Saturday, September 8, 2012

$12 Million per Second

September 7, 2012
Is Wal-Mart's Scan & Go the future of shopping?

Meanwhile, the company says it can save $12 million on cashier salaries for every second it can shave off the typical checkout process.

This should raise average hourly wages by moving the lowest paid workers directly to the unemployment line. Fantastic.

The 8 lowest-paying jobs in America

3. Cashiers
Cashiers can be found everywhere from fast-food shops to clothing stores.

The job is No. 2 on the BLS’s list of biggest occupations with a workforce of about 3.3 million, behind only retail sales people with 4.2 million.

I think it is time for a new catch phrase.

"Gallows Sarcasm"

7 comments:

Stagflationary Mark said...

Imagine my surprise when I saw that Google only returned 103 search results for "gallows sarcasm" (include quotes to get an exact match).

Let's take it viral. Spread the joy!

Note my use of gallows sarcasm in describing the process of taking gallows sarcasm viral. Spread the joy indeed! Win win!

Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

It's going viral already! 104 search results!

According to Google, 4 minutes ago the "Illusion of Prosperity" blog used the "gallows humor" term, lol.

There's no stopping the trend now. That's 1% growth in just the past few minutes!

Simple things for simple minds. If I can't laugh, I'd cry.

Stagflationary Mark said...

I meant the "gallows sarcasm" term.

Troy said...

7.5 million people who belong on the B Ark!

gah.

at least there's only 2 months to the election, until we learn whether our fate will be fire or ice.

Stagflationary Mark said...

The ‘B’ Ark

The ‘B‘ Ark was programmed for a hard landing, not a crash landing. It was designed to deliver its passengers safely to the target planet, but to cripple itself beyond repair in the process, thus removing any possibility of a return trip.

The target planet was prehistoric Earth. The occupants of the ‘B’ Ark went forth, crowded out the local Neanderthals, and became the ancestors of humanity.


No crash landings allowed in this economy!

:insert clown horn:

Gallows sarcasm! Sigh.

dearieme said...

Wal-mart have been taking their time. My wife has been using a system like this at Waitrose (UK) for a decade or so. It doesn't use a smartphone, though: she picks up a portable scanner from its holster as she enters the store.

Stagflationary Mark said...

dearieme,

Interesting. My local Wal-mart tried self-serve checkout lanes in recent years but then removed them. I suspect too many customers were mastering the art of the five finger discount.