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posted by martyb on Thursday August 17 2017, @02:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-is-going-to-ask-if-I-want-fries? dept.

72 years after [Clarence Saunders] attempted to patent his idea, advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies are making the dream of a worker-free store a reality. And American cashiers may soon be checking out.

A recent analysis by Cornerstone Capital Group suggests that 7.5m retail jobs – the most common type of job in the country – are at "high risk of computerization", with the 3.5m cashiers likely to be particularly hard hit.

Another report, by McKinsey, suggests that a new generation of high-tech grocery stores that automatically charge customers for the goods they take – no check-out required – and use robots for inventory and stocking could reduce the number of labor hours needed by nearly two-thirds. It all translates into millions of Americans' jobs under threat.


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  • (Score: 1) by Zal42 on Thursday August 17 2017, @03:53PM

    by Zal42 (5435) on Thursday August 17 2017, @03:53PM (#555380) Homepage

    Me too. I avoid them like the plague.

    But the reason that I hate self-checkouts is that they're a serious pain in the ass. I'm not against the concept of them. I confess, however, that I can't see how they could be made any better -- particularly when you're buying things that have to be weighed.

    If stores started having nothing but automated checkout systems, I'd probably just shop elsewhere. There are a number of stores that I already refuse to shop at for various reasons, adding a few more isn't that big of a deal.