A Store Without a Checkout Counter? JCPenney Presses on with Retail Revolution

[moostraks]

That's good to know. But actually ringing up the suit was not the good customer service part of the experience was it?

For me the sales portion is. I don't need a hovering sales associate to assist me in shopping. I do not want to be "tracked" while I am shopping like some criminal looking to flee with their goods. I want to pay with cash and not have a machine screaming because its scanners cannot process them. So, I am not interested in this so called advancement in customer service and my dollars will do the talking because I have been a loyal JCP customer who purchases in large quantites and they can try to replace my sales with several other folks...

 

[specsaregood]

Yes, but does anybody actually think that will happen? Or it it does...will it last? I think the arguments about the poor high school students is misguided - people always say automation will drive people out of work but the cotton gin didn't wipe out cotton production. Nor did robotics pare down the size of the auto workers union. But there's no way I'll believe that Penney's is going to take the money they're saving in cashier costs and invest it in people who departmentally specialize.

Well that is a fair enough point. But that's why I'm the ideas guy, not the accountant. An epic, eternal battle is my understanding.

 

[angelatc]

Right, but even if they don't that money is going to go somewhere. I doubt JCPennies is just going to go all Scrooge McDuck on us, considering money's only usefulness is when it is actively being exchanged. Fiat money in particular has very little use otherwise -- maybe toilet paper, or fire starting material.

Yes, you're right about that. I'm just not gifted enough to predict where will go. I am however, fairly skilled at predicting where it won't go. And I just don't think that Penney's is going to eliminate the model and replace it with a boutique atmosphere. Although they might. They've never pursued the Walmart crowd, so maybe they're going to upscale.

It will be interesting.


ETA: LOL - Specsaregood.....we posted at the same time.

 

[MelissaWV]

JCP and a lot of the old mall anchor stores are struggling; this is probably a last-gasp effort to come up with the next big thing and stay afloat.

Self-check has been quietly withdrawn from a lot of places. The big hiccup with those aisles is that you can very easily cheat the system. Organic miniature Japanese eggplant? Oh I "mistakenly" rang those up as their big cheap cousin. Pretty much most expensive produce was being rung up as 4011. You can do a tag swap on meat and ring up that expensive steak as chicken leg quarters. The people who are supposed to be on the lookout for such things are invariably helping some little old lady who cannot read the screen and has locked up the aisle.

This? I can absolutely see people developing RFID-proof bags that they bring in, unroll in the dressing rooms, and stuff their "purchase" into. I also cannot see how they would be able to roll out this system for everyone's purchase. What is most likely is that they would do this as a "courtesy" for JCP card members, or something similar, and then just leave one or two associates in the whole store who can ring people up the old-fashioned way. There is no way JCP would know which card in my wallet I want to use, or to validate my credit card purchase (which would make it easy as pie for me to claim "fraud" after a big shopping spree). Linking it to a rewards card or a credit card, though, would allow them to "swipe" my agreed method of payment every time I leave with a purchase. Some people will go for that. Many won't.

 

[Seth]

That menial job may put food on someone's table.

Can't believe I am hearing this on a Ron Paul forum. You would think people here would understand that technology shouldn't be held back for the sake of preserving people's jobs. Hell, there is even a whole chapter about this in Economics in One Lesson.

 

[MelissaWV]

Can't believe I am hearing this on a Ron Paul forum. You would think people here would understand that technology shouldn't be held back for the sake of preserving people's jobs. Hell, there is even a whole chapter about this in Economics in One Lesson.

Or that demand should be ignored to artificially preserve a job. If people don't want to deal with cashiers, then the option will arise, and there will be fewer cashiers. I still don't see them disappearing entirely, though.

 

[angelatc]

Or that demand should be ignored to artificially preserve a job. If people don't want to deal with cashiers, then the option will arise, and there will be fewer cashiers. I still don't see them disappearing entirely, though.

Nor do I. I was thinking about the evolution of the department store cashier. If I have this right, in the beginning, each department had its own registers. Some departments may have had two or three. It's been a long time, but I do remember hearing, "No, I can't ring that up here. You have to take it back over to that department."

That seemed to segue into either having a set of cashiers at the exits, or cashier "boxes" in the middle of several departments. In the latter model, the cashiers didn't tend to stay at their station awaiting people ready to complete their purchases. Most of the time they would be out on the floor, stocking, restocking, straightening, cleaning. It isn't uncommon to walk up to a cashier box and wonder how long it will take for an employee to appear.

