I hate self checkouts. I always go to a line with a person. The people who work at the store need these jobs. And it's a good job for teenagers also. Personally, I enjoy interacting with actual people.
The self checkouts were always a con - we were told it would keep prices down, and it was progress. Neither was true. Prices have skyrocketed in spite of the scarcity of human customer service.
The "do not trust, verify" mindset that has been ingrained into and has become the default baseline and a common assumed "new normal" of a growing number of the population heavily contributes to the accelerated "management" of our "privileges in a supposed "free society" -- as do threats of cyberterrorism, fraud, Identity Theft, -- even good old-fashioned burglary or pickpocketing (or wireless mobile scanners capable of capturing card information while in proximity to a wallet or purse as online bots do from keystrokes captured via outposts on websites).
How many already intentionally (though it occurs surreptitiously anyway) use facial scan technology to "unlock" their almost permanently attached fondle slabs, which contain all of the critical elements of their lives (ever see the face of someone who misplaced theirs??) and are location & tracking mechanisms as well as that which is being used to create a permanent database of all sites visited, accounts frequented, activities undertaken, and contacts made - clearly gathering data, recording conversations, and using one of the 5 on board cameras to grab images for storage and reference (and sale).
Sale or data breached corporate "complimentary subscriptions" of credit report monitoring to those deemed "at risk" of potentially having their biometric, sales and credit or debit card data open to the hackers has added further fuel to the fire. KYC systems at financial institutions, insurance brokers, investment firms, institutional trusts, etc., all seek more and more extensive personal and behavioral data at point of entry (new accounts, large transfers, changes to ownership, use of trusts or new forms of business structures [i.e., changing from an LLC to Corporate entity] -- the facial scanners, license plate readers, LED-based surveillance lights on public streets, 5 G towers connected to thousands of low orbiting satellites, additional biometric-compliant travel documents required even with invasive body and facial scans (including iris scans)-- it all points to a world where we trust no one and verify everyone in order to preserve the illusion of privacy and of retaining our access and use of our own money or ability to move about at will in a constantly more defined, narrowing and restrictive zone of permission & performance/evaluation based "freedom."
Small wonder that as the workforce is intentionally replaced by automation (and soon robots in more visible functions, like the concierge and front desk cyber service or sexual surrogate robots in Japan) and the "customer" has prescribed for them by the service provider the parameters within which they may patronize that place of business (or online store) that trust has become associated with the "good old days" when we knew our neighbors (not just a casual wave as they disappear into their garage upon arriving home) and families were still intact and intentionally lived in proximity to one another and were actively involved in one another's lives, etc.
When we're made to belive that a stranger could pass an infectious disease to us that will harm us, that we must offer our bodies in service to scientifica experiements involving experimental potions, when we see our "representative" sock puppet actors with official titles and government offices make decrees from on high that bypass any semblance of the prescribed discussion, debate and legislative, judicial and other processes, trust declines further. When we're constantly fed fear porn about large nations who are competing for resources and domination in tech, weapons, and strategic asset accumulation at the other nations' expense (and to their peril), when we are led to believe we are constantly on the precipice of war, when division and segregation on even the smallest difference in perspective has become normalized and we live in echo chambers of only those who regurgitate the same party line to which we subscribe, then our ability to think clearly and critically and to reason and comprehend the reality of what we're in the midst of ( a psychological programming operation decades long and intensifying more constantly) is significantly diminished and the level of numb compliance increases unconsciosly.
We seek approval and the feeling of acceptance and inclusion in the perceived safety of "the herd" and so we do not react to what on the surface are small adjustments or inconveniences when they're presented to us as "normal" or part of the progression of society towards some vague "better future."
I resist self-check -- until they offer me a discount off the total bill for doing my own work. I've been to stores lately where we bring our own bags, and if they are not logo compliant with the brand where we're shopping, they refuse to pack them. Other stores with customer loyalty/rebate programs are busy selling all of our transaction data and offering us back a small rebate periodically for the extensive data they're gathering on us.
