Grocery stores..................your jobs are next..........

[Skull Pilot]

So what kind of jobs are we going to get for the workers who are replaced by computers?

What kind of jobs did buggy whip maker get after buggy whips became obsolete?

It's called progress and technology has always created more and better jobs than those it made obsolete

This actually isn't true. Technology has always been a double edged sword, only these days it's sharper than the shapest Japanese knife and is slicing and dicing entire industries, as well as jobs. The internet in general is proving to be just as destructive as it is constructive, and right now clever entrepreneurs are harnessing its power to damn near decimate long standing competitors who couldn't be toppled until now.

I'm conflicted over news like this. How weird would it be to walk in and walk out of a grocery store with no employees? The future is going to be a very strange looking place. Seeing employees in places we're accustomed to will become as rare as unicorns, as the only jobs will exist behind computer screens -- until even those jobs are replaced by robots, that is.

Not all technological advances are "better," most just make things more convenient for our lazy, spoiled first world asses. And we're all gonna pay for it eventually.

The robot that replaced the auto worker created engineering, programming, installation and repair tech jobs all for the one guy it replaced

And the store will still have to have employees to stock shelves and provide basic upkeep of the property. You just won't have to wait in long lines at the register anymore and prices should go down since an army of cashiers will no longer be necessary.

And I don't have a problem not seeing employees in the grocery store
I know the time I save will be put to better use than waiting in line at a store

 

[Skull Pilot]

I absolutely refuse to use the self-service checkouts until I have no other option. Damn! I go to the store, look at the produce that's going bad or gone bad, search high and low for something I KNOW was in a certain place in the morning as I did shopping for my person who I'm taking care of and that same night go back to get the same thing for myself ... and it's been moved six or seven aisles over; look at empty or half empty holes on shelves because stock people aren't keeping tabs on what needs to be restocked, pay excessive prices for what I do get ... and then check the shit out myself?? Fruck no! A cashier can check the stuff out for me. Yes, I have to stand in line because only two out of 16 registers are open and a dozen people are standing in those two lines because the front end manager isn't doing their job. Most of the issues are due to poor management.

I leave the grocery store most of the time so damned mad that the steam going off me could cook all the food for me before I even get home.

then you should love this new innovation

No...I don't like all this innovative computerized stuff. I don't have a "mibble phone" ... I have a "mobile phone." I don't "RECord" messages, I "reCORD" messages. I'm not going to pay $2.99 a month to have a computer convert my voice mails into "computer speak" when I can hit *86 and listen to the actual voice (which MAY be a voice I really, really want to hear ). If the damned thing can't pronounce words correctly how the hell is it going to pick out really good produce for me? And after I have to run my ass ragged looking for stuff ... I should not have to run myself ragged scanning items for myself at checkout. Whatever happened to the concept of "service?"

You don't get much service at a grocery store. And there will still be employees there to stock the shelves and clean up the place and they can tell you the canned beets are in aisle 9.

This new innovation gets rid of cash registers altogether so you don't even have to scan anything yourself you just pick up an item and walk out then you get charged automatically for it

It's fantastic

 

[PredFan]

I like Shipt. I can order my groceries from the local Publix or my liquor from ABC, pay for it, and someone else will do the shopping for me and deliver it to my door.

This Amazon thing doesn't appeal to me as I would still have to physically go to the store. Shipt actually creates jobs.

Liquor....delivered....right to my fucking DOOR!

You sound like you have a lot of liquor delivered right to your fucking door.

You bet! Only the best stuff too. I don't drink the cheap stuff.

 

[Granny]

I absolutely refuse to use the self-service checkouts until I have no other option. Damn! I go to the store, look at the produce that's going bad or gone bad, search high and low for something I KNOW was in a certain place in the morning as I did shopping for my person who I'm taking care of and that same night go back to get the same thing for myself ... and it's been moved six or seven aisles over; look at empty or half empty holes on shelves because stock people aren't keeping tabs on what needs to be restocked, pay excessive prices for what I do get ... and then check the shit out myself?? Fruck no! A cashier can check the stuff out for me. Yes, I have to stand in line because only two out of 16 registers are open and a dozen people are standing in those two lines because the front end manager isn't doing their job. Most of the issues are due to poor management.

I leave the grocery store most of the time so damned mad that the steam going off me could cook all the food for me before I even get home.

then you should love this new innovation

No...I don't like all this innovative computerized stuff. I don't have a "mibble phone" ... I have a "mobile phone." I don't "RECord" messages, I "reCORD" messages. I'm not going to pay $2.99 a month to have a computer convert my voice mails into "computer speak" when I can hit *86 and listen to the actual voice (which MAY be a voice I really, really want to hear ). If the damned thing can't pronounce words correctly how the hell is it going to pick out really good produce for me? And after I have to run my ass ragged looking for stuff ... I should not have to run myself ragged scanning items for myself at checkout. Whatever happened to the concept of "service?"

You don't get much service at a grocery store. And there will still be employees there to stock the shelves and clean up the place and they can tell you the canned beets are in aisle 9.

