Stores in earlier times in Norway³ were geared towards convenience¹
for the shopper.
You went in, went up to the counter, told the clerk what you wanted,
a series of clarifications, advice and suggestions, then clerk² would
fetch your goods, wrap it up all nice for you, handle payment and hand
you the goods.
All you did was request what you needed, got advice, paid for it
and off you go⁴
Then came the supermarkets.
Suddenly every customer was a mouse running in a maze trying to find
the cheese, milk, washing powder and whatever else.
Endlessly walking up and down every isle desperately seeking what
they needed.
Then the customer had to accumulate all the products into bags or carts,
Push or carry it all to the cash register.
Where one person (per register) would sit on their ass, add it all up,
you paid, you bagged, and you were on your way.
A lot of customers did not like that at all.
It wasn't rational.
In the old system the clerk at a store knew where everything was.
It was not necessary for ever customer to memorize and learn every
store they went to in order to go shopping.
It was a massive inconvenience for everyone, except for the person
at the register who was sitting comfortably.
These days, not only must you hunt in the maze,
push it to the counter, now you must also do the
checking out yourself.
Finally, the companies have outsourced all the labor to
the customers themselves and they are happy about it.
There are of course still stores that operate the old way.
but they are in the minority in most places.
When I read about it the first time it felt so backwards.
It more convenient to be able to grab what you need and
be on your way.
Then as I was running up and down isles trying to find what I
need i started noticing and thinking about it.
I dont really think it is rational that everyone has to do all that
walking and hunting.
Perhaps with robots we can be back to the old ways.
But really the old system is back in places where you
order things online and go pick it up, all picked
by clerks, all you need to do is pay and be on your way.
and I love it.
When it comes to groceries and many other products
they will even deliver it to your house.
Its how I get most of my groceries as well as other stuff.
Now I can sit on my ass, and I have outsourced all of that
back to the store.
The old becomes new sometimes.
In fact often.
I would be interested in a study that calculated what amount
of our lives on average spent walking around in stores trying
desperately to find what you need.
¹ It may not match what we think of as convenience today.
² The clerk may work on his own, or there might be more than one,
there might be people working in the back fetching things from storage.
But your point of contact would be the clerk.
Of course often the owner in smaller stores.
³ Probably in most other places as well.
⁴