 |
A project to make businesses more aware of their customer experience, and how to fix it. By Mark Hurst. |
| About Mark Hurst | Mark's Gel Conference | New York Times Story on This Is Broken | Newsletter: Subscribe | RSS Feed |
Search this site:
Categories:
- Advertising
- Current Affairs
- Customer Service
- Fixed
- Food and Drink
- Just for Fun
- Misc
- Not broken
- Place
- Product Design
- Signs
- Travel
- Web/Tech
Previous: Melt Gelato online employee application | Main | Next: "Just Oak" store sign
June 1, 2007 12:03 AM
Broken: Photocopier sign
Chris Gurney submits a picture taken in Toronto, Canada:
I thought that the sign posted on a photocopier in my friend's condo building deserved a photo.
It reads:
25 CENTS PER COPY.
DO NOT USE QUARTERS.
This is one of those tests. Something like "You have two coins totaling 35c but one of them is not a dime." Some kind of puzzle.. Maybe the copier only takes photocopies of quarters..
And here I was about to type out that same riddle (the answer to which is a dime and a quarter, obviously)... So I wonder what would happen if someone did use a quarter?
This sign amuses me though...
If you have to use other coins equalling 25 Cents and it can't be quarters this machine is "broken". Remember, if they make it harder than it has to be then it fits with Mark's website subtitle: "A project to make businesses more aware of their
customer experience, and how to fix it."
If it doesn't use quarters and it demands 25 cents, it is broken.
-Cameron
Solution: Since the quality of the experience is degraded, lower the cost of the use of the copier to an amount that the coin sensor can handle: 20c.
I'm really concerned about this quality-of-the-copier-"experience" concept. I'm not sure I want one of those: a copier "experience. All I really want is copies. I'll leave the "experience" to the pot heads, or someone with more time to savor the moment. If I have to slug three dimes into the machine to take my copy and my nickel in change, then so be it.
In the U.S., this would be really poor since the highest denomination coin we have is the quarter. In Canada, one could simply throw a loonie in the slot and either make four copies or get a ton of change back (since I am assuming that one would only get dimes and nickels).
We have a few versions of the dollar coin. Just none of them seem terribly popular.
If you don't believe me, go to your local post office, and stick a 20 in the stamp vending machine, then get the smallest book of stamps it sells. You get a fistful of dollar coins back. Last time I did this, I got a mix of Susan B. Anthonys and Sacajaweas.
If you think that's too difficult, you can probably ask for some at a bank as well.
Also, the US mint this year has apparently started minting a series of dollar coins with each of the presidents on the back, kinda like the state quarters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_(United_States_coin)#List_of_designs
It's also fairly easy to get 50 cent pieces, but the mint produces fewer of these than the dollar variety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Mint_coin_production
The problem is that most vending machines in the US won't accept any coins worth more than a quarter.
This reminds me of the unflattering joke about the people who were stuck for hours on the stalled escalator.
I think the folks who would be stymied by the coin slot, baffled by the message, and couldn't manage to get copies some way or another might just be a bit broken themselves.
^The joke is that the people on the escalator were too stupid to realize that they could just walk up the rest of the stairs.
The really broken thing about this is that it actually does give quarters back as change... go figure.
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: Melt Gelato online employee application | Main | Next: "Just Oak" store sign
1. If the machine has a coin slot that accepts quarters, but quarters don't operate the machine, then the machine is broken. Call for repair.
2. If the machine has no slot for quarters, then the machine simply takes other coins or bills, and the moron who wrote the notice is broken. Call for the men in white to take him away.
Posted by: tartan at June 1, 2007 01:22 AM