When you go to the store

But, you use the Internet, cars and telephones. Stop using it and give the librarians, the tele-operators, the carriage and the yellow book-printers their jobs back!

 

I wouldn't mind if there was some reason to use those machines. I see them, but... why? When I first came across this, it was at gas stations where you had the choice to have somebody pump your gas, or I could choose to save a few pennies to pump my own.

I did try the machine, but there was that six pack of beer that required proving I was old enough to buy alcohol. That was the last time I used the self-checkout lane.

I'm not concerned about the jobs that disappear because of automation, but there has to be a reason for the automation. When self serve gas stations first started, I went because I was pinching pennies. Nowadays, I will go to the full service station if I can find one. It's not because I care whether the guy needs a job, but because it's a convenience that doesn't cost all that much.

 

Either way, i am tired of having to waste time scanning one item at a time. WHERE IS APPLE, GOOGLE, MICROSOFT I ask. When am i getting a scanner that simply scans my ENTIRE cart or basket in ONE single scan??

 

Automation is inevitable in a GREED OBSESSED economy where stealing every cent away from hardworking Americans and putting it into the offshore bank accounts of the wealthy 1% is the only thing that matters to them and their obedient minions.

The problem that they are going to face is that once enough people realize that this is NOT in their best interests they are going to realize that they have the people power to stop it from happening to themselves.

 

I remember when one pulled into a gas station, the attendant or gas jockey would come running out, fill up your car, check the oil and air pressure in your tires and wipe your windshield. All when gas was 19 cents a gallon. There was no such thing as self service.

Self checkout at the grocery store is the same. I rarely use it unless the other lines are long. Then only if I have just a few items.

Now when I was really young, you used to have an elevator attendant. You'd tell the attendant what floor and he would push the button for you.

 

I LOOOOOVE Home Depot's self check out. I can be in and out really quick. But it is amusing seeing 15+ isles at Target with barely 3 people manning them. And this Target was built maybe 15 yrs ago. Can they really NOT afford to pay people or do they just want more profit for the corporate?

 

It is coming. In a decade or two, instant checkouts may be a thing. Unfortunately the problem of bagging will still remain.

https://www.retaildetail.eu/en/news/food/new-technology-will-scan-entire-shopping-cart-once

 

Automation kills jobs you are correct. Better not buy lumber then...

 

It is not "greed obsessed", it is called progress. As for the latter part of your post, it sounds like the typical Trumpian portectionism I am already so sick of refuting.

You mean how we are now so unhappy that the plough "stole" our farming jobs?

The actual future scenario is that enough people will eventually realise that we are now better off than we were before and future generations will ridicule the low quality of our technologies; "Lol, you used smartphnes? "

 

it wont take long,

Oh there you go going off on the 1% tangent.

Making a business more efficient is literally the job description for the decision makers.

from Henry Ford to Heinz to Gates to Bezos, the goal was and is to maximize efficiency & profit. technology makes that possible, no properly run organization deliberately ignores that. they will get fired if they do.

 

That would be great if more than 3 of the 20 cash registers had people working them. I am old and don't want to spend the little time I have left waiting in line. Don't be a Luddite.

 

There will always be jobs that need to be done by humans...but business owners never want to pay a living wage for them,.
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Instead they import cheap workers from third world countries

 

Once upon a time...

...there was a concept called Good Corporate Citizenship!

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corporatecitizenship.asp

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/being-good-corporate-citizen-scott-stephenson

http://www.clas.wayne.edu/Citizenship/Definition-of-Corporate-Citizenship

That concept has been SACRIFICED on the High Alter of the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR by the GREED OBSESSED.

So no, the MYTH that corporations are ONLY responsible for MAXIMIZING PROFITS for their GREED OBSESSED shareholders is just rightwing GOP DISINFORMATION used to justify their nefarious fiscal malfeasance for the exclusive benefit of the Wall Street Casino Bosses and major shareholders.

 

That sounds great in theory...but there just aren't enough college level jobs.

We need floor sweepers and toilet cleaners and material handlers...should you be required to have college to get those jobs?

 

Patience. To make it work you need a large percentage of customers to accept such revolutionary change. This thread is proof it’s going to take a while. Probably a couple years. Sam’s club is one step away.

 

I would approve of these machines if the savings were in some part used to increase cashier's salaries.

 

Yes it's all true that's what the big companies do. They serve the interests of the shareholder and we comply. I can get into this at length at another time but we consumers are at fault.

 

What you're ignoring is that there will NEVER be enough skilled jobs to accommodate our workforce.

So what then?

 

The interesting thing is that there will still be the same amount of money in the economy...but very little of it will go to all those people who can't find "skilled jobs".

Things could get very strange.

 

I'm 72 and I am old enough to remember the same argument when automation was "coming to town" but I guess no one was listening. People were more impressed in making things cheaper and faster to produce but I don't remember anyone noticing that the savings would not be passed on to the consumer, but just making the rich even richer and the poor (without jobs) even poorer. In fact, the only one who came to the rescue were the Chinese. Thank God for the Chinese who make goods affordable!

 

So choosing to spend my money locally, makes me a socialist? Why does it seem that virtually anything a left leaning person wants to color as 'socialism', isn't?

Think about it this way - you are going to spend X dollars. Spending it with a large conglomerate isn't socialism, but spending it with a smaller, local provider is.... do you not see the issue with that? You have it inverted, HWGA, regardless of what you want it to be, facts don't support your statement.

I'm not a Republican, but that too taints your preconceived notions of anyone who isn't on the very same page and line as you, apparently.

 

Yep.