-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