Life of Reilly: The rise, fall and rise again

Good lawd, coupons can be a pain for self-check. Not just coupons clipped from the ads or downloaded to loyalty cards, but some of the marked-down-to-go items. Those customers can't do themselves.

 

Part of the reason I shop at Publix is because I want a nicer shopping experience than the vermin cage free-for-all at the Walmart Neighborhood Market down the street. And yes, checkout is part of the service I expect. (I’m pretty good about sticking to the BOGO deals in order to accommodate my need for what was a bog-standard shopping trip in the 90s and is now considered decadence.)

 

Every self checkout is one less supermarket job for a human, so there's that.

 

Publix gave money to the January 6th movement. I try to minimize my shopping there. Plus... expensive as hell these days.

 

This is actually the thing to remember when people get upset that people are losing jobs because there are fewer cashiers as a result of a move toward more self-checkouts.

There may, indeed, be fewer cashiers. But the digital/personal shopping/curbside pickup and delivery operations in most stores are quite labor-intensive -- much more so than most customers sitting at home or in their cars would realize, and that group of hires continues to grow, almost exponentially so at Walmart, I know.

Store operations when it comes to point-of-sale and checkout are truly changing, not simply getting rid of people just for the sake of it.

 

So what? Have you complained every time an auto company has reduced staff,(6

 

Coming up - The Life of Reilly on the backpage of the AARP monthly. He'd actually probably do great writing about retirement, The struggles, getting hearing aids, suddenly realizing his blinker is still on.

 

Walmart self-checkout is pretty good right down to the fruits and veggies. Every single piece has a barcode sticker to avoid delays or headaches.

 

The AARP publications are the two highest circulation magazines in the country, by a wide margun.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/biggest-us-magazines-by-circulation/

 

Why is this column being written in 2022? Self checkout has been around for a very long time. Nobody has a problem with it. Just wait he finds out about Uber or DoorDash

 

How much of AARP is distributed free/controlled circ?