Some stores have started to pull their self-checkout machines, and I am not on board. I mean, sure – they’re awful. They yell at you if you try to reduce waste by bringing your own bag, because somehow, it’s still an “unexpected item in the bagging area,” and then repeatedly demand you place a scanned item in the bagging area after you’ve already done it. And although there is always an attendant assigned to oversee the self-checkout area, they’re never around when you need them. Or, they’re stuck helping an elderly shopper scan each item in their basket, because they can’t figure out how to use this 40-year-old technology on their own. There’s no denying that using a self-checkout is frustrating. And unnecessary, one would argue, because scanning and bagging groceries is work that we used to have other people do for us. Other people who probably depend on the paycheques they earn from scanning and bagging groceries for eight hours a day. That’s not wrong. But the primary benefit of automation is freedom – we’re just not there yet. According to payscale.com, the average salary for a cashier in Alberta is $20,917. In order to meet basic income needs, a cashier would likely need to work several part-time or short-term jobs – and probably still wouldn’t earn enough to seek further educational opportunities, even if they did have time for them. By allowing robots to take over menial work requiring little to no human assistance, we give humans the chance to do more. If we followed the lead of provinces like British Columbia and Ontario, which have examined the idea of introducing a guaranteed minimum income, people wouldn’t be forced to fight for work that doesn’t allow them the chance for self-improvement. They’d be able to live up to their potential, maybe start a business or volunteer with a charity – and they’d be free from the anxiety and insecurity that comes with working a job that could be done by a machine. Humans are capable of much more than simply scanning barcodes and putting groceries in bags. Everyone has something valuable to contribute to society as a whole, and machines offer us the freedom to let them do exactly that. With the help of robots, and, perhaps, a little less greed, we’d all be able to stop just earning money to pay our bills. Instead, let’s do the real work – in the immortal words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard – “to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.”
