The advance of technology helps facilitate our lives a great deal, but do we pay a high price when it comes to relying on the machines way more than we should?
In order to speed up the process of running errands and shopping for groceries, Walmart introduced self-checkouts. What they didn’t expect, however, is to face backlash because of this decision that many of the customers consider controversial.
The self-service machines aren’t something new. In fact, they were first introduced in the 1980s to lower labor expenses.
But this service faced plenty of obstacles and customers complain to the added responsibilities.
For example, certain items may have multiple barcodes, whereas the produce, including the meat, fruit, and vegetable, typically needs to be weighed and manually entered into the system using a code, which might be time consuming for the ordinary shoppers. Other times shoppers won’t hear the “beep” confirming an item has been scanned properly.
Another issue is the increase of theft. Walmart announced that thefts at its stores has reached an all-time high.
The machines not only fall short at their purpose of making shopping easier at times, but they also make it harder for the employees they were meant to help.
Christopher Andrews, a sociologist and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy, says the system “doesn’t work well for anyone.”
He continued: “Everyone feels like they have to have it. Companies are thinking: ‘If we can just get more people on this, maybe we can start reducing some overheads.’”
What’s most, most of the customers have reported that they miss the human interaction while shopping.
Randy Parraz from Making Change at Walmart perfectly summed up customer sentiments by saying, “You can’t convince customers to do the job of a cashier just because you don’t want to pay for the work.”
Walmart decided to listen to what their customers had to say and instead of further expanding automation, the retail giant will hire additional cashiers to provide their customers with a pleasant shopping experience and service.
What Walmart and the rest of the retailers, among which Costco and Wegmans, learned is that efficiency is important but maintaining a balance with positive experiences remains crucial.
The purpose behind those mysterious black cables on the road
If you ever see black cables stretching across the road, you had better know what it means. I had no clue… Check comments.
While on the road, chances are you have spotted the black cables on the road.
However, although they are common and perfectly safe to run over, most people don’t have a clue about their purpose.
These rubber cables, that are stretched across the road, serve the purpose of gathering data about the traffic. So how do they work? When a vehicle crosses over them, it causes pressure which is recorded and transmitted to a counting device.
This information assists transportation agencies in keeping track of traffic flow, vehicle speeds, and volume, which is essential for urban planning, road maintenance, and safety upgrades, ultimately affecting the decisions on traffic management, road expansions, and the positioning of traffic signals or speed limits.
Rubber cables are often positioned in low-visibility areas to avoid drawing attention and to minimize any interference with traffic. This approach guarantees that the collected data is as precise as possible, representing typical traffic conditions without the effects of altered driving behavior.
To learn more go to the video below.
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