Open Thread October 25 2023 Self-Checkout Lines
This story almost seems like it should be in one of lower grade newspapers or magazines. Is this true or not? At Frys grocery they now have automated gates to enter the store and not let you out. To go out, you must pass a checkout register or someone near the self-checkouts. If accused, you are always guilty till you prove otherwise and the economics favors business.
Lawyer explains why you should avoid using self-checkouts in stores, msn.com, Story by Jisha Joseph
“as a criminal defense attorney, she has seen three categories of individuals charged with theft after using the self-checkout option at the store:”
- those who are intentionally stealing,
- people who made a real mistake and missed an item, and
- others who didn’t take anything at all.
At —- grocery they now have automated gates…
[ This is surely false. ]
ltr:
Not so. Going in they have gates with electronic eyes that register your presence and allow you entry. They are just below waist high. They will not open if you try to go out that way. I will take a picture the next time I am there.
“They will not open if you try to go out ‘that way.’ “
Does this mean there is no other simple way out? This makes no sense to me. There should be a simple alternative way out, but I do not shop in supermarkets any longer.
ltr:
Like I said, you go out where the cashiers are only.
I’ve seen Walmarts in various places that have one way gates at the entrance, and require you to go through the checkout area to exit. You see those in Europe a lot at little markets.
There’s a similar fairly common setup you see in Europe where you have to scan the barcode on your receipt to go through the exit gate.
There’s a similar fairly common setup you see in Europe where you have to scan the barcode on your receipt to go through the exit gate.
[ Thank you for this. ]
J.Goodwin:
While bar coding lends itself to accurate inventory control, it still does not force inventory to be accurate. Humans still have vast amounts of influence. Much of it involves technology, demand, shortages, poor planning, manufacturing disruption, JIC inventory, manipulated inventory to increase prices (semiconductors), , etc. The new plant being built in Phoenix by TSMC is not for the latest semiconductor. it is for an older and larger model.
“four-nanometer chips in 2024. The second fab will follow with smaller and even more advanced three-nanometer chips starting in 2026.”
TMSC is starting to build one-nanometer chips. We will have a plant which “may” obsolete and a lot of inventory. Excess inventory was somewhere around $250 billion.
The new plant being built in Phoenix by TSMC is not for the latest semiconductor. it is for an older and larger model:
“four-nanometer chips in 2024. The second fab will follow with smaller and even more advanced three-nanometer chips starting in 2026.”
[ Important. Thank you. ]
Like I said, you go out where the cashiers are only.
[ To my surprise, I am told that is what supermarkets around here are like. I appreciate knowing this. Thank you. ]
The above is not about self check-out lanes, which are maybe meant to be a convenience when they don’t have enough regular check-out lanes open for some reason, probably having to do with expensive cashiers (!?).
Self check-out tends to be a nuisance, but worth a try if lines are long.
They can be very annoying if they don’t work well, which is often the case.
As for devices that bar yer exit unless you show a receipt, perhaps a reflection of more & more US supermarket chains being owned by European megacorps. Is laser retina scanning next?
In other open-thread news, we have a new House Speaker. At last. How great is that!
The Far Right Gets Its Man of the House
NY Times – about 3 hours ago
The new speaker, Mike Johnson, is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he can be expected to press a hard-right social and fiscal agenda.
Johnson Played Leading Role in Effort to Overturn 2020 Election
NY Times – an hour & a half ago
Representative Mike Johnson recruited House Republicans to back a lawsuit to overturn the results, and he was a key architect of his party’s objections to certifying President Biden’s victory.
New House speaker Mike Johnson faces herculean task of uniting Republicans
Washington Post – about 2 hours ago
If nothing else, this will put certification of the 2024 presidential election in jeopardy.
Voters choose presidential electors (those who do the voting in the Electoral College), not legislatures. Legislatures do not get to override these choices.
No, State Legislatures Cannot Overrule the Popular Vote
This is in some dispute by Constitutional Originalists, of which Speaker Johnson seems to be a member, as are a number of sitting Justices.
the so-called “Electoral College” system
(Those voters who don’t vote per the popular election results are deemed ‘faithless electors’ and are subject to punishment.)
