Off Topic - Where Have All the Employees Gone?

Cap · 08-05-2018, 10:32 AM

To paraphrase an old Pete Seeger tune.....

I was in a Walmart today. Where there used to be 15 regular cashiers and lately four or five express cashiers there are now three regular cashiers and two banks of 8 self-serve cashes. All the middle-aged ladies making minimum wage working the cash registers are gone. This kind of thing is cropping up more and more. I said to a guy in front of me, "Well, they've got rid of all their nasty employees making next to nothing, next job is how to get rid of all these annoying customers and lift the money straight from their bank accounts."

The future is one or two huge warehouses the size of a city staffed by two or three service techs (paid next to nothing) and operated by AI. I hear Amazon's warehouse is like that already.

The irony is once AI is perfected, they won't need overpaid management either.

Cap

pilight · 08-05-2018, 11:16 AM

Automation is going to force some significant economic changes

hamed2 · 08-05-2018, 02:50 PM

Know what you mean Cap, the other day in Macy's I really had to look around to find a clerk to check me out. At McDonalds recently I saw they have a kiosk now to order too so you don't even have to talk to a person to order.

Cap · 08-06-2018, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamed2

Know what you mean Cap, the other day in Macy's I really had to look around to find a clerk to check me out. At McDonalds recently I saw they have a kiosk now to order too so you don't even have to talk to a person to order.

Middle-of-the-road Sears Canada went bankrupt. High-end Holt Renfrew, Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, etc moved in to replace them. My wife and I walked through them yesterday. There were way more staff than customers. No surprise when they seem to want to cater to people who never look at price tags.

As for McDonald's, they are moving towards minimal staff with everything automated. The trend towards full automation wherever possible is moving at rapid pace. No staff to complain about salary or hours or vacation. No staff to call in sick or work slower than dictated by H.O. big wigs. According to Silicon Valley brainiacs (interviewed by our Public Broadcaster) there will be all kinds of jobs as social media managers and tech supporters. For all those unable to retrain they propose a basic income. Enough to pay bills, buy food and have a roof over your head; and buy video games and hardware to keep you content. Drugs will likely be even more readily available to sedate the populace who have nothing to do to fill their hours.

Silicon Valley millionaires paint the future as a brilliant high-tech society where everything is plugged in and connected. It will be for people like the Koch brothers and the Saudi Royals and filthy rich despots in Africa and Asia. The vast majority of people will be less than serfs with no real purpose.

Crap! I've got to stop watching documentaries. The future could be a very dismal place if average folk stop exercising their right to vote.

Cap

hamed2 · 08-06-2018, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cap

Middle-of-the-road Sears Canada went bankrupt. High-end Holt Renfrew, Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, etc moved in to replace them. My wife and I walked through them yesterday. There were way more staff than customers. No surprise when they seem to want to cater to people who never look at price tags.

As for McDonald's, they are moving towards minimal staff with everything automated. The trend towards full automation wherever possible is moving at rapid pace. No staff to complain about salary or hours or vacation. No staff to call in sick or work slower than dictated by H.O. big wigs. According to Silicon Valley brainiacs (interviewed by our Public Broadcaster) there will be all kinds of jobs as social media managers and tech supporters. For all those unable to retrain they propose a basic income. Enough to pay bills, buy food and have a roof over your head; and buy video games and hardware to keep you content. Drugs will likely be even more readily available to sedate the populace who have nothing to do to fill their hours.

lol, you are not joking about Saks - I got some nice/unique gloves there half off years ago & they were still expensive. I saw these NFL t-shirts in there, nothing special & looked worn out - like they'd been washed a lot, $55 each.

The McDonald's was a newer one & they still had the live person clerk option but like you wrote, full automation (like in Sheets) appears on the way.

pilight · 08-06-2018, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cap

The vast majority of people will be less than serfs with no real purpose

Working for someone else is not a real purpose

zyberianwarrior · 08-07-2018, 08:57 PM

Mickey D's and the rest of the fast food places are demanding $15 an hour which they got in some states (and it is backfiring badly). So when the wages go up jobs get CUT plain and simple. Others get their hours cut badly so they do not make it that way either (and there is a helpful scam which if you work so many hours you can still get welfare) Wally Wold is also raising their wages and also cutting staff which is OBVIOUS with the increased self checkout machines

hamed2 · 08-08-2018, 09:01 AM

Know what you mean zyber, I saw that today at Walmart before work.

