Photo: Creatas
Going through security at U.S. airports is a continuing nuisance. One technology improvement that I saw at Brussels Airport is simple: the conveyor on which you place your computer, bag, etc., slopes downward toward the x-ray machine, so that there is no need to drag bins and bags along the conveyor. Moreover, there is an adjacent conveyor that tilts backward toward the rear of the belt on which the staff can place a pile of used bins.
These devices save passenger time and are labor-saving for the security company too — no need for the workers to drag the bins by hand or hand-truck to the rear of the belt. Are we slow to innovate (how un-American that would be!) or does cheap semi-skilled labor reduce the incentive to substitute capital for labor?
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“Are we slow to innovate (how un-American that would be!) or does cheap semi-skilled labor reduce the incentive to substitute capital for labor?”
This is interesting but perhaps there is no real reason for the difference.
In Japan I often found incredibly well-organised and efficient systems and technology, like ATMs that would give spoken instructions in several languages, alongside highly inefficient or irrational things (the ATMs, for example, were often turned off outside working hours).
Rather than wondering at underlying causes – innovation versus cheap labour – it may simply be coincidence. Someone in the past decided to do things a certain way in Belgium, Japan and the US and each gradually carried on down their different roads. The result is that some areas in each country are unusually efficient, some unusually inefficient and absurd. One of the great things about travelling is that it shows us what our home countries and cultures are doing well, and in what ways they can improve.
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Conveyor belts have a very small potential of causing very serious harms (e.g., ripping an incautious child’s finger off). I’m honestly not sure that I’d want to increase the general public’s exposure to them, for the sake of having the passengers expend fewer calories to move their stuff through a security checkpoint. If it were up to me, we’d speed the line by reducing the amount of stuff going through security (possibly by demanding that airlines accept one piece of checked luggage per ticketed passenger).
I’m puzzled by this: “Are we slow to innovate (how un-American that would be!)” Perhaps you are a lot older than me (I’m 68). But during my entire adult life, the reluctance and failure, to adapt to innovation has been the defining characteristic in most aspects of American life. Some recent examples: Americans were among the last to ditch cell phone technology in favor of PCS, we were among the last to move to HD television. Even our much vaunted edge in entertainment software technology seems little more than bravado when we see that movies like Lord of the Rings are filmed in New Zealand. Going back a few years, we see that innovations in everything from kitchen appliances to automotive technology to medicine flow from other countries. Instead of trying to reverse this trend, our political leaders reinforce it. Remember Bush II’s squelching stem cell research? And Bush I’s misguided veto of a health care initiative in Oregon? Just recently reported at this site was Obama’s misguided call to move the country to electric vehicles when a more innovative leadership is called for. And this just goes on and on.
The American consumers and Government aside, American corporations have never been slow to innovate!
Of course! Lack of federal funding for stem cell research is what makes airline security lines so long. It all makes perfect sense now.
We all know that GWBush is the sole and unique cause of all problems of the world, but sometimes it’s hard to determine which of his acts bears the particular blame.
From all of my experiences with airport security, innovation and efficiency seem to be inversely proportional. Every innovation in airport security seems designed specifically to add time to the process. The reason for this seems to be that each new type of threat elicits a response of adding a new layer of security. So we go from simply walking through a metal detector to having to partially disrobe, remove contents from bags, get patted down, get air-puffed, get x-rayed, and on and on. Add families with children (and all the paraphernalia that seems de rigeur for modern parenthood), lazy TSA employees, people who haven’t figured out how to be efficient themselves, and we end up with one giant time suck. Logical and well-planned ideas for cutting down on the waits are doomed to failure because there is absolutely no incentive to change. Customers can’t pressure the TSA for change because the solution is “get to the airport earlier” or “making a fuss? Your name is now on the double-secret probation list!” Nobody with any clout within the government is looking at anything other than additional security. The airlines don’t really care because air travel is at an all-time high. The only hope for change is that the whole mess becomes such a hassle or that fuel becomes so expensive that people will start flying less and the airlines will look around for ways to attract customers. Maybe then they will hire lobbyists to pressure the government to make changes that will improve the air travel experience.
There’s nothing remotely rational about the security theatre process in airports in countries like the US. Don’t look for it. You’ll just do yourself a head injury.