Greed the driving force behind self-checkouts
Re: Self-checkouts and recent letters.
The nice thing about Walmart self-checkouts is that they can no longer even pretend to care about the communities they operate in! While they make some donations to activities for public relations purposes, their function is to make money for corporate. Make no mistake that Walmart is about “profits” first and foremost. Their 2018 Annual Report boast 45 years of consecutive increased shareholder dividends based on a (2013-2018) $34B increase in revenue.
Putting in self-checkouts is solely a profit increasing exercise. The nice gentleman at Walmart today was quite insistent that they were trying to improve the customer experience — apparently doing their work for free makes me a happier person — no wonder I was so confused!
They could, if they chose, pay a higher wage, thereby attracting and retaining more staff, but it would reduce the profit growth; it’s obvious what is more important to them. The loss of lower skilled jobs that reduce poverty and increase some people’s self worth is a social ill that we will pay for. Think self-pump gas stations.
I choose to aggressively seek options to Walmart and Superstore whenever possible. I look for opportunities to buy at Buckerfields, for example, because they pay a “living wage”. Greed, whether in small businesses or large, is the driving force for far too many people.
Rob Senkpiel
Cobble Hill