Quote Originally Posted by splott parker View Post
A lot of lonely people are elderly widows and widowers who wouldn’t consider a pub or club. They go shopping a few times a week for bits & bobs just to get out and about, talking to anyone is a bonus. Taking away choice is also not good. I’m not being a Luddite but the there will eventually be no give and take with automation. Banks disappearing, shops going by the wayside, it’s not good for society on the whole.
My wife's elderly aunt still pays for things like TV license on a weekly basis in the local shop or post office using cash. It's not that she couldn't set up direct debits for everything, it gives her a reason to get out of the house to meet people. She's rarely at home in the mornings.

She does tend to use the self service checkouts, which may seem a bit odd, but she can spend 2 hours in Tesco chatting to people she knows, so the social aspect of having a brief chat with a checkout operator isn't important.