I know quite a few that make their money on service. There's others that can use algorithms. Again, food is an extreme example whose operational and labor tradeoffs don't apply to most markets. There's usually more flexibility or margin involved where paying people more might make sense.

I'm sorry why are you still typing? You apply anecdotal examples and your feelings with regards to this topic in the face of actual data. I've written some of those upselling algorithms, 2016 is a long ways from the comparative decade of the 90s you're offering up. Algos and robots can do many of the things you seem to believe to be too expensive, and they do so more cost efficiently and with a greater degree of consistency