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the ui the cashier gets is one that is effectively for an expert; they have to be trained to use it (and develop muscle memory), whereas the self-checkout machines are simultaneously nerfed for perpetual n00bs and fortified against theft, making them inherently less efficient
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so in a way you could imagine the cashier-cum-self-checkout-attendant being themselves frustrated to have to help frustrated people limp through those things when they erstwhile could have just done it for them using a professional rig
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10 cashier jobs at $15/hr replaced by 1 attendant job at $20/hr, 0.1 maintenance-guy job at $50/hr, 0.001 automation designer job at $100/hr. Plus a bunch of unpaid shadow labor by customers (1000 jobs at $5/hour, paid in kind via lower prices)
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Labor’s share of return from capital goes from $15x10=$150/hr to $20+0.1*$50+0.001*$100 = $25.10. Capital’s share goes up by $125/h initially but then competition passes on the bulk of it to the shadow-laboring consumers via lower prices so capital gets $10/h more in steady state
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Note that to your point, expert UI implies a cheaper machine. The self-checkout machines are consumer-grade machines and cost more in non-recurring engineering costs to build. Their TCO is also higher because maintenance higher than cash registers. But still lower than humans.
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anyway i understand the mechanics and the motivation; it's a deliberate externality generation but that's arguably orthogonal to the bullshittiness, which has to do with taking a locally-optimal configuration and replacing it with an inferior one and trying to claim it's better
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Well, price performance. It’s better for the lower price point. In Seattle, a high-end grocery store rolled back self-checkout to keep the jobs. But stuff costs more there. Actually better = Amazon go store. Walk in, pick up shit, walk out. Cameras and AI do the rest.
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i'm sure they can claim they are "passing the savings onto the customer" which is an empirical question that appears to be answered largely in the negative. an argument can be made that amazon go is the "correct" solution to self-checkout, which of course has its own side effects
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Replying to and
Self-checkout is merely the latest in a century of shifting labor to shoppers. Remember back in the day you’d order at the counter and someone would go into stock room and get your stuff. Wandering the aisles to pick stuff off shelves was a bigger move to shadow labor.
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