Not long ago, I noticed a person tweeting how self-checkout lines take jobs away from people. The tweets this person sent were an effort to try to get people to use a manned checkout line instead of the self-checkout in order to save jobs. I rolled my eyes in disbelief that this argument is still out there. It seems like such an 80’s think to worry about technology replacing jobs.
We know that technology has replaced jobs, but has also has created many technology driven jobs. Those self-checkout lines make just as many jobs, if not more, than they replace. Retailers save money by implementing a self-checkout system. It may even be the only thing keeping a store in business. If the store is not in business, where will the existing employees find jobs?
I should point out, this person also tweets regularly to encourage buying a newspaper to support a journalist. While I’m not one to support the idea of a starving journalist, I am not for supporting a dying industry that can’t control overhead and adjust to technology.
Look at the music industry. It took them forever to realize that CDs weren’t the future of music. Instead they sued their own customers and fought against digital music distribution. Newspapers and journalists whine about bloggers taking over as they fight to keep an old and outdated model alive. They too are suffering greatly.
Like it or not, if you fight against the new way to do something, you will suffer an ill fate. This has been clear over the past 30 years, but I suppose some people are just stuck in the past.