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End of the Checkout Line: the Looming Crisis for American Cashiers

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

Phoenix666 writes:

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: 5, Interesting) by EvilSS on Thursday August 17 2017, @02:54PM (1 child)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 17 2017, @02:54PM (#555344)
    One the one hand I loathe things like self-checkout. The store is literally getting me to do work they would normally pay someone for, and not paying me or giving me a discount for doing it. Plus it takes me longer to checkout. On the other hand, I LOVE things like the Sam's Club scan-and-go app, that lets me scan items as I put them in my card with my phone, pay on the phone, and skip the checkout lines (and get those dirty looks from the plebs in the line that don't know about it). And curb side pickup like Sams, Walmart, and others are starting to do. Of course that last one still requires employees, just fewer of them.
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  • (Score: 1) by slap on Thursday August 17 2017, @07:09PM

    by slap (5764) on Thursday August 17 2017, @07:09PM (#555509)

    It's faster for me in the self checkout. Usually no one is in front of me, while there is a line at the regular checkout. Plus I can pack things better than the checker or bagger - less chance of damage.