Or are they? I suppose it's in the eye of the (share)holder. Whatever the case, if customer service were a living thing, it would surely be on the endangered species list. It's a theme that is turning up more frequently as smart marketers are calling attention to the absence of it to leverage the "offering" of it. CarMax, the pre-owned auto giant, realizes it's been "missing" and has recently "found it." Good will and appreciation for your patronage is now a value-added benefit to the consumer experience. I'm sure they're still contemplating how to charge extra for it. In a silly example that probably doesn't fit, we used to enjoy the ultimate customer service experience when fueling our vehicles. Today, there's no service but self service (except in Jersey, rock on!) and we're paying more for it every day. But for most products and services, there's a variety of merchants or service providers to choose from. Despite this, the customer experience is not catered to by the seller as carefully as it used to be. Perhaps that is beginning to change as businesses search for a foothold in our turbulent economy.

We've long felt that customer service has been missing from the commercial theater at large. It was one of our first themes for a shirt. So it's nice to see other people raising the point, if not taking steps to revive it. But I'm curious... Is it for the sake of the consumer's sensibility or the self-preservation of business owner?