Thursday, Oct 22, 2009
There goes the last line of employement for the average worker
Daily mail: Are the days of the checkout worker numbered? Tesco pioneers first ever self-service only shop
Tesco sounded the death knell for checkout workers today after opening Britain's first entirely self-service shop.
The Tesco Express in King's Langley, Northampton, has a total of five self-scan tills overseen by a single member of staff but no manned checkouts.
It is described by the company as an 'assisted service store' designed to increase efficiency and speed up the shopping process.
*******More likely to increase profits and completly finish off browns dump of a country******
Posted by mark @ 10:06 AM (1518 views) Add Comment
57 Comments
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1. drewster said...
Doesn't bother me. Greater efficiency means lower prices. What's not to like?
2. mark said...
drewster interesting POV
but do you know the damage supermarkets do with staff, imagine how much damage they will do without staff !!! Do we need 1000's of stores fed by 10,000's of wagons polluting and blocking up our roads, not to mention the noise from the distribution centres, this noise is worse than any bad neighbour could ever produce...
Think of the rubbish they add to food to make it cheaper, extra fat, sugar, salt, preservatives etc, maybe this is why we have an increase in obesity and cancer
They blackmail, bribe, punish, starve - suppliers, the local councils, the public
look at what is happening in Liverpool, one guy lost a 50,000 a year contract due to pressure on the council from tescos to sack this guy because he was fighting against Tescos planning the huge store..
i hope one day drewster you are on the receiving end of tescos, maybe you will understand how farmers feel etc
3. wdbeast said...
Firstly, King's Langley is an affluent village in between Hemel Hempstead and Watford in Hertfordshire, which gives you some idea of the accuracy of this Daily Mail article.
Secondly, if anyone thinks Tescos are about to allow all customers to serve themselves, then they are wrong, it is inneficient and too open to abuse, how would Granny cope?
This is just a publicity stunt, which although it has worked, now sees all the countries shop lifters travelling to the wrong county!
4. jack c said...
I can't wait for them to replicate this in Liverpool.
5. Crunchy said...
Robotic food outlets. "Current events lead to future trends." Gerald Celente.
The elimination of moral hazard in food control.
1. drewster The NWO loves your type.
6. dbc reed said...
@wdbeast
Brilliant sub-editing by the Hate Mail.The mean Kingsley or Kingsley Park,Northampton.
Northampton usually leads the way in all negative directions.Northamptonians take a certain pride in it.
7. refusetobuy said...
I always go human. Takes ages to scan your own shopping. Expect massive queues, especially at 4pm on a Sunday.
Plus you can't get chat and cooking tips from a robot.
On the other side, I would rather be anything other than a checkout worker.
8. cat and canary said...
...this is just a stepping stone, in the not too distant future (<10 years?), your shopping trolley contents will be scanned wirelessly as you walk through the exit barrier, without you having to queue or unload the trolley contents.Which will presumably make lots of checkout staff redundant.
The technology for embedding tiny chips (RFID) everywhere is already here. The main barrier to deployment in supermarkets is cost of the tags that will be placed on each can of soup etc. They need to be 1p per tag, and currently cost about 30-40p per tag.
9. timmy t said...
I seriously despair at the relentless focus on money in our society, as evident in Tesco as anywhere else. The more we judge success in financial terms the more miserable we will become. And yet the more we continue as we are, the greater the need for the masses to look for savings, furthering Tesco's cause. Advancement should be measured in increasing happiness, not increasing wealth. If you want to be served by a machine because it makes you happy then go for it. Most will choose to be served by a machine because it enables the prices to come down a few more pence. This isn't progress, it's sad.
10. crunchy said...
Check out chips.
The elimination of moral hazard in future food control is coming into view.
11. the number cruncher said...
My local B&Q already does this - there are no manned tills any more, just a 17 year old manning a set of self service tills.
If they can employ more staff in assisting customers and less on the tills I am all for it.
12. Pooodle2 said...
RFID's will be great - mayby not for the employees who lose there jobs, but for everyone who shops there - which is surely a far larger group.
