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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

#381

Post by hnbroseph »

nivenkos wrote: post #325
azpotufi wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This data will invariably be sold to health insurance companies who will use any excuse to make you pay a premium. Bought four bottles of olive oil? You're going to get very fat, better make you pay a premium! Who cares if you actually used it to make soap?

Good thing Sweden has decent public insurance then... Don't hold back technology and society just because of a few other issues - those other issues can be better resolved directly. In this case, with single-payer public healthcare.

> Don't hold back technology and society

conversely, don't presume that what you're advocating for is "advancing" technology and society, either.

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

#383

Post by seanmcdirmid »

EE84M3i wrote: post #294
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QFC tried this in the Seattle area. I actually never tried because it feels more cumbersome than just scanning everything at once. Also, scales to price veggies and fruits are at checkouts in the states. If they had them in the veggie area, like in much of Europe, things might be really different.

Do the scales potentially have to be there by weights and measures laws?

No idea. In Europe you put weigh them in the veggie section, type the code in, put the sticker on your bag. In China, the same thing happens, except there is an attendant to do it for you.

The USA, this is always done at checkout. If it was a law making that happen, it would have to be at the state level.

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

#384

Post by adamnew123456 »

delecti wrote: post #208
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m slower also, but I still think it’s worth doing myself to avoid interaction.

In addition to avoiding interaction, I also prefer not standing there awkwardly while people work for me. I can't help the checkout clerk scan my groceries faster, and (if there is one in that lane) I'd just get in the way of the baggers, so I just have to stand there letting them serve me. I don't like that feeling of power/superiority/(not quite sure how to phrase it). It's the same reason I don't like mani pedis.

Agreed. I find it easier to interact with people in service situations if they're responsible for the whole experience. The point of going to a restaurant or a barbershop or getting take-out is that you're leaving the whole process in someone else's hands.

A checkout clerk just feels like a weird adjunct to the whole process. I walked to the store, pushed the cart around and grabbed all my items, yet somehow someone else has to do the quickest and easiest part for me?

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

#386

Post by monksy »

renewiltord wrote: post #369
sethammons wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This one gets me every time. I’ve only ever seen a couple super markets or stores implement this for human-operated check out stations. Ross has this, and Best Buy used to during the holidays.

Can't stand Ross in downtown SF for this reason. You get placed in the same queue as the high-hagglers who have nineteen dozen coupons and constantly argue with the checkout agents. They then clog up all available slots. At least at Safeway I can spot the kind of person who looks like they value their time and it'll usually go faster. I'll literally never shop at Ross again because it takes forever to exit their damn…

Speaking about friction on leaving. That's one of the big reasons I don't go to the Walmart near me anymore. They added aggressive receipt checkers.

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

#387

Post by sokoloff »

matz1 wrote: post #361
akudha wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer that for everyone I don't understand why you should decide for others? If you want to put all of your info online, that is your choice. If I don't want to put my info online, that is my choice.

Because otherwise it will create power imbalance that will put me at disadvantages, other know about me but I don't know about other.

Does that strike you as a reason for privacy for no one, or privacy for all? I lean (strongly) to the latter.

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

#388

Post by elindbe3 »

adamcstephens wrote: post #363
elindbe3 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your point that there should never be a job displacing technology or that retail workers are a special class that should be protected from automation?

My point is that our fellow citizens deserve dignity of work and an ability to feed themselves. This is but one example of automation displacing workers, but there are plenty of other examples that also include non automation related job eliminations.

So you're arguing the first one, never implement technology to save labor because people deserve the dignity of work. How far should we take this? Should we burn the tractors? We could create lots of new jobs for agricultural laborers. Or perhaps the government, instead of handing out welfare, could pay people to dig holes and fill them in again.

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

#390

Post by chrisseaton »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #247
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.

I don't recall getting a discount for self-checkout.

> I don't recall getting a discount for self-checkout.

I don't think I've ever seen a discount for it?

The cost is included in the prices you pay for the products.

You're paying it whether you use it or not!

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