- Shoprite revealed that it is trialling an automated Checkers concept store with no cashiers or till points in Cape Town.
- Pick n Pay introduced self-service checkout counters in 2016, but by 2018, the trial was cancelled.
- The SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union said any new technology that seeks to replace the labour is a threat to employment.
Shoprite has unveiled plans to test an automated Checkers concept store with no cashiers or till points, but the idea has not been welcomed by labour, with union representatives saying it is doomed to fail.
Reacting to the announcement, the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union (SACCAWU) said any technology that seeks to eliminate the workforce would not work in SA.
According to Shoprite's announcement, the concept store will allow customers to scan a smartphone app to enter, after which cameras and sensors will track what they take from the shelves. The retailer will then bill the customer using credit or debit cards saved on file.
Shoprite is still developing algorithms to recognise products and increase accuracy
Checkers is not the first retailer to trial a self-service option – Pick n Pay in 2016 introduced six self-service checkout counters at its branch in Observatory, Cape Town, but it cancelled the concept two years later, saying there had been no further developments to the system.
At the time, Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the labour federation believed Pick n Pay wanted to "get rid of its workers".
"We don't think it's helpful in an economy that has collapsed – technically, we are in a recession – to be introducing mechanisms that threaten workers," Pamla said.
Mike Sikani, national coordinator of SACCAWU, told Fin24 that any new technology seeking to replace labour was "unsustainable" and amounted to a "war" on job creation.
"These attempts by retail companies to reduce human interaction are costly and unsustainable for the SA economy.
"This is a war against the primary agenda of SA government job creation, because South Africa is supposed to talk to issues of job creation," said Sikani.
The general workforce would need to be upskilled, Sikani said.
Official unemployment stands at a record high of 32.6%. In addition to particularly high youth unemployment rates, black African women also face a disproportionately high unemployment burden - 38.3% for the first quarter of 2021.
Sikani said Checkers and other grocery retail employers benefitted during the Covid-19 pandemic because they allowed to operate under the hard lockdown and cashiers were classified as essential workers.
But, Sikani said, automation in retail was a model that was "not even working in Europe".
Some media have reported hesitation among European retailers to invest in self-checkout technology because of its cost and the perception that it could increase the risk of shoplifting, create technological confusion or lead to fewer human interactions.
In South Africa, an additional obstacle could be the large unbanked population which would be unable to pay with cards. This, said Sikani, meant self-service would be "doomed to fail".