The Rise of Self Checkout Machines in NYC Supermarkets (salary, costs)

[Kefir King]

I don't like self-checkout for two reasons:

1. they eliminate low pay jobs, that some need for survival, however bleak.

2. they always screw up somehow. The more items you have, the greater chance of screwups. Have 10 items and you are DOOMED.

[dfc99]

Originally Posted by Cida

Nay, all the way.

They kill jobs.

They isolate yet more middle-class people from workers.

They create another situation of people taking orders from machines.

And, most of all, the corporation is getting customers to do unpaid work for them, shifting their financial burden onto the public.

Self checkout gets customers out of the store much quicker which by itself is a greeat reason to use the self checkout lines.

They isolate yet more middle-class people from workers.

LOL!

[pierrepont7731]

Originally Posted by dfc99

Self checkout gets customers out of the store much quicker which by itself is a greeat reason to use the self checkout lines.





LOL!

Agreed. My shopping experiences are so much better now as I am able to checkout in about five minutes bagging and scanning my own items, versus waiting in line for 20 minutes for a surly cashier.

[HellUpInHarlem]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler

i hate self checkout.
After i'm shopping, no, i don't want to self checkout.
I just want to stand there while the cashier does it for me and bags my stuff.

+1

[HellUpInHarlem]

Originally Posted by kefir king

i don't like self-checkout for two reasons:

1. They eliminate low pay jobs, that some need for survival, however bleak.

2. They always screw up somehow. The more items you have, the greater chance of screwups. Have 10 items and you are doomed.

++1

[Cida]

Originally Posted by BBMW

When the government makes workers too expensive, or the workers make themselves too expensive, companies are incentivised to replace their labor by other means. And technology is enabling this more and more. Get used to it.

And when the government steps back and lets companies operate as they please, they treat both employees and customers with reckless disregard.

[BBMW]

Or the companies, employees, and customers work it out themselves.

Originally Posted by Cida

And when the government steps back and lets companies operate as they please, they treat both employees and customers with reckless disregard.

[BugsyPal]

Originally Posted by Kefir King

I don't like self-checkout for two reasons:

1. they eliminate low pay jobs, that some need for survival, however bleak.

2. they always screw up somehow. The more items you have, the greater chance of screwups. Have 10 items and you are DOOMED.

Total BS.

Few if any retail have persons who are exclusivly cashiers. Rather certain number are register trained and approved. When not working on register they are employed elsewhere in store doing things like facing shelves, stock, tidying up racks, etc...

Have never had an issue using self checkout for large amount of items. Only thing that may happen is if you need to take something out may have to wait for a manager or someone with authority to void a transaction. But that is same if paying at a cashier so not a huge issue.

Some of you just should admit a bias against self checkout and thus are willing to dream up any rationale for them not to exist.

[Kefir King]

Try the self-checkout at C-Town on 89th and First Ave, Bugsy. You may change your cavalier tone.

Gotta love your rationale about replaced cashiers stocking shelves instead. So that mean two workers for ONE job. Does that sound logical to you?


If useless employees should be replaced by keyboards, perhaps the useless CEO and a few excess Vice Presidents and a board member or 10 would be far better financial choices than replacing Checkout Marge and her minimum wage peers.

[pierrepont7731]

Originally Posted by Kefir King

Try the self-checkout at C-Town on 89th and First Ave, Bugsy. You may change your cavalier tone.

Gotta love your rationale about replaced cashiers stocking shelves instead. So that mean two workers for ONE job. Does that sound logical to you?


If useless employees should be replaced by keyboards, perhaps the useless CEO and a few excess Vice Presidents and a board member or 10 would be far better financial choices than replacing Checkout Marge and her minimum wage peers.

What you're omitting is that these workers have received increased wages. The supermarket industry operates on razor thin margins. No one has the money to have a cashier make $15-17 an hour (they make this much at some supermarkets) and not be used as much as possible, not to mention that you expect supermarkets to have very low prices, but pay their workers top dollar too.

Furthermore, increased wages just means that you'll have fewer employees doing certain tasks and why should any supermarket continue operating in an outdated manner for a job that fewer people want to do? Most cashiers are downright miserable, the lines move insanely slow and they either overcharge or don't pack your items the way you want. With self checkout, I'm in and out with a good 20+ items in about five minutes. I rarely have to wait in long lines anymore, don't deal with attitude or being overcharged. All pluses...