a) Shops with shop assistants (human or robot) and checkouts
b) Shops like Amazon Go with no shop assistants or checkouts
c) Shops with no shop assistants, but with self-checkouts operated by customers
d) On-line stores with home delivery (possibly by drone)
Teachers, Surgeons, Family doctors, Musicians, Bus drivers, Painters, Waiters, Chefs, Lawyers, Carers, Factory workers, Professional sportspeople
Don’t check it out
A : Mm, let me think. No, I don't think I do, actually. What's more, to be perfectly honest, maybe I never will. Judging by the video, it looks like it's going to be one of those jobs which disappears in the not too distant future. And who knows, that may not be such a bad thing, provided the people who are made redundant can find work elsewhere. I mean, it can't be the most rewarding job in the world, can it? I imagine you spend most of the time at the cash till scanning endless barcodes, either that or stacking shelves, both of which must be pretty monotonous activities. People who are concerned about the increasing automation of life often highlight the importance of human interaction in our working lives. However, to be quite honest, I don't expect the relationship between salesperson and customer is particularly stimulating, especially in supermarkets where most people just want to do their weekly shopping and get back home as fast as possible. I bet supermarket employees often don't get as much as a "thank you" from most shoppers, some of whom can also be downright rude, especially if they have to queue, or they can't find exactly what they're looking for. No, I wouldn't fancy it at all, I'm afraid.
B : Well, the obvious advantage is that it’ll make shopping much faster. You know, you won’t have to queue up for ages to pay for stuff you want to buy. But I think it’s bound to have a more profound, almost psychological impact, as long as it catches on, of course. Throughout most of recorded history, humans have obtained goods and services from other humans by physically handing something over. Thousands of years ago there was a barter system, when people used to exchange things they considered to have a similar value. You know, I’ll give you a sheep if you give me enough firewood for the winter - that sort of thing. Then money came along and we started to exchange goods and services for bits of metal and paper whose symbolic value everyone accepted. Obviously, money allowed people to save, invest and do more, sort of, invisible transactions, but in people’s daily lives the act of buying and selling still involved some sort of physical exchange of things, whether they were of real or symbolic value. Anyway, I’m going on a bit too much. What I mean is that the idea of just walking into a shop, picking something up and walking straight back out again without ever handing over coins, notes or a credit card is going to seem very strange. Obviously, like all changes, we’ll just get used to it in the end. But, let’s be honest, at first it’s probably going to feel a bit like, well, stealing. Basically, taking something and not paying for it. In fact, I think someone’s already made a video parody of Amazon Go which plays on this very idea. You can, as they say, “check it out” on Youtube if you like.
