I worked as a cashier circa 2020 during the onset of the COVID pandemic. Yes, I was an essential worker and it is a period of time I take a lot of pride in. I love to think about the COVID pandemic in terms of a great reset which caused us to truly evaluate certain roles in society and how fractured society can be when a little bit of uncertainty is added to the mix. I experienced that uncertainty as a cashier/store associate in events like me having to do extra work to cover for teammates who were sick from COVID and those who were at risk and quit, this extra work sometimes resulted in the depletion of quality of service.
It left businesses in a real crunch to quickly replace lost labor with a minimal labor market having to offer up perks like unlimited paid time off options, increased wages. Many will argue this is an excellent thing. However, the cost of the benefits were consequently passed down to the customers in terms of greater prices not necessarily resulting in better service.
Even without the pandemic restructuring the jobs of cashiers was on the horizon in the form of self checkout machines which people do not like and are much less efficient than the Calabax cart which eliminates the need for checking out several items at the end of shopping saving a lot of time. Combining it and doing it simultaneously provides extra time savings to the customer.
Many cashiers will see this kind of disruptive technology as harmful to their job security. I do not believe so because what was set out to be created was a solution to make the jobs of store cashiers easier.
Even though it raises the question of their job security. It is a good thing since it frees up valuable human labor. I do not want a mind that can cure cancer scanning my groceries in the supermarket. That mind could be better put to use elsewhere.
Cashiers jobs will be restructured to enable them to engage in activities such as helping customers, restocking the store and supporting the store.
The panic is similar to ATM’s and bank tellers. ATM’s made banking more efficient, reducing long lines putting less pressure on employees. Technology enabled us to move away from it the same way Calabax will enable us to move away from having so many cashiers.