A new way to cut jobs
YOUR ARTICLE on the coming of radio frequency identification, or RFID ("Future Shop," Page C1, Sept. 20) details a new, streamlined shopping experience, but it raised one pressing question in my mind: Where will the jobs go?
With concern rising (warranted or not) in the United States about jobs lost to overseas outsourcing, we may have to worry as well about jobs lost to RFID tags. In a new, automated shopping experience, most of the cashiers in retail environments will become superfluous.
Soon, many adults and students, who count on these jobs for food on their dinner tables or their semester's book money may find themselves searching for jobs that no longer exist.
Companies will save on operating costs, and consumers will discover new conveniences, but will we find alternative employment for this unemployed population?
JONATHAN SKOLNICK
Cambridge