Faithless electors – Wikipedia
Mike Johnson was chosen because he’s an election-denying, anti-gay, anti-choice absolutist, Trump loyalist. He’s not going to work with Democrats, he’s just more of the right-wing same old same old. And he knows that if he deviates from the Trump line, Gaetz will move to vacate.
Feh.
A grand dragon of the Christian Right.
@Ken,
Mike Johnson is Gym Jordan in Clark Kent drag.
Biden weighs in on Mike Johnson, new Speaker of the House
USA Today – about 5 pm
As I recall, the scheme proposed by now-Speaker Johnson was that state legislatures in various states where the Trump people had decided that there were ‘election irregularities’ (i.e. states that they desperately needed to win and felt they should have won) alternate slates of electors favoring Trump should be arranged, and if it could be established legally that irregularities had occurred in significant numbers could be established, the FEC should see to that the these appointed slates should replace the elected slates. Such irregularities were not found. Even after multiple recounts. No harm in trying, eh?
Or, when Congress counted the electoral votes on Jan 6, the VP should see to it that the votes submitted by the alternate slates shoulkd be couunted instead of those from the elected slates. VP Pence declined to do so.
The Trump Loyalty Test at the Center of Republicans’ Speaker Endgame
NY Times – about 6 pm
The developments on Capitol Hill highlighted the extent to which one of the greatest sins inside the Republican Party is to have certified Joseph R. Biden’s victory.
Johnson Played Leading Role in Effort to Overturn 2020 Election
NY Times – Oct 25
I looked around in the Constitution for language about popular-vote requirements for choosing presidential electors. Did not find much of anything. There is the 17th Amendment, but that’s about choosing Senators by popular vote, instead of by state legislatures. My recollection was that that was originally how states were supposed to handle ‘electors’ sent off to DC to choose the President. I thought that had been changed. If it was, that reality has disappeared. It’s fair to say that that the Founding Fathers left it up to the states to set up rules for choosing Presidenial Electors, but they would (mostly) not have been averse to legislatures doing so. It’s part of the notion of how a Republic is supposed to work. Bad as it may be.
Doesn’t 2024 election certification for President happen in the next Congress? Jan. 6, 2021 was a different Congress than was seated for the Nov. 2020 election I think and the House is specifically not a continuing body.
In other news…
US Economic Growth Accelerated in the Third Quarter
NY Times – just in
Gross domestic product expanded at a 4.9 percent annual rate over the summer, powered by prodigious consumer spending. But the pace is not expected to be sustained.
What’s Happening in the Bond Market?
NY Times – just in
The rapid rise in interest rates in recent months has shaken investors and cast a cloud over the economy.
Fred:
Open threads are not meant to be abused by posting numerous, assorted articles, from NYT, etc.
This is primarily an economics blog, right?
@Fred,
Yes. But you need to titrate your posting, both in frequency and length.
I don’t believe I’ve done any titration since first (& only) year chem in college. Endless physics labs though. Does that count?
Actually, I don’t post much about economics. Sometimes there’s actually something of a dearth. If I see something pertinent & timely, my gut says to post it. It happens that I mostly follow the Times. So…
I’ll try to stick more to war stories. Of my many days of teaching electronics in a basement classroom.
With pertinent digressions to my hilarious experiences becoming getting trained as a blind-as-a-bat combat infantryman.
Mike Johnson is the new House speaker, but the ally of Donald Trump faces same GOP challenges ahead
Boston Globe – just in
Obviously, the Dems (if not the country, arguably) would be better off if McCarthy had not been kicked out. But, y’know, McCarthy just pissed them off, big time. Now things will be so much better.
Not really. But the MAGA GOP will be pretty happy, and maybe some bills will get through before being stopped in the Senate.
Pro-Israel resolution is new US House leader’s first act
GOP senators introduce stand-alone bill to aid Israel without more funding to Ukraine
Fox News – yesterday
Is the Republican Speakership Cursed? Johnson Is About to Find Out.
NY Times – about 4 hours ago
It has all contributed to a sense that the Republican speakership may be cursed. And it has led to a vicious cycle of sorts in which the party, up against a wall with seemingly no other option, has repeatedly chosen speakers who cannot last in the job.
Mr. Gingrich, the mastermind of the 1994 Republican revolution, was the first to go despite his central role in delivering his party from near-permanent minority status. …