self serve

Self Serve was a revolution when it was introduced into the local grocery store about 50 years ago. Previously, customers were always served by a store attendent who typically made the every purchase a social occasion. Today, the cost of wages means that a viable alternative, particularly when price is an important buying point, is to create a system for customers to serve themselves. This allows the savings in wages to be passed onto the customer and eliminates one social aspect of shopping.
Today we see self serve translated to petrol (gas) for cars, salad bars at restaurants and in banking through automatic teller machines (ATMs).