Wal-Mart and the Self-Checkout Swindle

Recently I have found myself in Wal-Mart on a couple of occasions. We quit shopping there in 2011 but every once in awhile I go in and walk around and observe.

Our rural area has taken a real beating in the retail sector, especially since the financial crisis of 2008. But it's been even worse over just the past few years. We're all but forced to drive 1hr and 45mins to the nearest small city in order to shop for anything other than groceries. Our area is now dominated by dollar stores and Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart has apparently made a conscientious effort to force its customers to use the self-checkout lines. Apparently some stores don't even open conventional cashier lanes until late morning. I'm not sure if this something particular to rural areas or if this is now a universal policy. I've encountered this in Home Depot and Lowe's as well but on a smaller scale. I also try to avoid these stores as I loathe them but sometimes I have little choice in the matter as customers specify that's where they want to procure certain supplies.

I refuse to use self-checkout lanes on principle. I always stand in the conventional lane and wait. Why?

First of all, if I have to play cashier I should be compensated for it. The items I purchase should be discounted in order to pay me for the trouble. It's an insult and a negation of customer service. It's pure greed on the part of these retailers.

Secondly it's dehumanising. I sat in Wal-Mart studying the people at the self-checkout. I watched many older folks struggling, fighting with the scanners and touch screens, plodding along trying to load their groceries. It was sad and it angered me. They should be angry too but they don't seem to understand what is happening. They've been conditioned and fail to realise they're being exploited and ripped off.

I shop at a couple of different grocery stores, both of which are the type where you bag your own groceries and it's understood... it's a discount place. You even bring your own bags or use leftover boxes the stockers leave by the registers. Some might say Wal-Mart is just employing the same model. But that's not so. At the discount places I go, you don't check yourself out. It's not the same at all. This is not to suggest that these stores don't have their problems too. The whole situation is pretty frustrating. And I know others would point to the old days when you didn't get your own items off the shelf. That was done for you. It was the same in many of the older style clothing stores, some of which were still around here in the 1970's. Is this any different?

I think it is. I think a line has to be drawn somewhere. I can make a case for why the 'shop yourself' model is appealing. It takes the pressure off and you don't have to know exactly what you want when you come in. Of course there also used to be more workers out and about in the aisles, there to help you if need be. A lot of stores have taken the minimalist route and sometimes it's hard to find any help. Sometimes it's hard to even find an employee. We can always point back to something better. Change is inevitable but at some point the change has gone too far.

And talking into a smart device isn't what I call help. I know that's coming too, in fact it may already be happening.

Some of course like the self-checkout model because they don't want to interact with people. I realise this and yet I view that as an unfortunate result of our modern social media/Smartphone era... it has produced the most anti-social, socially inept, friendless and isolated generation in history.

Wal-Mart only turned to this self-checkout model when it already had complete dominance of the market and yet the company (it would seem) became nervous with its profitable and yet less than stellar stock gains.  It has sought to keep dividends up in the face of recent competition from various dollar stores and of course Amazon.

Bagging your groceries is one thing. And I lament that too. Long gone are the days when there were baggers, let alone baggers who would help you (if you wanted) to take your groceries out and put them in your car. It was a good job for teenagers and those days are gone as are the normal services you once experienced at filling stations.

But playing cashier is something different. This is the very nexus of the retail experience. The point-of-sale is the where the company has a face that interacts with the public... and is also held to account.

We're all frustrated by the websites that apparently don't want to be contacted, that hide email and phone contacts and subject you to a humiliating little forms with fields that limit the number of characters you're allowed to type. It will be filtered through an algorithm before anyone bothers to read it... if anyone ever will.

But what's especially sad is that when you look at what Wal-Mart has done to these communities, the self-checkout scam is a bridge too far. Wal-Mart has already decimated the small businesses. Many haven't helped themselves very much, but Wal-Mart also bears a great deal of the blame.

Of course most of the blame belongs on those who shop there, those who for the sake of saving a few bucks were willing to destroy their communities. And it's happened.

And so now, like good trained lemmings, they do what Wal-Mart tells them and utilise the self-checkout systems.... systems which will ultimately lead to more jobs being eliminated and greater harm to their community.

When will it end? When will people open their eyes?

I've been encouraged to see that some people are starting to get it, at least in terms of this one area of concern. Some people are also starting to realise that Wal-Mart isn't always the cheapest or the best. The same is true of the other Big Box outlets like Home Depot and Lowe's.

For me the answer is pretty simple. Don't shop at these stores. They are immoral, evil models built on exploitation... all down the line. From the sweat shop to the checkout, they're swindles. Have nothing to do with them. What we really need is to want less, use less and re-think how we live.

See also:

https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-letter-to-wal-mart.html