Customer Service Soon to be a Thing of the Past

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The cash register rings its last sale

NEW YORK (AP) — Ka-ching! The cash register may be on its final sale.

Stores across the country are ditching the old-fashioned, clunky machines and having salespeople — and even shoppers themselves — ring up sales on smartphones and tablet computers.

Barneys New York, a luxury retailer, this year plans to use iPads or iPod Touch devices for credit and debit card purchases in seven of its nearly two dozen regular-price stores. Urban Outfitters, a teen clothing chain, ordered its last traditional register last fall and plans to go completely mobile one day. And Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is testing a "Scan & Go" app that lets customers scan their items as they shop.

"The traditional cash register is heading toward obsolescence," said Danielle Vitale, chief operating officer of Barneys New York.

That the cash register is getting the boot is no surprise. The writing has been on the wall for a long time for the iconic machine, which was created in the late 1800s. The register was essential in nearly every retail location by 1915, but it now seems outdated in a world in which smartphones and tablets increasingly are replacing everything from books to ATMs to cameras.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=145

Humans are obsolete.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Golden Gate Bridge Says Goodbye to Toll-Takers — and to a Personal Touch for Travelers

Dawnette Reed started working at the Golden Gate Bridge gift shop one summer when she was 17. Now, at 43, she's a toll collector, and loves it. She’s even got her favorite lanes, Number 1 and 2.

But by the morning commute on Wednesday, March 27, Reed and the other eight full-time toll-takers and 29 part-time workers will be out of a job when the bridge goes to all-electronic tolling. The Golden Gate Highway and Transportation District estimates the change will save $16 million during the first eight years. And, they expect traffic to move much faster.

Since electronic tolling with FasTrak was added to the Golden Gate Bridge in July 2000, wait times during the morning commute dropped from as long as 20 minutes to under a minute, according to the district.

Starting on March 27, motorists will have three ways to pay for the bridge: FasTrack, a license plate account, or through a one-time payment system. Drivers can open a License Plate Account that charges a registered credit card every time the car crosses the bridge. Otherwise motorists can make a one-time payment up to 30 days before or up to 48 hours after crossing the bridge online, by phone or eventually at "cash payment locations."

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2013/03/12/golden-gate-bridge-says-goodbye-to-toll-takers-and-to-a-personal-touch-for-travelers/

This will screw most of the folks that only cross that bridge a few times a year, and tourists, who don't know who to pay and end up with a lien against their vehicle.

[Darnell 8,479]

Ah #######, I can see it now.

Cash registers tossed out, picked up by the homeless.

Sold for metal scrap, but instead..

The metal scrap folks rebundle them , pack in containers, ship to China,

where

they are refurbished and redeployed to Africa.

Gods I hate the Chinese Economy for overseas transactions.

[Karee 4,191]

Humans are obsolete.

Cool we're only 10+ years behind Japan. We're catching up!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This will screw most of the folks that only cross that bridge a few times a year, and tourists, who don't know who to pay and end up with a lien against their vehicle.

Don't go to California. Problem solved.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Don't go to California. Problem solved.

Please heed your own advice. Thank you, bye.