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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: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 17 2017, @05:40PM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 17 2017, @05:40PM (#555460)

    My sister pulls up to the supermarket, some guy(s) load her trunk with the items she ordered and paid for online, and she's on her way home. 5 minutes total.
    Why is that not available everywhere?

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday August 17 2017, @07:04PM (1 child)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 17 2017, @07:04PM (#555504)

    It is, but the future not being distributed evenly means its not in people heads like the proverbial 80 year old grannie.

    My local employee owned coop does this and it works pretty well. They need 24 hours warning and its "free" over $100 total (which is pretty easy to achieve, and its free only in the sense that employee labor to run this is embedded into prices)

    1) I don't need less exercise and the HVAC in the store is almost as nice as at the gym.

    2) Sometimes I'm in an adventurous mood and just need to see stuff. Its very easy to handle "I used the last of the simply asia thai kitchen red chilie 4 oz jar and I'm too lazy of a bastard to mortar and pestle my own chile garlic fish sauce stuff". Its very hard to handle "We are having a garden party on Saturday, buy appetizers that would look and taste nice for auntie and grannie"

    3) Walmart food aisle is full of "people of walmart" the hipster SWPL organic store by the campus has lots of hotties walking around, why not enjoy the scenery? Kind of like why look at 2/10s at walmart when target sells the same chinese factory crap but the target girls are like 7/10 average. Not a darn thing wrong with enjoying the scenery.

    • (Score: 2) by darnkitten on Friday August 18 2017, @03:52AM

      by darnkitten (1912) on Friday August 18 2017, @03:52AM (#555696)

      Also, I never remember to add panko to my shopping list, so it really helped to see it on the shelf last week...