Michigan is doing something right. A Michigan Company created Fast Track Convenience Stores, automated stores that can run without a single employee. However Fast Track Convenience Stores don’t just have products where you insert coins and products drop out. Rather, every product has a small Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. You bring your items up to the checkout and pay.
What if you try to steal?
Because of the RFID tags, the system knows when you try to walk out the door with unpaid merchandise. Cameras will immediately take your picture. Imagine like those speed detectors on roads that take your picture when you speed or go through a red light.
What About Inventory Levels?
Thanks to these RFID tags, the system automatically knows how much inventory a store has and when to restock. Walmart and most stores track their inventory through a similar system.
Automated Fast Track Stores Limited to Food?
In fact, with a system like this, you could almost make any store unmanned or at least let employees focus on service rather than cashier duties. These RFID tags can be place in and on anything from grocery, to clothes, to even selling car parts.
In the end this will mean more round the clock vending and though this will cut cashier positions, hopefully we find something more fulfilling to do rather than cutting out more jobs altogether.
Even Ipods have gone automated in sales…
Tags: automated stores, convenience, fast track, stores