View Full Version : Coming soon to a restaurant near you.
JohnO
09-20-2021, 05:16 PM
An employee who, never gets sick, can't get the COVID, doesn't show up late, doesn't take breaks, doesn't take drugs, can't show up drunk or drink on the job, doesn't talk back, doesn't take vacations, always is punctual and treats every customer exactly the same. Then even more benefits or should I say lack thereof, no payroll, no payroll taxes to pay, no health benefits and can be depreciated.
New London restaurant’s answer to staff shortages: robots
https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-london/new-london-restaurants-answer-to-staff-shortages-robots/
These robots are quite an investment. The ones which use a mapping system to find their way to your table start at about $18,000, and the ones that use a magnetic strip with a chip in it in front of the table to find the location cost between $6,000 and $8,000.
Is it really a big investment to replace a human if a robot can do the job?
Hahaha I wish I was there to watch. This is gonna be good. There needs to be a follow up interview in about 6 months.
Caballoflaco
09-20-2021, 05:52 PM
“What would you like to drink this evening? oh and have any of y’all seen this boy?
Balisong
09-20-2021, 05:56 PM
I don't see how they could screw up my order any more than every $15/hour McDonald's employee manages to.
peterb
09-20-2021, 06:04 PM
A lot of places have already eliminated the order-taking and payment human interactions with tablets and card readers at the table. This seems like a logical extension of that.
Technically, it doesn't seem overly complicated. You're asking the robot to move between fixed locations and stop if it doesn't have a clear path.
camel
09-20-2021, 06:07 PM
Like the robots that clean In stop and shop. Lol. It’s a world going to roombas.
Blades
09-20-2021, 06:17 PM
There have been robots working at the VA for a few years now. I'm not sure what they do but they will stop if you step in front of them.
Ichiban
09-20-2021, 06:47 PM
Should make the overall tab smaller too. I mean, who the hell is going to tip a robot?
LOKNLOD
09-20-2021, 07:01 PM
Should make the overall tab smaller too. I mean, who the hell is going to tip a robot?
If it fucks up my order, I'll tip it right over.
HeavyDuty
09-20-2021, 07:09 PM
https://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/styles/2480x1400_hero/public/wire/legacy/maxmain.jpg
DDTSGM
09-20-2021, 07:10 PM
Should make the overall tab smaller too. I mean, who the hell is going to tip a robot?
Yeah, it works that way so often - 'owners pass the savings on to you' - like when GM, Ford and Dodge replaced thousands of workers with robotic assembly. Car prices plummeted, not.
If it fucks up my order, I'll tip it right over.
What are you doing, Dave?
LOKNLOD
09-20-2021, 07:54 PM
What are you doing, Dave?
Don't order the cake.
The cake is a lie.
Jared
09-20-2021, 08:42 PM
This is absolutely coming. At my last employer, we had autonomous forklifts that were handling more and more of our material. I had a few with my old manager last Friday and he said the next major capital investment in the plant would be a fully automated warehouse.
The way the place is struggling to fill vacancies at this time, I doubt it would cause any layoffs, at least until they can automate a few more things.
We also discussed the possibility of me coming back in a different role than my last one. I’m...... intrigued.
cheby
09-20-2021, 08:50 PM
This is economics 101. You are not going to get higher min wages. You are going to get replaced by a kiosk or a robot.
idahojess
09-20-2021, 09:00 PM
77441
If they combine robot waiters with sex robots, it’ll be a very popular place to go…. :D
https://youtu.be/5pKczGG19uo
kwb377
09-20-2021, 09:20 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEU-Lf60LA
he said the next major capital investment in the plant would be a fully automated warehouse..
Amazon is presumably dumping huge amounts of time, money and effort into exactly this.
When they get the first one online they're going to destroy the concept of blue collar work. There are a bunch of moderately well-paying jobs that are being automated out of existence. People assume because robots didn't get rid of all humans at Ford/GM/etc that the whole "they just create new, different jobs" situation is the norm. They're going to be in for a rude awakening sooner than later.
Stephanie B
09-21-2021, 08:08 AM
Like the robots that clean In stop and shop. Lol. It’s a world going to roombas.
The robot in the Stop & Shop here just goes around paging "clean up on aisle seven". It doesn't do anything more than be a mobile Bitchin' Betty. The workers there pretty much tune it out.
Borderland
09-21-2021, 08:43 AM
What's to keep an online order to Amazon going directly to a warehouse robot that immediately boxes up your order, prints a shipping label, attaches it to a box that's 5x too big for the item and puts it in a shipping bin for pick up? Nothing except the cost of a robot and someone to program it.
