Stephen Hawking once said, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” And like it or not, the solution here is to embrace our burgeoning machine world with some level of acceptance and diligence. After all, who wants to be the person fumbling with a screen while a queue the length of the Dartford Crossing tuts in unison behind you?
Because, let’s be honest, there is no escaping the march of the machine. Nearly 6,000 high-street banks and building societies have closed in just over eight years, meaning you’ve no other choice than to go online. The RBR’s Global EPOS and Self Checkout 2023 report reveals that stores offering a “grab and go” experience (no checkout at all: purchases are tracked by computer vision, AI and sensors) grew by more than 60 per cent in 2022. The forecast is that by the end of 2028 the number of checkout-free stores globally will expand to more than 5,000. Aldi recently opened its first Shop&Go checkout-free concept store in Greenwich. Customers who want to buy alcohol use facial age estimation technology, enabling them to confirm whether they are legal shoppers in seconds. A spokesman for Aldi says the trial has been very popular with customers but there are no immediate plans for other such stores.
My personal experience of machine living is a mixed bag. Last week I went to the theatre after buying a cheap ticket through an automated service (success). On the way there I stopped off at Leon for a sandwich and bought a Jerk N’ Jam Chicken Wrap via their touch screen (another success). But then, a few days later, I went to my local supermarket to discover they had suddenly closed every one of their cashier tills in favour of a roster of self-service versions. A woman with a huge trolley stuffed with goods was shouting at an assistant because she didn’t want to swipe it all herself. It occurred to me, as the woman stormed off, leaving her shopping abandoned in the middle of an aisle, that loyalty to a brand needs to be more enticing than a few points on a Nectar card. If there is no emotional attachment, why would you bother to return? As The Grocer magazine points out, not only do self-service supervisors currently feel overwhelmed and abused; customer satisfaction scores have fallen to record lows. It seems nobody goes home happy.
A screen might be intelligent enough to ask you How Was Your Experience? But it doesn’t actually give a hoot if I am lonely, in pain or can barely see the ubiquitous smiley face it’s offering as an option. If this was how a real human behaved, you’d dump them in a nano second.