Think about it - whats the most pointless bit about going shopping?
unloading your entire trolly so that each item can be scanned by checkout operator (or you) and then loading it all into bags and back in the trolly
RFID's mean you put it straight into bags in the trolly, go to checkout, scans everything in one go, you pay the total, and leave
lots of benefits:
Virtually no queuing - so we all get back a bit of wasted time to do something more fulfulling
Less tills, so less space, so (slightly) smaller shop footprint
Next step then is to make the trolly add it up as you go along, so you know what you've spent so you can make sure you don't spend too much!!!!
We already track high value items with RFID's in the machines we sell so customers can track the materials it uses
13. Nocibomber said...
Hey refusetobuy, re " I would rather be anything other than a checkout worker." I'd rather work at a checkout than be on the dole.
14. Ndg said...
Brave New World....................
15. mander said...
Greater efficiency could translate to more profits and not necessarily lower prices. Lower prices are determined by competition and since supermarkets buy as much land arround them to prevent other supermarkets competing it would result in more unemployment rather than lower prices.
16. cat and canary said...
crunchy... if we extrapolate that idea: then there are no longer any insurmountable technical barriers why every object, every person and every animal couldn't carry an embedded identification chip that can be wirelessly scanned and/or wirelessly located. The scanners only work over a few metres at the moment. That's all a bit conspiracy theory - but it does raise several worries about how such tech could be used and abused.
17. Montesquieu said...
Tescos are the evil empire, the synagogue of Satan, a British Wallmart, representing everything wrong with rapacious, bloodsucking capitalism.
I'd go hungry (have gone hungry) rather than buy from them (sometimes they are the only open supermarket in the area).
In a pointless fantasy about the birth pangs of a more just world, how about some candidates for first against the wall:
Michael O'leary of Rynair
Fred Goodwin
The entire board of Tesco including the Tesco heiress, that appalling Baroness Whatsername of Wandsworth who got off with the £36m fine for ballot rigging by running off to Israel and living it up
18. Ndg said...
Nice one crunchy and cat and canary. RFID chips for all and sundry.
Anyone else wonder about the future utilisation of current TV broadcast wavelengths when we all switch to digital? Gulp!
19. d'oh said...
Trust me timmy t @ 11.12AM, it is all about happiness...Unfortunately, it is the happiness of Tesco's directors and major shareholders and not yours.
20. crunchy said...
12. cat and canary
It just worries me that the developing technologies and the directions of employment now and into the future have such a nasty flip side.
This coupled with other long term government agendas that I am becoming increasingly aware of is a cause of some concern to me.
I would not like the current display of so called incompetence to arise whilst mine or anyone elses ar8e is under complete control.
21. house said...
When profit's are involved, nothing is for the better.
22. debtfree said...
Wonder what the security measures are for a shop like this ?
One person could be easily gagged whilst the shop is ransacked.
23. timmy t said...
d'oh - our fate is in our own hands. Get yourself a growbag and a load of seeds and tell the Tesco board to shove their company where the sun don't shine. We can either moan about it or do something about it.
24. chrisa said...
cat and canary said...
...this is just a stepping stone, in the not too distant future (<10 years?), your shopping trolley contents will be scanned wirelessly as you walk through the exit barrier, without you having to queue or unload the trolley contents.Which will presumably make lots of checkout staff redundant.
The technology for embedding tiny chips (RFID) everywhere is already here. The main barrier to deployment in supermarkets is cost of the tags that will be placed on each can of soup etc. They need to be 1p per tag, and currently cost about 30-40p per tag.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 11:09AM Report Comment
I think you are on the right lines. The money would have to be taken from you by electronic means instantaneously. Hence you would need an implanted chip. Presumeably you would never be allowed to enter the store unless you were scanned and found to have sufficient funds available to purchase items but how would it know how much you needed? They wouldn't want people getting to the exits being scanned and then finding they don't have the funds.
25. crunchy said...
