Tell Me Your Feelings About “Self-Checkout”

This is not an exciting subject, but it is important. It’s about retail businesses, jobs, customer service, and more.

The truth about “self-service” is simple and obvious. This is another effort to increase profits. Not only are employees a big expense, they have opinions and think. Machines don’t care about pay raises, benefits, or working conditions. However, these greedy men and women ignore the fact that interaction between employees and customers is an important part of why we shop in their stores. Customer service has always been a major component of their “brand.”

When Ronald Reagan created “supply side economics,” known by its more accurate name, “trickle-down economics,” he claimed that large corporations would become “job creators.” Of course, he was lying, and nothing proves this more than what is happening today. Corporations are looking for new ways to eliminate jobs.

My favorite store, Costco, has installed self-checkout lanes. They are much slower, and another effort to increase the profits of their corporate executives. My response is that their checkers are much faster and more accurate than I would be.

The world today is eliminating personal contact in thousands of ways. Dehumanizing our country by removing interaction between human beings is the beginning of the end of civility.

I find self-checkout irritating. When I buy a large quantity of fruits and vegetables, I am required to find the item on the screen to have the privilege of paying for it. This is not my job. Cashiers save me time.

“Progress” is a misleading word. In some cases, “progress” benefits everyone, but in others “progress” simply means more money for corporations.

I am retired, but throughout my working life I was always involved in a business which depended upon outstanding customer service. I worked for an airline, I was a hairdresser, and became a dealer in Northern Nevada casinos when my income was based on tips. There were many other jobs for shorter periods of time, but all were involved in customer service.

When this aspect of retail and the factor of customer relations is removed, there is little incentive to seek the services of a business. Online purchases become more desirable based on lower prices, customer reviews, and home delivery.

The pandemic forced tens of millions of Americans to depend upon home delivery and an end to customer relations. Many retail businesses are exacerbating the problem by eliminating jobs.

Within a few decades most retail outlets will disappear. The excitement of Christmas shopping will become a memory. Many former retailers will join Amazon and find their future based upon online sales.

My questions are many, but first and foremost, “is this the ultimate plan of corporate America?” Retail outlets are expensive to maintain, and the only goal of capitalism is to increase profits in any way imaginable. “The truth lives here,” and it is important for every American to know that our country has become a plutocracy. Money is God, and working-class Americans are expected to serve the wealthy.

Most super-rich Americans depend upon ‘consumerism’ for their lives of luxury and privilege. However, they are ignoring the people who purchase their products. Unwise changes could devastate the economy.

I have become an online shopper. I no longer need to search shelves for what I want to purchase and wonder if it will fulfill my needs. I don’t stand in line to pay, and when leaving begin to search the parking lot for my vehicle. I am able to look at a far greater number of items while sitting in my recliner, and then read the reviews from others who purchased these same items. If the shipping is free, I always find that the price of everything I buy is less than what is offered at a store.

I will miss some of the people who I have come to know who worked in my favorite stores. I hope they will find a better way to make a living: a place where they are appreciated.

Op-ed by James Turnage

My nine novels are available on Amazon’s Kindle

Sources:

Daily Kos: Self-checkout systems create headaches for cashiers
Vox: Wouldn’t it be better if self-checkout just died?; by Kaitlyn Tiffany

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Fuschia Foot’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image Courtesy of Random Retail’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License