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Comment by axaxs | Hacker News Reader

Because to me, the consumer, I can't think of a single time automation replacing humans has been better. Self checkouts suck for anything more than a handful of items, especially compared to a well trained cashier/bagger combo. Automated call/IVR systems are hypertension inducing bad. ATMs are no replacement for tellers for most situations that bring one to the bank.

I'm not a complete luddite. In many systems, specifically manufacturing, robots outcompete humans and it makes sense.

The problem arises when anything requiring the least bit of thinking is attempted to be automated. Those are nothing more than cost saving measures, and bring down the quality of service to everyone involved.

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I agree that at current state almost all physical self-service systems suck. Royally. The only exceptions I can think of are petrol pumps, ATMs (please read on), and to a certain extent, ticket kiosks.

I would claim that ATMs are in fact a prime example of successful automation. For anything non-mundane you still need to go talk to a human, but that's the point: ATMs have removed the need to involve a human bottleneck for a bulk quantity of an extremely mundane task: withdrawing cash. I am old enough to remember when you had to go to the bank for that too.

This hits the nail on the head, though:

> The problem arises when anything requiring the least bit of thinking is attempted to be automated.

Humans are capable of judgment calls.[ß] Computers do exactly what you tell them to do, which is not necessarily what you want them to do.

ß: environments where humans are forbidden from making judgment calls are called bureaucracies.

I guess self-checkout is a matter of taste and/or opinion. Personally, I prefer it at the grocery store when I have the choice.

It's not a matter of taste. It's a question of whether your preferred grocery store employs any experienced cashiers and baggers, and the degree to which their self-checkout machines are artificially dumbed-down and slowed-down.

In most cases, the customer-facing self checkout systems are objectively much slower and more cumbersome than the manned checkout systems that require some training and practice to use correctly. Paid cashiers never have to slow down their scanning because of a spurious reading from a scale in the bagging area. They get real keyboards to interact with the computer, and user interfaces that are far more responsive than the typical touchscreen UI's update latency.

Whiles some of that may be true, I can still get through via self-checkout faster than a manned station most of the time.

Then again, I'm not buying 57 individual items in a line 6 people deep who are all buying similar amounts of items. Perhaps you are. A matter of taste.

That’s you bud, I prefer the self check out every time, most visits to the bank are for the atm and if ai driven Uber cars were a thing I’d prefer them to. (I can agree about ivrs thou, those can die a fiery death)

We all have difference preferences so don’t attribute yours to others.

> Because to me, the consumer, I can't think of a single time automation replacing humans has been better.

Let me mention one then: ATMs.

Automation really is all progress made by humans. Chainsaws replace hand-saws, and is 'automated' sawing.

The less work is required to produce goods, the better it can compete (in price). This makes it so that you _don't have to_ work as much to achieve the same quality of life

I am really surprised you can't think of one time automation beats manual work. I could sit here all day:

Municipal water service versus hand pumped well

E-ZPass versus tollbooth attendant.

Festool Domino biscuit jointer versus me doing it by hand

Sheetrock versus plaster and lathe

Fair points. I'd consider 1,3,and 4 more behind the scenes, lumped in with manufacturing. But you definitely got me on EZPass.

Have you used home depot's self check out machines?

They are fantastic. Leaps ahead of every supermarket and CVS I've been in. When I was doing a lot of housework and was very used to them, I could get through a check out with a couple of items in under a minute. Really proved to me that these do not need to be awful

ATMs are huge, available 24 hours a day for most services you need. Postage lockers are great for the same reason.

Areas involving human interaction may indeed risk a decline in the provided (or at least perceived) quality when automated, compared to its non-automated best case scenario. However, aside from possible technical issues (that may also affect human-involved setups), machines avoid a broad range of problems (some mentioned in sibling posts) that otherwise affect clients' interacting experience, and thus (more often than not) are the better choice.

P.S.: I don't miss nowadays the increase of human-induced Coronavirus infection risk when I experience human-free services.

I mean, that just sounds like a matter of time does it not? Or a business opportunity. I can't imagine that there's some fundamental limitation to these devices that precludes a good experience.

amazon go is the self-checking next step and seems to be superior to cashiers altogether

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