Following acceptance at conference a letter was sent to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade as follows:
Our members feel with the use of more self-service tills companies are putting profits over service users, and taking away employment from an already depleted job market, and discriminating against people with disabilities.
Blind people, wheelchair users, older people, and those with dexterity issues continue to struggle with self-service tills preventing them from shopping independently. This problem will only be made worse moving forward as companies continue to introduce more self service, and take away the remaining perhaps one or two kept open for customers.
An actual person at the till is very important to many people, such as the elderly, the disabled, and those shopping with young children who need someone to help with their transaction and perhaps the packing of their shopping whilst keeping an eye on little ones. For some, it may be the only interaction or conversation with someone that they have that day, or week. The importance of maintaining communication cannot be underestimated, with loneliness and isolation in the elderly population well documented by age UK and many other charities.
Computers and AI, must not be allowed to replace people who need jobs and interaction with people. Then there is the lost income tax revenue to the country with these jobs taken away. One of our association members found this small quote in an article about this issue that sums it up quite simply.
I don’t want public transport without staff,
I don’t want a food order through an app in a restaurant,
I don’t want to be served by a machine,
We await your response with interest, on this important issue.
**No reply received as of April 2024 but we will keep chasing to get a response
