Self-checkouts are a big thing for retail companies. Places ranging from Walmart and Target through fast food chains like McDonald’s all have an easy and accessible way to checkout.
One major discussion that lies with the self-checkouts is, will this be the end of human to human interaction when shopping? Technology is a big part of this generation, causing things like online shopping to be the new normal. So naturally, places like Target and McDonald’s are going to make their stores up to date with the latest trends.
Self-checkout is meant to be easier and faster. No one would prefer waiting in line to buy products when they could check out themselves and be done with their shopping chores in a matter of minutes. Same with McDonald’s, why speak with a person, when they could just order their food on a kiosk and cut the time in half?
The problem with this is that self-checkouts and order kiosks are slowly taking peoples jobs away. When more are put in, less people are needed to work as cashiers. Leaving them out of a job, and having to figure out a new plan to pay the bills.
Another issue is the lack of communication and socializing. Speaking to a person is no longer required. Customers can just face a computer and allow that to answer the questions. Humans are known to socialize, so when people lose that skill it affects you in life. How could someone go on with their career or meeting people, if communicating and socializing is more of a weakness then a strength?
Obviously, self-checkouts and order kiosks are not the main problem to being antisocial but it does not help.
So, what can we do about the problem of computers doing the job for us? The answer to that is nothing. Times are evolving and so is technology, so we have to evolve with it.
When introduced to stores in moderation, it could affect people a lot less. Technology will be technology and it will break down. When it does that, someone will need to be there to fix it, hence another job opening up.
Target, for example, usually has four to eight self-checkouts and there are always one to two workers monitoring the self-checkouts in case something goes wrong or a customer needs assistance. That allows us to still have the simple access of a self-checkout, without the worries of people losing their jobs. Let us just hope the world does not become all self-checkout. That will be bad for cashiers all over and bad for customers that can never get those things to work.
Photo by William Rogers | The Oswegonian
