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billvon

A modest proposal - fixing the problem of intolerant grocery stores

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JerryBaumchen

Hi Bill,

Quote

I fear that it's going to become a trend.



It has been a trend for a very long time.

The Luddites smashed the weaving machines; they did not get their jobs back.

Everyday people are working on machines to eliminate labor.

Jerry Baumchen


Want to ensure you have a job in the future? Learn to repair robots and machines. :P
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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We have a new German grocery store in my town called Lidl. They have some interesting ideas that people here are still getting used to.

They don't have checkers standing around waiting for customers. When people go up to the front to check out, someone (eye in the sky, probably) turns a checkout line sign from red to green. That means a checker is on the way, start unloading your cart on the belt. The checker shows up and rings up your purchase. You need to bring your own bags and bag everything yourself. When the checker is done taking your money, they go back to doing some other task around the store. They have eliminated the job of checker by making everyone a checker, and they only check people out when needed.

- Dan G

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ryoder

***
Interesting that the major mid west regional competitor for Walmart is Meijer's (pronounced Meyer), started by Fred Meijer in Grand Rapids. Also a major philanthropist. Or course I throw up a little in my mouth when I have to go to the Van Andel Arena or the Devos Hall in Grand Rapids, being those two namesakes started Amway. And yes it's that Betsy Devos.



Oh, for chrissake!
I didn't know she was part of the Amway scam-family.:S

Amway is an absolutely fascinating organization. it is not what it seems, no one gets rich in Amway selling Amway. the few at the top get rich selling "Tools" motivational tapes, books, and seminars. I had a sister get caught up in it, it is really closer to a cult than a business.

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JerryBaumchen

Hi Bill,

Quote

I fear that it's going to become a trend.



It has been a trend for a very long time.

The Luddites smashed the weaving machines; they did not get their jobs back.

Everyday people are working on machines to eliminate labor.

Jerry Baumchen



This. I don't mind doing my own check-out, unless it's something that's like produce where I have to figure out the right item code. Fighting technological advancement to "save jobs" doesn't make sense to me. Technology has always eliminated jobs in some industries while creating jobs in others.

The more than 10 items in the express lane pisses me off, though. I wish the computers just would refuse to scan more than 10, and when 11 gets scanned an alarm would go off with an automated voice saying "I'm sorry, you have more than 10 items. Please collect your items from the express line and take them to a standard check out line."

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>Fighting technological advancement to "save jobs" doesn't make sense to me.

Nor to me. But finding a way to save jobs while embracing technological advancement, to me, is better than using technological advancement to remove jobs.

We are fast approaching a very big problem, which is that most of our workforce is going to become redundant. With machine learning taking off like crazy, the majority of service and manufacturing jobs are going to be replaceable in 10-20 years. But just because they are replaceable doesn't mean they should be replaced. A society where most people don't work, and the class divide grows by orders of magnitude, isn't pleasant to contemplate.

>Technology has always eliminated jobs in some industries while creating jobs in others.

Exactly. And we can make decisions that try to ensure that jobs created is > (or at least =) to jobs lost.

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