This is the self-checkout line at the Rhode Island Avenue Home Depot.
It is either a crowning achievement of modern technology, another small step towards shopping automation, or a marker of the end of civilization in America.
As a technology achievement, its pretty cool. Each station processes your purchase pretty fast, and it takes cash as well as credit/debit, giving change when you’re done.
As automation, its trying to speed up the checkout scene but it wasn’t that fully automated. There still needed to be a sales clerk on hand to sort out its constant errors.
As the death of civilization, it removed one of the last “little connections” we make in a day – the small talk with the sales clerk that can make or break a buy.
In this case, I give the auto-teller a 5 out of 10. Cool, but way too glitchy to be really worth your time or effort.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
