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Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

bbc.co.uk

11–20 of 428 posts

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#11
post #5

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

Yea I see more problems with this than benefits. Sure it's nice to have during corona times but what about after it when it's not necessary anymore?

As per the article: "[..] if there's less footfall than expected in one location, the wooden containers can easily be picked up and tested elsewhere"

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#12

how does refilling these container shops work? who does it? staff riding along on the truck? or is the entire shop replaced?

From the article:

"There are 24-hour surveillance cameras too, which alert the store's manager Domenica Gerlach if there's a break-in or a stock spillage.

She looks after four stores in the region, usually visiting once a week to clean, stack the shelves and put together click-and-collect orders made online. Lifvs uses artificial intelligence to work out what stock to order for each store, based on the data it collects about locals' shopping habits"

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#13

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

Broken window fallacy argument - we can’t artificially keep doing demonstrably less efficient things for the sake of jobs, it has never worked and never will. If it becomes a problem then we have to deal with it by finding new avenues to employ people or not need employment to live a life.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#14
post #4
post #2

Ok but what if I wanted to shop without a smartphone, or don't own one? Don't get me wrong this is great for the current situation but like all things it doesn't only have good things about it.

Yesterday on Spanish local tv show they showed how in a small rural town without banks / ATM's, a pharmacy dubbed as a bank / cash retrieval service in a rural town... In another town the banks shared an office and each day of the week was for one of the banks to recieve customers lol. WeBank Could have the same but backwards, give cash, recieve e-coupon, scan e-coupon in store.

I see that would make a lot of sense but of course you would need to set all this up in addition.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#15
post #2

Ok but what if I wanted to shop without a smartphone, or don't own one? Don't get me wrong this is great for the current situation but like all things it doesn't only have good things about it.

From a business point of view you obvisously don't need to be accessible to 100% of potential customers to be viable. People without smartphones are probably less Shops without access ramps lose probably more customers, and yet there are plenty of them.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#16
post #2

Ok but what if I wanted to shop without a smartphone, or don't own one? Don't get me wrong this is great for the current situation but like all things it doesn't only have good things about it.

If a area that has not had a shop for a decade can now have 80 or 90% of the population served with this method, then I believe not looking for the mythical 100% coverage is a perfectly good thing to do.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#17

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

Broken window fallacy argument - we can’t artificially keep doing demonstrably less efficient things for the sake of jobs, it has never worked and never will. If it becomes a problem then we have to deal with it by finding new avenues to employ people or not need employment to live a life.

Yep, refrigerators also wreaked havoc on the "blocks of ice" delivery industry, but trying to prevent that change would have been as useless as trying to hold back the tide with your arms. The effort should be put into ensuring everyone can have decent lives in a world improved by increased efficiency, not holding back progress.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#18

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

Because people who would have worked in a shop like this can only work in a shop like this.

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#19

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

How many people would have worked in a small grocery store for a town of 1000? I'm no expert, but I know there's small corner shops that have just one person running them with maybe another one or two people helping them. Full rotation staff, maybe 10? That's 1% of the local workforce.

I mean what do the 1000 people in the town do for a living to buy food?

Re: Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

#20
post #5

So how will the people who would have worked in a shop like this, afford to shop for food? In Sweden this probably isn’t as big of an issue, but not every country is as socially conscious.

Yea I see more problems with this than benefits. Sure it's nice to have during corona times but what about after it when it's not necessary anymore?

Grocery stores will always be necessary, unless I misinterpret your question?
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