Waiting to Use Automation

Jeff Axup, Ph.D.
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

A new trend I’m seeing is people waiting to use automated services. This is funny because automation is supposed to be more efficient than humans. Consequently, it should process people more rapidly, and it should be simple to scale the automation to handle peak time periods — hence, no lines.

Alas, this is often not the case, as evidenced by the typical lunch hour line at this SF SOMA Safeway. There are numerous design problems producing this line. One is that there are only four automated checkout machines when there should be 10 or 15. Two, is that Safeway managed to build the worst check-out kiosks known to man. They make you click “Forgot my card” to manually enter your phone number. They produce errors if you set items down on the wrong side of the kiosk, because they have weight sensors trying to guess if you’re stealing items. They also force you to select to use your own bags, instead of defaulting to none. Additionally, a wide variety of situations require the human overseer to come enter a code on your kiosk, resulting in extra wait times and frustration. The human attendant also can not accept complaints about the machines — because why would they want feedback? If that weren’t enough, the machines frequently stop working entirely, resulting in fewer machines available.

All of this results in customers coming in the door, looking at the lines, and walking back out without making purchases. It also results in people buying lunches when they first get off the train in the morning, instead of trying to purchase something at lunchtime. At first blush this seems reasonable — but it is humans adapting to technology constraints, instead of technology adapting to human desires. There is one other result which is perhaps more subtle and insidious — hundreds of people per day are wasting half their lunch hour standing in a line in a store instead of sitting on the waterfront where they want to be. Life is short, and we’re spending it in lines.

At the end of the day, waiting in line to purchase something is ridiculous. Anyone who has decided to purchase something should have it processed immediately, and preferably transparently. That’s why Amazon has 1-click ordering. Brick and mortar stores are still struggling to understand this concept, much less port it to a physical store.

To state the obvious: customers didn’t come to the store to pay. They came for a product, and they’re being forced to pay using a tedious process. Lines should really be recast as “customer punishment zones”. Lines to use automation aren’t any better than lines to be serviced by humans — they both show a lack of scaling ability. Eventually consumers will migrate to shopping experiences where paying is an after-thought, not an ordeal.

In SF, the 4th and King St. Safeway is across the street from Panera. Amusingly, the two companies are both spatially distinct, and also ideologically opposed in terms of automation design. Safeway has crappy automation, in insufficient quantities, and long lines of annoyed customers. Panera just closed down for several weeks to retrofit their entire interior to add more automation. They have 5–10 ordering kiosks, you can order and pay online or via an iPhone app, and people frequently walk in the door, pick up items and walk out without ever touching a credit card. Customers don’t stand around looking annoyed — because they aren’t standing around — they either sat down in a comfortable chair to wait for their food delivery, or they are already out the door, back to their office. The difference in attitude towards lines and payment processing by management in these two companies is visibly obvious just by walking in the door. I predict that more aging supermarkets and clothing stores will be going out of business as the Amazon/Whole Foods partnership takes automation and transparent payment systems to the next level.


Originally published at www.uxoftravel.com.

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