Question

Suppose grocery stores in the region purchase a large stocks of self-checkout machines, which are a substitute factor of production for checkout workers. This is likely to _____ the labor demand for checkout workers.

Group of answer choices

decrease

increase

be unrelated to

have no impact on

Answer 1

Self checkout machine is also called self service checkout machine. It provides the customers with an ability to process their goods with theirown without the help of cashier from a shop. It eliminates the older cashier-staff method.

This method is likely to reduce the labor demand for checkout workers but not in every aspects. This reduces the labor charge in the older cashier-staff mechanism and also increases the effective service by reallocating that staffs into other positions. But the self checkouts are not faster and dont tend to reduce the number of staff members.

Perhaps the introduction of self checkout systems results in indirect costs such as loyalty, decline in customer satisfaction and theft problems. In many areas, more staff members have to be placed along these machines inorder to prevent theft issues.

The easiness of using self automatic checkouts differs for different aged peoples. Mostly the people below 60 years found it as easy and faster to use; but people above 60 years found very difficult to use those machines.

Customers also feels a state of self satisfaction as they got a complete control over the transation. Thus it favours a lot for the shop's future growth. But the transformation from older method to this new system is costlier at its initialization level and maintained levels.

Thus the self checkout systems donot reduce the demand for checkout workers in all aspects since those workers are needed to monitor the theft issues that may cause with it.

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