JC Penney's to phase out checkout counters, clerks by 2014

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From CNN:

Struggling retailer JC Penney has an idea to boost business: get rid of check-out counters.

CEO Ron Johnson says the department store chain is replacing all its technology infrastructure with a new systemthat won't require clerks. Instead, shoppers will be able to use self-checkout machines, similar to those found in many grocery stores. It's part of an effort to return the company to profitability. JC Penney is also planning to replace traditional bar codes on price tags with high-tech radio frequency identification, or "RFID," chips to make purchases faster.

Johnson told "Fortune" that he hopes to phase out checkout counters by 2014.

So JC Penney's first genius business move to make more money was to advertise that they were no longer going to have limited-time sales, instead making everything "at sales price" all the time. Which basically just means they've just told everyone they're not going to have sales anymore. Which didn't go over well, apparently.

Now they're going to spend money for all new equipment, new RFID tags for every item, probably cut clerk jobs since they won't need as many (during a time when such activity is frowned upon by the general public, I might add), and make people use self checkout stands, which I'm pretty sure about 75% of the population dislikes using at grocery stores.


Well done, guys. Well done.

Thoughts? Am I just misreading this?