I recall many years ago going through the professional selling skills course as part of a position I had growing up in the corporate plantation....what I recall most vividly was that it was a perfect guide to understanding the elements of conversation -- of trying to bee sensitive to what was being sought, and what resistance areas there were so that uncovering the "needs" and addressing the "objections" opened the path to a trusted exchange and a
sale." Today, the art of conversation is lost and the level of care for others has dissipated and is nearly extinct. In my final years, returning to retail banking after more than a dozen in marketing, database and analytics on the agency side (work with banks as customers), I found the greatest reward in serving people -- they simply did not expect it, and they were addicted to it once they'd experienced it (often on a repeat basis until they were sure it was genuine and not a fluke). What would our world be like if instead of merchandising one another and finding the shortest distance to the generating the next least expensive profit, we took stock of the intrinsic and priceless value of relationships and of integrity, an attitude of resolving issues and of supporting one another instead of merchandising them? Can we still accomplish that in a world that's increasingly polarizing and isolating and sowing fear and distrust -- destroying community instead of fortifying it when it's most needed?
Spot on about the erosion of shared obligation. What struck me most is that higher earners are skipping scans more than lower income folks, basically proves it's not about need but about permission structures collapsing. I worked retail during college and the shift from cashiers to kiosks felt inocuous at first, now its clearly accelerating something darker about howwe relate to eachother in transactional spaces.
I just see it as the inevitable dead end of a corporate model for running a grocery store which was doomed from the beginning. It is only since 1916 that Piggly-Wiggly grocery stores introduced the open stock shelving that people could shop through the stock and bring it to be paid for at the cashier.
I think that business model has just run its course and we are headed back to the previous model in a slightly modified form where you just gave the grocer your shopping list and they brought it out to you from the stockroom.
The new version is curbside pickup and the return of home delivery. They are still getting some of the bugs worked out but I think we are a lot better off. It solves most of the big problems we face with stores in their current form. Pilferage by people grazing through the aisles. Restocking things that are put in the wrong places, sometimes spoiling when things are not put back in place in refrigeration. It is not subject to the same kinds of product tampering. It doesn't create the problem with flash mobs that has come about. It eliminates the checkout with the inherent risks of both the public and the cashiers not scanning things properly. There is no line for checkout. They are not forced to constantly corral shopping carts and hunt down the ones taken off the property. It reduces the need for large parking lots. It eliminates the nonsense of moving things around in the store trying to optimize product placement. It cuts down on the whole shoplifting problem.
I rarely go into a grocery store any more. I just go to their web page, click on the things I want. I set a pickup time and when that comes around, I load up my little dog and we drive to the store and wait in the parking lot and they magically bring everything out to the car. No standing in line for a cashier. No loading and unloading from the cart to the conveyor to be scanned. No hunting around the store trying to figure out where they have moved things. No waiting around for a price check when things don't scan properly or payments don't go through. It even takes away the problem of impulse buying.
It's incredible that this break down of trust was't foreseen with the introduction of self check outs. on second thoughts is obviously was hence all the camera's . I expect like Amazon the losses are tolerable compared to paying wages.
I never use a self check out , even though I have to track down a human . Self check out means we are doing the work that people used to get paid for. Fortunately they have not made it to the rural area I live in, yet ...
The hourly wages for a robot self checkout system is 0$. We are the robots when we use them also. Again paid 0$ for our efforts. I use them sometimes. It's another counterintuitive reality in the multi reality we live in, the hyperreality. The self checkout system is an invisible slave system. It drains money from the system via human jobs. Mega Grocers expand power. It's another insult they know we will endure! Another crack in society's foundation we will casually resist, for a while! When its robots everywhere we will wish we resisted harder.
A predictable consequence, as well as eliminating entry level jobs for teenagers that existed when I was coming of age. Demands for higher "living wages" for unskilled workers that were never meant to be a career path has ruined so much for the last generation or two of kids who need to develop some skills, experience and work ethic. No wonder they are mostly still helpless and clueless when they get out of college.
I hate self checkouts. I always go to a line with a person. The people who work at the store need these jobs. And it's a good job for teenagers also. Personally, I enjoy interacting with actual people.
