Like many of you, I’m sure, our family has been experimenting with some of the rather unique food delivery and pickup options that have been made available since the plague blew into town. Some of the easiest to use are the delivery services who bring your order up to your door and leave it for you to come out and bring it in after they go. We usually tape a tip to the front screen door with a note that reads, “For delivery. Thank you.” Since you pay via plastic over the phone when placing the order, that seems to work pretty well.

Picking up orders at diners is another matter. A few of the local eateries are now able to allow customers (wearing masks) to come inside and pay at the counter while the checkout person stands six feet back for the transaction. Most of the rest bring the food out to your vehicle and hand it in through the window. But for some of you, that may still be too close for comfort. Dunkin’ (formerly Dunkin Donuts) is now experimenting with a new pickup system that removes the human element from the food delivery process entirely. You pay through their app, show up at a store devoid of any workers out in the customer service area, and then pick up your order and anything you want to buy off the shelves and simply walk out. (CBS Boston)

Dunkin’ is testing out a new program allowing customers to get their order without every coming into contact with an employee.

Customers would be able to pick out their items from various self-serve stations. Cameras in the store will track what they get and then charge them through an app.

“Customers can approach the store environment and pick up their coffee and donuts – walking away without any face-to-face interaction,” says MasterCard, which is partnering with Dunkin’ for the program.

It sounds like Dunkin’ is taking a page from the playbook of the Amazon stores that have been popping up in some major cities. (Or at least they were showing up until they were looted and burned, anyway.) If the workers slide your hot food and coffee order down to a designated counter where you can grab them, that part is easy enough. Much like the process I described above, you can pay for that in advance through your phone, then just grab it and go. But most Dunkin’ stores have other products on shelves for impulse buyers. How do you handle those without a check-out person being involved?

Similar to the way the Amazon stores do it, cameras track you as you move through the store. The smart software can identify any additional products you pick up to take with you. The system then simply bills your account through the phone app and you pay for all of your purchases without even scanning their UPC. On top of that, you don’t come face to face with any workers, even if they are six feet away or more.

Does that make everyone feel better? I’m just not sure about it and the closest Dunkin’ to my house doesn’t have this system installed yet. I suppose I can appreciate the social distancing, but now we’re not just talking about distance. This is complete isolation between the human workers and the customers. If they are only allowing one customer in the store at a time, that makes the whole thing seem even creepier.

But perhaps this is our new reality. Even after a vaccine is developed (knock on wood), we may be shopping this way from here on out. People are pining to get back to the old normal, but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s ever going to happen. What happens to the wait staff profession if that’s the case? Why would you tip people for service that never shows up to help you? And the social element of such engagements is entirely gone. It may not be the future we signed up for, but it could conceivably be the one we’ll be getting.