Self Check Me Out

Sup

Self Checkout Terminals should be Illegal in this country.

Since you asked, I am going to rant and rave about self checkout stations now, why recently I have become increasingly pissed off about them, and why we should enact bi-partisan legislation to make them illegal.

The political left loves to complain about how the ultra wealthy and corporations in this country are profiting too much at the expense of workers and society, as a result of our government catering to runaway capitalism, and profit driven organizations seeking to increase their margins in any way possible. I usually take these arguments with a grain of salt, since I do believe that the encouragement for individual entrepreneurship and innovation that is encouraged by capitalism is what has lead to great progress for this nation and civilization in general.

Recently however, I have realized that this new phenomenon of self checkout computers is so blatantly and aggressively capitalistic and unpatriotic, that it crosses a line for me. These systems have clearly been designed for only one purpose, to generate greater profit for corporations by saving money they currently use to employ people. These systems take that job away from an entry level worker, and they give the work to me, the consumer.

Airport terminals use them, McDonald’s has more and more of them, and my local grocery store, Price Chopper, is one of the worst offenders.

Not even 5 years ago, if you went to go grocery shopping at Price Chopper in Cooperstown, there would be approximately 4 checkout employees running checkout lanes to service the customers of that grocery business. Today, if you walk into the same grocery store, there is often just 1, maybe 2 people running checkout lines, and a terminal of 4 self checkout points.

Obviously what’s happening here is, Price Chopper figured out that they could put in some computers and eventually lay off some workers, less money to spend on hourly wages and benefits for entry level staff. In addition though, and why I’m drawing a hard line in the sand here, is that in this case, I wind up taking on an additional burden and work as the consumer.

I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want to run the checkout terminal. I liked it better when I would pick out the groceries I wanted to buy, with money, and then Price Chopper would provide me with the service of managing the transaction for me. I don’t wanna push all these little buttons and bag my stuff. Also, now I have to ask for help to fix the situation whenever your shitty computer messes up. That’s not my job. I’m paying you money, I don’t want to be inconvenienced and have to do more work now.

Price Chopper and other company’s using automated checkout terminals are actively cutting jobs, and shifting that labor on to consumers in order to increase their profits.

The political right loves to campaign on a message of putting American jobs first. So it seems to me that this current practice of slashing entry-level labor positions in this country should be fixed in a bi-partisan effort. We should all be able to agree that corporations should not be allowed to increase their profits by cutting staff and making us buy things through a computer when we’re in a brick and mortar store.

I would like to commit myself from this day forward, as a free American consumer, to protesting self checkout stations, whenever and wherever I can.

I will wait in line until I can be serviced by a worker. I will ask to see a service representative instead of using self checkout facilities. If the business says that I need to use the self checkout terminal to complete my transaction, I will calmly and politely explain why I am refusing to do that, and I’ll walk myself out the door. I’ll then bring my money to spend at a business who will employ people to help me buy the stuff I want/need.