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Amazon Is This The Way We Will Shop

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emmie | 08:00 Mon 22nd Jan 2018 | News
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in the future, no queues that sounds good to me

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42769096
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the whole process of automation frightens me somewhat, i find the idea of robots controlling us quite scary.
Fantastic news and a great idea!

People leading busy lives want to shop and go, not make friends, blab about the weather or hold up an entire line for 5 mins over a can of beans.

For those picturing a cold grey apocalyptic dystopian world filled with robots, There will always have to be human interaction overseeing operations and they still need security and cleaners unless the security will now be the terminator and cleaning is now handled by an army of cp30 cleaner “bots” lol.
“NJ
could you not have complained to the management, i know i would have.”

I have done in the past, Emmie. In the same branch and having endured a similar problem I once waited a quarter of an hour for the privilege of an audience with the deputy manager or under manager or assistant manager or whatever he was called (the real big cheese being far too busy to trouble himself with customers). I was given a load of waffle about “stressful situations”, “tedious tasks sometimes need a safety valve” and so on. Basically it was my fault for being so demanding (like, er…just wanting the checkout operator to concentrate on her customers who, after all, bring in his or her livelihood). It made no difference and life is too short to spend time coaching under-managers in the art of customer service so I won’t be doing so again.

The main problem is that these stores are simply badly managed. You never see the store manager roaming round making sure everything is in order. In fact the only time you see any management is when one of the really big cheeses pays a visit from head office. Then the store manager and his deputies and assistants all fawn round him as he makes his stately progress through the store.

I don’t usually wish ill on anybody or any business. But large supermarket chains are treating their customers with contempt. To compete with online competition High Street stores need to do something that the onliners don’t or cannot and customer service is the most obvious thing. They can’t be bothered so they and their staff may soon find out that neither can their customers.

“…we need to figure out some way to run an economy in which not everyone can be employed.”

We already do. It’s called the Benefits system.
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i shop online mainly because i can't get out much but i know that others do the same who can, but simply don't like shopping if they can help it,
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my local store is a Waitrose, and generally they are good if you have a complaint, however they do annoy me opening up at 8am when only one person is on a line of ten tills.
“You never see the store manager roaming round making sure everything is in order.“

That’s the job of the various assistant managers and supervisors managing their designated areas and I see them all the time.
The head honcho’s usually at wave after wave of meetings or in the office overseeing the main operations, stock, emails from head office, promotions which are then delegated to the assistant managers, supervisors and floor staff.
Regardless of how it actually functions, the welfare state is intended as a safety net for people who have fallen on hard times, on the assumption that they will return to the workforce if/when they can. It functions on the assumption that most of its beneficiaries are at least capable of working and commits to caring for the few that aren't.

Which makes perfect sense in an economy in which all/most jobs are done by human beings. It doesn't in an economy where automation is shrinking whole industries (law, retail, warehousing, stockbroking, probably transport eventually, even service and hospitality).

Emmie:

Yes, automation requires people to create/run automatons. It requires far, far fewer to be employed than the kinds of economy our society is used to.
Nj ...same store..I was shopping alone and was struggling to pack goods as the gum chewing till girl whizzed it through...no offer to help.. everything had gone through but there remained a pile to be packed...still no ofer of help..and big exasperated sighs as she inspected her nails... WELL LOVE says I very loudly..I am so sorry to have caused you inconvenience by coming to your till....no matter..Here keep it I'll go to ASDA where the staff value their jobs and customers... whereupon I tipped the full bags..4 of them...back on the counter and left !!
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MM
go girl, if i find the staff more interested in chatting i have a quiet word, it doesn't always work but one can only try.
Lol emmie, I was already harassed and her sighing just pushed me over the edge !
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it would have done the same to me, had someone sighed, i would have asked them did they like their job or were they just bored.
It’s appears that many live in an episode of the supermarket comedy “Trollied” lol.

I’ve yet to see blasé attituded gum chewing rude non caring workers and my experience has always been polite workers who bend over backwards to help, even when they’re under a lot of stress who want to hang onto ther jobs and this in London.

Maybe trollied is based on reality from supermarkets out of London where many of you are from?
Likewise, I very rarely experience bad service in supermarkets (restaurants, on the other hand...)

Personal experience is irrelevant in any case though. The bots are coming - in many industries they are already here.

In answer to the original question, if it's more profitable then definitely, yes.
How can a checkout girl possibly be under stress? All she has to do these days is move items across a barcode reader, take payment and give a receipt. They don't know what stress is.
“How can a checkout girl possibly be under stress?“

Lol, yes as we all know checkout STAFF are emotion free robots with skins thicker than a rhinos who NEVER have to deal with non functioning technology, rude customers and extremely busy times where they can’t take their breaks at the designated times.
My heart bleeds for them.
I will add that I worked a till when studying and customer care was very high priority..I would never have dreamed of behaving in such a manner
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Jahulaye
i am from London and i find local shops to be useless at customer service, Waitrose is slightly better, but that one should expect.
The Amazon store sounds like a fantastic idea. I could imagine it being very popular in smaller chain stores. Where I work, there's a Sainsbury's Local store which is mainly used by office workers for sandwiches and lunch items. That would be a perfect place for this kind of technology to be introduced - low cost, high turnover items.

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