Self-service is ultimate form of customer involvement in service production
Customers undertake specific activities using facilities or systems provided by service supplier
Customer’s time and effort replace those of employees
Concept is not new—self-serve supermarkets date from 1930s, ATMs and self-serve gas pumps from 1970s
Today, customers face wide array of SSTs to deliver information-based services, both core and supplementary
Many companies seek to divert customers from employee contact to Internet-based self-service