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Marty the Stop and Shop robot in Quincy

M .Mantis stayed a respectful distance from Marty the robot at the Stop & Shop on Newport Avenue in Quincy tonight. As you can see from the sign, Marty's stated purpose is to spot spills and fallen signs and report them to store workers.

But Marty actually reports to a robo-center in the Philippines, where workers decide whether to trigger a clean-up alert over the store's loudspeakers, and those giant eyes aren't functional, so we're really dealing with a remote-controlled debris-seeking drone.

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Comments

...Stop and Shop doesn't have any human employees to spare for things like actually working the aisles...

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Dont use self checkots!

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Stop & Shop should provide a discount off the bill if a customer uses the self-checkout. You're not using the services of a cashier and bagger, so why should you pay for it?

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Market basket has employees who apparently like their job more, and treated better. Better prices, no robots, no automated checkout lines.

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How about the other way around: you want another person who could be doing something better to handle each thing you picked out for you because you can't figure out how a bag works? Pay a service fee.

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You are hard pressed to find a bagger in the JP S&S, well known for being the dumping ground for all of the rotten fruit and produce, not to mention rusty and broken shopping carts, refused by the S&S suburban (white) stores.

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The Stop & Shop near me has about 3 employees working at any one time. In contrast, Big Y, just next door, looks like it's staffing up for the pre-thanksgiving rush most days. Big Y is getting my business going forward accordingly.

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As costs of employing humans keeps going up - minimum wage hikes, new payroll taxes, etc - you'll see more and more of this. Kiosks in restaurants, robot floor monitors in grocery stores, etc.

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The cost of humans isn't the problem.

If the cost of humans were a problem, Market Basket wouldn't be one of the cheapest options around.

The unmitigated greed of kleptoconglomerates is the problem.

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I recall from the great Market Basket brouhaha that their business model is a bit of a real estate play where they own their plazas and generate a lot of income off of that in conjunction with their grocery business.

Anyone know if that helps underwrite their operating costs in a way that Shaws, S+S, etc... generally do not?

I wonder if they've looked at moving in the great Dedham area, like where Sears used to be? I guess they would not as that land is probably not for sale only lease.

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Do the Amazon places like at Central Square have facial recognition?

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i noticed a few years ago that it seemed like kids won't work at grocery stores anymore. it is beneath them, since they can write html and what not.

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I found a typo:

i noticed a few years ago that it seemed like kids won't work at grocery stores anymore.

Please correct to: I noticed a few years ago that grocery stores aren't offering a high enough pay for kids to work there anymore.

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You can't really pay for college on a grocery store wage anymore either, so you're better off staying home and studying (or doing some extracurriculars) so that you have a better chance of getting into a college with a good scholarship program.

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Kids today are the most educated in history, a grocery store job is underemployment for many young people just as it is for many adults.

But if you pay them more, they might forgive the wasting of their time and skills. Stop & Shop says "nahhhh".

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PLENTY of kids working there. They send them out in pairs to constantly restock the store.

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Marty is the replacement for the Quincy police overtime detail?

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Someone should put a hat on his head.

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Anyone ever see Chopping Mall? 80's movie about security robots turning rogue, and killing employees inside a shopping mall. Started just like this.

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There he is, brain the size of a planet, and they tell him to look for broken jars of pickles. Call that job satisfaction? 'Cos I don't.

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If they really want some bang for their buck they should rig that thing so it can clean floors too.

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Spotting spills and debris? Let me know when they make a convincing sexbot.

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Stoppy is not telling us everything this thing does up to and including keeping records of what you have in your cart.

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