Grocery store revisited

 Time was that when you entered a grocery store you walked up to a counter. A clerk greeted you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, said clerk went about the store gathering your needed items. He totaled your purchases, placed your money in a cash register and gave you the change and a receipt. The clerk placed your purchases in the required number of paper bags.

You then headed for the meat counter where various types of meat where displayed. If you wanted a half a pound of hamburger, that's the exact  amount the clerk gave you. If you wanted a roast of a certain weight, and none that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately the required size, And after all this the grocer made a profit.

When the supermarket arrived, you did the gathering of your groceries using a basket. Then came the cart. Meat came pre-packaged. If only pounds of hamburger were on display, or none at all, pity. Take it or leave whatever an anonymous person has put on display.  On the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices tell you to return to the prepackaged section. 

You placed your purchases in the basket or cart and joined the line at the check-out counter.  The cashier rang up the cost while an assistant placed your purchases in paper, later in plastic, bags, and still later,  imitation cloth bags. And you must ask for a receipt. The grocer made a still greater profit.

The cashier's assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package you own purchases not with bags supplied by the grocer, but your own. Or the cashier will sell you a bag for which the grocer makes an indecently high profit. 

The system will next require you to register by inserting your credit card in a device at the entrance.  There will be an entrance charge.  The need be no cashiers or clerks. The grocer's profit will be immoral.