Full Service?
I had an interesting experience on my trip to Cape May the weekend before last. One of the girls needed a pit-stop, and having seen the gas prices, I decided it would be an opportune time to fill up. We pulled into a fair-sized Wawa. I let the family out at the door and then turned my attention to the pumps. I started to pull up to one, and noticed that the signage above it said “Full Service”. I rarely see a station with a full service pump. I’ve never had someone else fill my tank, but I can remember, when I was a kid, the bell sounding as my dad pulled across the hose. Then a guy would start the pump, clean the windows, and check the oil. I drove around the station, looking for self-service pumps.
As it turned out, there wasn’t just one or two full service pumps—the entire station was “full service”. As I realized this, I remembered a friend mentioning to me once that it is against New Jersey law to pump your own gas. So, I pulled up to a pump, got out of the car (I needed to stretch my legs), and handed the young man my credit card. I had to tell him how much I wanted and which grade. He proceeded to fill my tank.
It was weird. I know that for those that live in the state, it is the norm, but for someone who pumps their own gas every week, it was a bit awkward. It certainly wasn’t full service—all he did was pump the gas. It didn’t seem to inflate the prices, as they were lower than they were here in Pennsylvania, but was I supposed to tip the guy?
Why is it that I prefer to do things myself? So many of our consumer experiences have moved toward self-service. Remember when grocery stores had baggers that would cart your groceries out of the store and load them into the back of your car? Now we are even checking ourselves out.
There are many opportunities for improving customer experience. Full Service ain’t what it used to be.
