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As the minimum wage is set to rise by 5% next year, small business owners are devising measures to reduce the labor cost burden.
Convenience stores are changing to unmanned stores without employees, and there is talk of a premium rate system that raises product prices at night.
This is Reporter Jung Joon-ho.
<Reporter> This
is the latest unmanned convenience store in Songdo, Incheon.
When a guest registers a face for the first time, the computer automatically recognizes it and opens the entrance door next time.
This store does not have staff to help with the checkout.
When I choose something like this and go out, payment is automatically made through the convenience store app.
It is also being converted into a fully unmanned, intermediate-level hybrid store.
There are employees only during the day, and after midnight, it turns into an unmanned store.
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For a convenience store company, the number of unmanned and hybrid stores has increased fivefold in two years.
It costs a lot of money and security is a problem, but there is no other way because the labor cost has gone up.
[Convenience store industry officials: Inquiries are coming in because it is helpful for business owners, who are a bit burdened with labor costs, to generate additional sales while operating hybrid unmanned stores at night.]
Store owners who continue to operate 24 hours a day The head office is demanding a nighttime surcharge that raises the product price by up to 5% during the late night hours from 12:00 to 6:00 a.m.
[Kye Sang-hyeok / President of the National Convenience Store Franchise Association: If the minimum wage goes up and the government or the head office does not help, the store owner has to bear the burden.
We have to come up with a plan for survival between ourselves, so we came up with a premium rate system.] Since we are in
a position to stop unprofitable business such as selling pay-as-you-go bags and recharging transportation cards, the process of consultation with the head office is expected to suffer.
(Video coverage: Jeon Gyeong-bae, video editing: Lee Seung-yeol)