| Kippreport.com

Fill it yourself

January 7, 2010 4:23 by kippreport

Self-service could be introduced at ENOC and EPPCO fuel stations across the UAE later this year, the company announced on Thursday. It said that customers would have to pay extra to use the services of attendants, though it has yet to specify what the rates might be.

The company said that it has conducted studies on the project during the past year and, thanks to the prevalence of the self-service concept in many of the home countries of UAE expatriates, the process is “generally understood.”

“A modernized self-serve concept for motorists buying fuel can bring about time and cost efficiencies and also reduce the waiting time at the service stations,” ENOC said in a statement.

The company also said it has invested AED50 million to modernize and automate all its service stations, to “improve the self-serve concept and make it more convenient to customers.”

While some of the attendants at the EPPCO and ENOC fuel stations may be transferred to different service stations, others could be trained for new careers within the company, it said.

Kipp assumes that the only way ENOC can encourage customers to switch to self-service is to make them pay for attendants. Knowing people in the UAE, though, it probably won’t work – they may grumble, but the majority would rather pay the attendant than do it themselves.

And that could be a good thing for the ENOC and EPPCO staff – the UAE mentality will hopefully let the fuel station attendants hold onto their jobs. Kipp is uncertain how many of them would actually be “trained” for other careers.

Tags: Enoc, EPPCO, fuel stations, self service, UAE