I always use lines with cashiers because:
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their jobs will evaporate if people don’t use them
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self checkout means that you’re doing that job FOR FREE for the company
It is a misconception that work has value. Time is what has value.
If it takes longer for a cashier to ring you through, you are giving up more to the business than you would using the self-checkout. If you are worried about working for the company, this is what you want to avoid.
Granted, in practice, self-checkout is rarely implemented well and can often be slower than meeting with the cashier.
That doesn’t make sense. I’m not giving the business my time by using the cashier. I may be wasting my time, but it’s not part of the transaction. The business isn’t receiving a ledger with “Time from Customer” on one side and “Time Banked” on the other side. And yes, labour has value. What are you smoking, “work has no value”. You mustn’t be in a union.
As a counterpoint, I’m unbothered during the time the cashier is doing their thing, usually listening to a podcast or an audiobook. If I have to scan it myself, I have to give up some concentration to scan the things, specially the ones that I need to search for codes and weigh items. So even if it takes more time, the cashier might be time better spent. Time has value, but not just the amount of time; how I spend that time changes its value. In other words, work has value too.
If I’m just listening to music or chatting with my wife, I do tend to pick the self checkout to get out of there ASAP. So I agree with your core idea.
On the flip side, the only reason you have to go through the check out process at all is because you accepted the job as warehouse worker and picked the items off the shelf yourself. Historically, business would have someone do that work for you too.
Imagine the things you could do while the employee is in the back pulling the items you need. What is it about working in a warehouse that you like, that you don’t like about being a cashier?
Why does it matter if cashier jobs evaporate. It’s a shit job and automation is getting rid of it. That’s a good thing. Also, what if I don’t mind taking 5 minutes to scan my items FOR FREE just so that I don’t have to talk to anyone or wait in line.
The only negative I see is that corporations are making even more money. We should take it from them and implement UBI to pay these cashier’s after their jobs evaporate.
