{"id":32120,"date":"2019-10-07T14:09:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T14:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?p=32120"},"modified":"2020-09-08T17:24:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T17:24:03","slug":"customerservice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/customerservice\/","title":{"rendered":"Good customer service is especially vital during shifts in retail technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>National Customer Service Week was first championed by the International Customer Service Association (ICSA) in 1984. It was proclaimed a national event by Congress in 1992 and is celebrated each year during the first full week of October. This year, we celebrate the value of the customer service work UFCW members do in grocery stores, pharmacies, retail outlets, and a wide range of other workplaces by taking a look at how good customer service has remained key to a business\u2019s success despite a century of technological advances.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Kressaty, who was President of the ICSA when the week began, said &#8220;There are two main purposes of National Customer Service Week. It lets you recognize the job that your customer service professionals do 52 weeks a year. The other purpose is to get the message across a wide range of business, government and industry that customer service is very important along with bottom line profit in running a business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, customer service is more important than ever. According to Forbes, \u201cToday,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.gartner.com\/jake-sorofman\/gartner-surveys-confirm-customer-experience-new-battlefield\/\">89% of companies<\/a>&nbsp;compete primarily on the basis of customer experience \u2013 up from just 36% in 2010.\u201c As one of the cornerstones of customer experience, customer service is not just an old-fashioned idea that \u201cthe customer is always right,\u201d but is what sets companies apart and helps them stand out in a field of ever-evolving retail technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Everything old is a new again<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the beginning of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century, grocery shopping looked very different than it does today. Rather than scour the aisles themselves, customers would hand the grocery clerk a list of the items they were looking for, and the worker would go get the items while the customer waited. But all that changed in 1916 when Clarence Saunders opened the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, in Memphis, Tennessee. The new model was advertised as offering more freedom and choice for the customer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"image\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"396\" height=\"552\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/piggly_freetochoose.jpg\" alt=\"Old magazine ad for Piggly Wiggly with a woman shopping that reads &quot;Now she is free to choose for herself&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-32188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/piggly_freetochoose.jpg 396w, https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/piggly_freetochoose-215x300.jpg 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A century later, the same concept of \u201cfreedom\u201d to do it yourself has been used to sell other technologies like self-checkout where the customer is expected to do the work that was once done by an employee. And in-store grocery pickup options at places like Kroger, where you can order your groceries online and then an employee will do the shopping for you, aren\u2019t so much a new, revolutionary idea in the industry as they are a return to the way grocery shopping used to work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today in Memphis, new technologies are still being tested. Dynasty Brown, a UFCW Local 1529 member, works at Kroger #405 as a picker, one of the workers who shops on a customer\u2019s behalf when the online orders come in. \u201cI like taking the orders out and seeing the smiles on customers faces,\u201d says Brown. A hundred years of progress in technology haven\u2019t changed workers\u2019 pride in providing good customer service, nor shoppers\u2019 appreciation of someone who goes the extra mile for them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Good technology vs. bad customer experience<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As anyone who has ever stood helpless at a self-checkout while it yelled at them about an \u201cunknown item in the baggage area\u201d knows, the \u201cfreedom\u201d to do the work yourself isn\u2019t always so free feeling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A recent article in Gizmodo<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/why-self-checkout-is-and-has-always-been-the-worst-1833106695\">, \u201cWhy Self-Checkout Is and Has Always Been the Worst,\u201d<\/a> does a pretty great job articulating the difference between good and bad technology, namely that bad technology is the stuff that gets rammed down our throats that no one really wants but we are stuck putting up with anyway:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cFor every automated appliance or system that actually makes performing a task easier\u2014dishwashers, ATMs, robotic factory arms, say\u2014there seems to be another one\u2014self-checkout kiosks, automated phone menus, mass email marketing\u2014that actively makes our lives worse.<\/p><p>\u2026<\/p><p>Nobody likes wading through an interminable phone menu to try to address a suspect charge on a phone bill\u2014literally,&nbsp;<em>everyone<\/em>&nbsp;would rather speak with a customer service rep. But that\u2019s the system we\u2019re stuck with because a corporation decided that the inconvenience to the user is well worth the savings in labor costs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as the article goes on to point out, the promised savings on labor costs for trading out real customer service is often just a long-con by the folks selling the machines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Customers have been rejecting full automation since 1937<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though the announcement of Amazon Go, Amazon\u2019s grocery store model intended to allow shoppers to enter and exit the store without having to make a single human interaction with anyone, made a big splash when it was announced, the first fully-automated self-service grocery store, Keedoozle, was actually opened in 1937 by the same man who started Piggly Wiggly. Unlike Piggly Wiggly, which still operates today (and where many UFCW members work), Keedoozle was a miserable failure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Items were kept in separate glass cases so as to be easily seen and never handled. Entering customers received an aluminum &#8220;key&#8221; with a roll of ticker tape attached. They shopped the product windows as they pleased, slipping their key into slots in the displays and pressing buttons that punched Morse code-like data about their desired products. At the checkout, a shopper handed her key to the clerk, who simultaneously rung up the receipt and transmitted the key&#8217;s record to a backroom. There, workers bundled orders and sent them out to customers via conveyer belt. \u2018It can\u2019t miss. It\u2019s the biggest thing I\u2019ve ever had,\u2019 Saunders told Time magazine. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/life\/2014\/10\/americans-have-been-cursing-at-automated-checkouts-since-1937\/381101\/\">\u2013Americans Have Been Cursing at Automated Checkouts Since 1937<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32189\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/keedoozle.jpg\" alt=\"Black and white photo of a woman shopping at Keedoozle\" width=\"940\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/keedoozle.jpg 940w, https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/keedoozle-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/keedoozle-768x593.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/>Only it did miss, hard. The last Keedoozle closed in 1949. Saunders wasn\u2019t deterred and went back to work to find even more ways to eliminate more jobs within the grocery store, this time by using an early computer in place of a cashier. Saunders died before the concept got off the ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The invisible human labor behind automation<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Data &amp; Society\u2019s report, <a href=\"https:\/\/datasociety.