Yes, folks. It is now officially official. Customer Service is dead. Pile customer service’s dead carcass high with all the other stuff that used to be important to American consumers and producers: margin, value, and longevity. The tied had changed and there’s no going back. Customer Service, it was nice knowing you.

Jeff Pulver has experienced the same frustration with Best Buy that I have. But why? I’ll tell you. There’s no margin on big-ticket items at any retail store any more. Between Gregg, Best Buy, and the other regional and national chains, there’s no room for a service premium because American consumer have been conditioned to care about only one thing: price. And that’s pathetic. Even service businesses have poor customer service: now how the heck do you survive in business if you can’t execute on the basics?

As Robert Plant once sang, it really makes me wonder.