3 ms·
I pay with a contactless card when I do my shopping, so the money transaction takes about a second. It's still too slow, because you have to put your stuff in t
by literallycancer 10y ago
I pay with a contactless card when I do my shopping, so the money transaction takes about a second. It's still too slow, because you have to put your stuff in the bag/backpack etc. (admittedly, this is the shop's fault - they don't have the separator so people can load stuff while the next person is being ringed up).
But in most countries, it's not that the shops can't make it faster, it's that they don't want to. They make the biggest margins on the impulse buy merchandise along the queue and people won't stop going there just because they have to wait 3 minutes.
>And of course, customers can prepare exact change or get their cards out and place it on the tray while the cashier is still ringing them up.
Good luck putting your card on the tray in poorer countries :D :D, good way to get it stolen.
>And, by the way, the money that would be sunk into Amazon's infrastructure and inevitable support services goes to keeping people in jobs.
Keeping people in jobs is of dubious value, especially since Amazon's infrastructure would create jobs too, it's not just money disappearing and things materializing out of thin air.
- nihonde 10y agoKeeping people in jobs is absolutely not of dubious value. And if you think Amazon Go is designed to create new jobs, I think you're in for a serious disappointment. Working at a grocery like Aeon is probably a legit full-time career for a lot of single mothers, elderly, and others who need jobs that don't require advanced degrees.
- literallycancer 10y agoI'm going to steal something I saw in my social media feed a while ago: "I'd like people to move away from the notion that people need to be doing boring, tedious things in exchange for money". And I can guarantee that there are zero businesses designed to create jobs. Businesses are designed to create value, jobs are a byproduct. There are going to be fewer and fewer jobs in the future, and the sooner societies adjusts, the better. Keeping people in unsustainable jobs will only slow this transformation. I'm biased, by the way, because I'm from a post-communist country - we've had the "jobs for everyone" thing, and it wasn't working very well.
- nihonde 10y agoI agree with you about jobs for the sake of keeping people busy. However, one of the great lessons I am learning in Japan is that human beings are capable of exceeding automation, as long as those human beings are participating in a healthy social environment. In the West, we often set low expectations for people because we cater to the lowest common denominator and we tolerate socially regressive behaviors. The dark side of Japanese society is a willingness to cut bait on people who aren't team players and a vulnerability when leadership isn't up to the task. On the other hand, there is a tremendous distribution of skills and the work ethic is astonishing to my American eyes. People unironically aim for perfection in even the most menial tasks--something that I think is the key to personal satisfaction and has a huge benefit to the society at large.