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Shops return to rural Sweden but are now staff-free

bbc.co.uk

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

#81

Post by tom_mellior »

m12k wrote: post #12
splitbrain wrote: post #7

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 collec…

The article also speaks of "fresh fruit and vegetables" though. I don't think visiting once a week would be enough for many fruits and vegetables.

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

#82

Post by chrisseaton »

konschubert wrote: post #46

So this is basically run on a trust basis, right? And if you steal, you will eventually get caught on video and be blocked from entering the store? I can imagine this working well in small villages. You'll get a few thieves and vandals, but eventually you can weed them out. Pretty genius.

Do you not have road-side produce honesty stands where you live? It's no different to that.

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

#83

Post by aboringusername »

program_whiz wrote: post #61
aboringusername wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you're excluded, simple as that. We're rapidly approching the point where you're: a) Expected to have, engage with and be active on a smartphone b) Be accessible via the mobile network (have an active phone number that can get SMS) c) Be "always online", frequently checking the bank in 'real time' to verify transactions, account balance etc d) Have battery life on your device. It's no good if you have just 5% an…

Just want to point out that the same people who say "sorry if you don't have a phone you can't shop" are probably the same who claim requiring ID to vote is "voter disenfranchisement" and that disabled people should have special exceptions made for them. The claim "sorry you don't have a smart phone you can't buy food / clothes" has implications for people (children, the elderly, the disabled, the poor). Just replace…

Covid has already accelerated a cashless society, whereby you are incentivized to have a digital means of paying; GPay, Apple pay, Contactless card (and payment limits have increased as a result). You also have various testing and tracing schemes, perhaps using QR codes to scan as you enter a place, an "app" to monitor closeness to people who might have Covid.

Those who cannot, do not or will not have a smartphone will become marginalized and excluded from society. The expectation and norm will be to obtain and fully use your digital extension (and there are many smartphones that are very cheap).

Eventually, smartphoneless people will become a percentile point of the population that are easily discarded and hidden, and from my perspective that's becoming more and more obvious as time goes on.

To me this is simply an observation, not a commentary as to whether it's good, bad, but it seems this is the direction society is accepting since I don't see any movements against smartphones or this type of future.

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

#84

Post by p_l »

agustif wrote: post #4
alexf95 wrote: 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.

Some banks in Scotland do traveling bank, essentially a small bank office built into a lorry, serving areas with no other means of banking.

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

#85

Post by mpclark »

eCa wrote: post #60
konschubert wrote: post #46

So this is basically run on a trust basis, right? And if you steal, you will eventually get caught on video and be blocked from entering the store? I can imagine this working well in small villages. You'll get a few thieves and vandals, but eventually you can weed them out. Pretty genius.

> So this is basically run on a trust basis, right? No, from the OP: > works in conjunction with BankID, a secure national identification app operated by Sweden's banks You are identified, so it should be easy to see on camera who steals and then they can send the cops on you. My worry is more about tourists[1]. As someone who has travelled extensively in rural Europe I would not appreciate a growing network of store…

Spot on. I remember trying to get petrol in Belgium at night sometime in the late 90s. The country had its own smart debit card programme (very leading edge) and garages there had unattended pumps that would accept these cards to cater for out-of-hours customers. But, being a UK tourist without a local payment card, I was stuffed. Stopped at every garage along the way, getting increasingly concerned, before coasting in on fumes to one that was actually open all night and would accept my Visa or MC.

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

#86

Post by devoutsalsa »

chrisseaton wrote: post #80
the-dude wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite supermarket has regular and 'quick' checkouts. I enjoy the interaction with the employees.

> I enjoy the interaction with the employees. If you want to pay for someone to be social with you why not do that separately to shopping? Seems funny to try to mix the two.

Efficiency. Chat and shop. It’s a twofer. And if you like interaction but not having to get to close, it’s great.

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

#87

Post by tasogare »

dhimes wrote: post #68
konschubert wrote: post #46

So this is basically run on a trust basis, right? And if you steal, you will eventually get caught on video and be blocked from entering the store? I can imagine this working well in small villages. You'll get a few thieves and vandals, but eventually you can weed them out. Pretty genius.

My grocery store has a self-scan and checkout that works on trust basis with random audits. Some stores had to get rid of it because of stealing, but thankfully mine has kept it. I find it very fast and don't mind the occasional audits at all. Small price to pay, and still faster than if I had stayed in line.

The value the self-scan systems have for the shop owners is not in automation but the fact the work is reported on customer, with of course no price reduction. That should be forbidden. I boycott those systems and wait for the human clerk to do his job, this way a little of the money made by the shop is redistributed.

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

#88

Post by johnday »

program_whiz wrote: post #61
aboringusername wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you're excluded, simple as that. We're rapidly approching the point where you're: a) Expected to have, engage with and be active on a smartphone b) Be accessible via the mobile network (have an active phone number that can get SMS) c) Be "always online", frequently checking the bank in 'real time' to verify transactions, account balance etc d) Have battery life on your device. It's no good if you have just 5% an…

Just want to point out that the same people who say "sorry if you don't have a phone you can't shop" are probably the same who claim requiring ID to vote is "voter disenfranchisement" and that disabled people should have special exceptions made for them. The claim "sorry you don't have a smart phone you can't buy food / clothes" has implications for people (children, the elderly, the disabled, the poor). Just replace…

> Just want to point out that the same people who say "sorry if you don't have a phone you can't shop" are probably the same who claim requiring ID to vote is "voter disenfranchisement" and that disabled people should have special exceptions made for them.

What makes you think that those are the same people? At first blush it seems like people in favour of easier access to vote and easier access for the disabled would be the same people that advocate for more inclusive access to shops.

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

#89

Post by chrisseaton »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #86
chrisseaton wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I enjoy the interaction with the employees. If you want to pay for someone to be social with you why not do that separately to shopping? Seems funny to try to mix the two.

Efficiency. Chat and shop. It’s a twofer. And if you like interaction but not having to get to close, it’s great.

But it's not efficient, is it? These people could be doing something more productive with their time than staffing a checkout in order to make small talk.

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

#90

Post by lotsofpulp »

adamcstephens wrote: post #69
colechristensen wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole history of human civilization is one kind of labor replacing another, with no shortage of people wondering about how the new being a destructive force doesn’t make it a social evil. The people who would have worked at this kind of shop will find other jobs created or otherwise enabled by the lowered costs of automation.

The whole of the industrial and now computer revolution has been the degradation of human existence in the name of profit and progress. Elimination of employment that is a requirement for sustenance and a non-miserable life is common. Automation doesn’t create jobs, it shifts them, generally towards less well paid options. Sure there are a few engineers who make more money, but what about the non skilled laborers?

> Sure there are a few engineers who make more money, but what about the non skilled laborers

That’s a political problem. Obvious solution is to transfer wealth from those who have it to those that don’t. Make higher education free, pay people to learn, or to do research, universal basic income, etc.

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