Grocery Store Robots coming!

https://mashable.com/article/stop-and-shop-marty-robots/


Seems strange it wouldn't clean floors at the same time its out patrolling for hazards, or be able to pick up the hazard it sees. Also, seems pretty big for the job its doing, but I guess they don't want someone walking out with it.

 

If it goes into effect here, DON'T GO TO THE STORES THAT USE THE SYSTEM! After the stores using the system closes, we won't have the problem any longer.

 

I agree. They usually try to anthropomorphize these robots by giving them cutesy names like "Marty" so that shoppers will get used to seeing them in the stores. This one supposedly cleans up spills and other hazards, but I saw one exactly like it that scans and monitors inventory, or so I was told. If the stores insist on replacing human workers with these things, then I'll quit shopping there!

 

If one stops shopping at places where automation is used one will soon stop shopping. It is a fact of life for businesses to use automation to more effectively operate. they can deduct the capital costs and once that is done the ongoing costs are generally minimal.

 

I would beg to differ here. While I agree that it is true that larger grocery chains will most likely automate in the near future to reduce their labor costs, (slow, sarcastic clap for them and their bottom line), the consumer can still choose to reject automation and shop elsewhere. For instance, I am out of Johnston County for the summer, and have mostly shopped at a modernized, yet old fashioned, grocery store here in this small town, and generally find it to be a MUCH more pleasant shopping experience than the typical impersonal Walmart or Food Lion. And guess what? No robots! In fact, I'm dreading going back to those stores when I return. So, if these chain stores insist on automating even further, and become even more mechanized and impersonal than they already are, you can bet I'll dump them in a heartbeat. There's more important things than "efficiency" when shopping!

 

So where would you shop in Johnston County if the robotics were to show up in the Walmart and Food Lion? Whole Foods, Sprouts, Southern Season, Trader Joes, and the like do not have the scale to offer much in the way of choices and at higher costs.

 

these don't clean, just tell that there is a hazard. One comment from a wife was " i have a husband that tells me there is a spill, and doesn't do anything, why do i need robot to tell me?

 

I'm not entirely sure that Clayton is the place I'd want to be in the near future, especially with the current rate of growth destroying whatever charm it once had. To answer your question, there are plenty of other places to shop where you don't feel like you're in some kind of dystopic science fiction novel. Not all progress is actually improvement.

 

Walmart's prices are now higher, or at least the same, than a lot of other Stores. And they no longer accept coupons on most items. Their produce is OLD so it doesn't last very long when you get it home. They are always charging more for items that what is marked on the shelf.
Aldi and Carley's have prices that are less than Walmart and their quality is at least as good as Walmart's brand, I think.
I wait in a long line rather than using automatic check-out as I don't want to help put someone out of a job no matter what store I'm in.

 

Aldi would be one of the companies to use automation though. The two mentioned were just in response to their being mentioned specifically. Aldi is big on the contactless payments, ecommerce, and growing self check-out automations so it is very probable they too would go with other automation to keep their prices low. The advent of the scanning technology made the checkout cashier all but obsolete, which is evident by the increasing numbers of the kiosks everywhere. It will change eventually to complete automation as time progresses just as the buggy whip makers were forced to change.

 

the self checkouts at wal mart are the only reason i go there during busy times.

 

I went to one Home Depot where they had the contractor checkout and one regular checkout .... everything else had been converted to self checkout kiosks with one cashier overseeing them. They were even more secure as it showed that your picture was taken as part of the transaction. The self checkouts at Sams Club have handheld scanners that allow you to scan everything in the buggy without taking it out. They converted most of their checkout line to self checkout and I could fly through because few were in use, but that has been changing over time so that now I have to wait in line to use the self checkout.

 

The poor quality of the produce is the main reason why I don't shop at Walmart. Also, the last time I shopped there, another shopper, not more than two feet away from me, screamed and slapped her two year old toddler across the face so hard that it shocked me to see such force used against a baby, and with little regard whatsoever for anyone else witnessing this awful behavior. Of course, then the child was inconsolable all the way from the checkout to the parking lot. (I know because I followed the mother out there and gave her a piece of my mind.) The whole incident just about ruined my day. In my opinion, the only good thing about facial recognition scanning technology would be to identity out of control parents abusing their children in public! No thanks. When I shop for groceries, I would like a pleasant, leisurely experience and Walmart is just not the place for that.

 

Clinton, NC is my closest Walmart and we just became famous last month because of the fight that broke out in the produce aisle and is splashed all over the internet.

 

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Oh, so now they'll be taking our pictures while we're at the checkout? How is that not the WORST invasion of privacy that I could ever imagine, and yet we so willingly comply just like herded cattle into a chute!

 

That's nothing! I have seen two fights in the parking lot, a spaced-out and disheveled prostitute coming out of one of the tractor trailers parked there, people changing their oil in the parking lot and leaving behind their trash, and assorted people in various stages of undress that they consider to be "outfits", showing acres of skin and crevices that would best be covered up to the neckline! If I came in there with an appetite, I would surely lose it on the way out!

 

It does help catch fraudulent purchases. They already have security cameras in the stores catching you coming and going, as well as throughout the stores.

 

Not necessarily. Just as "nature hates a vacuum", there will always be enterprising business people out there that will fill a void and offer a much different shopping experience than the big chains to counter the effects of mass technology on the consumer.

 

Business is not nature and having higher costs in a competitive market, such as grocery stores, means you will fail because you will not be able to get investment that you need because your profit margin is to tight and the bigger competitors can out last your attempts with ease. If this were not the case Walmart would not have had the effect of putting so many small competitors out of business when they move into an area.

 

Good way to get your ars beat too. Either call authorities or MYOB. Just a suggestion, but if she'll slap her own child she may care less about you.