"One of the essential elements of the coming global government is a cashless society, where all transactions are forced through the computerized banking and credit card system – eventually via the all purpose National ID Smart card, which will be finally embedded into your skin via a VeriChip, a customized RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wireless system. This computerized microchip is being sold to the public as the next and greatest step towards mankind.
In many European Countries today, implantable microchips are very cool, you can use them to get into nightclubs and pay for drinks, and according to some they are the new body art."
http://calvaryadvisor.org/2.html
Also check out Mastercard.
26. cat and canary said...
chrisa,
i guess you could control who enters the store, either via a security guard/assistant. Or you could grant people credit against their ID.
If your ID was linked to a national crime database, then the Orwellian possibilities are endless!..
"Person 371B86G73019 took a can of soup from Tesco at 11:23:48.0423 on 15/09/2021"
As for the implanted chip, Professor Kevin Warick at Reading University has already tried and tested it. Scary stuff?
27. Chrisa said...
'As for the implanted chip, Professor Kevin Warick at Reading University has already tried and tested it. Scary stuff?'
The Biblical mark of the beast? Take it and die. Don't take it and starve to death because you won't be able to buy or sell anything.. Presumeably growing your own food will have been made illegal by then probably under H&S grounds.
Religion on HPC well I never!
28. rumble said...
@chrisa: you'd only get charged at the exit; as you wander the isles your basket would be totaled and if underfunded you'd get a voice telling you to borrow extra credits from your friend.
@cnc: prof cyborg is more flash than substance. MIT and Stanford are the real deal.
29. crunchy said...
20. cat and canary said..."i guess you could control who enters the store, either via a security guard/assistant. Or you could grant people credit against their ID."
Try face and palm scanners. Access denied, Access denied, Access denied.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST.
30. crunchy said...
It's amazing that only a few years ago posters would have been instantly shot down as loonies for talking about such things.
Not loonies now!
Time reveals all.
31. rumble said...
"It's amazing that only a few years ago posters would have been instantly shot down as loonies for talking about such things."
Don't agree. Such discussions have been had for decades, usually about barcodes.
32. crunchy said...
It is the people's freedom to react that keeps governments mindfull of tyranny.
Governments are suppose to serve us.
That's my beef in a pre packed bar coded nutshell.
33. p. doff said...
When I was a kid we bought most of our food from the local corner shop - the type with the mechanical bell attached to the top of the door. There was a mangy tabby cat usually asleep on the counter, dead wasps on the window sill, and the occasional fly in with the cream cakes. I even recall finding extra protein in a packet of Ryvita once, in the form of weevils. The place wasn't even 'open all hours'.
On balance, I think I would prefer to shop at Tescos regardless of who or what is operating the checkout.
34. crunchy said...
No 26.
Have a nice day. Please come again said the weevil.
35. mark said...
have a look at this
biometric smart card
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/oct/22/spies-valley/
36. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
Hey Crunchy. I work with technology and this RFID business is right up your street. It is much worse than you think already. You know the beepy things at the exits of stores to stop you nicking stuff? Well many of them work via RFID.
If you buy say a TV or DVD or something of high value and then discard the packaging I can drive by your house with a modified RFID scanner and scan your house to see if there are any new purchases worth stealing.
I could scan your passport from across the room as well. Hell in the not too distant future I’ll be able to tell if my next door neighbours milk is about to go off!
Now that is progress.
BTW you only get shot down for saying loony things about stuff like over unity machines, dark energy and contrails…. This one is real I’m afraid.
Word ;o)
37. drewster said...
mark,
Do you also hark back to the days when petrol stations had a man who refuelled the car for you? If we passed a law that said all petrol stations must be operated by a pump-operator (fully qualified, licensed, and unionised) then think how many tens of thousands of jobs would be created!
Also, I can't believe supermarkets expect you to pack your bags yourself. We need a law to prevent customers touching their own bags. Only qualified shop-assistants (with a BTEC in bag-packing) are allowed to pack your bags for you. Don't get me started on online grocers.
Alternatively, read about 19th century economist Frédéric Bastiat and his famous Candlestick Makers' Petition, or read his Parable of the Broken Window, then come back and comment.
38. rumble said...
