and AI, which isn't the  case. A lot of older people find these changes bewildering and confusing. I wouldn't go somewhere where there's a screen and nobody to speak to as I'd be afraid of getting it wrong.

Indeed they also struggled when looms came in, and when bob Dylan played electric

[ECCOnoob]

30 minutes ago, despritdan said:

There seems to be an assumption that everybody's 20 years old and confident using technology and AI, which isn't the  case. A lot of older people find these changes bewildering and confusing. I wouldn't go somewhere where there's a screen and nobody to speak to as I'd be afraid of getting it wrong.

20 years old?   You do know the internet has been around since the 1990s.  Mobile phones have been commonplace since late 1980s.  Smartphones came on the market way back in 2005.

 

The first checkout was installed in American supermarket in 1986.  The first touch screen kiosk was in 1977. Self-serve ticket machines have been around since the 1950s. Scan as you go devices have been commonplace for around 12 years now..... 

 

There has been ample time to learn and adapt technology -  its not so alien.

 

I know plenty of people in their 70s and 80s  more than capable of ordering something from a kiosk or online or their phone app. Anyone under age 65 year has got no excuse.

 

I hate this insulting nonsense declaring that elderly people find basic technology changes totally confusing and can't cope.  They have been adjusting and adapting throughout their lifetime just the same as the next generation will continue to evolve.

Edited March 16 by ECCOnoob