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1247 points mangoman | 1 comments | 05 Dec 16 14:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.216s | source
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delegate ◴[05 Dec 16 17:27 UTC] No.13107158[source]▶
Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad.

I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement)..

I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables.

I know all the people who work in these supermarkets. The cashier in the supermarket downstairs always sings a quiet song while she scans my products, she knows my daughter and she's always nice and friendly.

The cashier in the other store talks to the customers. She stops scanning and starts talking while the line waits. Some customers might join the conversation. I know she has an old cat that eats an unlimited amount of food if allowed to do so...

There are similar stories about other shops in the neighbourhood - they come to work, they serve the people in the neighbourhood, they go home. They do this until they retire.

These people like their jobs because we respect them for what they do, so they feel useful and they work hard.

I don't mind waiting in line for 3 minutes. Or 5. It's never longer than that, even if the cashier discusses the latest news with the old lady.

The humanity of it has value for us here and that value is greater than the time we'd save by removing the people from the shops.

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1. joshuawright11 ◴[05 Dec 16 17:52 UTC] No.13107472[source]▶
The places I feel where I know the cashiers and employees are not large supermarkets though, but small time specialty shops (the Polish butcher shop near my house, the florist, etc). To me large scale supermarkets (wal mart, target, whole foods, etc) tend to have young or post retirement, disinterested staff that are simply there to make a little extra cash and go home. Besides, there are often 10-15 cashiers on a schedule with ridiculous turnover. I don't see this competing with the specialty shops and thus not erasing that social connection involved in some shopping. Rather, it will reduce the drudgery and annoyance of going to huge grocery stores with no personal connection and a disinterested staff.

IMO non-specialty grocery stores with a few staff closely knit in the community have already been mostly eliminated by the larger corporations.