Roche Bros. in Wellesley’s Linden Square has rolled out four brand-new self-checkout machines amid some concerns that when the check-out part of shopping is outsourced to the customer, jobs could eventually be taken away away from cashiers.
Roche Bros. said the change was made for a couple of reasons: first, a tight labor market made hiring increasingly difficult, and second, many customers appreciate having the option to check themselves out.
When I stopped in recently, the self-checkout lanes were up and running, looking like they’d always been there. Sure, I tried one out. It was easy as pie and, admittedly, not the first time I’d ever scanned a barcode. The Wellesley Free Library trained me in that skill ages ago, and Target might have gotten to me first.
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Roche Bros. Director of Marketing Media & Public Relations Dena Kowaloff maintains that nobody will lose their job due to the change. “We will not be laying off or eliminating any positions as a result of the new Fast Lane registers,” Kowaloff said. “Our Wellesley store will continue to offer cashier-staffed traditional and express checkout lanes, bagging services, and grocery carry-out to your car as we have been. The new Fast Lane registers will simply be another option customers can choose if they wish.”
It seems likely that, barring shopper insurrection, the self check-out lanes are here to stay. So are the staffed lanes. Roche Bros. would like you to know they are hiring cashiers for the Wellesley store. More on that here.
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