Brown-John: Rapid pace of technological change not loved by everyone

In a recent letter to the editor, Michael Peter of Windsor expressed concern about the future of a real newspaper in Windsor.

I share his concerns, not because I offer opinions, but more to the point a hard-copy newspaper suits my preferred lifestyle. I pick up my newspaper at driveway’s end. Then with a fresh cup of coffee I read my morning newspaper.

Apparently, I have access to an online edition of The Windsor Star, but I lack a tolerance for pop-up ads so rarely do I take time to visit the online version.

I do scan several other online newspapers daily, but rarely bother to look at more than headlines. For all intents and purposes, I’m with Mr. Peter as I can still recall horse drawn milk, ice, bread and vegetable wagons — and everyone enjoying real newspapers.

However, I cannot live in that past. Indeed, on occasion I am thankful that probably I won’t be living much longer into an unfolding future.

For example, I concede technology associated with automobiles has changed. Moreover, I realize these technological changes will continue. I also understand, however, I am under minimum compulsion to go-with-the-flow of much of that change.

Service stations were once called “gas stations.” And gas pumps really were pumps with glass tanks so gasoline was pumped up and then fed by gravity into an auto.

A gas station attendant would lift the engine hood, check the oil and even show you the dip stick if your oil was low. Your windshield would be washed and if you needed air for your tires it was available free and often filled by an attendant.

All that changed as “self-serve,” stations — meaning no service — emerged. Today, there are virtually no remaining real service stations. We all have been trained to some degree to “self-serve.”

We respond to stimuli under the pretext that serving ourselves at supermarket check-outs or gas pumps is allegedly faster and more convenient.

Of course, our personal time — as we seem always to be in a hurry — is of little or no value whatsoever.

In practice, what self-service means is your time as a measure of personal worth is essentially valued very low. The cost of labour, including benefits, are no longer borne by service stations or supermarkets. Those costs have been shifted to you on the assumption your time is of low to zero value.

Supermarkets and chain pharmacies are all moving to alleged time-saving self-check-outs. Supermarkets, already with rapidly inflating prices, have found a practical way to reduce a basic cost component.

By training customers to effectively work free of obligation, managers and owners and are able to enhance income margins under the guise of consumer convenience.

Moreover, scanning product codes permits those who market and manage inventory to more clearly focus upon individual buying practices.

Those “memberships” which so many supermarkets, drug stores and others offer are not intended to benefit you as a consumer, but rather those who need aggregate and individualize data both to better target individual consumers and to mange inventory within facilities.

Additionally, data provides levers to extract better bulk purchases and shelf location from suppliers and manufacturers.

Consumer data is pure gold for marketers. Consumers willingly offer personal information via a host of ways from email addresses to club or membership points.

As a person who rarely enters a bank, our banks implore us to bank online. Again, because it is convenient many people accept the “it’s easy to bank online” imperative and do so. Banks certainly do not lose money when you reduce their labour and overhead costs by following that path.

Every time we are offered opportunities to enhance our convenience, we might also consider how work itself is changing.

While online banking or self-check-out may displace labour and associated costs for industries, it is probable actual job losses may be minimal over time.

Jobs, work and associated careers constantly evolve. But I, for one, do not need to evolve so rapidly.

Now, back to my real newspaper.

Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.