By Lisa Hochgraf
My son and I have always liked to go to a particular car wash ... the only one in our area where you would pay a kid on entrance, ride the rails through the brushes and, at the end, have that same teenager use a towel to dry your car and earn his tip.
Big change was in store for the little guy and me when we went last time. The car wash was still there and operational, but the teenagers were gone. No kid greeted us on the way in; we paid using a machine; and blowers were the only method of drying the car at the end.
It was done a dollar cheaper, but I won't go back there any time soon. What distinguished this car wash was the people. Now it's just like the other options in the area.
Interestingly, this week I am editing a feature article for the October issue of Credit Union Management magazine about the future of automated teller machines. I think the path that some CUs in the article are on--making it possible for ATM users to connect via video/audio to real people--has some real potential.
The car wash could have leveraged similar technology to have someone inside the adjacent gas station talk to me before I entered the wash and as I left. The video staffer couldn't have dried my car with a towel, but likely could have personalized the experience a great deal.
I'll spend today thinking about how to reasonably merge technological delivery with the personality that comes with having kids at the car wash.
What do you think? What are you doing at your credit union?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Read more about self-service kiosks in "Extending Your Reach," "Long-Distance Connection" and "Best Practices: Reality Check" from Credit Union Management magazine.
