The Future of Grocery Stores: Fewer Employees, Faster Service?
Supermarkets are making a push to upgrade their infrastructure with advanced technology, including automated robots and smart shopping carts. But automation and artificial intelligence are raising concerns for workers in the $600 billion grocery industry, who fear getting replaced by robots.
The industry employs over three million cashiers and maintenance staff, two employment sectors that look ripe for automatization. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while occupational growth as a whole is projected to increase by 5% between 2018 and 2028, cashier jobs are projected to decline by 4%.
While technology is focused on improving the “customer service experience,” workers like Sonia Edwards, a cashier at Associated Supermarkets in Harlem, are left feeling anxious about job security. Edwards said she has witnessed job displacement at the local BJ’s where she is an occasional customer. There are only five cashiers on staff, compared to eight self-checkout kiosks, she observed.
“People will be out of jobs,” said Edwards.
Recently, self-checkout kiosks have paved the way for the introduction of self-checkout shopping carts, automating the process even further.
“Standing in long lines at grocery stores is not a pleasant experience for anyone,” said Eduardo Sánchez-Iriarte, Director of Operations at Caper, a Brooklyn-based startup building these smart carts.
Caper’s carts instantly detect items as they are tossed in. Shoppers then use the built-in screen to complete the transaction. Sánchez-Iriarte said that the idea for Caper came from the consumer’s need for faster checkout, not to displace jobs.
Maintenance staff could also see job loss as a result of automation. Stop & Shop recently introduced Marty the Robot, an autonomous bot that roams aisles looking for spills. Eddie Quezada, a department head at Stop & Shop in East Northport, NY, says that Marty has not yet displaced any employees and has only been “an extra pair of eyes for his team.” But Quezada’s staff is not so sure.
“Somebody joked that Marty is going to have babies, and his babies are going to end up taking other little jobs,” Quezeda said. “Before you know it, there’s going to be a bunch of little Martys running around.”
According to Nikki Kateman, a communications director for Local 338, a labor union representing workers from Stop & Shop and other retailers, workers’ fears are more about the future than the present. “People’s concern is not about what technology is doing now, but what it will be able to do one day,” Kateman said.
For instance, Walmart has already tested self-driving floor scrubbers, with plans to introduce 1,500 more, according to their website. Called the “Auto C,” the machine uses sensors to navigate stores and mop up aisles.
According to Kateman, when businesses focus on streamlining and efficiency, they forget about the impact it has on workers and the local community.
“We can’t stop progress, and nobody is trying to,” said Kateman. But industry needs to be honest about the reality. “When you have a situation where robots are being implemented at workplaces, it’s replacing a worker who was earning good wages and benefits.”
Businesses insist that technological developments are positive for employees and moves workers to jobs that are more productive, like customer service. Kateman has yet to see any real meaningful training funded by corporations or the government to support that argument.
“We are seeing other industries make those claims that workers are going to be trained,” Kateman said. “But they’re not.”
