Supermarket Blues
To me a supermarket is nothing more than a well lit warehouse. You buy things off shelves and checkout yourself. There is no one there to help you unless you catch someone packing the shelves.
There is no personality or engagement.
Then again you might not want personality from your supermarket. I tend to ponder about useless things like this.
First they replaced the checkout staff with checkout machines. Then they started using cameras on them to stop people stealing.
What about our privacy? The low percentile of people stealing doesn't warrant for you to impose this on the rest of your customers.
I guess it's cheaper than hiring a security guard. More machines and more money in the bank right?
The jobs in the supermarket are very basic. We are only a handful of humans away from amazon go stores.
I've seen people walk up to human checkouts when the machines are free. I've heard one customer say;
I'd like you to keep your job.
Shop Small #
Not to sound like an old person. Back in the day we had it right. Independent and family owned shops where people knew you by name.
The shops in my hometown where I would walk in, give my list and have a chat with the staff while everything was packed up.
If there was anything missing from the list someone would pop into a near by store for it or they would get it for me the following week.
If my kid was there, she could muck around in the store and she'll get some free candy just for showing up.
I would pay next. If I was short or they didn't have change it'll just go in the books. No credit cards or buy-now pay-later services needed. A lot of people lived with difficulties so buying groceries on loan wasn't uncommon.
Walking out they would help me load up my car or three wheeler. The staff would wave to my kid and we'll be on our way. The trip to the store wasn't a mundane errand.
You knew by shopping there you were directly empowering those people.
We need to go back to those simple times. None of this AI warehouses that don't care about us or the environment.
This weekend (if you are not in lockdown) find a farmers market or independent store and walk-in. I'm sure you will walk out happier than you ever felt at a supermarket.