The Inner Monologue

We live in an era where touchless is the buzzword of the day. Tap-to-pay, motion-sensor doors, voice-activated elevators—all promising a cleaner, more hygienic experience. But let’s be honest: unless every step of a process is truly touchless, does it even matter?

Take self-checkout, for example. Sure, you can pay with your phone or wave your card—no buttons to press, no keypad to contaminate. But what about the rest of the process?

• The barcode scanner that hundreds of people have gripped before you.
• The bagging area where someone else’s leaky chicken juice might still be lingering.
• The touchscreen that just got a sneeze-covered finger tap from the person ahead of you.

If there are 10 things you have to touch to complete a transaction, and only two of them are “touchless,” have you really accomplished anything? Or is it just a marketing gimmick to make us feel better while we’re still elbow-deep in other people’s germs?

The Problem with Half-Measures

The truth is, germs don’t care about your tap-to-pay convenience. If you still have to handle a grimy conveyor belt, punch in your loyalty number on a sticky keypad, or grab a receipt from a printer that’s been touched by every shopper before you, then the one touchless step doesn’t make much difference.

It’s like washing your hands but then immediately grabbing a subway pole covered in who-knows-what. You’ve solved one small part of the problem while ignoring the rest.

So What’s the Solution?

If businesses really want to reduce germ spread, they need to go all-in:

• Fully contactless checkout (scan with your phone, bag as you go, auto-receipts).
• Voice or gesture-controlled interfaces (no more public touchscreens).
• Automatic doors, motion-activated everything—no exceptions.

Otherwise, we’re just fooling ourselves. A single touchless step in a germ-ridden process is like putting a single bandage on a broken leg—it might look like you’re doing something, but it’s not actually fixing the problem.

Final Thought

Until every step is touchless, the “gross factor” remains. So next time you see a touchless payment sign, ask yourself: “But what about everything else I still have to touch?”

Because if the answer is “a lot”—then no, it doesn’t really matter.