Could grocery stores completely immerse themselves in the digital age?
Living in a society which is slowly starting to resemble scenes from the Jetsons doesn’t seem so exciting despite its futuristic capabilities. It has become apparent that as machines are beginning to take the place of humans, simple tasks people used to be hired to perform are seen by most companies as an unnecessary hindrance.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the money
Most corporations tend to welcome new employees with open arms through promises of advancement, benefits and discounts. To reap these perks all it takes is a bit of loyalty and the ability to be a team player. After all hard work and dedication equal seniority which translates into job security right? WRONG!
On the contrary, a deeper look into employees which choose to work at the same place for years and in the case of some workers this can extend o their retirement age. This dedication can hold far darker undertones. Suddenly it doesn’t seem that company loyalty means everything’s smooth sailing ahead.
Hard work pays off…not really
Devoting sweat and tears may seem like the honourable thing to do. Nevertheless, what most workers fail to recognise is as the economy continues to plummet and stocks start to crash the only thing on any corporation’s mind is where to cut corners when it comes to cost. Which usually means labour cutbacks also known as the dreaded layoffs.
Convenience and faster service with far darker undertones
As with changes which seem insignificant at first most of these tiny bits of adjustments are chalked up to the aftermath of societies ever-evolving technological age.
Regarding grocery stores, these seemingly simple modern conveniences can come in the form of self-checkout lines. Through the eyes of customers, these are nothing but positive improvements. There indeed can’t be anything wrong with getting in and out faster.
But, when viewed from an employee’s point of view these machines which create a greater sense of speed will more than likely be costing them their jobs.
A small step for man a much larger one for technology. Whoever thought people would eventually be left behind?
These self-checkout stations were just the tip of the iceberg. Only when we thought grocery shopping reached its peak of convenience through the power of the internet, anyone can order groceries online.
For the sake of delivery drivers, we can only hope that the self-driving car doesn’t solely become mainstream. If that’s the case, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that grocery stores could merge into entirely robotic operations.
Surely these anticipated outcomes are merely tin foiled hat conspiracy exaggerations?
Sadly, the answer would be “no.” Viewing the rapid development of online grocery retail chain with that mindset would be a denial of the inevitable. Traditional grocers have started offering a way for customers to order food through any device which is WIFI compatible such as Peapod provided by the Giant food chain as well as Instacart.com.
It’s going to be here before we know it
This rapidly growing trend of buying groceries being as easy as a few clicks of a mouse and then waiting which at times can be as little as a few hours for the purchases to arrive can easily take on the appearance of an improvement. Nevertheless, despite the ease and convenience brought upon by these new advancements in technology, it’s no secret that once again employees are losing their jobs to the growing capabilities of machines.
The elephant in the room
When taking in the rate at which advancements in technology are being made one common factor in it all is continually ignored, the ever-present element of greed. After all, why employ people to attend to customers in the traditional setting of a shop when all the customer’s needs can be addressed through the internet?
It’s also an undeniable fact that regarding faster service it’s far more convenient. Plus, who can deny the millions of dollars retail chains will save annually by having only to employ warehouse workers to maintain the products, delivery drivers to delight and meet customer satisfaction by giving service a personal touch and call centre agents to address any additional inquiries or concerns.
Times are certainly changing
To say humans will ultimately be outnumbered and completely taken over by machines is a bit of an exaggeration. After all, they’re nothing but bolts and wires lacking in emotions and common sense. But, to live in the past under the false outlook that society won’t continue to resemble the world of the Jetson’s gradually isn’t healthy either.
It’s happening at an alarming speed, best to quit denying and just go with it.
Mary Thompson
