Self Checkouts Aren’t Forever, It Gets Better or Maybe Worse

Does anyone really like self checkouts? Kaitlyn Tiffany writing for Vox doesn't think so. She wishes self checkouts would just die. The good news, self checkouts aren't forever, you'll either like or hate what's next depending on how you feel about big brother and surveillance and technology.

Andrew Murphy, Managing Partner at Loup Ventures told Vox that he believes:

The future is Amazon Go’s cashierless stores, which use cameras and machine learning and elaborate sensors to allow customers to simply pick up what they want and walk out.

Murphy tells Vox something like that is "eventually going to win out over any kind of self-checkout that puts the onus on the customer.”

Simply put, Imagine walking into Walmart or Target. Getting your groceries and wheeling them out to your car. Your bank account it automatically debited. You haven't had to speak to a person. And it's on to the next errand.

We're already there in some respects. I use Walmart Grocery Pick Up, so I'm not waiting in a check out line there. We bought some kitchen stuff at Target over the weekend too. Ordered online and had them bring it out to us. Paid online when we ordered it.

Tiffany brought up whether or not people will like being under surveillance while they shop. Murphy doesn't think that will be a big deal. He expects some will push back, but most won't. And most will like not having to deal with a checker or self check themselves out.

I think he's right. Between smart remotes, smart phones, Amazon Echos and what's being mined from our social media accounts. Privacy just really isn't a thing most of us care about. As long as we really don't think about it. Or Alexa starts talking to us about what we've told her. And the next generation, the ones that have grown up with this, they won't bat an eye. 

I'll be OK, until the computers tell me to put down the Milky Way bar because my blood sugar's a little high. That'll creep me out.