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Thread: Coming soon to a restaurant near you.

  1. #21
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    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.
    Last edited by Borderland; 09-21-2021 at 09:03 AM.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  2. #22
    Revolvers Revolvers 1911s Stephanie B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jh9 View Post
    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.
    If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Stephanie B View Post
    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.
    I'll wager you a PF dollar™ 😎
    The lunatics are running the asylum

  4. #24
    Modding this sack of shit BehindBlueI's's Avatar
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    If you haven't read Vonnegut's "Player Piano", I recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/Player-Piano-.../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.
    Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Borderland View Post
    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.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jared View Post
    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.

  7. #27
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    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.
    Last edited by Borderland; 09-21-2021 at 04:20 PM.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  8. #28
    Gucci gear, Walmart skill Darth_Uno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Borderland View Post
    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.

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by jh9 View Post
    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.
    Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

  10. #30
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Darth_Uno View Post
    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.
    Last edited by Borderland; 09-22-2021 at 09:43 AM.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

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