The role of cashiers

The article highlights the important role of cashiers in the retail grocery industry and asks why there is a growing trend to eliminate them through automation and technology. Cashiers are often the last interaction customers have with a store and can have a significant impact on their overall shopping experience. They also handle most of the payments a grocery store receives, though they are low-paid and sometimes entry-level workers.

As a cashier, you're on the front lines of frontline workers, calling customers to make sure every penny is counted accurately. You handle dozens of customers every hour, making eye contact, smiling occasionally and chatting. You handle customer complaints and comments, from belligerent anti-masks to customers with special diets who couldn't find their gluten-free cauliflower crust pizzas because they were looking in the cooler and not the freezer.

The article argues that the rise of automation and technology in grocery stores, such as self-checkouts and cashierless technology, will make cashiers obsolete and require an extreme form of retail discipline, disqualification and monitoring. The technology will require precise inventory management, with each product in its exact location as determined by the head office planogram. All products must be regularly confronted and inventoried, with their movements tracked by scanning technologies.

The article also raises concerns about the impact of technology on employment and the potential for job loss among cashiers and other frontline workers. While some customers may enjoy the convenience of self-checkout or cashierless technology, the author argues that this comes at a cost and that we should not underestimate the importance of human interaction in the retail experience.

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