2.9¢ : Great Peer Blogging

It finally comes to write another assigned topic after many hours of struggling with being creative with writing. I think it is so much easier to find a blog and have a comment about it than crafting the blog from scratch, even though there are so many things to blog about, I don’t want my blog to be just a blah. I think Mark Olson did a great job in his blog "#6 Why do people still wait in line at the movies?"

"Is it a fear of new technology" when it comes to the customer’s reluctance to use automated ticket machine? In Mark’s blog, he posted the above question. In lieu of enjoying the benefit of saving time, many movie-goers, as Mark observed, rather waited in line to purchase tickets from the counter. It’s really a lose-lose situation especially during the peak hours. Customers are waiting behind 20+ people in line and theater managers have to hire more staff to handle the rush traffic. I also agree with Mark’s analysis of reasons behind why the customers fear for technology – we are just used to the conditioned process and do not want to change. People don’t want to look stupid in front of the machine doing simple tasks like buying a ticket or checking in the flight. Maybe the situation is the same for ATMs and vending machines, but the volumes of these machines are much larger than movie or airline ticket kiosks. There are only ~10 theaters in Austin and 1 airport, of course. I believe someone (especially older generation) would scratch their heads and feel complete lost while attempting to use an ATM right now and look around to see if any live help is available.

Since every decision of customer is an economic decision, some people value their time highly that they are willing to try things that appear to be better, faster and more convenient. Certainly, customers waited in line for movie ticket probably want to save time too, but they may also want to save themselves from public embarrassments since they have never used the machine before. I constantly see travelers showing signs of struggle in front of the ticket kiosk, perhaps because they are the first timer or unfamiliar with the operation system, but they have no choice since their plane is leaving soon. I think the company (or theater manager in Mark’s case) should assign a staff standing next to the automated machine, guiding the customers how things get done quicker, offering helps to the customers with any trouble, and even bringing the customers fro the line to the machine and show them the step-by-step. It may take a long diffusion curve for the majority to cross the gap of technology, but companies need to start somewhere and it is better early and late.