Toy Self-Checkout Prepares Children For Bleak Future Of Consumption Without Human Interaction

What kind of future are we preparing our children for? There’s no way to know, but reader Beth noticed a toy intended to prepare kids for a cold, robotic future: the My Very Own Shop N’ Pay Market, available at Walmart for $20. Yes, it’s a toy self-checkout.

The scanner “beeps when food is dragged over it,” which is good training. Okay, but why is the girl on the box wearing an apron? Did she run to the store in the middle of making cookies, noting that she had no more eggs?

“This Walmart has a self-checkout,” notes Beth. “So you could buy this self-checkout set using the self-checkout.”

Then your kid could pick up an empty box and pretend that it’s a toy self-checkout set, using the toy self-checkout set to pretend to buy it from himself. Self-checkout Inception!

The online reviews, however, aren’t all that good. Customers complain of flimsy plastic

This is the perfect set to start your little ones learning how to shop… its cute, space saving, and great for the imagination.. :)

Wouldn’t “imagination” be designing your own self-scanner and play food using empty cardboard boxes? Or have I suddenly gotten very, very old?

American Plastic Toys My Very Own Shop N’ Pay Market [Walmart]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist