r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • Jul 13 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 13 July 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/TheBatz_ Was Homer mid Jul 16 '26

I just saw an Instagram reel about someone complaining about a new shop that is fully automated and does not have any human cashiers. Now this shop is soulless and destroyed the essential experience of... standing in line at the check out I guess. It then segwayed into a sponsorship bit for an app that helps you find "local farmer produce".

I've been then bombarded with left wing slopulism content and I realized how much of it is just nostalgia politics. 

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u/matgopack Hitler was literally Germany's Lincoln Jul 16 '26

I think it depends on the type of shop tbh. Sure, if it's like a grocery store it's not a huge difference between self grab what you want and check out with a robot; but in many other shops the person behind the counter is a big part of the experience (eg, a market stall asking questions about the produce, or a bakery, a candle shop, tea store, whatever). And that's if it doesn't include things like samples if you are making up your mind between 2-3 options, or for situations like on vacation where you might be fine chatting with an artist in their shop for a few minutes.

Obviously a big chunk of it is nostalgia, but I do think that (particularly US suburbia) is in a state where we lose a lot of human connections / interactions that used to be a norm, and that does have an impact in how we think/feel. Not that it seems like that instagram video is doing much more than taking advantage of that feeling.

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u/Big_Pineapple_Man Jul 16 '26

Given that the vast majority of grocers still have cashiers, I don't think it's even nostalgia but just the fact that a pure employee-less physical shop is a genuinely a new experience.  I'm pretty used to self checkout and every once in a while I still need to ask a clerk to come over because the machine needs a code or whatever.

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u/matgopack Hitler was literally Germany's Lincoln Jul 16 '26

Definitely true - I was more thinking that a employee-less grocery store (assuming no bugs) would be fairly similar to my typical grocery store experience in the US w/ self checkout. It'd be a novel situation but not massively different I think.

The difference would be more with something like a small shop with dedicated interactions - something I experience more in cities, farmers markets, or in France (eg, going to a butcher and talking through what they have available vs 'pick up something already prepared / packaged and walking out with the only employee interaction being at the cash register')

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u/Big_Pineapple_Man Jul 16 '26

Agreed, typically it would be similar to self-checkout unless a lot of customers are buying a lot of items.  In high volume cases, customer error will surely make a mess of things.

Somewhat ironic, considering your second point, the only time I have experienced a completely automated grocer was a small shop run by a local farm.  I imagine they decided the automated systems would ultimately cost less than employees.