The advance of technology helps facilitate our lives a great deal, but do we pay a high price when it comes to relying on the machines way more than we should?
In order to speed up the process of running errands and shopping for groceries, Walmart introduced self-checkouts. What they didn’t expect, however, is to face backlash because of this decision that many of the customers consider controversial.
The self-service machines aren’t something new. In fact, they were first introduced in the 1980s to lower labor expenses.
But this service faced plenty of obstacles and customers complain to the added responsibilities.
For example, certain items may have multiple barcodes, whereas the produce, including the meat, fruit, and vegetable, typically needs to be weighed and manually entered into the system using a code, which might be time consuming for the ordinary shoppers. Other times shoppers won’t hear the “beep” confirming an item has been scanned properly.
Another issue is the increase of theft. Walmart announced that thefts at its stores has reached an all-time high.
The machines not only fall short at their purpose of making shopping easier at times, but they also make it harder for the employees they were meant to help.
Christopher Andrews, a sociologist and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy, says the system “doesn’t work well for anyone.”
He continued: “Everyone feels like they have to have it. Companies are thinking: ‘If we can just get more people on this, maybe we can start reducing some overheads.’”
What’s most, most of the customers have reported that they miss the human interaction while shopping.
Randy Parraz from Making Change at Walmart perfectly summed up customer sentiments by saying, “You can’t convince customers to do the job of a cashier just because you don’t want to pay for the work.”
Walmart decided to listen to what their customers had to say and instead of further expanding automation, the retail giant will hire additional cashiers to provide their customers with a pleasant shopping experience and service.
What Walmart and the rest of the retailers, among which Costco and Wegmans, learned is that efficiency is important but maintaining a balance with positive experiences remains crucial.
When a simple note can save a life. More details/photos:
It’s a good idea to frequently check under and around your car in this part of the country to make sure that animals hasn’t established a home there. A kind-hearted woman decided to step in when she noticed a newborn deer sleeping under someone else’s car tire.
This image on Facebook went viral after a woman published it to alert the driver of the car of a newborn deer that was sleeping under a tire.
The answers were sincere and sometimes funny. Joshua The most well-liked comment to date is this one from Kevin Nye:
It’s obvious that the woman was ancient, but how? Why didn’t she just send you a message if you saw her, rather than alerting you to the presence of a blasted deer beneath the tire? I need some clarification!
A different comedian hoped the driver knew how to read and write. I guess you can’t always infer that from the way certain drivers operate their vehicles.
Among the more compassionate people who appreciated this woman’s action was Cyntha Atkinson:
I appreciate you leaving the note, sweet woman.
I’m grateful, Cyntha. One must respect the courage of people who decide to change things instead of continuing with their life as normal.
Would you have tried to entice the deer to come out from under the automobile, left a note, or carried on with your life?
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