Speedrunning part-time work.

Japanese convenience store chain Lawson has been at the forefront of new ideas, ranging from good, like their entirely self-serve shops, to the not-so-good, like chocolate potato burgers.

But recently Lawson has released some information about a new policy they’ve instituted, starting this month: in order to fill shifts, stores can put up listings online up to three hours before it starts, letting anyone apply and work the very temporary slots.

▼ “Excuse me, do you work here?”
“Yeah, I had some downtime at the cosplay convention, so I picked up a shift.”

Lawson has said that their aim in implementing this system is to both fill empty shits left by absent employees, and as a way to give housewives, students, and others a way to fill up free time if they want to work and make some extra money.

The system’s trial run is being implemented between this month and February in Tokyo, Saitama, and Chiba, with plans to expand to all stores in the country in the future. Hopefully the limited trial run will help them work out any kinks before its more widespread usage.

Because according to Japanese netizens, there are a lot of kinks already:

“Even if you have experience, all stores have their own rules, so it’s gonna be hard.”
“Working a convenience store requires a ton of varied knowledge though….”
“This is just going to result in more work for the regulars coaching the newbie.”
“Sounds like a perfect way for someone to work the register and steal money.”
“How are they even going to keep track of everyone they need to pay?”
“I could easily see some temp people not getting paid from this.”
“It’s impossible to train someone for convenience store work in that short time.”

There were others who pointed out some possible good points of the system. One was that it gives regular convenience store workers peace of mind in taking time off work, so that they don’t feel pressured to go in when they’re sick or their family is sick, since their shift could be covered in time.

We’ll just have to see what the results of the system are in the coming months. In the meantime though, it seems as though we’re getting closer and closer to the point of having convenience stores staffed by robots.

Source: Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Flickr/Yuya Tamai
Insert image: GAHAG
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