Customer Service Is an Oxymoron

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Jan 1, 2001 | by Timothy W. Maier

Worse? How bad can it get? "We're not looking at service as being bad; we're looking at service being nonexistent," Gronbach says. "We are looking at service going out of business because of the lack of help. We are seeing that today with signs saying, `McDonald's is closed' or a sign that says, `Back at 1 o'clock' because there's no one left to staff the store when someone leaves. You can complain about service now, but what are you going to do when it's not even there?"

It is low unemployment rates combined with demographic age shifts that will cause the decline in service levels for at least the next 15 years, Gronbach says, "when those [now 10 years old] enter the labor force. Two decades ago service seemed to be at its height with 8 to 10 percent unemployment. Between 1945 and 1964 there were roughly 80 million people born, while between 1965 and 1985 there were about 50 million born. That is a 40 percent free fall, and it has affected the service industry. "We physically don't have enough people to do the work," says Gronbach.

Some 30 million more people are going to college than between 1945 and 1964, Gronbach observes. "The workforce is 40 percent smaller and twice as educated, and this labor shortage is felt most in the service level. People don't go to college and say, `I want to work in furniture in a department store" he says. Where's it heading? The impact is being felt everywhere. There has been an increase in tractor-trailer accidents, for example, because companies have lowered standards to hire unskilled drivers to drive 30,000-pound rigs, he says.

Service hell has created a cottage industry for authors of books on how to maximize profits while improving service. Bookstores have entire sections dedicated to the subject, with catchy titles such as Customer Service for Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Great Customer Service. But does corporate America read?

"We have very few people who care anymore," Avila says. "I don't see it very often. I was just in a McDonald's and the cashier walked away from me and left a group of people standing. The cashier told the manager, `I'm on my break' and started to eat in front of the hungry customers."

But people keep returning to McDonald's and Best Buy because of convenience and price. Sometimes it's the only game in town. That certainly is true when there is not much choice in selecting an airline, says Avila. "When it comes to poor customer service, expect even more bad experiences in the airline industry. Customer-service complaints about the air-travel industry are up 70 percent over the past two years due to confusing fares, crowded and oversold flights, delays, cancellations, missed connections and job actions by airline employees."

Certainly the airline industry has had a run of negative publicity recently [see "Are Friendly Skies the Safest Skies?," p. 18]. TWA had most of its flight attendants call in sick to protest labor negotiations, Northwest closed down its Detroit operations during a snowstorm and American Airlines suffered a work stoppage. This hurts the whole industry. "Because the airlines have failed to police themselves, it may take government intervention to improve customer relations," Avila says. Hardly a comforting thought. What it says is that corporate America is not buying surveys claiming we spend 10 percent more when we get good service and that we tell anywhere from nine to 12 people when service is bad and up to 20 when service is great.