And how likely is it, that this job will still exist in a few years?
Granted, there will always be service jobs, where physical presence and a polite smile is all that is required. But I don't see that checkout counters belong to those.
Granted, there will always be service jobs, where physical presence and a polite smile is all that is required. But I don't see that checkout counters belong to those.
I like it when they have both, since sometimes I want a checker and bagger, especially if I have a bunch of stuff. Other times I just want to get in and out and the machine is consistently faster than checker + line.
Of course, the real issue is that lines are good for businesses. They keep the customer in the store longer, with more opportunity to spontaneously buy all that shiny stuff near or at the checkout stands... WalMart has like 10 self-checkout machines but every time I've been there they've had most or all of them turned off. I don't think it's because all of them had errors.
If you have more than five things, it's typically easier just to let the check-out person do it for you.