There’s a small no-name convenience store just around from me that stocks ice creams and snacks. No one is in there, and there is a self checkout kiosk. I just grabbed a bunch of ice creams and paid for it myself last night when I had the munchies. When I went to Jeju, my hotel had a GS25 store inside of it (which came in handy) that is unmanned at night too. You do your own check out using the barcode scanner at the register area, and pay with self checkout.
I’ve also come across numerous unmanned cafes as well with automated coffee machines, and small baked goods on the counter. There’s a couple in my neighborhood. The places are really nice and ambient, but I only ever see one person in there late at night.
In the States, I’m pretty sure all of these places would go out of business from theft. Actually, I’m not pretty sure, I’m 100% sure. But, what I also wonder is if this is a sign of things to come. Where a lot of jobs will be automated away by technology like self check outs, robotics, and AI. They have a full on robot arm that can make espresso / lattes, and machines that do incredible screen printed latte art. Like, why bother with even having baristas at this point. And any loss in small amounts of theft would probably be made up by the lack of labor costs to pay.
submitted by /u/mesohohnee
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