Cory DoctorowToday's threads (a thread)
Inside: Understaffing as a form of enshittification; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/23/nobodys-home/
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Zanne@pluralistic omg.. I went to CVS this past weekend and the cashier was running two screens where the customer had to look up their account to get their medicine. The touch screen was horrible so it took a lot of effort to use. The cashier was taking over half the time. It was completely inefficient and made us all cranky. This was in my local target which has become completely useless. Who is running these companies? #enshittification 10000%
BandersnatchI refuse to use self-checkout for any reason & have literally left a full cart at the front of the store when no other options are available.
Waste my time & I will waste even more of your money.
Diabetic Heihachi@Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic
I just steal things when I have to self checkout.
I found out the staff login to the machines at my one local grocer is 4444 so I help myself to discounts, or If an item requires a count to be entered that means the scale is not sensitive to pick up the items weight properly, so yes, I only purchased three dried fruit strips, not 50. Oh and those are chocolate covered raisins from the bulk section, not organic chocolate covered almonds...
Wayne Werner@DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic I had a Very Experience a few years ago https://waynewerner.com/blag/2024-02-06-13-29-kroger-is-the-absolute-worst.html
Joe Reinhart@DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic
This is a weird take to me as I much prefer self checkout and don't see it as enshittification at all. I'd be quite bummed if they took them away because people were using them to steal.
This is a weird take to me as I much prefer self checkout and don't see it as enshittification at all. I'd be quite bummed if they took them away because people were using them to steal.
Brett@jayemar @DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic
Capital owners should pay people to do things instead accumulating more wealth.
Self checkout in a just world would have been obliterated by collective bargaining. Grocery stores were almost universally unionized not even 25 years ago. You could literally provide for your family bagging groceries.
TobyBartels@jayemar @DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic
I much prefer them to standing in line, but whenever I do get a human checker, I'm surprised again to be reminded how much faster they are. So all in all, I wish that they would pay enough people to check everybody out, but since they won't, I'm glad to have these.
e1evenf1ngers@jayemar @DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic I doubt they take them away as staffing less people saves the companies a lot of money. My guess is they expand the surveillance tech they're already using.
At an arena near me they have a "self checkout" where you scan your card to enter, take what you want, and the cameras see everything you leave with (no self-scanning) and use AI to asses what items you "bought" / left with.
@jayemar @DavBot @Bandersnatch @pluralistic self checkout is fine if it saves the customer more time.. many times it doesn't (in my experience). In Target, self checkout has been ok, except now it's longer lines and you have to do everything yourself. CVS screens suck.. so it's was basically having to type out my name painstakingly on a touch screen that didn't work. The checkout person did it in seconds.
Matilda@DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic our local supermarket chain closed the self checkouts because of stealing.
Which was a total pain.
But each to their own
@junklight @DavBot @Bandersnatch @pluralistic
Half the store is locked up because of stealing.. they are simply pushing people online. Why don't they just close the stores? Half the parking spots are taken up as order online spots anyway and yet I hardly see anyone parking in these spots. Total waste. It's like moronic AI is already running the store from afar..
@DavBot @zannesan @pluralistic
That will work till it doesn't. Loss prevention has gotten crazy in the past few years. My wife watches YouTube videos of people getting arrested for doing *exactly* what you are describing.
Big box stores will "let" you continue to do this while they collect evidence on you until you hit a felony amount & then they will nail you to the wall and ban you from the store for a minimum of several years.
⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️@DavBot @Bandersnatch @zannesan @pluralistic you ejit. This raises prices for everyone to cover the theft