Very interesting. I never thought about it this way before.

My boyfriend's mom refuses to use self-check out registers at the grocery store because of this.

This is commonly called the broken window fallacy and it goes like this:
"If someone throws a stone into a shop window, the owner needs to repair it. This puts people to work and increases total output. Since this creates jobs, would we be better off breaking lots of windows and repairing them? Most folks would say this would be nonsense, since although it would employ labor, there would be no net benefit to society."
continued

"When I leave my empty popcorn bag on the floor of a movie theater, I figure I'm helping save someone's job."

Sorry, this is a ridiculous statement. The staff at a movie theater have *lots* of other stuff to do, and leaving your personal trash on the floor simply makes more work for them to do in the same amount of time.

To say nothing of the arrogance involved.

Dont use this as an excuse not to pick up your crap. I have worked in those service jobs and let me tell you, they will still hire people to clean, even if the place is relitively clean (dont be pigs and leave your sh** everywhere).

I'd prefer to pick up after myself. When I lived in China, people littered like crazy, because the government employed people to sweep the streets regularly.

This resulted in an amazing display of irresponsibility. People would throw glass bottles out of buses. Children would buy candy, dropping the wrappers after them as they went. Even though the street sweepers went through regularly, the streets were still filthy and coated in tiny bits of shattered glass.

I know that's not liable to happen here, but I have this need to leave very little behind when I'm in public.

I agree with the commenter who described the clean-up jobs as an example of the broken window fallacy. The net gain is greater if we don't create the mess in the first place, and the labor that would have gone into maintenance is diverted to the production of new goods.

As I see it, the issue with self-service is whether we, as consumers, are willing to pay more to have someone do things for us that we could do ourselves (or do without). Older folks might remember when gas stations had attendants who not only pumped your gas but also cleaned your windshield and checked your oil. Self-service stations were able to sell gas at a lower price because they didn't have to pay these attendants' wages. And as consumers we chose to go with them rather than continue to pay more for the old-fashioned service. In fact, there was so little demand for the old-fashioned service that it has almost completely disappeared.

Do you hire someone to clean your house or do it yourself? Mow your own lawn? Same principle.

In Oregon, they have a law against pumping your own gas, so they still have attendants. This is a case of government interference in the marketplace. Suppose there were laws forbidding you to clean your own house or mow your own lawn, in order to protect the jobs of people who do these things. Would that be a good thing? I don't think so.

Do-it-yourself is a key strategy of frugality. I see no reason why it shouldn't be practiced in the business world just as it is at home. If bagging my own groceries or using a self-service checkout can save me some money, I'm all for it.

On the other hand, there are lots of things where I don't have the necessary expertise, competence, or interest in doing them myself. And some things, like proofreading or editing, seem to require, by their very nature, that another person does them. So there's always going to be a market for other people to sell their services to me.

Yeah, it's true, there is a difference. And since people are paid to clean up, I suppose that there's nothing wrong with leaving a bag behind.

I just feel like some people make a real point of making a mess, because they know that someone has to clean up after them. When I worked my first job as a waitress, the customers who were the worst (and who tipped the worst) were the ones who would let their kids open up every packet of sugar and spill the grains everywhere. Yeah, I HAD to clean it up, but that didn't mean that they HAD to make such a big mess.

It's because of this that I always stack my dishes for waitresses. And I wipe up my mess. And I tip like crazy. Technology will have to advance a LOT before service jobs are usurped by robots. My leaving a bigger mess behind isn't doing anyone any favors.

Am I reading too much into this?

If you are comparing gas prices in Seattle to those in Portland, you need to consider the differences -- if any -- in the taxes imposed by the state. Since I live in the Seattle area, I do know that our local governments add a hefty tax on each gallon sold. That might more than offset any savings we might get from pumping our own gas.

The other day I went to Home Depot to buy a tank of propane. Outside the store they had a kiosk and a set of "gym lockers" containing full tanks. I swiped my card through the reader, placed my empty tank in the empty locker indicated and then took a full tank from the locker whose door swung open. Two minutes tops. No hassle, no waiting in line. Available 24 hours a day.

Also no direct interaction with another person. Is that a bad thing?

To many people, "service" means something that is suggested by the related word "servant". I don't like treating people like servants, and I don't like having people behave subserviently toward me. I think this is what bothers me about leaving messes for someone else to clean up: it's such an arrogant thing to do. The excuse that I'm providing them with a job feels like a very thin rationalization.

Someone still had to fill that propane tank, truck it to the Home Depot, and load it into the locker. So I was still employing someone via my purchase. But I'd eliminated the "servants" as much as possible. I think that's a good thing.

Wrong, dude. Just...wrong. I like Andrea's take on it. Picture a spoiled 10-year-old child of rich parents (not that that's you, just an example) who doesn't make his bed, never washes his dishes, and won't wash & iron his own clothes. Sure, his parents have a housekeeper, but she *could* be doing other, more important, cleaning jobs or making a special dinner. Instead, she's running from room to room to pick up after the lazy kid who won't take responsibility for his messes.

I'm fairly sure that there's plenty for employees to do without extra littering, and sometimes, overworked employees can't always get to everything, meaning that things like popcorn bags get left on seats for the next customers to find. Lovely. Also, leaving a popcorn bag can result in grease stains on the seat, which means that the theater ages more quickly, even (if) they hire someone to clean the seats on a regular basis. This equals a decline in customer satisfaction, and potentially an eventual loss of revenue.

Kudos to whoever brought up the broken window fallacy.

When people say "that's not MY job" it tends to result in a sad state of things. Take responsibility for yourselves, lend a hand.

Only if they were to give me a discount, otherwise I'll go to a teller. Same with banks..