Tuesday 16 January 2024

Consequences Story

 On rare visits to the US....I will find myself in a Wal-Mart and just browsing.  I might buy six to eight things, and waste three hours in the process.

I paused over the amount of security going on (especially in California).  

My old three-hours browse?  Well....with these conditions....it'd probably add at least two additional hours onto a simple trip.

But here's the thing....if you really peeved me off and wasted that much time....I'd probably lessen my shopping trip.  I might even just go to Amazon and order 'stuff'....rather than walking into a store.

So this brings me to the consequences of this added security business.  I think in three to five years....more than half of the brick-and-mortar stores in America will shut down.

We probably will not realize it until the damage has been completed.

1 comment:

LargeMarge said...

Eugene, Oregon.
One of the three local Wal*Mart stores is nearing completion of a 'zero-human contact' remodel.
The four-year process eliminated about a third of their square-feet of the regional super-size sales-floor... and staff.
.
Watching through the security glass panes on the locked security double-doors next to the auto service area, I occasionally see some of the probably thousand or so midget four-wheel robots -- about the size of a laundry basket --whizzing around during testing.
.
Workers with the installation companies stand in a corner a couple dozen paces away, inside a second set of security fencing.
Yuge red 'STOP' buttons are placed every few feet on walls, apparently to idle the robots in case of human injury.
Or to recover the remains in case of a terminal contact between humans and robots.
.
The robot tracks are enclosed within the type of security fencing used in a penitentiary setting.
Discussing the change with one of my pals there, she says she was told it's all automated, any employee inside that area while it is actively gathering goods to fill a customer order... will be immediately fired, walked off Wal*Mart property by human security.
.
Other than falling off the back of a truck, that should reduce shoplifting...
... until some Weisenheimer hacks the programming.
Or builds a synogog next door and commences to tunneling.