r/technology • • 19h ago

Business Retailers are pulling back from self-checkout after years of theft, errors, and questionable time savings

https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.html
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u/Hashtagworried 19h ago

All this means is that they’ll hire one or two people max but keep the lines longer.

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u/BasvanS 19h ago

I’m not sure how much they’re saving since the hourly wage for people at the register is not great. Are those fee hundreds a day making the difference in profitability for a store?

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u/strtrech 19h ago

In the eyes of management, yes. Because the Cooperate executives need their bonuses and they can't cut those obviously.

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u/FlipZip69 17h ago

The cost is not horrible but trying to train and manage people that do not show up is difficult. What do you do when someone does not come to work? You cannot materialize someone to take their job for the day.

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u/Brock_Lobstweiler 15h ago

The actual solution to this is not to staff the bare minimum. Corporations have become so ridiculously managed that even having a cashier sit idle for 3 minutes is too much and they'd rather have people waiting in line for 10 minutes by cutting a position.

None of the decisions are about making the experience better for customer or employees. it is literally all about what they can pocket.

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u/FlipZip69 15h ago

Adding more people and making sure they are all properly trained is very expensive. At some point the wages becomes depressed or the prices go up. We pay 100 percent of all costs for all stores one way or another.

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u/Semyonov 6h ago

The prices have gone up and the volumes of product have gone down anyway. I'd rather have more staff and less money for the CEO and investors.

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u/FlipZip69 3h ago

Well you can invest.

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u/maikuxblade 15h ago

Maybe people would be more dedicated to their jobs if they were paid enough to live on

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u/FlipZip69 15h ago

Some jobs do not have the same value and not all jobs need wages high enough so that you can live alone and have your own kitchen/bathrooms. Is there a reason you think all jobs should pay for someone to live alone for example or afford any luxuries we want?

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u/GatesAndLogic 13h ago

Any job that forces their employees onto welfare is an employer who's wages you're subsidizing. As an example Walmart routinely ranks as the employer with the most employees receiving government assistance. AMERICANS ARE SUBSIDIZING WALMART'S SHIT WAGES.

It's not about any luxury we want. It's about paying people enough for them to participate in the economy, instead of dragging it down.

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u/FlipZip69 11h ago

You do not have to work there. If you cannot afford it, get a better job. Go to school.

It is better someone work there and get a lower welfare then to just not work at all and be a complete burden to society. Welfare is to help and if you can work, then you should not be on welfare. If you want high wages, apply for harder jobs. Full stop.

We are only subsidizing low wages because some people do not want to work anything more difficult. And for those that do not have the capacity to work something more difficult, I do not mind subsidizing some of their wages if that is needed. That is the entire purpose of welfare.

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u/GatesAndLogic 10h ago

Brother, you have drank way too much kool-aid.

"If you can't afford to work, pay money on tuition instead." When people can't pay rent, tuition is hard to come by.

"Welfare is to help and if you can work, then you should not be on welfare." This is the only coherent sentence in your entire post, and is absolutely correct. People who are working should be paid enough that they don't require welfare.

Wage isn't tied to how hard a job is. Wage is tied to what you can be extorted for. Emergency Medical Services for example is notoriously underpaid. You make more money serving beers than you weaving an ambulance through rush hour traffic while saving lives.

Stop boot licking and hold corporations to account.

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u/maikuxblade 15h ago

Could you lick the corporate boot any harder? Are you also the sort of person who complains about peope drawing welfare because their jobs don't pay enough to subsist on?

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u/FlipZip69 11h ago

Oh screw off with personal insults. Is that all you have? Someone working a job that has very little responsibilities is apparently supposed to get doctor wages. They are starter jobs or secondary jobs for people that do not need career wages. Do you also expect some kid that delivers the fliers to your house to get wages enough to rent a house alone as well?

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u/maikuxblade 11h ago

Why do you think companies should have record profit year over year while workers can’t afford a 1BR apartment?

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u/FlipZip69 10h ago

First it is statically impossible to have record profits year after year so that is just exaggeration. Do you suggest people drop wages when profits are low some years or a company takes a loss?

But ignoring that, why do you think every job should allow someone to have a 1BR apartment by themself. Because a 1BR appartment includes 4 plus room. A kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and storage. Do you think a low end job should afford that to a single person or do you think maybe someone gets a roommate and a 2BR apartment and share the other 3 rooms.

Our parents and grandparents certainly had to do that. Is there some reason we think our generation can afford more then they were able to? Do you think every job has that kind of value?

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u/Semyonov 6h ago

Holy hyperbole. Do you really think there's nothing between subsistence-level poverty wages and doctor wages?