It's interesting, but ultimately bad. You can do all of these things in a konbini because Japan's technology is so far behind the times.
Need a pay a bill? They don't have a web presence. You can't put many of them on auto-pay, and if you can, it's through a bank transfer, which incurs a fee. Most of them will not accept credit cards, even at the konbini.
Hey, they have really amazing copy machines at the konbini! Ah, right, because you have to print everything. They can fax things from the copiers! Yep, because you often are required to fax things.
You have to pay to have the konbinis accept deliveries, and it's only for people who can't accept deliveries at their building because they work all the time, and their building doesn't have lockers. It's kind of a regressive tax on the poor.
I love the konbinis and when I leave Japan I'm going to miss them, but a lot of their convenience stems from businesses offering low-tech services to fill technology gaps that other countries have solved with good technology.
Need a pay a bill? They don't have a web presence. You can't put many of them on auto-pay, and if you can, it's through a bank transfer, which incurs a fee. Most of them will not accept credit cards, even at the konbini.
Hey, they have really amazing copy machines at the konbini! Ah, right, because you have to print everything. They can fax things from the copiers! Yep, because you often are required to fax things.
You have to pay to have the konbinis accept deliveries, and it's only for people who can't accept deliveries at their building because they work all the time, and their building doesn't have lockers. It's kind of a regressive tax on the poor.
I love the konbinis and when I leave Japan I'm going to miss them, but a lot of their convenience stems from businesses offering low-tech services to fill technology gaps that other countries have solved with good technology.