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and midsize business owners a voice," Mac Nab said. International Airport, where I ordered coffee at one kiosk
"Having a voice in The Green Sheet and other industry and a pastry at another, in "How can we improve self-
trade publications helps us amplify the voice of the small service?" The article appeared March 25, 2019, in Issue
business owner.' 19:03:02 of The Green Sheet.

Mac Nab noted that he focuses on two voices in our "Each time I tried to check out, the kiosk displayed an
industry: the voice of the small business owner and the error message," I wrote. "When I returned to the counter,
voice of the agent and ISO that serves them. Dinosaurs the clerk discovered my ticket had a zero price-point. She
in the payments industry are not adapting as fast as corrected the error, enabling me to pay the $3 and complete
the smaller guys, who can pivot easily and smoothly; my transaction.
dinosaurs can't turn around their massive businesses as
fast, he stated. In either of these scenarios, I could have walked away
without paying for the coffee or Danish. And as I looked
"We are okay with being in the public eye, being all over around, I observed several people doing exactly that. I
social media and talking openly to the media about the could only imagine how much more breakage might occur
challenges, threats and opportunities that are facing the during high-traffic times."
payments industry,' Mac Nab said, adding that he and his
employees and partners are not afraid of having reviews Looking back at the bedspread incident, I realize that
on their websites." humans, despite their flaws, had bent the rules to
accommodate me. Would an AI, guided only by a rules
Have you been self-served? engine, have done the same?
I recall some initial awkwardness with unattended airport
solutions. Supermarket scanners and parking kiosks had Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and founder and
been around for years but it took time for people to fall CEO at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and content
into the cadence of self-checkout at airports. I described strategist. Connect via email dale@dsldirectllc.com, LinkedIn www.
my own experience, one early morning at Newark linkedin.com/in/dalelaszig/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/DSLdirect

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