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Louis Proyect wrote: > > > The CVS across the street has installed self-service check-out machines. > This is apparently the latest trend in the retail industry to cut costs > and boost profits. Of course, when they can clerks, that's a loss of > buying power. It is especially galling to have to basically do work for > free when I check myself out at CVS. Here's a blog article from > Solidarity on this: > > http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2350 > Self-checkouts and other capitalist inconveniences > Submitted by Nick on August 20, 2009 - 12:52pm > > Anyone who’s been to a supermarket within the past couple of years is > undoubtedly familiar with the horrible phenomenon of “self-checkout” > machines. [...] > > "The past couple of years"? Longer, I think; Automats, certain phone exchanges and ATMs being the earlier examples that I can recall (though the Automat had people behind the coveys constantly feeding sliced pie, sandwiches and coffee as needed and someone out front to clean up after messy people). It's true, though: The trend towards automation has become almost irresistible and the complete mechanization of consumption may be part of it. I have a slight problem with some of the language in the article. I think that "customer" is another way of saying "consumer", a term I consider, sociologically imprecise and misleading to anyone needing or aspiring to greater working class consciousness. Ralph Nader once came to my school to address us and I intended to ask him about the use of the "consumer" label so prevalent in his discourse but I had to leave for a class before the talk was over. Pity. -- View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/-Marxism--Self-service-at-CVS-tp27392731p27398936.html Sent from the Marxism mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