Amazon is building a new warehouse here. I expect there will be some robots working there when it's up and running.
The fact is Amazon can't find enough people to work for $15/hr. Neither can the US Postal Service. My mail has gone from a 1:30 delivery to a 3:30 delivery. If it gets much later I'll be walking the 1000' to mail box in the dark this winter. The post office has signs out front that say they're hiring. Those signs have been there for months.
The work force is obviously shrinking because people just don't want to work for $15/hr. and have to be vaccinated. I'm not sure how they'll pay for rent and food, which keeps going up. Maybe they won't. The only alternative I can see is more unsheltered and hungry people digging through dumpsters.
Stephanie B
09-21-2021, 09:27 AM
Amazon is presumably dumping huge amounts of time, money and effort into exactly this.
When they get the first one online they're going to destroy the concept of blue collar work. There are a bunch of moderately well-paying jobs that are being automated out of existence. People assume because robots didn't get rid of all humans at Ford/GM/etc that the whole "they just create new, different jobs" situation is the norm. They're going to be in for a rude awakening sooner than later.
No kidding. The trucking industry is screaming that they need drivers. But, at the same time, they're not exactly silent about research into automated trucks. So why would someone want to train and go into an occupation that possibly won't exist in ten years? The major companies will automate and the ones that won't will be the sketchy operators hanging on until the axe falls.
No kidding. The trucking industry is screaming that they need drivers. But, at the same time, they're not exactly silent about research into automated trucks. So why would someone want to train and go into an occupation that possibly won't exist in ten years? The major companies will automate and the ones that won't will be the sketchy operators hanging on until the axe falls.
Probably because its good money now for a very brief training period. At graduation the trucking companies are present to hire on the spot.
Separately robotics in the work force have been around for a long time but keeping them running through multiple shifts takes a pretty thorough preventative maintenance program. These robots are stationary and only do one thing such as place parts or packaging. If a robot has to move to different locations and complete multiple task the complexity goes way up.
I have zero expectations that a company replacing minimum wage workers is going to adequately support any robot that they have.
BehindBlueI's
09-21-2021, 11:02 AM
If you haven't read Vonnegut's "Player Piano", I recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/Player-Piano-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/0385333781
We'll eventually get there. Automation will displace so much of human labor there will be very few jobs that vast swathes of the population can do. You can blame it on wages if you want, but tech gets cheaper and you won't compete against robots on cost long term any more than you can compete with 3rd world labor on cost long term.
Jared
09-21-2021, 12:07 PM
What's to keep an online order to Amazon going directly to a warehouse robot that immediately boxes up your order, prints a shipping label, attaches it to a box that's 5x too big for the item and puts it in a shipping bin for pick up? Nothing except the cost of a robot and someone to program it.
Amazon is building a new warehouse here. I expect there will be some robots working there when it's up and running.
The fact is Amazon can't find enough people to work for $15/hr. Neither can the US Postal Service. My mail has gone from a 1:30 delivery to a 3:30 delivery. If it gets much later I'll be walking the 1000' to mail box in the dark this winter. The post office has signs out front that say they're hiring. Those signs have been there for months.
The work force is obviously shrinking because people just don't want to work for $15/hr. and have to be vaccinated. I'm not sure how they'll pay for rent and food, which keeps going up. Maybe they won't. The only alternative I can see is more unsheltered and hungry people digging through dumpsters.
My old employer can’t hardly keep people for $20 an hour. The technician job, the people that fix all that automation when it breaks, pay 30+. With full benefits: health, dental, vision, 401k with company match, life insurance, the whole bit for production workers and techs. They still can’t keep people. And this is in an area with very few places that pay well to work at. I honestly don’t know what the deal is. There’s aspects of it that suck, but considering the area, it’s a solid deal. Hell, the real reason I left was to move.
cheby
09-21-2021, 01:06 PM
My old employer can’t hardly keep people for $20 an hour. The technician job, the people that fix all that automation when it breaks, pay 30+. With full benefits: health, dental, vision, 401k with company match, life insurance, the whole bit for production workers and techs. They still can’t keep people. And this is in an area with very few places that pay well to work at. I honestly don’t know what the deal is. There’s aspects of it that suck, but considering the area, it’s a solid deal. Hell, the real reason I left was to move.
The labor market is a market. It's hard to compete with the government which is the largest employer in pretty much every state.
Borderland
09-21-2021, 03:50 PM
A lot of places have already eliminated the order-taking and payment human interactions with tablets and card readers at the table. This seems like a logical extension of that.
Technically, it doesn't seem overly complicated. You're asking the robot to move between fixed locations and stop if it doesn't have a clear path.
Either that or you just pick up your order yourself.
