While many are adamantly opposed to self-checkout machines, others support them. Sean Mullin, the Executive Director of the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University in Toronto, is one of those in favor. He argues that self-checkout machines help reduce labor costs, benefiting businesses.

“To cling to an old model just because it involves workers is not something that companies and others are set up to do,” he explains.

Is Change Inevitable?

Tom Eburne’s wife, who has never used a self-checkout machine, shares his view that it’s wrong to automate jobs meant for human workers. However, she acknowledges that the technological shift toward automation may be unavoidable.

Despite this realization, the Eburnes plan to continue resisting the use of self-checkout machines. “Maybe the little we do makes no difference at all,” Tom’s wife says. “But we like to stand by what we believe in.”