Cap · 08-08-2018, 01:05 PM

Last place I worked they were introducing a system called "Staffing to Volume". Company brings in staff solely dependant on how much work is available. People are summoned to work 4 hours or 8 if there is work, but you may work four hours from eight AM to noon, get sent home and recalled at 10PM for another four hours. Some were called in at 3AM to work three to five hours. No way of knowing when you're going to be called. Most of these folks were vulnerable new citizens happy to get any kind of job.

So when they tell you unemployment is low, you need to question what kind of jobs folks are taking. How many are minimum wage. How many are short hours. How many are contract with no benefits. How many are part time. I heard one clerk at a Walmart tell a customer they were only getting 12 hours a week.

Cap

bob_bask · 08-08-2018, 01:43 PM

That's called zero-hour contracts here in the UK.

hamed2 · 08-08-2018, 01:49 PM

Regarding unemployment, with more and more automation, we need fewer people. The internet is great where we can order whatever we want but employees who'd work in brick & mortar stores lose out because we don't actually need as many people.

IceTea · 08-09-2018, 12:37 AM

Capitalism is consuming itself. When people have nothing left to lose, they lose it.

08-05-2018, 10:32 AM	#1
Cap Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Large Province in God's Country Posts: 7,776 Blog Entries: 4	Off Topic - Where Have All the Employees Gone? To paraphrase an old Pete Seeger tune..... I was in a Walmart today. Where there used to be 15 regular cashiers and lately four or five express cashiers there are now three regular cashiers and two banks of 8 self-serve cashes. All the middle-aged ladies making minimum wage working the cash registers are gone. This kind of thing is cropping up more and more. I said to a guy in front of me, "Well, they've got rid of all their nasty employees making next to nothing, next job is how to get rid of all these annoying customers and lift the money straight from their bank accounts." The future is one or two huge warehouses the size of a city staffed by two or three service techs (paid next to nothing) and operated by AI. I hear Amazon's warehouse is like that already. The irony is once AI is perfected, they won't need overpaid management either. Cap __________________ "...There were Giants in Those Days.."

08-08-2018, 01:05 PM	#9
Cap Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Large Province in God's Country Posts: 7,776 Blog Entries: 4	Last place I worked they were introducing a system called "Staffing to Volume". Company brings in staff solely dependant on how much work is available. People are summoned to work 4 hours or 8 if there is work, but you may work four hours from eight AM to noon, get sent home and recalled at 10PM for another four hours. Some were called in at 3AM to work three to five hours. No way of knowing when you're going to be called. Most of these folks were vulnerable new citizens happy to get any kind of job. So when they tell you unemployment is low, you need to question what kind of jobs folks are taking. How many are minimum wage. How many are short hours. How many are contract with no benefits. How many are part time. I heard one clerk at a Walmart tell a customer they were only getting 12 hours a week. Cap __________________ "...There were Giants in Those Days.."

08-08-2018, 01:43 PM	#10
bob_bask Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 3,361	That's called zero-hour contracts here in the UK. __________________ "I occasionally agreed to carry an opponent, almost always in what is known as a tune-up fight. I never considered it morally wrong as long as I was winning the fight. I was never a killer, like some fighters. I never enjoyed knocking out a guy who I knew had no chance to beat me." Sugar Ray Robinson

08-09-2018, 12:37 AM	#12
IceTea Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Sherrill, NY Posts: 9,772	Capitalism is consuming itself. When people have nothing left to lose, they lose it. __________________ Don't worry, be happy! Women's Boxing Cyber Boxing Zone Philadelphia Boxing Boxrec Ross Boxing https://boxingjones.com/

08-05-2018, 11:16 AM	#2
pilight All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Where the Action is Posts: 1,779	Automation is going to force some significant economic changes

08-05-2018, 02:50 PM	#3
hamed2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3,090	Know what you mean Cap, the other day in Macy's I really had to look around to find a clerk to check me out. At McDonalds recently I saw they have a kiosk now to order too so you don't even have to talk to a person to order.

08-07-2018, 08:57 PM	#7
zyberianwarrior All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Columbia TN Posts: 1,461	Mickey D's and the rest of the fast food places are demanding $15 an hour which they got in some states (and it is backfiring badly). So when the wages go up jobs get CUT plain and simple. Others get their hours cut badly so they do not make it that way either (and there is a helpful scam which if you work so many hours you can still get welfare) Wally Wold is also raising their wages and also cutting staff which is OBVIOUS with the increased self checkout machines

08-08-2018, 09:01 AM	#8
hamed2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3,090	Know what you mean zyber, I saw that today at Walmart before work.

08-08-2018, 01:49 PM	#11
hamed2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3,090	Regarding unemployment, with more and more automation, we need fewer people. The internet is great where we can order whatever we want but employees who'd work in brick & mortar stores lose out because we don't actually need as many people.