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<blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 9155695" data-attributes="member: 18182">Not where I live. It varies store by store.Some stores have one employee monitoring 4 to 6 self-checkouts. That usually works out okay.But at Wal-Mart . . . some (not all) of my local Wal-Marts are down to two old-fashioned check out lanes manned by cashiers and replaced them with huge banks of self-checkouts monitored by just one &quot;manager&quot; (who can actually help if something goes wrong) and one or two employees who only seem capable of pointing out empty check-outs to customers . . . . it blows my mind Wal-Mart gave me MORE reasons to avoid their stores as much as possible.The reduction in staff doesn't bother me too much, as we have low unemployment in the US right now and many retail stores (and other frontline work) are still struggling to fill positions. Reducing manned check-outs with self check-outs is like AI in some ways . . . it can be done well, respecting workers, creating efficiency for workers and customers, and lower prices . . . and it can be done poorly, making workers and customers experiences worse, creating chaos, and causing prices to rise as theft increases.Short-term vs. long-term thinking. Guess which style of management most US based corporations are best at? Not the kind that respects workers and end-users . . . and that is our current problem with AI-generated art.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dire Bare, post: 9155695, member: 18182"] Not where I live. It varies store by store. Some stores have one employee monitoring 4 to 6 self-checkouts. That usually works out okay. But at Wal-Mart . . . some (not all) of my local Wal-Marts are down to two old-fashioned check out lanes manned by cashiers and replaced them with huge banks of self-checkouts monitored by just one "manager" (who can actually help if something goes wrong) and one or two employees who only seem capable of pointing out empty check-outs to customers . . . . it blows my mind Wal-Mart gave me MORE reasons to avoid their stores as much as possible. The reduction in staff doesn't bother me too much, as we have low unemployment in the US right now and many retail stores (and other frontline work) are still struggling to fill positions. Reducing manned check-outs with self check-outs is like AI in some ways . . . it can be done well, respecting workers, creating efficiency for workers and customers, and lower prices . . . and it can be done poorly, making workers and customers experiences worse, creating chaos, and causing prices to rise as theft increases. Short-term vs. long-term thinking. Guess which style of management most US based corporations are best at? Not the kind that respects workers and end-users . . . and that is our current problem with AI-generated art. [/QUOTE]

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