I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

I’ll be the first to admit that some days I just don’t want to deal with people. I’m a big fan of “pay at the pump” and ATM’s. You could say I’ve always thought of myself as a “do-it-yourself’er” and sometimes would much rather deal with an automated counterpart to get what I need instead of having to interact with a human being.

And it seems I am not alone:

NCR chief pushes to expand customer services at ATMs

DAYTON, Ohio – The future of ATMs and self-service terminals lies in multitasking: going from dispensing only cash to selling theater tickets, renewing driver’s licenses and offering other services, NCR Corp.’s chief executive says.

Bill Nuti believes such diversification will play a major role in the company’s growth.

“The ATM is still going strong. But it is changing. The ATM is becoming more of a customer-experience portal,” he said in a recent interview.

Nuti said market research has shown that consumers between 18 and 35 prefer self-service to clerk-assisted service.

“This is the Internet generation,” he said. “This is really a movement.”

Nuti hopes self-service terminals will be used by consumers to pay bills, renew driver’s licenses and buy bus and lottery tickets, gift and phone cards and even casino chips.

[read on…]

While a huge part of me loves the sound of that, I admit that there are times when human interaction is absolutely necessary. i.e. when there is a problem with a particular service or product, or if the ATM/machine malfunctions, etc. After reading that article, I couldn’t help but think back to my last encounter with UPS, and when calling their “customer service” line finding out that the menu presented no options except those that were automated. It was only by sheer luck that I discovered the way to speak to an actual person.

I enjoy the convenience and instant gratification of automated services, but I am also grateful for companies/services which still provide human interaction (and sometimes intervention? LOL).