Random Musing: Technology vs. workers

| 22 August 2008 10:18

When we think about outsourcing, we usually think about Call centers in India or manufacturing jobs in China. Well, what about automatic cashiers?

I went to the local CVS (Shoppers Drug Mart or Boots for Canadian and British readers) this morning to buy some milk because my wife needed some milk with her coffee daily dose of caffeine. When I walked up to pay, I noticed two little shiny new machines with a bunch of plastic bags attached. I went over to one and low and behold, it was the cashier.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Would you like to pay with cash or credit?”

“Please sign here.”

“Thank you for shopping at CVS. Have a nice day.”

I left and went home without talking to a single person.

avatar About Edward Harrison

Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty years of business experience. He is also a regular economic and financial commentator on BBC World News, CNBC Television, Business News Network, CBC, Fox Television and RT Television. He speaks six languages, a skill he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

Related Posts

No related posts.

More About: ,

«
»

5 Comments

  1. avatar yellerKat says:
    22 August 2008 at 12:21

    Please tell me it doesn’t say “Nice to meet you…have a nice day!”

  2. avatar Edward Harrison says:
    23 August 2008 at 04:20

    I probably misremembered the “Nice to meet you bit”, but it is a lot more courteous and helpful than the human variety and obviously quicker.’

    Automatic cashier machines are the new automatic teller machine

  3. avatar dearieme says:
    23 August 2008 at 07:14

    “sign”! We do it all by card-swiping at Waitrose, have done for years now.

  4. avatar Anonymous says:
    23 August 2008 at 07:47

    Home Depot and Harris Teeter (supermarket) has been doing this for a couple of years.

    I believe it is unfortunate (& a sign of our times) that machines now provide better service than humans.

  5. avatar Edward Harrison says:
    23 August 2008 at 23:17

    I guess this is a sign of our times for sure. The fact that the machine is more polite than the average cashier says something too.

    In truth, I find the Indian customer service reps also more courteous than US ones, but not more so than UK ones.

    As for Waitrose, the US is so far behind Europe in that kind of technology. I have been card swiping on my first direct account since, what, 1998?

    Think back to some other professionals who were automated out of existence: telephone operators, elevator operators, and bank tellers.

    And remember the days when you had to go to a bank and get a wire transfer or to Western Union to get money overseas?

    It seems cashiers are next on that list. Any others I’m forgetting about?

    Oh yes, airport tram conductors.