OLD JOBS, NEW TECHNOLOGY AND THESELF-SERVICE CHECKOUT10-08-2006Self service checkouts have been in place in supermarkets up and down the country for a couple of years. Last week they finally made it to my local Asda in Great Bridge, writes Edward Cameron. * * * * * * Part of me thought it was great and would speed up the whole process of getting my shopping and getting back out into the permanently packed car park, No more will I need to deal with a disenfranchised youth behind the counter who would crush my toastie loaf under my tin of own-brand beans out of boredom or carelessness. And no more would I be stuck behind the mum with the screaming kid who's found to her horror that her pushchair is leaking a blackcurrant oil slick. Here was technology pushing forward, cutting out the middle man and driving down the costs of food even more. But then I looked at it all a little closer. What a damned cheek. Think about how much time it actually takes you to put your stuff on a conveyor, exchange either a cheery hello or a bored scowl with the assistant, pay for your goods and go. Not a fat lot in proportion to the whole payment task. Instead we, the shopper, now have to wrestle with scanners, slots for money and cards and weird glowing touch screens. I used to work a supermarket checkout - it takes a week to learn how to operate a checkout! And they expect us to just get it in one go with the help of a green-clad sales assistant? But worse still - As these gadgets become more and more popular will it mean that the once-redundant former factory workers of the Black Country who found jobs at Asda, will again end up on the scrapheap? While the company has made no announcements of this nature it fills me with a cold dread when you think of howthe majorsupermarkets have all but slaughtered the high street food shops, leavingcharity shops and kebab outlets to sping up in their place. Technology marches on, and that's fantastic. But sometimes we've got to ask ourselves if low cost food is worth the erosion of our economy. Sometimes it might be worth paying extra if only to safeguard our friends' jobs. Because next time, the victim of technology's onward march could be you.
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