Self Checkout Is An Utter Ripoff - Rev. J.T. Smith

 

 

It does not matter whether it's at Walmart, Target, your local grocer, or your local convenience store.  In every instance, self-checkout is a function of a corporation to literally slave your labour.

Every price on every product in every store covers more than merely replacing that product on the shelf for the next customer.  Obviously a portion of that price does pay for the store restocking that product and another portion is the profit for the store/corporation, but there's still paying the utilities (electric, telephones, heat, etc.) and the payroll for all the employees.  Including cashiers.

Earlier I referred to "slav[ing] your labour."  When you choose self-checkout, you are literally doing the job of one of the employees, specifically the cashier, and you are not being paid for it.  Not even a small discount for doing the job.  The corporation that own the store is making even more money off you as they get the profit(s) from the product(s) you are purchasing and they are not having to pay the expense of the payroll for the employee whose job you are doing for free.

Let's put this in perspective.

Regardless of where you work, what field you work in, or who you work for, the "company" [small company or multinational corporation], you are dealing with customers.  Even if only indirectly.  Now imagine if a customer came to your workplace and started doing your job without pay.  Sounds great being able to go to work and someone else is doing your job for you, doesn't it?

Or would your automatic response be realization that if someone else is doing your job, then you no longer have a job.

That is what is happening in every store that has self-checkout.  Trafficking is a new word for the slave trade.  To my mind, self-checkout is little more than innocuous voluntary slave labour.  Why should any company bother with hiring employees when they can get their customers to pay the company to do the jobs of the employees?

 I will NEVER go through self-checkout with my order in any store!  Any store that completely switches completely to self-checkout rather than actually hire people will be automatically boycotted by me.  I do not care how much "faster" it is to just do it yourself using self-checkout, I am not going to participate in something that causes people to lose their livelihood.

The pandemic demonstrated just who the essential workers are.  Thanks to self-checkout, companies are working to eliminate their positions so that unpaid, let alone underpaid, people can do the work.  More money for the uber-rich and more unpaid labour for everyone else.

by Rev. J.T. Smith

2020 United States Presidential Election, My Choice - Rev. J.T. Smith

There is no perfect candidate for President.  Ever.  This is simply because perfection, aside from God, is purely subjective.

Of course, there will always be candidates that are better than others.  In 2016, I supported Bernie Sanders in the primary and hated the way the D.N.C. blew him off as viable candidate even though he was able to consistently draw more people to his rallies than any other candidate.  Go figure.

In 2016, I ultimately voted for Jill Stein because I couldn't in good conscience vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump [see It's Neither A Spoiler Nor A Protest Vote! by Rev. J.T. Smith for full account of exactly why] as she was the best available candidate.

Once again, Bernie is running for President, and he is once again my choice for President.  My reasoning is thus: Bernie Sanders has been leading the fight since well before the 2016 elections, including steadfastly and consistently fighting for We The People and against the corruption and warmongering so prevalent in government.  And he's also the first to propose Medicare For All, which eliminates all deductibles and co-pays with the exception of elective non- medically procedures.  No one is perfect, but he's the best choice of candidate.

Voting for a person strictly because of their gender or sexuality is a mistake.  Yes, it is long past time for a woman or a member of the LGBT+ community to become president, there is no question of that; but as with any position of authority, it needs to be the right person, regardless of gender or sexuality, to be voted into power.  
While I find it commendable that Pete Buttigieg is open about his sexual orientation while running for President, I cannot vote for him simply because he's a corporate Democrat.  And corporate Democrats, which are nearly as bad as the Republicans currently in power are among the last things Americans need voted into office.
I cannot vote for Amy Klobuchar for simple reason she's effectively Hillary Clinton lite.  Still a corporate Democrat, even if not quite as deep into the pockets of Wall Street.

Tom Steyer, like Mike Bloomberg, is yet another billionaire running for President, and America definitely never needs another billionaire as president.  And like Steyer and Bloomberg, Joe Biden is yet another corporate Democrat.

To make it worse, Biden and Bloomberg are also notorious bigots.  And while Tulsi Gabbard seems to barely register in the polls compared to the others who're still running, I do like that she's Hindu and running against the endless wars, but she also has a history of bigotry and troubling past actions in terms of her foreign policy positions solidly working against her.

The only major issue I have with Warren is her relative inexperience compared to Sanders.

Frankly, my current dream ticket is Sanders/Warren with Sanders as president for eight years followed by Warren for the following eight years.  Though I would accept Warren as President with Sanders as VP for the same eight years followed by Sanders as President for eight years.

Ultimately, I am still not a liberal Democrat, I'm a progressive independent; and if a superior third-party contender runs for President, then I'll vote for them.  At present, that doesn't seem likely regardless of the party.

- Rev. J.T. Smith

Are these Senators' jobs guaranteed for life? That's up to you.

To All Republicans Who Insist On Banning Abortion . . .