If you are like me, you cannot stand the trend toward automated check out lines in grocery stores.
Not only is the process clumsy and uncomfortable — there's always that guy or gal looking over your shoulder to be sure you aren't pilfering the potato chips and then there's the, "where's the damn bar code!?!" moments.
Ahg!
But beyond the annoying and disrespectful "do it yourself" idea of being ordered to be both customer and worker, there is the impersonal, assembly-line aspect of parking your car in the lot, grabbing your shopping cart and strolling through largely silent grocery aisles with people staring at the canned peaches trying to determine between several brands which has less corn syrup than the other — at no time, does a clerk come by to ask if you need help.
Then you take your stuff to the check out kiosk and transact.
Lovely experience ... not.
Grocery stores can, should be and are more than just a place to fork over the dough in exchange for stuff.
They can, are and should be places to meet families, friends, neighbors for a coffee, to hear a guest lecture/speaker, to learn about the produce, meats, cheeses and all the products lining the store's shelves - where a farmer or producer can be invited in to describe their products, how they are made, packaged, shipped and give preparation tips and where happy and knowledgeable clerks (thanks to a good wage, benefits and community) come to help make your experience a good one.
Yes, there are choices of grocery stores, so you can get a little of this flavor I am describing and avoid the automated checkout lines. But it sure seems like more grocery chains are testing the idea of automated grocery kiosks and it would not surprise me in the least to see in 20 years time that be the standard for the business.
Screw that - I am not a drone. Grocery store employees are not drones. And we are not communities of drones.
One solution to this problem is co-op grocery stores that are owned by the community for the community. And you see variations of this in national chains - Whole Foods, Sprouts, Vitamin Cottage.
I am not versed in the intricacies of how the co-op model works, other than, owners pay to raise money to start up the store and with the help of loans and other assistance take flight and stay in business based on their ability to attract customers.
Personally, I want a to shop at a place that is not just a Big Box warehouse masquerading as a grocery store.
Personally, I would prefer to shop at a store that offered a coffee bar, fresh local produce, meats and diary, where local farmers are invited in to talk about their products, where local chefs come in a discuss ingredients and recipes, where dietitians come in a discuss healthy eating, where food stamps and other assistance are welcome and the doors are open to the many and not the few, and where I don't feel like I am a drone being ushered through a warehouse and then having my pockets emptied when I exit.
10:25 AM PT: Another thought inspired by some of the comments - in an America that is increasingly polarized, might a grocery store that is more "co-op like" and less "Big Box like" be a place to bring together people of disparate backgrounds? For example, when does a city dweller cross paths with a farmer? Does it happen often? I am guessing not. And seeing that America is a country full of farmers - past, present and future - a grocery centered, library-like community asset that brings people of all strips in face to face contact with one another might not be such a bad idea.