Do it yourself checkouts are quickly becoming ubiquitous. Have you noticed?
what eye thynk: This past Summer I was at a Home Depot near our house during the middle of the week and found 0nly do it yourself checkout lines. When I asked, I was told they only "peopled" some lines on weekends. I left my cart and drove a few blocks to Lowe's where week day people-ing didn't seem to be a problem.
At the grocery store recently I realized that, where there had been three or four do it yourself lines, there were now fourteen. As I pulled my cart up to one of only three traditional, cashier staffed checkouts, an employee invited me to the diy line next to me which was empty. I declined.
Really, if I'm going to perform the duties of a paid employee, i.e. scanning my own groceries, weighing my own produce, bagging my groceries, processing coupons and store card savings, then I want a discount. I came to shop, not perform unpaid labor. Since there is no price advantage for do it yourselfers, I'll continue to wait in line to be taken care of by an "actual live person!".
And while I wait in line, I'll enjoy a few minutes reading on my Kindle. When it's my turn, maybe the cashier will even smile at me; after all, my stubbornness could be saving her job.
like you, I refuse to check out my own groceries, or anything else. It already offends me that the clerk doesn't swipe my credit card. Are they getting lazier or am I just getting grumpier?
ReplyDeleteOne would assume that with the money they conceivably saved by firing a living, breathing worker they could indeed give discounts. But far be it for Economics 101 to invade and suggest trickle down when the prevailing trend in all things these days is trickle UP. Personally i more or less prefer the DYI line, mostly because the half wits that usually pack seem to be, 1) afraid of the re-usable bags i always employ, and 2) can't seem to pack with any sense, logic or understanding of basic physics. i tend to be more independent anyway. But having said that, i agree that they should reward that spirit in some fashion.
ReplyDeleteI entirely agree with you -- and i refuse to use the "self" line. We really don't need companies that seek to make more money by creating more unemployment. The best use of our funds is to buy locally when we can, but if we have to buy from a big box store that ships its profits to the 1%ers in some far away place, the least they could do is keep a little employment for a handful of our own local folks.
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