While we often hear buzz about big scientific and technological advances long before we see them, we can also find that some of the quickest advances are also the quietest.
For instance, we’re mostly still used to having cashiers check out our items for us, but our first experience with a self-checkout station kind of snuck up on us, didn’t it? Suddenly, the computer was facing us and we had to imitate what we had seen the cashiers do all those times.
And for the majority of those who participated in one study, the age of self-checkout hardly seems like much of an advancement at all.
According to a shopping study out of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, about two-thirds of the 1,053 people surveyed have used a self-checkout machine.
However, as the CBC reported , only 11% of those people have any inclination to use it regularly.
Given the choice, the rest only use it occasionally, if at all.
For many participants, the reason had to do with the hassle of actually using it.
Some cited limited space in the bagging area as the reason they find it inconvenient.
Others got annoyed at the machine’s insistence to use a bag even when the item is already bagged (i.e., when they’re buying potatoes).
But even if customers are only getting a few small items, they’ll often find that the system fails to recognize their purchases.
And so, customers often find themselves having to ask for help from employees with the machine that’s supposed to do some of their work for them.
As Valerie Menard of Waterdown, Ontario said , “Whenever I’ve tried to do it with more than a few items or produce or a baked good, I’ll have to get another staff member for help.”
She went on to say, “It just doesn’t seem like it’s saving anyone time.”
However, the loss of the employee’s time while on the clock isn’t the most serious consequences that some customers see for members of staff as a result of self-checkouts catching on.
That labor irony seems especially cruel for those who see self-checkout stations as a means to take away jobs.
For Shirley Fourney of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the more that self-checkouts catch on, the more cashiers will be put out of work as a result.
As she said, “The cashiers need the jobs.”
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Although tech issues have kept these systems unpopular, professor Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie expects that to change.
CBC reported that a big change on the way concerns the use of image scanning technology.
This would replace the current weight-based systems that seem confused as to whether you’ve placed your items in the bagging area or not.
As Charlebois put it, “The digitization of the grocery business is inevitable.”
And it seems that’s the case whether we like it or not.
h/t: CBC
