Enshitification Of UK Supermarkets

UK supermarkets cant get much worse! I recently visited my local supermarket only to discover plastic slide things in front of all of the items.

Why is this relevant in a software engineering blog

Well its an example of software impacting society in a very negative way. It is all because of the creation of automated tills. Without those there would be more employees, and there would be no need for harsh security measures.

The technology gave supermarkets a great excuse to sack people, keeping the profits to themselves. Unfortunately thieves took advantage of the lack of security. So instead of hiring the people back, they chose harsh security measures which penalize the customers. How does that make sense?

What was the old Mark Twain quote, "history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes". What did the tech bros try to do with AI, oh yeah sack all the software engineers. What are the harsh security measures they will try and introduce?

How have supermarkets gotten worse

Well it all started with the tills. Before self serve tills you had tellers. These wonderful people would grab your items, scan them and slide them to the end of the bench where you would bag them. It would take a few minutes, if items were damaged or missing labels then the teller would deal with them straight away.

Our modern equivalent is a a self serve till which points a camera in your face, it shows your face back to you with an ominous green square, a small panel were you to stack your groceries. If you you are missing a label, a red light flashes in your face for twenty minutes until a manager arrives. Lets not forget the scales not working with ever 3rd item, triggering the manager call! 🤬

Then folks started stealing, first it was the meat, so they brought in GPS boxes for a £8 steak. Then it was the sweeties along came the had plastic slide things that cut your hands. Then came the human perspex box, for the only member of staff to stand behind. This is not for the employee safety btw, its to keep the fags (cigarettes), the batteries, and the cash safe. Those boxes don't have air conditioning which is a big clue. The new advancement, my favorite human torture device CUSTOMER PIG PENS! Im referring to the tills surrounded by a barricade, you need a receipt to leave. They literally lock you in, why is this legal! Its simply demeaning!

Thats life, theres nothing that can be done.

Not True!

We don't exist to give them money, they exist to provide us with services for money. We should say no to this, boycott shops that do it. I only shop at stores that have taken a stance toward automation.

Our retail system is a oligopoly without a doubt. A small group of sellers are forcing customers to consume this reality, because what choice do you have!

Its not just supermarkets, its online services, insurance, even banks. They are treating people like cattle because they are in a one sided game. We need to remind these folks we have the spending power.