"If you buy say a TV or DVD or something of high value and then discard the packaging I can drive by your house with a modified RFID scanner and scan your house to see if there are any new purchases worth stealing."
Not. You'd have to know where the item was purchased and the store's id spec - ie code 123 at store x is a tv, at store y it's a kettle.
39. rumble said...
"I could scan your passport from across the room as well. Hell in the not too distant future I’ll be able to tell if my next door neighbours milk is about to go off!"
Dude, passwords? Encryption?
40. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
"Not. You'd have to know where the item was purchased and the store's id spec - ie code 123 at store x is a tv, at store y it's a kettle."
Easy if you work in the industry though.
41. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
“Dude, passwords? Encryption?”
Erm. Try Googling “biometric passport hack”
42. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/aug/07/hacking.security
"The whole passport design is totally brain damaged," Mr Grunwald told Wired.com. "From my point of view all of these [biometric] passports are a huge waste of money - they're not increasing security at all." Since March anyone applying for a UK passport has been issued with a biometric version, which contains physical identification information.
Mr Grunwald said his discovery was made within two weeks of first attempting to copy the data, and the equipment used cost $200 (£105)
43. crunchy said...
29 said Hey Crunchy. "I work with technology and this RFID business is right up your street."
It is not "up my street." I do not work in the industry, you do.
It would only be of interest to me if I felt my future liberty was at risk. See comment 14.
"Hey Crunchy"????
44. jonb said...
At the moment you would only know that there was an RFID tag. You wouldn't know what it was for. It could be for clothes, a bottle of spirits or an expensive cut of meat, or anything else that gets stolen a lot. Oyster card style RFID tags will appear in supermarkets at some point, but they aren't there yet.
45. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
"up my street" That was a little sarcasm for you.
46. rumble said...
"You know the beepy things at the exits of stores to stop you nicking stuff?"
Notice they don't beep once you've paid for them.
47. contrails are not a conspiracy (formerly npnh) said...
“Notice they don't beep once you've paid for them”
Clever isn’t it? And sometimes something you paid for in one shop sets off an alarm when you walk into another shop.
48. mark said...
drewster
i hope you feel the business side of tescos one day you wont be so cocksure
49. rumble said...
Alarmist drama queens in here. Pull the fkkn thing off. Opposable thumb defeats big brother.
50. Henryweston said...
"Do we need 1000's of stores fed by 10,000's of wagons polluting and blocking up our roads, not to mention the noise from the distribution centres"
Maybe we could use bicycles to deliver all the stock ? lol
51. timmy t said...
Not much going on with house prices today is there...
52. rumble said...
A horse walks into a bar...
53. nopensionnohouse said...
Well at least we are all getting on OK.
/s
54. drewster said...
Mark,
I'm well aware that some of Tesco's business practices are unpopular - particularly their late payments to suppliers and their army of lawyers who bulldoze through planning legislation. However this article is about making check-out tills more efficient. It's really not a big issue!
55. rumble said...
Higher unemployment - lower house prices... if all jobs are automated, housing is free?
56. smugdog said...
All of you seem to be having a swell time today. No collapse in prices today then? I suppose you could start discussing Trekkie moments too while waiting for the capitulation part of the graph to arrive. Anyone for pin the tail on Spock?, it must be boring waiting to start living life again, it's been a long time waiting for HPC, HPC zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
57. letsgetreadytotumble said...
Smugdog. You obviously get satisfaction out of other people's perceived disappointment.
We are all here to be kept well informed on the housing market situation, and I for one have learnt a lot about the way the economy works, and how house prices are part of that.
I feel sorry for you. It's a shame you do not feel welcome in social groups, so you have to criticise those who do 'fit-in'
We are living in a false economy, supported by QE and massive borrowing. The handouts will have to stop, interest rates will have to increase. The future of the housing market is guaranteed as soon as Brown can no longer juggle the economy around. Prices will plunge. I wonder if you will poke your nose in when that finally happens?
OR
You would be welcome to actively take part in the discussions here, being supportive or informed. That's the sort of people I like here.