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...
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.
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.