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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 driverless on Friday August 18 2017, @03:14AM (1 child)

    by driverless (4770) on Friday August 18 2017, @03:14AM (#555688)

    We've had automated (no human operator) checkouts here (not the US) for... I dunno, between ten and twenty years. It hasn't led to mass unemployment, hardships, food riots, and an armageddon-type war or whatever it is the OP is predicting. You just end up with a reassignment of jobs, or people shifting to new jobs that didn't exist before. Whatever the case, the overall effect seems to be zero.

    Makes for good headlines I guess...

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  • (Score: 1) by Sabriel on Saturday August 19 2017, @01:32AM

    by Sabriel (6522) on Saturday August 19 2017, @01:32AM (#556229)

    "(not the US)" "between ten and twenty years" "new jobs that didn't exist"

    It's not actually one straw that breaks the camel's back, it's the adding of it to the rest...