Artificial intelligence and automation are evolving faster than even the smartest minds anticipated.

Yet there’s still debate over things like self-checkout.

This isn’t an attack on cashiers, I regularly use cashiers. It’s a great job for a lot of people. But self-checkout kiosks are becoming the norm in many places. And they’ll soon be the only option.

You may not like it. But it is an inevitability.

Regardless of what the memes say, they’re faster, less error-prone, and more convenient than dealing with a human while doing such mundane tasks as grocery shopping. Unless you’re the type of person who enjoys conversing with the cashier for social reasons, self-checkout is superior in nearly every way. At least in regard to efficiency of its purpose.

They’re not flawless, of course. Ring in a new Playstation as a head of broccoli and easily get away with it…

..If you’re that kind of person — Most aren’t.

Aside from small, independent shops, I guess that most traditional cashier positions will be gone in less than a decade. And that’s a conservative estimate.

So I pose these questions: Is it better to keep supporting cashiers as long as their job exists, or does doing so enable them to hold on to a dying position? Would it be better to encourage them to focus on another path — education or otherwise — that will better prepare them for the inevitable future?

(A side note on the social aspect. I understand that there are a lot of people who do chat with the cashier for social interaction. For many, this is the only human interaction they receive in a day, a week, or even a month. I appreciate that losing this will be distressing for those affected and I truly hope we can find a solution for this. But this won’t be enough to stop the inevitable.)