This article and its misleading title is a typical demonstration that the chasm between academia and the real world isn't getting any smaller any time soon. Who are you going to listen to, people who spent their lives building businesses around the premise of servicing their customers or people who want to tell you how to do that which they haven't?
OP makes the classic blunder of confusing misguided tactics (poor implementations of self-service) with wrong strategy (excellent customer relationships). And then comes to an absurd conclusion with its sensational title.
I'd prefer to stick with a simple adage I've heard so many times from successful business people:
"All things being equal, people would rather buy from a friend. All things being unequal, people would still rather buy from a friend."
I've spent the past twenty years with more computer interaction than human; the self service till is a friend.
I'm suspicious of the other commenters who say the self service checkout is faster, but what it really does is follow the UI principle "don't make me think". I can go to, through, and out of, a self service checkout in the same mood and mode I went through the shop in. No switching to higher effort 'people' mode.
OP makes the classic blunder of confusing misguided tactics (poor implementations of self-service) with wrong strategy (excellent customer relationships). And then comes to an absurd conclusion with its sensational title.
I'd prefer to stick with a simple adage I've heard so many times from successful business people:
"All things being equal, people would rather buy from a friend. All things being unequal, people would still rather buy from a friend."