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Comment by cwkoss | Hacker News Reader

Empty boat makes me think of support of digital services.

Google saves millions upon millions every month by claiming "it's an automated system, we didn't choose that action, so we aren't responsible". There is no chat support to complain to for most of their products.

This model is spreading across the economy: intentionally "leaving boats empty" so people feel like there isn't a person to be mad at.

But corporations are not faceless autonomous entities: they are collections of people willfully choosing to craft this facade of emptiness to avoid responsibility, costs, or even awareness of when they do harm.

These boats are not empty, but the people in them want you to believe they are.

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My company recently reaffirmed to keep telephone a major channel for customer interaction. We deal with people going through a critical period in their lives (the start of permanent disability) and our ability to service them directly affects their welfare. Obviously we could automate it all via automated forms and pick an approach that puts the burden of proof on the customer. We choose to actively help them meet that standard. Back-end needs 100% efficiency, front-end needs 100% clarity, the customer needs support. We could improve profits by squeezing this lemon. It's a handful of IT staff for the forms instead of several dozen people servicing customers. It would even improve profits massively via the absence of claims. We choose not to. Our stakeholders (better) understand. In comparison to what I read on this platform on US-big corp culture, I feel lucky that my stakeholders do understand. We get to make this choice. It even benefits our brand in the long run. Sometimes customers (firms) go for the cheapest insurer, usually backed by foreign money (no flame their, that's EU competition as it is ment). Quite often they return 3 years later. Servicing former employees well is a service that employers recognize.

> Google saves millions upon millions ... There is no chat support to complain to for most of their products.

If people are not happy with their services, why don't they just ask for their money back?

Often times, "all or nothing" is not the best solution to a problem.

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