This new innovation gets rid of cash registers altogether so you don't even have to scan anything yourself you just pick up an item and walk out then you get charged automatically for it

It's fantastic

It's fantastic for you perhaps - but not so fantastic for the people who lose their jobs and have families to support. Oh, that's right - we have Other People's Money to keep them clothed, sheltered and fed. I'm just not into all this technology - I've been on some fantastic technology programs (in fact, helped design one program way back in the earlier days). I'm retired - I don't need it anymore. I HATE pushing 200 different buttons trying to reach a human voice because some pre-programmed computer voice can't answer my question.

I'm just in a pissy, pissy mood right now because I got a 7:30 email telling me to report to work at 9:30 on a job that I made perfectly clear on Monday that I could not cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rightwinger]

Minimum wage has been frozen for eight years.....yet restaurants and groceries have moved to self serve as the technology becomes available

It is obviously not wage increases that are driving the change but advances in technology

Soon, all restaurants and stores will move to smart phone technology to place orders and make payments. The kid making $7.25 an hour is not the reason

 

[dannyboys]

^^^ Amen to that.

So what is the answer? Do we just keep people on jobs where they aren't necessary and computers do the job faster, cheaper and more accurately?

If people aren't there to do the work, what would happen should the computers not work the way that they should and that is if they don't completely quit on you all together?

God bless you two always!!!

Holly

Doesn't happen.
If any of these 'machines' fail, in any way there is an immediate message sent to a company that immediatley sends someone to repair/replace the 'machine'.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

^^^ But until the repair person shows up, what is done in the mean time?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[BuckToothMoron]

Well, it seems that technology is finally catching up to the place where computers are literally taking American jobs. Seems that Amazon has come up with a new tech where you scan your phone, walk into the grocery store, take what you want, and the app knows what you've gotten, based on tracking data.

Conceivably, they could have an entire grocery store that only needs 2 or 3 people for the entire place instead of the normal 50 to 100 jobs they would provide normally.

Amazon just opened a grocery store without a checkout line

Now, not only do you need to worry about jobs going overseas, but now you have to worry about service sector jobs being taken over by computers.

Yep, if the government continues to mandate to employers what they have to play employees, employers will figure out a way to keep maximizing profits. It's what they do.

 

[EverCurious]

If one's broken it just puts up an "out of order" screen I presume. In any fast food or grocery system there's going to be a lot more than one machine so it's a minor loss.

I just found out about Samsung Pay totally going to download that. I /hate/ carrying around cards.

 

[Skull Pilot]

^^^ But until the repair person shows up, what is done in the mean time?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

That's's easily fixed by a redundant server

 

[dannyboys]

^^^ But until the repair person shows up, what is done in the mean time?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

The repair person is only an hour or so away.
EVERY nationally known FF franchise has built-in contingency plans.
The 'walk-ins' are always stocked with enough product to get by for an hour or so.
You all need to understand that every one of these FF outlets have statistics based on the hour of the day/day of the year/current temperature/predicted hourly temperature/pay-days/and on and on and on.
They know almost to the fucking burger what is going to be ordered in the next couple of hours.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

^^^ Thank you for responding to me.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[Silhouette]

This automation crap may be even worse than outsourcing overseas. Eventually people in the 1% will have to sit down with pen and paper and figure out how they will sell products to a public who have no jobs or income besides welfare...as the 1% complain that "people need to get off welfare!".

I've met preschoolers with more of a grasp of basic economics and class systems than the 1% running the policies in this country... Canada, forward-thinking Canada, already has laws on the books that say a certain percentage of industry must be done by actual humans. We'd do well to follow their lead in this respect.

 

[rightwinger]

This automation crap may be even worse than outsourcing overseas. Eventually people in the 1% will have to sit down with pen and paper and figure out how they will sell products to a public who have no jobs or income besides welfare...as the 1% complain that "people need to get off welfare!".

I've met preschoolers with more of a grasp of basic economics and class systems than the 1% running the policies in this country... Canada, forward-thinking Canada, already has laws on the books that say a certain percentage of industry must be done by actual humans. We'd do well to follow their lead in this respect.

You can't legislate progress

 

[Silhouette]

You can't legislate progress

Canada did. You most certainly can. What the hell are our legislative bodies for if not to legislate progress?

 

[rightwinger]

You can't legislate progress

Canada did. You most certainly can. What the hell are our legislative bodies for if not to legislate progress?

Government should encourage progress not enforce laws to keep you in the dark ages....

 

[EvilCat Breath]

At one historical point the people had to sit down and figure out what the blacksmiths were going to do, and the buggywhip makers. The wagon makers, stage coach upholsterers, entire industries died.

Things have not gone so bad today. It's more like it was in the 30s to 50s. The bread truck came around. Then the milkman came. A produce truck came with fruits and vegetables.

Get down further to those that can remember the rag and bone man came. Bring out rags and kitchen bones. He would weigh your stuff and pay you money for your "recyclables". Our rag and bone man was an old black man. Rumor was, he had been collecting since he was a teenager.

Not much has changed.