Automating human communication will probably make customer service worse

I often hear that automating human communication in ways such as adding self checkout lines, an online chatbot, or an automated phone answering system improve customer service. I think the opposite is usually the case.

Companies which automate customer interactions have a variety of goals besides customer service, especially making a profit. Humans in customer service roles will have empathy for the customer, regardless of what their company training says. Companies have far more control over how a customer service bot is trained, and can design them to make profits a priority, without any empathy for customers. Customer service bots can also be used to giving the appearance of providing customer service, without having to pay a human.

Using a automated ordering system at a restaurant instead of talking to a cashier or having to use a customer service bot feels very depersonalizing. I’m also reminded of people who lost their jobs, while the cost of food, healthcare, and housing is going up. I prefer the inefficiency of not having automated checkout systems or customer service bots. Also, I think adopting more pro-human values is a necessity as technology advantages.

While I think it would be ideal to not automate customer service, sometimes automation of customer service can be a necessity. A small business such as a local coffee shop may not be able to earn enough to pay for fully human customer service. There are various overhead costs such as buying food, and paying rent.

Between 1983 and December 2025 overall prices in US urban areas rose by 326.03%. On the other hand the cost of food in urban areas rose by 344.693%. The cost of shelter rose by 420.983%, which means customer service need more money, and high housing costs does correlate with high rents for commercial establishments. With restaurant margins between 0-15%, even relatively small cost increases can cause a restaurant to go out of business or automate customer service to save money. On the other hand, the cost of IT hardware and services has gone down by 93.292% since 1988, and this is a key reason why automation increases profits.

Due to the relative cost of human customer service compared to automation, trying to convince people to prioritize human customer service over automation using an efficiency argument is not going to work. I think it’s better to focus on saying human customer service is better because, customers will get a better experience, automation related job disruption will be reduced, and we promote more prosocial norms that help us effectively manage new technology.

To summarize, automation will probably make customer service worse, and we should promote more prosocial norms to encourage human customer service.

Grocery stores and self checkout

As an example, I prefer getting groceries at Trader Joe’s over Safeway. One reason is the fact that Trader Joe’s locations I’ve been to do not have any self checkout counters. On the other hand, the Safeway near me has self checkout, and sometimes self checkout is my only option. Ratings of the Trader Joe’s near me are also significantly higher than the ones for Safeway, which is a sign that people see Trader Joe’s as a grocery store that provides better customer service.

I’ve also noticed that employees at Trader Joe’s also appear to be happier and provide better customer service. Employees at Safeway tend to be unhappy and checked out. To me, this is a sign that Trader Joe’s treats it’s employees better. Trader Joe’s having better employee reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed is another sign. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of the Trader Joe’s I’ve been to employ human cashiers and do not use self checkout.

Not using checkout is also representative of management’s concern for customers and employees. I think one significant cause of the fact that Trader Joe’s treats it’s employees better and has better customer service is the humanizing effects of having people work as cashiers. Also, it means that management made a decision to not use self checkout. On the other hand, Safeway’s management deciding to use self-checkout does show a lack of concern for customers and employees.

On the other hand, prices at Safeway are significantly lower. As a result, I still buy groceries at Safeway, despite the fact that I do not want to use self checkout. Lower prices is probably also a reason why other people buy groceries at Safeway.

Here is a comparison of prices for some food items at Safeway and Trader Joe’s as of January 2026.