The self checkouts were always a con - we were told it would keep prices down, and it was progress. Neither was true. Prices have skyrocketed in spite of the scarcity of human customer service.
The "do not trust, verify" mindset that has been ingrained into and has become the default baseline and a common assumed "new normal" of a growing number of the population heavily contributes to the accelerated "management" of our "privileges in a supposed "free society" -- as do threats of cyberterrorism, fraud, Identity Theft, -- even good old-fashioned burglary or pickpocketing (or wireless mobile scanners capable of capturing card information while in proximity to a wallet or purse as online bots do from keystrokes captured via outposts on websites).
How many already intentionally (though it occurs surreptitiously anyway) use facial scan technology to "unlock" their almost permanently attached fondle slabs, which contain all of the critical elements of their lives (ever see the face of someone who misplaced theirs??) and are location & tracking mechanisms as well as that which is being used to create a permanent database of all sites visited, accounts frequented, activities undertaken, and contacts made - clearly gathering data, recording conversations, and using one of the 5 on board cameras to grab images for storage and reference (and sale).
Sale or data breached corporate "complimentary subscriptions" of credit report monitoring to those deemed "at risk" of potentially having their biometric, sales and credit or debit card data open to the hackers has added further fuel to the fire. KYC systems at financial institutions, insurance brokers, investment firms, institutional trusts, etc., all seek more and more extensive personal and behavioral data at point of entry (new accounts, large transfers, changes to ownership, use of trusts or new forms of business structures [i.e., changing from an LLC to Corporate entity] -- the facial scanners, license plate readers, LED-based surveillance lights on public streets, 5 G towers connected to thousands of low orbiting satellites, additional biometric-compliant travel documents required even with invasive body and facial scans (including iris scans)-- it all points to a world where we trust no one and verify everyone in order to preserve the illusion of privacy and of retaining our access and use of our own money or ability to move about at will in a constantly more defined, narrowing and restrictive zone of permission & performance/evaluation based "freedom."
Small wonder that as the workforce is intentionally replaced by automation (and soon robots in more visible functions, like the concierge and front desk cyber service or sexual surrogate robots in Japan) and the "customer" has prescribed for them by the service provider the parameters within which they may patronize that place of business (or online store) that trust has become associated with the "good old days" when we knew our neighbors (not just a casual wave as they disappear into their garage upon arriving home) and families were still intact and intentionally lived in proximity to one another and were actively involved in one another's lives, etc.
When we're made to belive that a stranger could pass an infectious disease to us that will harm us, that we must offer our bodies in service to scientifica experiements involving experimental potions, when we see our "representative" sock puppet actors with official titles and government offices make decrees from on high that bypass any semblance of the prescribed discussion, debate and legislative, judicial and other processes, trust declines further. When we're constantly fed fear porn about large nations who are competing for resources and domination in tech, weapons, and strategic asset accumulation at the other nations' expense (and to their peril), when we are led to believe we are constantly on the precipice of war, when division and segregation on even the smallest difference in perspective has become normalized and we live in echo chambers of only those who regurgitate the same party line to which we subscribe, then our ability to think clearly and critically and to reason and comprehend the reality of what we're in the midst of ( a psychological programming operation decades long and intensifying more constantly) is significantly diminished and the level of numb compliance increases unconsciosly.
We seek approval and the feeling of acceptance and inclusion in the perceived safety of "the herd" and so we do not react to what on the surface are small adjustments or inconveniences when they're presented to us as "normal" or part of the progression of society towards some vague "better future."
I resist self-check -- until they offer me a discount off the total bill for doing my own work. I've been to stores lately where we bring our own bags, and if they are not logo compliant with the brand where we're shopping, they refuse to pack them. Other stores with customer loyalty/rebate programs are busy selling all of our transaction data and offering us back a small rebate periodically for the extensive data they're gathering on us.
