Tag: Automation

Some Shoppers Drug Mart Staff Say They’re ‘Fed Up’ Over Pressure To Push Self-Checkout | CBC News

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Several employees at Loblaws-owned stores said they’ve been pressured recently to push customers to use self-checkout, driven by a company quest to get more people using the machines. “They’re trying to get us to force [customers] to go to self-checkout,”said a cashier at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Ontario. “They’ve made cashiers feel like if they don’t do this, something bad is going to happen.” CBC News is keeping employees’ names confidential because they fear repercussions from their employer. Read full story here: Some Shoppers Drug Mart Staff Say They’re ‘Fed Up’ Over Pressure…

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Machines vs. Cashiers: Why Shoppers Are So Divided Over Self-Checkout | CBC News

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More than a million people clicked on a CBC News story last week about some retail stores removing their self-checkout machines. Thousands of readers also left comments, many staunchly taking a stand either for or against self-checkout. The machines are now ubiquitous in many large retail stores, yet self-checkout remains a divisive issue among Canadians. “A lot of people do see self-checkout as a threat to workers,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Halifax-based Dalhousie University specializing in food distribution and policy. Read full story here: Machines vs. Cashiers: Why Shoppers Are So Divided…

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Why Many Canadians Don’t Love Self-Checkout | CBC News

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Brendan Best says self-checkout isn’t worth his time because something often goes wrong, forcing him to seek out assistance. “I would not like to have that type of hassle, so I try to go through cashier lines,” said Best, who lives in Halifax. “There’s nothing in it for me.” A new grocery shopping study out of Dalhousie University suggests many Canadians have dabbled in self-checkout, but few have found reason to embrace the technology — which, along with reducing labour costs, is supposed to make shopping more convenient. Read full story here: Why Many…

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‘It’s Terrifying’: Marketplace’s Smart Home Hacking Tests Reveal Major Privacy Concerns | CBC News

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All it took was a white van, a team of three hackers and a phishing email to remotely unlock Johanna Kenwood and Peter Yarema’s front door. The couple’s home in Oakville, Ont., is automated with a number of smart devices, including their lights, thermostat, security cameras and the deadbolt on their door. “I like the security and knowing what’s going on in my house when I’m away,” said Kenwood. And the couple enjoys the “convenience” of an automated home, said Yarema, for “some of the simpler things,” like when your…

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If A.I. Doesn’t Replace Your Job, It May Make It Much More Pleasant | Digital Trends

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From The Matrix to Wargames and iRobot to Metropolis, movies and novels have threatened us with a revolution of AI and robots for decades, whether that’s through a violent uprising or just replacing us at our jobs. Today, those theoretical dystopian futures seem more realistic than ever. With the growth of smart assistants and advanced machine learning, there is a growing concern that in the decades to come, there may be very little work for humans to do. But for just a moment, let’s set aside our apocalyptic tendencies and…

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Machines Replacing Workers: Fed Budget To Look At Historic Economic Challenge | The Chronicle Herald

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WASHINGTON — Next week’s Canadian federal budget will raise concern about workers being displaced en masse by new technologies. It’s arguably an under-told story of the last U.S. election — people often talked about Ohio and Pennsylvania’s coal miners and steel workers, less so about technologies pushing them aside: automated steel production, and the 3D underground imaging finding cheaper natural gas. It’s a concern as old as policy-making itself. The very first book of Aristotle’s ”Politics” warned that if shuttles could weave and harps could pluck themselves, labourers and slaves would be obsolete. When the…

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