That is literally what I am talking about, though. "you doing more, the store doing less, prices increase anyway" is exactly the same thing as happened 100 years ago.

Stores where customers didn't have access to the back also don't need security cameras, so even that point is 1:1 the same (although that's way later than 1925 then).

We have lost most of the stores where a clerk will collect your items for you, they once were the only option. At this rate, we will lose most of the stores where a clerk will scan the items for you as well. Simply because 1 clerk and 20 cameras is cheaper than 15 clerks.

I'm not saying that you have to like or hate both developments equally, I just wanted to point out that we have had and lost this exact battle before.

Also fucking greeters who want check your receipt. I don't stop, my wife won't acknowledge them. If you don't trust me to scan and pack my shit then bring back cashiers. Fuck that noise. And yes we should get a discount.

At my local shop, some of the cashiers are extremely slow at bagging… Often I end up when bags that are way too heavy, and sometimes my bread is all smushed. I don’t fault them, I can’t imagine they’re being paid a reasonable wage.

I am absolutely faster doing it myself.

You must have some speedy cashiers at your local store!

Oh, I don't like fighting with the knife. I just enjoy poking people with it now and again to see if thought or anger emerges.

Oh, I don't like fighting with the knife. I just enjoy poking people with it now and then to see if it produces anger or genuine thought... I should probably find a more productive hobby.

100%. Veggies and any fresh produce is a gamble. When I order cilantro, there is literally a 10 fold difference in size from order to order sometimes. The employees do not care or not know how to pick out a decent onion and you'd better forget about getting a reasonable avocado ever haha

Solid reasoning, I could get behind this too.

Unfortunately, no one you will ever be able to talk to has any tangible control over staffing. It's an hours allotment determined by an equation and any deviation from it is met with more hours being cut and people being yelled at by someone who's never actually worked in a store

I hope you didn't have anything cold in that cart because doing what you did would directly contribute to the staffing issue.

They ask me for my receipt so I just hand it to them and keep walking.

They asked for my receipt, not to stop.

A store near me has RFID tags on all products, and simply approaching the self-checkout machine is enough to have all products detected.

I don't use self checkout because I'm afraid of messing up something and getting judged by people

So... you can bag while the cashier scans, right? Splitting the work, making it quicker.

Companies are now intentionally under-staffing checkout lanes

They make record profits while I either have to wait longer, or do the work myself. Why, exactly, shouldn't I be able to complain about that?

Most stores in my city (in The Netherlands) just have a little terminal you can carry around the store with you. I scan my items with the terminal, it shows me the total price, discounts, points acquired (if I scan my customer card) and then i have the terminal scan the QR code on the self checkout and I just pay. Everything is already in my bag and they rarely check. It's great!

Yes, it's the consumer's fault, not the giant corporation under-staffing their stores so they can hit another record profit quarter

I do the same. They chose to outsource a critical piece of their business to unpaid labor. They get what they paid for