Why You Should Be Angry at Mega-stores

Okay, this bugs me. Certain grocery stores now have portable scanners that allow you to ring up your merchandise as you go along. Convenient, no? You have the benefit of seeing how much money you've spent before you get to the register. This is about the only good aspect.

You are now bagging and scanning your own stuff. You actually have to carry around your own bags. Now, I'm not lazy so the fact that I am doing my own work doesn't bother me, and it shouldn't bother you. What does bother me is the fact that I am still being charged as much (and, as prices continue to rise, more) as if I had one of their employees do it for me. They are cutting the number of people they hire (and thus have to pay) by making me do all the work and charging me more and more for doing it! They sell it to us as convenience, but all we are doing is making the store a little richer. I'd hardly complain if this meant a savings for the customer, but it doesn't. We are only doing the stores a favor, and all we get in return is knowing what we spent before we have to swipe our cards. A decidedly bad deal if you ask me.

It started with the self-checkout aisles. Now they are integrating this new technology. People will get more and more used to it, and you'll see less and less real cashiers. In the future, all they will have to do is hire a few people to do spot checks and receipt matching. The same thing happened with gas stations. It used to be someone did it for you. Now you freeze your rear off, pump your own gas, process your own payment, and you get to pay more for the "privilege" of doing it all yourself. One person can run the entire station. I know international gas production make the prices more, but you get my point. More work for us, and we see no savings for doing it ourselves.

The American consumer's intelligence is insulted by the corporation's schemes to reduce their overhead. There are far bigger issues in the world, but you have to admit it sucks that we live in a society where someone, somewhere is always holding out their hand for a few more bucks from the people who earn honest livings. If I have to pay out the rear for the food I need to live, I want some unenthusiastic high-school student bag person to break my eggs and put the bread under the gallon of milk. I'm not advocating shoplifting, arson, or any other radical means of showing annoyance with something. Actually, if you break the law because this angers you that much, you have a serious problem. I am, however, urging you all to grumble to yourselves next time you are checking out from the store. Don't shoot dirty looks to the employees, it's not their fault. But if anyone has to drive by some corporate chain's headquarters, I urge you to give the building a nasty look.

Thank you.