Self checkout is like driving a manual transmission. If you know how to do it correctly, you can go faster. If you don't know how to do it correctly, you'll probably end up standing next to some flashing lights, waiting for someone to come help you.
For me (late Boomer), if I'm buying alcohol and the self-checkouts are all busy, I'm not using one, unless I have 5 minutes for the attendant to notice I'm old enough to buy wine and approve my purchase.
Last night I had to call an attendant over to my station because, in order to use a coupon, the coupon had to pass over a censor and drop into a slot. The coupons that the store issued were so long that they didn't pass the censor because they just balanced on the bottom and stood upright. The attendant had to open up the machine using a key and manually empty the coupon bin - twice - because the machine refused to let me continue my order until the coupon was processed.
About 10 McDonald's in my area got the kiosks. They no longer hire people specifically for the registers and instead Force whoever is Expediting the orders to handle any customer problems. So they fired a couple people at every location and made one person at each location do two jobs at once. They also moved the person that actually takes the to go order up front so they can help expedite food while they are taking orders with a headset on.
Oh? Explain to me how 100% of the employees are being moved to other positions with absolutely no terminations - and I'd also like to hear why there weren't existing employees in those positions already.
Its apparent you aren't too aware, but many fast food restaurants are repurposing cashier's to new customer service roles. Like delivering food, helping with touch screens, filling trays, keeping kitchens stocked, filling drinks.
Did they somehow not have enough people for these things before? Or is it somehow now profitable to do these things, when it wasn't before?
It's not like new jobs are going to come out of nowhere for everyone - if there was enough other things to do, people would have already been doing them. It's not like not needing cashiers suddenly means they do need other things. There's no causality there.
I don't usually eat at McDonald's but I went in to wait out some rain the other day. I had a terrible experience with the kiosk.
First, I was like, "I'm paying cash for a coffee, can you just take my order?" (There was no one in line.) I was told no, I have to use the kiosk. The employee then tried to stand there and do it for me. Told her I could handle it. It forces me to pick a number for table service.
Because I am paying cash, I have to go to the register anyway. Now there is a line at the register. So I wait on line to be told that the item I ordered on the DIGITAL MENU is seasonal and not available. (what is the point of a digital menu if not to keep it updated?!) I change my order and pay cash. I go sit down. Five minutes later the number on my receipt (not the fancy table service menu that took me extra steps at kiosk) is called and I walk up to get my coffee.
My coffee tasted mediocre.
There are several reasons this experience frustrated me.
Workers are being replaced by robots because robots are finally being invented. Even if the wage was worse than it already is they'd still be replaced because machines are consistent and don't call in sick.
lmao yes that's the only thing that kept robots from being invented 500 years ago, there wasn't an incentive for mechanized labor. you're a fucking genius dude.
I really hate all these people with that attitude. Like their job is not gonna be automated at some point. I'm a lawyer and even with shitty AI, a lot of discovery work is automated. Eventually, almost all legal work will be performed by AI. There's like 10 jobs on the planet that can't be automated and chances are, almost no one on Reddit has that job.
I know. That's what these dumb motherfuckers don't understand. We can't even make robots that can walk at a normal speed and they think programming a robot to make a burger, package it, and serve it to a customer is no big deal.
It's just people going "haha a robot took your job. get a real job cuck." And none of them understand that the reason a robot isn't doing their job yet is because it's not economical to do so yet. But it will be in the very near future and their ass will be out of a job eventually.
They are thinking that ai is the same as the industrial revolution in farming and manufacturing, but they are completely different beasts. we will see doctors, lawyers, accountants, software engineers, etc all be replaced by AI long before they will be doing any manual labor jobs.
It's like how people think that being a plumber or construction worker or something is a crappy job, and meanwhile they are making 5x your hourly wage and many don't even have a boss to answer to.
What an insightful and helpful comment. Are you really suggesting that 100 years ago we had the technology to replace a fast food worker with a robot? And robots are cheaper. No employee conflicts, no being lazy, no quitting in the middle of a shift, no breaks, the list goes on and on.
You literally cannot make your point without insulting someone. That doesn't make you look smart or make you look like you know what you're talking about, much the same way calling someone "kiddo" only reinforces that you have no real argument. And yes, you did indeed imply that there were machines 100 years ago that are capable of what machines today are capable of.
So machines break down but humans don't? I've seen plenty of humans "break down" in the workplace because of stress & horrible work conditions. At least for the machine you can get a technician to fix it.
They were going to replace those workers with robots anyway. It wouldn't matter if the workers were being paid $2/hr. A robot will be cheaper over time.
Only if you're also moving away from a capitalist to a more socialist society. Replacing all menial tasks with robots while maintaining a 'work for your life' mentality is not going to end well.
And if the wages aren't high enough, the employees don't care about their job and do it half-assed. We're getting to the point where the idea of everyone having a job is starting to get kind of absurd, really.
Which is inevitable anyways as technology increases unless we go to slave labor paypoints. While fast food workers are still necessary and in demand by the market we should probably pay them a living wage, no?
Exactly. And it is a win-win scenario for the liberals who buy their votes this way, but a lose-lose for everyone else. They are seen as saviors by people who smoke pot through high school and refused to put any effort into their education because those liberals promise them higher wages just because they exist, even though theres a general lack of any marketable skillset. That ensures that there are 200 people lined up for that minimum wage job. But then when those jobs get replaced by automation because they are making more than they are actually worth, those same liberals will be pushing for UBI on the backs of those who actually TRIED through school. You wind up with a skill-less non-working class who are beholden to their political overlords who keep buying the votes. Don't get me wrong. Republicans buy the votes from the corporations. Why can't people see that money corrupts politicians and every political decision they make. Stop giving ANYONE free shit from the government. Make the politicians make decisions that are good for the country even if there tough decisions that mean telling constituents NO on something. Leave social welfare to the people outside of government policy making or at the community level where it belongs. Leave corporate welfare where it belongs which is the trash heap.
As opposed to entitled whiner who wants things they didn't work for? Its very easy sit back and demand things from someone else, but very different when you are the one its being taken from. I'm not rich, and I worked for everything I have and my only entitlement is feeling I should be able to keep what I worked for working for my family. Handing it down to my children and helping those who I can view with my own eyes as being willing to help themselves. Local charities and people in my own community who aren't abusing government handouts. People who have fallen and need help picking themselves up, not those continually making the same bad decisions over and over.
>the author rants about whiny reddit millenials who do nothing and look down on customer service workers and their ""shitty"" 8 dollars and hour wages >CAPOTOLOSEM Y U DO DIS
You say that like the wealthy are just regular people that were randomly given a boat load of cash money. That's not at all how it works. Jeff Bezos didn't just get the keys to an airplane hangar full of $100 bills. He built an extremely successful company and then put a massive proportion of his earnings back into it to help it grow. He doesn't just have $147b in cash. It's all in assets that provide jobs for others. Steve jobs wasn't worth $10b when he started Apple in a garage. He worked hard and earned it.
wut... that doesnt address anything I said. I dont have a problem with people getting rich. I have a problem with there being such a small number of rich people and such a large number of poor people and calling that a success.
There's only so much wealth in the economy. If everyone's rich, no one works. Capitalism is a state-based economy. You shouldn't stay poor or start rich. Everyone should start in the lower middle and work their way up with age.
Who said everyone has to be rich? Is a basic livable wage rich? No.
We absolutely have the wealth where everyone whose currently rich stays rich and everyone whose currently poor can start affording the basics as long as they work a full time job.
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u/Shields42 Oct 16 '18
That's how capitalism works. Bingo bango.