If you are a Costco customer you may have noticed this change, the discount warehouse stores have been introducing self-serve stations for their free samples, eliminating the people who hand them out.
Is it a labor shortage that's caused them to go this route? It’s possible. Low unemployment means a lot of people might not be applying for those jobs.
And we definitely know AI is a factor in a lot of these decisions. Why pay somebody when you can just have a robot do it? Estimates in a new report say that as many as 18% of store associate roles could be gotten rid of thanks to AI.
If you’re thinking they’re just putting free snacks out on a plate, sorry that’s not how it works. Basically, there's a shoot and you grab your sample from the bottom of it so you can't go in with your own Tupperware and think you’re going to get a whole bunch of freebies.
Source: The Take Out
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