Self-checkout

Does customer service exist? Why do companies make promises that they can’t keep? Here is one that upsets me. Self-checkout lanes at the grocery store. Yes, they are convenient, but here are two reasons I don’t like them and avoid them. First, they take away jobs from people. Second. You are making me an unpaid, untrained employee of the store. The person who checks out my items and bags them is paid an hourly rate, has benefits, and hopefully PTO. At a self-checkout aisle, I am doing this work unpaid. This is why I enjoy going to Trader Joe’s. Plenty of aisles are open, and a checker and a bagger are at each. The store is consistently full, and people move through the line. Contrast that with the broken self-checkout line and one cashier working, a line snaking around the store, with frustrated customers. This is a result of poor leadership. Staffing a shift with enough employees is a decision. Frustrate the customer, and maybe you won’t have them anymore to frustrate. Do you like self-checkout lines, and if you do, why?