Staff Writer Jackson Steffens censures Simpson’s self-service vending machines.
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Staff Writer Jackson Steffens censures Simpson’s self-service vending machines.
Loyola recently installed automated vending machines in the P.O.D. Market in Simpson Hall. While some welcome the arrival of automated shopping on campus, these new kiosks not only rob a worker of their wage, but take away the chance for human warmth and interaction.
Workers have become more and more removed from the product of their labor since the Industrial Revolution, but new technology has facilitated more extreme displacement. With today’s automated technology, we’ve entered an era where the blind crusade of efficiency has left workers behind.
Evaluating the installation of these self-service kiosks with capitalist logic reveals a meaningful cause. These machines mean product revenue will remain constant while one less wage will be paid. It’s a small — but meaningful — victory for profit over people.
This view ignores the bleakness of the situation. Profit doesn’t equal prosperity, but the meaning and dignity a person can derive from a fulfilling career can.
Many of us are too young to remember a time when stores were completely absent of self-service kiosks. We’re accustomed to speaking with pre-recorded voices, purchasing items from machines, having our writing corrected by artificial intelligence and consuming commodities made by automated machines.
There’s an air of camaraderie between producer and consumer when purchases are made in person. People meeting face to face and exchanging goods allows for an important human connection — something that’s especially needed now, considering how widespread loneliness is.
When goods are sold by independent vendors, the sellers can choose both the name of their store and what they sell, bringing their unique personality to the consumer process. This is lost with chain stores and automated vendors.
When I stand before the machine, there’s an all-consuming emptiness. There’s no person to connect with. The vending machine reduces this interaction to pure consumption, as money is exchanged with metal for a plastic bottle of DASANI purified water.
Though self-serve kiosks have small benefits for the consumer, like all-day access and low prices, they don’t come close to outweighing the negatives.
Sacrificing humanity for efficiency doesn’t make our lives better. The self-serve kiosks have achieved higher efficiency, and we’re expected to value the ease of faceless machines over the warmth of human interaction.
The new vending machines in Simpson are another manifestation of our culture’s course toward misery. These machines replace workers who deserve pay so they can lead happy lives.
Vestiges of the old world of human interaction can be found in restaurants, barbershops and anywhere else a person can find satisfaction in and express individuality through their labor. In these sanctuaries, we’ll find friendly faces instead of machines.
Students used to have the opportunity to meet one of these friendly faces in Simpson Hall, but that person has been replaced by a machine.
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