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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

#111

Post by wil421 »

ryukafalz wrote: post #103
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…

> Expected to have, engage with and be active on a smartphone And not just any smartphone: a smartphone controlled by Apple or Google. Further cementing their influence over society.

Would it have been any better if Nokia and Blackberry had dominated the market?

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

#112

Post by paganel »

bellyfullofbac wrote: post #57
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.

And you have to scan your bank card (which apparently in Sweden is a secondary ID card) to enter. I wonder if they do an extra verification to make sure you just didn't steal someone's card, maybe with a PIN? Hah, I guess for the vandals, being blacklisted by the network would be a big hassle...

I wonder what will the non-banked people do in the future? Their life is in many cases miserable enough as it is, not being able to purchase basic groceries because you don't have a credit/debit card is next-level capitalist dystopia.

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

#113

Post by guerrilla »

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.

Then you're going to have an extremely difficult time in Sweden. The same system is used for online banking, paying you taxes, verifying online purchases, accessing online pharmacies and medical systems, and using online doctors. I'm sure there's a dozen more services that I'm forgetting that use BankID.

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

#114

Post by bluntfang »

mrweasel wrote: post #63

I believe Sweden has pretty good policing, and the Swedes are just about as honest as you could ever expect a nation to be, but if this was in "rural" Denmark and someone decided to raid the store, there would be very little stopping them. Police is in many cases at least 30 minutes away, if not more, and have no resources to investigate the theft of 10L of milk. In many cases the staff is a store is just as much pre…

>Police is in many cases at least 30 minutes away, if not more, and have no resources to investigate the theft of 10L of milk.

Just for reference [0], NYC police's response times for "serious" and "non-critical" 911 calls are close to or over 10 minutes. Responses to "alarms" (which I assume would be things like B&E to a shop after hours) is over 30 minutes.

[0] https://www1.nyc.gov/site/911reporting/reports/end-to-end-re...

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

#115

Post by dalbasal »

This is potentially interesting... maybe.

A lot of retail has a trade off between small convenient stores and bing inconvenient ones. One is convenient. The other is better stocked, better priced, etc.

Software is eating the inconvenient stores. Better stocked, Better priced. Hard to beat. Maybe robots eat convenient stores.

Depending on how these scale and what price economics are like, this might work well.

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

#116

Post by da_big_ghey »

dominotw wrote: post #78
scatters wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do the employees enjoy the interaction with you, I wonder?

I enjoyed interacting with customers when i worked as a cashier. But i was also a young person with lots of energy. they seem (or pretend) in: costco, whole foods, trader joes not so much in: walmart, target

Yes, HEB is probably the best at this too. Maybe along with Costco.

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

#117

Post by kebman »

I remember visiting a fully automated store already in the 90's in Tromsø, Norway. It was like an extended vendoring machine. It was quite fun watching the robot hand go up and down based on your order. I believe such stores were already common in Japan at the time. The shop didn't make it, though, and was discontinued after a year or two.

Today automated checkouts are popping up in more and more shops in Norway, though they're not present in all stores yet. You simply do your shopping as normal, but instead of having a shop clerk beep them for you, you have to do it yourself. It's pretty straightforward, and no app is needed. Sometimes there will be a guard overseeing the terminals, but mostly you're left to your own devices. Otherwise there's usually a normal teller on hand for questions or for products that don't scan. Or if you simply want to pay with legal tender, which Norwegian shops are still obliged to accept per law.

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

#118

Post by the-dude »

chrisseaton wrote: post #89
devoutsalsa wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Actually at my favorite supermarket these people are not only staffing checkouts, they are running the store : there are no managers to be seen.

I enjoy seeing this group of young people given such a broad responsibility and I acknowledge them and their stellar job. And they acknowledge me.

But who am I, I just enjoy Old Europe.

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

#119

Post by Grustaf »

mrweasel wrote: post #63

I believe Sweden has pretty good policing, and the Swedes are just about as honest as you could ever expect a nation to be, but if this was in "rural" Denmark and someone decided to raid the store, there would be very little stopping them. Police is in many cases at least 30 minutes away, if not more, and have no resources to investigate the theft of 10L of milk. In many cases the staff is a store is just as much pre…

> I believe Sweden has pretty good policing

This was true 30 years ago. Today the police is all but abolished, especially in rural areas. I wouldn't be surprised if there were police regions the size of Denmark with a single police car.

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