Editor’s Leader

Did you hear the story about the bloke who strode into a Burger King in Michigan at 5am, waved a gun about and demanded cash? The cashier said he couldn’t open the high-tech till without a food order . . . so the robber ordered onion rings. To which, the cashier responded: “We can’t do onion rings at breakfast time.” The robber left, frustrated, cashless and hungry. Which goes to show even gunmen can’t defy modern technology – or counter inflexible rules laid down by multi-billion-dollar organisations.
     Now I hate to mention banks so shortly after talking about robbers . . . but in two separate attempts to open accounts in the High Street, recently, I met similar intransigent responses from the cashier: “We can only open accounts online, not over the counter.” And I was trying to put money IN!
     I decided instead to pay off the balance of my credit card but this financial smugness was short-lived: a day or so later, I had to use a credit cheque to pay an unexpected workman’s bill and, in the time  between paying off and paying out again, the credit card company  . . . without my knowledge . . . had slashed my credit limit on-screen, causing that cheque to bounce.
     Embarrassed, I rang the lender to complain and a boy of about nine said, with astonishing pomposity, that it was their policy in light of the current financial climate to curb spending by lowering credit limits . . . blah, blah. Then he charged me £12 for the bounced cheque . . . and no, he added tartly, he couldn’t waive that fee. Perhaps I’ll pay it in onion rings.
     It’s intriguing how much one can now achieve via technology and how much technology has taken over from in-the-flesh service – and how quickly we have accepted that. For example, from next year, visitors flying into the USA will have to have registered their data online (supplementary to the usual visa paperwork). So, if you don’t have access to a computer, you won’t be able to register and, presumably, won’t get in.
      The Internet, driven by the consumer, is evolving at an extraordinary pace, so we must, too – or end up like the recently discovered Brazilian tribe, which has no contact with the outside world or its computers, phones, televisions, cars, planes, shops ( . . . or banks, robbers, etc. Hmm).  
     The trick is to blend old with new: I’m delighted to announce that this magazine is now available online – viewable just as it appears in print (turn the pages here: www.dmionline.net and click on the issue cover).  
     So, we’re in tune with technology, but aren’t giving up on personal service – far from it: next March, we are staging a conference and major networking event for the international direct industry . . . more details here: dmi-events.com   

Sally Hooton is editor, DMI magazine.