this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Late Stage Capitalism
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It seems like a lot of big chains (cough walmart) would rather spend thousands and thousands on dubiously successful loss prevention schemes and security equipment rather than just hiring more staff to work tills instead of having 95% self checkouts. I’m no business genius but I can’t imagine the math there works out.
The business genius is the security consultant charging $millions to advise them on how to prevent loss.
Companies very much prefer one time costs (bunch of equipment) rather than recurring ones (wages). One time costs (1) look better on the balance sheet and (2) are easier to justify to shareholders as they don’t eat into future profits. Businesses basically never base their decisions on math ever.
This is a good way to think about it, thanks