The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-it-Yourself Economy

Abstract

Reviewer: Craig D. Lair, Gettysburg College Utilizing the case study of self-checkouts in supermarkets, The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-it-Yourself Economy by Christopher K. Andrews is a cogently argued and well-supported book that provides key insights into a number of major debates surrounding the use and consequence of self-service technologies. Andrews bases his analysis on a multimethod study of a regional supermarket chain he refers to as “SuperFood” that includes: eight months of nonparticipant observation of people in checkout lanes in seven Superfood stores; 77 semi-structured interviews from a combination of store managers, assistant managers, employees, customers, and union representatives; and a variety of secondary data sources. The strength of Andrews’ analysis lies in showing how many of the pronouncements regarding self-checkouts are variously misguided, off-the-mark, and/or more complicated than their claimants suggest. Thus, this book sheds new and important light on a major transformation in consumption. However, it should be noted that the title of the book is a bit of misnomer because the issue of consumers feeling overworked as a result of self-service technologies is only one of the topics this book addresses. Below, I will outline what I see as the five core questions that The Overworked Consumer seeks to answer.