Self Service in Banking And Retail Going Overboard

If we look back in history, banking and retail outlets had armies of clerks helping you get your job done. Rather doing the job for you.The grocery clerk fetched the items for you, packed them up and ringed in the amount on the cash register.The banking clerk cashed your cheques, gave you the status and balance of your account and handed you the cash.As time went by, technology started making forays in those areas, and we saw Automated Teller Machines and self service at the supermarket.Initially, the motive for doing this was convenience for the customer: the ATM was open after hours, and the supermarket allowed you to pick the vegetables you wanted, not what the clerk handed you out.The hidden reason was not convenience though, but rather reducing the head count for banks and retailers: if the customer did part of the work for themselves, the establishment saved money.Later, these "convenience" technologies started incurring costs, such as per-transaction costs for using the ATM, or a monthly fee.Later internet banking did the same: provide a service channel but making the customer pay for it on the long run.Now, we have another area where self service is taken to the extreme: self checkout at supermarkets!The customer does the work themselves, and the retailer gets to save on head count.I don't know if there will be a premium later on using the checkout, or will they ask the customer to stock the shelves themselves ... Here is recent article on Slashdot discussing how unintended consequences of self checkout is hurting retailers' profits.