Wal-Mart's Reliance on Technology

I recently went to Wal-Mart to do what everyone does there:  get groceries.  However, this was no ordinary Wal-Mart trip for me.  While the shopping went as smoothly as always, the checkout process did not.  I got in a line with surprisingly no people in it, so I expected a quick checkout.  When I ran my credit card through the machine, the computer scanning system could not collect with the satellite to process the exchange.  The employee had to shut off the computer, turn it back on, and repeat the process.  It once again did not work.  A manager repeated the same process, which also did not work.  This problem was happening at all the checkout lines in the store.  So the worker had to individually enter identification numbers for each individual item, which took quite some time.  I then ran my card, and it was accepted.

This truly shows our dependence on technology, and also how we take it for granted.  What I perceived as a simple process of scanning items, and then paying turned into a 20 minute ordeal.  While I tried to stay calm throughout the process, this did anger some less patient customers.  Technology has helped to cut down our waiting time in lines significantly, and I now appreciate that because of this experience.  It also shows that a backup plan must be in place, such as the one in the CareGroup case, just in case technology does fail a company.  Now if we could only get more workers at the lines to decrease waiting time even more, but that is for another day...