Darth_Uno
09-21-2021, 06:40 PM
What's to keep an online order to Amazon going directly to a warehouse robot that immediately boxes up your order, prints a shipping label, attaches it to a box that's 5x too big for the item and puts it in a shipping bin for pick up? Nothing except the cost of a robot and someone to program it.
Amazon is building a new warehouse here. I expect there will be some robots working there when it's up and running.
The fact is Amazon can't find enough people to work for $15/hr. Neither can the US Postal Service. My mail has gone from a 1:30 delivery to a 3:30 delivery. If it gets much later I'll be walking the 1000' to mail box in the dark this winter. The post office has signs out front that say they're hiring. Those signs have been there for months.
The work force is obviously shrinking because people just don't want to work for $15/hr. and have to be vaccinated. I'm not sure how they'll pay for rent and food, which keeps going up. Maybe they won't. The only alternative I can see is more unsheltered and hungry people digging through dumpsters.
Despite giving raises in January (the guys expect that) and June (unexpected), we just gave $1/hr raises across the board again last week. And accordingly, we will raise all future quotes to our customers. Just costs that much to keep good employees now.
Just a few years ago I was starting guys at $10/hr. That jumped to $12, to $13, to $15 pretty quickly. I don't have any entry level guys at this point, but other crews are telling me nobody is answering their ads. Framers who know nothing are getting $20/hr just to show up and run a nail gun.
When they get the first one online they're going to destroy the concept of blue collar work.
Not to worry- the government (ie the tax payer) will just pay everyone to stay home and do nothing, except maybe have a few more kids to support.
Borderland
09-22-2021, 09:37 AM
Despite giving raises in January (the guys expect that) and June (unexpected), we just gave $1/hr raises across the board again last week. And accordingly, we will raise all future quotes to our customers. Just costs that much to keep good employees now.
Just a few years ago I was starting guys at $10/hr. That jumped to $12, to $13, to $15 pretty quickly. I don't have any entry level guys at this point, but other crews are telling me nobody is answering their ads. Framers who know nothing are getting $20/hr just to show up and run a nail gun.
I wouldn't want to be in the residential construction business right now. Actually, I can't think of any I would want to be in right now. Everyone is having a tough go of it, especially restaurants.
New residential construction around here has been effectively slowed to a trickle by zoning and permitting. That was before covid. We have a 7.5 acre wooded parcel north of us that is zoned R5. That basically means one residence per 5 acres or only one on that parcel. The property is worth about 1M. Someone may want that for a house but the market will be limited to a wealthy buyer. This just isn't your typical multi million dollar neighborhood. No trailers here but there are a few modulars.
I think a developer here would have to have a substantial amount of money tied up a parcel of land for 3-4 years before any building permits are issued. Mostly it would have to be rezoned.
The labor market is a market. It's hard to compete with the government which is the largest employer in pretty much every state.
Total employment numbers don't seem to jibe with the notion that the government is somehow distorting the labor market by swallowing up all the workers.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_09032021.pdf
https://i.imgur.com/01urfm9.png
Some industries are simply losing workers to other industries. From the report above:
Employment in retail trade declined by 29,000 in August, with losses in food and beverage stores (-23,000) and in building material and garden supply stores (-13,000). Retail trade employment is down by 285,000 since February 2020.
In August, employment in leisure and hospitality was unchanged, after increasing by an average of
350,000 per month over the prior 6 months. In August, a job gain in arts, entertainment, and recreation
(+36,000) was more than offset by a loss in food services and drinking places (-42,000). Employment in
leisure and hospitality is down by 1.7 million, or 10.0 percent, since February 2020.
"Transportation and warehousing" and "education and health services" showed the biggest gains. Private education had a bump that offset the losses in public education.
People are simply leaving jobs you engage with (e.g. restaurants) for other private industry jobs where you don't see them. Mostly because they pay better and you don't have to interact with the general public.
The only way to woo them back is going to be saying something like "If someone tries to take the mask off your face or shoves you then you are allowed to take this blackjack and beat them senseless with no legal repercussions." Hell. For that I'd consider leaving tech and going back into retail. But certainly not for anything less. I'd imagine that opinion is shared pretty widely.
rob_s
09-22-2021, 03:15 PM
I've been to Yard House twice in the past week after having not been in at least a year (not a COVID thing, just not generally a fan).
They now have tablets on the tables. I was hoping it meant I could order through the tablet instead of the human, which appears to be the intent but also appears not to be working or they have it disabled or something.
I would greatly prefer that method of ordering food. Seems like a "no brainer" to me.
it did allow for the tablet as the means of payment, which was a very good experience, overall.
Seems a far less expensive option than "robots".
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