The only visible difference as a consumer is there are less (or no) automated checkout lanes. Prices are no different than anywhere else.
...Really? That's a straight detriment in my book, as a customer.
I would generally prefer to support a union shop, but I'm extremely fond of self-checkout—and, in fact, further upstate, Wegman's has introduced a self-scan app that you can use to tally up your total as you shop, and just scan a code at the self-checkout register with your phone on the way out to pay.
One of the worst things unions can do is try to "protect jobs" at the expense of technological advancement, customer service, or improved product.
Kroger did that here a few years ago. They pushed it hard. Got very little uptake. It's still an option, but they aren't shoving it in your face when you walk in. There are just a handful of scanners on a rack by the entrance, and I've never seen anyone using them.
Works great.
The point is, retail and warehouse unions don’t translate into retail apocalypse.
You're subsidizing them at your own cost with self-checkout. After all, you are:
-Updating their inventory tracking system -engaging with the regulatory framework of purchasing on their behalf -being subject to their annoying "loss prevention hot days" where they turn the merchandise scales on.
I've started to take a different view toward these jobs over time. Being an employer is a high bar in the U.S., and if we (the taxpayers proxied through the markets/Federal Reserve) have an objective to have people participating in the workforce, then these "automated" checkouts cost workforce participation.
Which also means fewer training opportunities for low skill workers, fewer jobs of last resort, etc. Not everything is necessarily $$$.
Be a hell of an economics project to really suss out the difference in flow of money in grocers who took different approaches.
Walmart tries to do everything but they suck imo. The produce is garbage, but the dry goods are cheap due to their economy of scale.
