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Remembering a self-service revolutionary

April 1, 2011

Before self-service

I remember hot summer afternoons with my legs sticking to the vinyl seats of my Grandfather's Ford pickup truck as we waited for the attendant at the gas station. He'd be chatting with customers, washing windows, ferrying money and change back and forth to the attendant. In the meantime, my grandfather and I would roll down the windows, pray for a breeze and listen to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Sometimes two or three songs played before the attendant was available to fill up the truck.

When I'd return home from the visit with my grandparents in the country to the big city of Raleigh, my mother would zip into the gas station, fill up her MG convertible while we listened to Simon and Garfunkel. I'd run into the store while she paid and get some melty, M&M's and a Slurpee. We'd barely get through "Cecilia" before we were off and on to other errands.

Today, we have that convenience in so much more than just the gas station. We can book airline tickets, check-in, pay our bills, make our own appointments and order special items. The possibilities for self-service are limitless, so we forget how revolutionary just the concept of self-service was a few decades ago.

Bernard Roth, the creator of the self-service gas pump, died two days ago. As I was listening to the profile on NPR, I realized how he redefined the experience and business model of the gas station with one single concept — self-service.

At the time, Roth encountered many of the arguments we get today about self-service. Will it cost jobs? Will people miss the human experience? Will people know how to pump their own gas?

As recently as a few months ago, I was reading articles about self-service gas stations coming to Fiji. The residents were outraged. They didn't want attendants to lose their jobs, nor did they want to pump their own gas. However, the economics of self-service just made too much sense.

What is especially interesting about the gas station example is that when customers pumped their own gas, other business opportunities sprang up. Customers had to enter the station to pay, so gas stations could sell merchandise to a captive audience. This merchandise offered, not only another revenue stream for station owners, it also offered more predictable margins than the constantly fluctuating fuel prices. That meant that gas stations could actually hire more people and service more customers.

Today, we hear concerns about self-service eroding jobs. However, we are finding that it actually helps businesses prosper and brings more value to their customers, and that is always good for workers.

Did Bernard Roth know that he was revolutionizing more than just the gas station when he created the self-service pump? Arco executives credit him with turning the corner store into one of the most powerful business models in the country.

As for me, I still like to sit in my car and listen to Johnny Cash songs, although I'll take a Slurpee any day over a sweltering wait in the car.

Referenced:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/03/29/man-who-pioneered-self-service-pump-dies