How about when they reek of cigarettes? Or when they make a mistake (and they do) and all the people behind you start eyeballing you and the cashier, clearly upset at the delay? How about when they ring up produce incorrectly, or double count items, overcharging you? How about when something comes up wrong, and then they argue with you, because they're stressed with a queue to process?
Human cashiers being objectively better in every way than self-service automated lanes is not correct, especially as you sample more and more cashiers. SOME cashiers are better. Many aren't.
Or they are in a hurry. I will take the faster option every time and that usually means no human.
> A checker at a grocery store actually does all of the work for you.
What if there was no work to do? Amazon is exploring that concept and if it works as described (I haven't used it yet, but have walked by and it seems to) seems objectively better in every way.
Correct, but this is the result of the store intentionally routing you through the self checkout by under staffing cashiers to save money.
>What if there was no work to do? Amazon is exploring that concept and if it works as described (I haven't used it yet, but have walked by and it seems to) seems objectively better in every way.
Excellent point. I should have used "self service" instead of "automation". It was a poor choice of words on my part. Full automation to remove anyone from needing to do the work would certainly be objectively better. The article linked is more about self service than automation.