I recall many years ago going through the professional selling skills course as part of a position I had growing up in the corporate plantation....what I recall most vividly was that it was a perfect guide to understanding the elements of conversation -- of trying to bee sensitive to what was being sought, and what resistance areas there were so that uncovering the "needs" and addressing the "objections" opened the path to a trusted exchange and a
sale." Today, the art of conversation is lost and the level of care for others has dissipated and is nearly extinct. In my final years, returning to retail banking after more than a dozen in marketing, database and analytics on the agency side (work with banks as customers), I found the greatest reward in serving people -- they simply did not expect it, and they were addicted to it once they'd experienced it (often on a repeat basis until they were sure it was genuine and not a fluke). What would our world be like if instead of merchandising one another and finding the shortest distance to the generating the next least expensive profit, we took stock of the intrinsic and priceless value of relationships and of integrity, an attitude of resolving issues and of supporting one another instead of merchandising them? Can we still accomplish that in a world that's increasingly polarizing and isolating and sowing fear and distrust -- destroying community instead of fortifying it when it's most needed?
Spot on about the erosion of shared obligation. What struck me most is that higher earners are skipping scans more than lower income folks, basically proves it's not about need but about permission structures collapsing. I worked retail during college and the shift from cashiers to kiosks felt inocuous at first, now its clearly accelerating something darker about howwe relate to eachother in transactional spaces.
I just see it as the inevitable dead end of a corporate model for running a grocery store which was doomed from the beginning. It is only since 1916 that Piggly-Wiggly grocery stores introduced the open stock shelving that people could shop through the stock and bring it to be paid for at the cashier.
I think that business model has just run its course and we are headed back to the previous model in a slightly modified form where you just gave the grocer your shopping list and they brought it out to you from the stockroom.
The new version is curbside pickup and the return of home delivery. They are still getting some of the bugs worked out but I think we are a lot better off. It solves most of the big problems we face with stores in their current form. Pilferage by people grazing through the aisles. Restocking things that are put in the wrong places, sometimes spoiling when things are not put back in place in refrigeration. It is not subject to the same kinds of product tampering. It doesn't create the problem with flash mobs that has come about. It eliminates the checkout with the inherent risks of both the public and the cashiers not scanning things properly. There is no line for checkout. They are not forced to constantly corral shopping carts and hunt down the ones taken off the property. It reduces the need for large parking lots. It eliminates the nonsense of moving things around in the store trying to optimize product placement. It cuts down on the whole shoplifting problem.
I rarely go into a grocery store any more. I just go to their web page, click on the things I want. I set a pickup time and when that comes around, I load up my little dog and we drive to the store and wait in the parking lot and they magically bring everything out to the car. No standing in line for a cashier. No loading and unloading from the cart to the conveyor to be scanned. No hunting around the store trying to figure out where they have moved things. No waiting around for a price check when things don't scan properly or payments don't go through. It even takes away the problem of impulse buying.
I can't see any reason to go back.
It's incredible that this break down of trust was't foreseen with the introduction of self check outs. on second thoughts is obviously was hence all the camera's . I expect like Amazon the losses are tolerable compared to paying wages.
I never use a self check out , even though I have to track down a human . Self check out means we are doing the work that people used to get paid for. Fortunately they have not made it to the rural area I live in, yet ...
The hourly wages for a robot self checkout system is 0$. We are the robots when we use them also. Again paid 0$ for our efforts. I use them sometimes. It's another counterintuitive reality in the multi reality we live in, the hyperreality. The self checkout system is an invisible slave system. It drains money from the system via human jobs. Mega Grocers expand power. It's another insult they know we will endure! Another crack in society's foundation we will casually resist, for a while! When its robots everywhere we will wish we resisted harder.
Remember the weak resistance to the vaccine pass?
Be collapse aware! Prepare!
A predictable consequence, as well as eliminating entry level jobs for teenagers that existed when I was coming of age. Demands for higher "living wages" for unskilled workers that were never meant to be a career path has ruined so much for the last generation or two of kids who need to develop some skills, experience and work ethic. No wonder they are mostly still helpless and clueless when they get out of college.
Not surprising. The other day at our local Costco I noticed they had taken out self checkouts. I'm all for the human cashier experience coming back.