Is Wal-Mart Following GM ?

In the 1990's General Motors, faced with huge competitive disadvantages in both cost and quality to the highly automated Japanese, experimented with robots for car assembly and painting - they had problems - robots were scratching cars, malfunctioning..... Rather than work hard to resolve the robot issues, GM management thought it was more expedient to discard the robots, and go back to using human labor. 20 years later they were bankrupt, mostly due to high labor costs.

Fast forward to 2010 - I have seen first-hand some of the problems Wal-Mart has experienced with it's self-service check-out lanes. I have witnessed Americans so dumb, that they struggle with the machine use, and I have myself experienced mechanical problems. So as a result of the problems, and following in the steps (or missteps?) of GM, Wal-Mart is replacing the self-service aisles with human cashiers. Like GM, it is probably easier and cheaper in the short-run to apply labor than to fix the machine problems. And of course Wal-Mart scores a few political points by creating jobs for America.

Like GM, Wal-Mart's focus on the short-term result will be costly, if not fatal, in the long run:
* Machine operating costs do not rise with inflation.
* Machines do not file lawsuits or go on strike.
* Machines do not require supervision, or job training.
* Machines keep a consistent level of customer service.
* Machines don't add another pair of germ filled hands on your items.

The oil industry invested heavily into automation during the 1970's and 1980's and as a result have very few labor problems and high profits.

Short run automation pain or long-term bankruptcy. Take your pick.