Service with a snarl

This provocative article argues that companies who promise high-quality service inevitably break that promise and lose their custom.

Service with a Snarl

Simon SilvesterY&R EMEA

'No one packs my bags at the supermarket any more.'

'Is anyone going to let me check out of this hotel today?'

'What do you mean you want the table back at 9pm?'

In affluent countries across the world, the complaint is the same. Banks, airlines, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels just don't offer the service they used to.

Ratios of cabin service staff to passengers have fallen at most major airlines; full-service petrol stations, once common in Europe, have all but disappeared.

WHY SERVICE GETS WORSE

There is a long-term, fundamental reason...

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