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Wdym? self-checkout definitely lead to fewer supermarket workers being employed.
by leto_ii 9d ago
Wdym? self-checkout definitely lead to fewer supermarket workers being employed.
- heaney-555 9d agoActually, it has been essentially balanced out by a greater need for behind-the-shelves workers to pack and load orders for online/app delivery and eCommerce orders. This is how the economy often works. The loss of one kind of job to technology lets the business grow by using the same number of staff, or often even more, to serve new opportunities/markets/products/services.
- rootusrootus 9d agoThe data seems to contradict that, if Freakonomics is to be believed (and some people don't like them, I get that). Apparently overall headcount actually increased as a result of self-checkout. E.g. cashiers did drop a little but loss prevention more than made up for it.
- nemomarx 9d agoseems like a worse customer experience though. longer lines at checkouts and the self checkout process is unnecessarily slow to deter theft.
- trallnag 9d agoSome supermarkets let customers scan their items as they go through the store with a handheld device
- rootusrootus 9d agoMy local Kroger variant does that. Or they did, maybe it stopped, now that I think about it. I never saw anyone use it. Intuitively it sounds like it could be handy, but it seems like in practice everyone just kept on doing things the way they're used to doing it.