We can't feasibly stop automation, nor should we. We SHOULD be taking the profits back from billionaires that they've stolen since time immemorial. Automation means less work overall. But we need to ensure the workers actually benefit from that.

The 'job killers' argument is kinda bullshit. I want to kill jobs - I want to eliminate all labor that can be automated, such that in the ideal perfect future, no human ever has to work; they can spend every moment doing things they enjoy without worry.

But self checkout is not automation. No human work has been eliminated. It is the same exact fucking checkout process, only now the customer does it instead, and the store doesn't pay the cashier. And no they don't pass that savings on to you because of course they don't, they just pocket the difference.

This is a bad, regressive argument.

We need to legislate the benefit of automation for society.

Trying to bury the technology never works if it is indeed an improvement. Technology is benign, people twist it for malice.

This is the same argument as still using oil based street lamps, just to maintain a the lamplighting jobs that don't need to be done anymore.

It's a Bizaare hill to die on to fight to maintain jobs a robot can do faster and better, rather than fighting to make society the beneficiary of such advances through taxation. Either way, you have to fight the billionaires and will probably lose, so why not fight for a better outcome than maintaining shitty, menial jobs?

Okay but fuck those stores where the self checkout “bagging area” is smaller than the size of a hand cart. Like what fucking idiot designed those.

I don't want to interact with a cashier either but fuck if I want to scan my own shit either.

It's also way more awkward when something goes wrong and now I have to initiate.

Self checkout is so much faster than waiting in like with all the other goobers

I think that a lot of people here are confusing "introversion" with having social anxiety.

Being an introvert doesn't mean that you're scared of socialization. It means you generally prefer quiet time over socializing.

From Merriam Webster:

A person whose personality is characterized by introversion : a typically reserved or quiet person who tends to be introspective and enjoys spending time alone.

You can be both, but they are definitely not the same thing.

no one wants to be a checkout clerk at walmart for $6 an hour. This is a good thing. The problem is that the people displaced aren't taken care of. We should be pushing for ubi instead

I would like self-checkout a lot more if those cost savings were passed on to the consumer instead of being hoarded by ownership.

It's the classic paradox. Technology and automation could be used to reduce the amount everyone needs to work and enrich everyone's lives as long as those gains are distributed properly. The distribution is the problem.

I prefer self checkout but I do feel you should be getting a discount for using it.

Fuck me I love self checkout.

I'm so tired of people with social anxiety always trying to appropriate introversion. Introverts don't have that kind of phobia of personal interaction.

For a few items, sure. But even I, a rabid introvert, will seek out a cashier for my weekly shopping. To say hello and goodbye. You all forget to be human beings. Stop making being InTrOvErT yet another singular form of personal identity.

I use it because it's faster.

I'm not waiting in line for someone else to scan my 5 items.

The real job killers are the employers

I don't mind using a self checkout except that they're all terrible. The rep has to come over so often, it's just a regular checkout with extra steps.

I only use self checkouts, it eliminates like the only major variable of shopping.

You can bet a lot of people who hate self-checkouts only hate it because they can't yell at and order the employee around to do their bidding.

Wait, you’re supposed to pay for groceries?

Self Checkouts are not job killers. they still need people to run them. Most stores have 3 SCO clusters that need 3 attendants each per day. thats 9 jobs right there, add in weekend coverage, vacations, part timers, etc and most grocery stores will have a need for around 15 cashiers which is not easy for any store to fully staff.

source: ive worked grocery stores for around 10 years.

As a weekly shopper who only gets 20-30 items at a time, self checkout is better. The cashiers tend to have customers with 100+ items and I usually have to wait 5-10 minutes. At the self checkout, I'm done and out the door in 3.

I’m fairly allergic to human interaction, but there is now way I’m manually scanning 12 packs of the same soda 4 times.

I don't have a problem with self checkout. It has its place. If you're just grabbing an item or two, and want to get out quick and not wait in line, or if you are buying something that you may find personally embarrassing, or any of a number of other reasons.

Cashiers also have their place, for when you have larger checkouts and what have you.

What pisses me off is they are firing cashiers, and replacing them with more self checkouts.. So you have to take your big monthly load of groceries through self checkout, cause theres no cashier, or worse.. one overworked cashier with a huge line.

And its all to have less jobs, less pay checks, and more profits for the C-Suits.

And lets not even get into the fact that its easy for a screw up to happen then some overzealous dickwad comes screaming calling you a thief, and gets you tresspasssed because either you accidentally mis-scanned something or because they THINK you mis-scanned something and thanks to their stupidity you can no longer shop at your local, convenient store.

As an introvert I'd rather not use self checkouts. The possibility that something will go wrong and I'll have to call someone over and explain it and have them fix it is much higher than letting someone qualified scan and bag my shit while I stand there silently waiting to pay as both the cashier and myself refuse to talk or make eye contact.

Plus I worked at a walmart for a year as right as they rolled out their mostly self checkout system. So many people lost jobs and the store lost so much money to shrinkage (theft). It's the dumbest fucking thing. Makes perfect sense to have a few for people with only a handful of items but the vast majority should be cashiers.

This meme was brought to us by big self checkout and makes no sense at all IMO.

I just saved hundreds on my groceries by switching to self checkout and fucking stealing.

I do feel like I ought to be paid when a business offloads their work onto me. Not much, I suppose. But something.

WHAT? People love self check out, what is this tomfoolery?! lol

I've always been fine with it. It doesn't feel like I'm forced to do someone else's job to me because they can be convenient if you have a small order, and it reduces lines. That said, I'd much rather see people employed and sometimes I like the personal interaction.

Everywhere near me has the anti-theft devices turned up on self checkouts to the point that traditional checkouts are both faster and require less human interaction.

The people who deny self-checkout sometimes have quarrels with the cashiers.

I hate self check out and what it's become.

It should be the '10 items or fewer' line. Not, a full cart. If you can't carry the items in a basket, you need to go in a regular line.

My local grocery store has like 9 self check outs, with 1 person sometimes staffed to fix them when they fail (not if, when) and they have 1 regular lane open. And everything ends up with a long line and it's infuriating. Oh and the manger standing in the back 'monitoring things' acting like they're doing anything, but isn't doing the right thing and opening up a new lane.

Also, far too many people are over leaving into 'im an introvert' and playing it up to poorly written teen sitcom levels.