One of the reasons people do this is to preserve employment for staff.

Where I live, the checkouts that are serviced by staff, are long. This is deliberate, because they want a return to how things once were, where people cared, and they want staff t keep their jobs.

To be honest, I cannot even imagine the soulless experience of no people interaction, and being spied upon by machines.

Thanks B. R. for a summation of the future. I see a place for the small-time players to step up and provide some shopping joy.