I am guessing, at least in the short term, that that box is going away, and the staffers will simply scan your items where you're standing. Not sure how the logistics will pan out though. Thinking of clothing - the cashier box also serves as a flat surface to fold on, as well as a place to stash bags and the hangers that are removed.

I'm not going to condemn it until I see what they're going to do with it.

 

[TheTexan]

That menial job may put food on someone's table.

Same rationale is used to justify keeping government jobs :/

 

[madengr]

Let's just get rid of barcodes to preserve jobs. I'm old enough to remember grocery shopping back in those days. Someone had to go around with a sticker gun and label every single item, then when the price changed they did it all over again, so each item had a layer of stickers. Then every day they would have to do an inventory of all those cans so they knew what needed ordering. Then when you checked out, they had to type in each item on the register, often screwing it up.

Now they just have to scan the barcode, and everything else is automated. At least back then the teenager could identify the produce. Now you have to tell them what it is. I prefer the self checkout.

Maybe the high schools are not preparing students for jobs these days. I took votech electronics 4 hrs/day for the last two years of high school, working summers at a factory. It was mostly shit work no one else wanted to do, but they ocassional let me tear down pumps, wire control panels, and touch other expensive things, which was allot more intellectually stimulating than bagging groceries.

 

[specsaregood]

Let's just get rid of barcodes to preserve jobs. I'm old enough to remember grocery shopping back in those days. Someone had to go around with a sticker gun and label every single item, then when the price changed they did it all over again, so each item had a layer of stickers. Then every day they would have to do an inventory of all those cans so they knew what needed ordering. Then when you checked out, they had to type in each item on the register, often screwing it up.

Now they just have to scan the barcode, and everything else is automated. At least back then the teenager could identify the produce. Now you have to tell them what it is. I prefer the self checkout.

I remember putting on those stickers. I also remember manning the register when inevitably an item would come up with no price tag -- I also recall debating wait 10 minutes for somebody to do a price check or just making up a price and asking the customer if they agreed to it.

 

[malkusm]

That menial job may put food on someone's table.

Bring back the horse-drawn carriage manufacturing jobs!

 

[jkr]

they are ALLL of y0Ur j()bz

they are robots

we are being replaced one corner or edge of human action one industry at a tyme

 

[angelatc]

Let's just get rid of barcodes to preserve jobs. I'm old enough to remember grocery shopping back in those days. Someone had to go around with a sticker gun and label every single item, then when the price changed they did it all over again, so each item had a layer of stickers.

Believe it or not, I think 2011 was the first year that Michigan allowed retailers to do away with those stickers. And the liberals wailed.

 

[brandon]

All these nice corporations setting us up for the cashless grid--another UN agenda

 

[brandon]

No it doesn't. They could alternately staff the men's clothing areas with women willing to help you pick out a better outfit, prop up your ego and keep you from getting stuff that doesn't "match". That would be one example of improving customer service without staffing checkouts.

Usually gay guys are a lot better at men's fashion than women. Never let a woman dress you.

 

[specsaregood]

Usually gay guys are a lot better at men's fashion than women. Never let a woman dress you.

Dunno about that. Maybe if you want to attract men.

Edit: and never let a woman dress you? lol, I consider not having to clothes shop for myself or dress myself a check in the "plus" column when deciding to marry.

 

[Guitarzan]

I'm with moostraks. On top of that, it'll make it so much harder for someone just entering the workforce to find a job. Cashiering jobs are a staple among high school students. Heck, most of my jobs have involved cashiering. I'd hate for stores to make it obsolete in the name of "progress".

And years ago you would've been one arguing against this new technology called the 'automobile' in the name of the horse carriage drivers that would be losing their jobs...

 

[angelatc]

Dunno about that. Maybe if you want to attract men.

Edit: and never let a woman dress you? lol, I consider not having to clothes shop for myself or dress myself a check in the "plus" column when deciding to marry.

I think if you're going for metrosexual trendy then the gay guys are probably the best, but as for a conservative suit....I think that straight men who sell suits are a better choice, precisely because they're less likely to lean towards the trendy.

 

[nobody's_hero]

If this turns to be anything like those damned self-checkout lines, count me out.

"Please place the item in the bag."

Okay. *Nobody's Hero places item in the bag.*

"Sorry. Please place item in the bag."

*Picks up item and puts it back down in the bag.*

"Please ask for assistance."

FFS. If there'd been a real person here I could have already been out the door, and they'd have put the item in the bag for me.

 

[nobody's_hero]

It is sad, though. I thought the only jobs they couldn't outsource were retail jobs, and I was right. But I forgot those jobs can be automated.

I imagine the day will come when we will all use robots to interact with one another, like avatars.

And I hope I won't live to see that day.