Self-Serve Checkout?

The Wal-Mart in my little corner of the world now has Self-Checkout. That is the freakiest thing I've seen to date.

Not that the idea isn't novel, because it is. It shall be very handy for someone like me; a guy who buys a few things at a time, can figure out a graphic GUI, and always pays with bills or credit card.

Ultimately, though, it is a bad thing. How? Quite simple.

By supporting large discount retail chains, such as Wal-Mart, we support low cost (usually at the expense of quality, but I digress). Americans are not low-cost workers, especially not in manufacturing goods and textiles. So, outsourcing occurs. We accept cheaper foreign goods to meet our price goals.

Eventually, the inevitable happens. Since we buy foreign goods more; Americans start to lose their jobs as no one is buying their products anymore. Americans must now take lower-wage jobs... such as working for Wal-Mart, the very devil that cost them the jobs in the first place.

SO: to recap, we have traded good jobs and high-quality goods for poor jobs and cheap goods. I would say the trade-off was a bad one, but who am I to disagree?

Oh yeah, I'm me... so... IT WAS A BAD TRADE OFF!!!

Anyway, now we have self-serve checkout lines. The ultimate effect?

With automated lines, who needs cashiers? Kiss more jobs goodbye.

So now we traded many high end jobs for fewer low end jobs.

The bad trade just got worse.