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DataandSociety_AIinContext.pdf\">\u201cThe Labor of Integrating New Technologies,\u201d<\/a> finds that rather than replacing jobs, the role out of new shopping technology actually relies heavily on skilled customer service abilities of workers, but those efforts are often invisible and not compensated:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cWe find that retail experiments, like self-checkout or customer-operated scanners, tend to rely on humans to smooth out technology\u2019s rough edges. In other words, the \u201csuccess\u201d of technologies like self-checkout machines is in large part produced by the human effort necessary to maintain the technologies, from guiding confused customers through the checkout process to fixing the machines when they breakdown to quite literally searching for customers aisle by aisle when GPS systems fail. The impact of these retail technologies has generally not been one of replacing human labor. Rather, they enable employers to place greater pressures on frontline workers to absorb the frontline risks and consequences of cost cutting experiments. Much of the work that employees must do on the ground to facilitate new systems is often invisible and undervalued, even as popular perceptions of automation frame these roles as increasingly obsolete.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report even points out that senior employees are often needed with advanced skills in \u201cdiffusing anger\u201d to help customers navigate new systems and all the bugs that come along with them. But in all the conversations about new technology, this work is swept to the side and seen as exceptional rather than an integral part of both roll out and continued function of self-service technologies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report lines up with first-hand accounts from UFCW members who work in stores where new technologies like Kroger\u2019s Scan, Bag, Go program have been tested. Scan, Bag, Go allows shoppers to use scanners they carry around the store with them to scan products as they shop. Edith Peck, a UFCW Local 1529 member who has worked at Kroger in Memphis for the past nine years and who says providing good customer service is her favorite part of the job, says that for the most part, customers just ignore the scanners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think this whole thing is Kroger\u2019s scheme to eliminate employees to compete with automation, but at that point, why not shop at Walmart?\u201d says Peck. \u201cThey need to understand good customer service is what is going to set us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Customer sentiment towards scan and go shopping is pretty clear in the Scan, Bag, Go app, which has a 1.9 star rating in the Google Play store. Reading the reviews paints a clear picture of why \u201cdiffusing anger\u201d would be a skill needed to help transitioning customers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32190\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgograph.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgograph.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgograph-300x87.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-32191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"659\" height=\"539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgo.jpg 659w, https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/krogerscanandgo-300x245.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px\" \/><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"heading\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Genuine interaction with cashiers makes us happier<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond just the importance to a business\u2019s bottom line, when we talk about the elimination of customer service jobs, it\u2019s also worth remembering to ask: what is it that we want our lives to look like?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2013 study<em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/1948550613502990\">Is Efficiency Overrated?: Minimal Social Interactions Lead to Belonging and Positive Affect<\/a><\/em>, found that that when people engage with cashiers in a genuine way (with a smile, eye contact, brief conversation, etc.), it lifts their mood and leads to an increased sense of belonging. Although people often report reluctance to have a genuine social interaction with a stranger, those interactions still are ultimately good for us. Surprise, just like exercise or eating healthier food, talking to strangers turns out to be a thing we don\u2019t think we want but that makes our lives better when we go out and do it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are we comfortable with creating a society where we only interact with products and rarely with flesh and blood people? And given that the answer from most people is a resounding no, how can we effectively push back against technology and innovation that might cross that line while still embracing technology that does improve our lives? If we are so collectively stressed out that saving a few moments waiting in line at the checkout seems like a good trade for someone\u2019s job or our own mental health, perhaps the solution isn\u2019t in improving the efficiency of the shopping experience. Maybe it\u2019s tackling why we\u2019re all so stressed out to begin with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"tw-max-w-217 tw-m-auto tw-px-6 rich-text contained-block\" data-module=\"paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, thank you to all the hard-working UFCW members out there ready to help customers feel seen and appreciated in whatever ways they can, whether it\u2019s service with a smile or repeatedly coming to our rescue at the self-checkout machines. We need you now more than ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Customer Service Week was first championed by the International Customer Service Association (ICSA) in 1984. It was proclaimed a national event by Congress in 1992 and is celebrated each year during the first full week of October. This year, we celebrate the value of the customer service work UFCW members do in grocery stores, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[49,37,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","category-retailfood","category-retail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Good customer service is especially vital during shifts in retail technology - The United Food &amp; Commercial Workers International Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/customerservice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good customer service is especially vital during shifts in retail technology - The United Food &amp; Commercial Workers International Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National Customer Service Week was first championed by the International Customer Service Association (ICSA) in 1984. 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This year, we celebrate the value of the customer service work UFCW members do in grocery stores, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/customerservice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The United Food &amp; Commercial Workers International Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-07T14:09:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-08T17:24:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/61\/files\/2019\/10\/keedoozle.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"726\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Good customer service is especially vital during shifts in retail technology\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-07T14:09:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-08T17:24:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1724,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/61\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/keedoozle.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Automation \\\/ AI\",\"Grocery\",\"Retail\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ufcw.org\\\/customerservice\\\/\",\"name\":\"Good customer service is especially vital during shifts in retail technology - The United Food &amp; 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