[tacostakohashi]

See the "doorman fallacy".

Customers don't actually want to do the work of their vendors. I don't want to scan my own groceries at a supermarket, or check myself in for a flight (if checking backs, or traveling internationally anyway). If I wanted to be doing that kind of work, I'd get a job at a supermarket or an airline.

[szszrk]

Weird examples.

Self service cash registers are huge in Europe and as the tech matured even elderly are choosing them to not wait in queues. There are a lot of complains, but on par with standard registries.

Self checkout on flights, the online one, is the easiest and biggest time saver. Up to a point where cost is not the most important factor to fly with carry-on only.

[flornt]

Yes, but it's not exactly the same. Self-service checkouts are just a way to buy your groceries — same with online shops. In those cases, the human is simply involved in selling a product, not delivering a service in itself. What I'm thinking about is an AI agent that actually provides services the way a human would — like doing strategic monitoring, replying to emails, or producing documents as part of an AI-enabled workflow."

[malfist]

Self service checkouts are huge because they chronically understaff checkouts so if you want to get out quickly you have to temporarily be an employee of the store.

[flornt]

see my answer below.I guess it's not quite the same thing. Self-service checkouts are just a way to buy your groceries — same with online shops. In both cases, the human is (or was) mainly there to help sell a product, not to deliver a service in the proper sense. Sure, you could argue that it’s still a form of service, but the core business of a company like Walmart isn’t about providing human services — it’s about selling goods.

[szszrk]

In a way, you just confirm what I said. I think that "fallacy" is cool for a ted talk or a sales book, but falls apart when faced with reality.

tacostakohashi chose very precise examples - cash registry and self checkout. These are clearly wrong, as proven by experience.

To meet your point it would be better to say "I don't want to be a farmer or a pilot". But even that is bogus.

Many people that can "be a farmer", plant their own vegetables. It's an option available for many people.

It may not be true in your local example, but it is for mine - almost every person that has a small piece of land (even tiny garden) at least experiments with some vegetables or fruits. On denser areas like mine (where houses are rare, blocks of flats are more common) it's not uncommon to plant tiny amounts on balconies.

Owning a share of "community gardens" right outside of city is insanely popular even with very high prices of those. The one my cousin has parcel in is over 1000 parcels (usually around 20x20 meters or so), where people plant and compost (mandatory).

Many people want to be a farmer if that gives them high quality products. They will jump through hoops to achieve that.