Just remember all the gloating you did about this a few years from now, when a ■■■■■■■ algorithm takes your middle management or IT job.
1 Like
Don’t use EMTs as your stalking horse. EMTs are paid a disgracefully low wage. As an ex EMT and medic, all I hear is, “How can we justify paying them this ridiculously low money to save lives if it’s exposed how little it actually is?”
Cynic
43
Anyone who is paying attention understands that vast swaths of jobs will be lost to automation and computers within 20 years. Honestly, management, highly skilled labor, and service will be all that is left. Capitalism is in danger, especially as populations are not going to stop increasing anytime soon.
I am an engineer, and you would think that might be safe, but could see 1/2 of my employees positions replaced simply by computers (data entry, modeling, design, etc…). One of the biggest issues I deal with is human error, the amount of time we spend QC’ing because of it, not to mention how slow humans are at something as simple as data entry, just makes it so painfully obvious.
You say that as if the majority do so purely by choice and not to pay for things. I know if I got paid the same or more to stay at home my happy ass wouldn’t keep showing up for my 12 hour job.
JayJay
45
We figure out what to do next and adapt.
There might be more time to go fishing.
Oryx
47
If we could eliminate or reduce the minimum wage, the coming automation revolution would never happen. Right?
Drs
48
Actually hearing right wingers complain about the wages EMTs police or fireman make is funny when they are the folks who push cuts in government spending and tax cuts.
Yes on a quiet night they may make good money not doing alot but when they are called it can be a real bad job.
Yep…they minimum waged themselves right out of jobs. Way to go $15 an hour movement. better make your money while you can. Less than two years left til cashiers are a thing of the past at Micky D’s! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Political instability, Revolution, civil conflict.
Once society literally becomes haves and have nots for essentials (food, processed water, clothes, etc.) 1917 Russia will repeat itself with even more violence.
The only way it can be avoided is a national income of some kind.
They don’t customize orders very well, however. I couldn’t order my Chicken McGriddle on one, and had to order it at the counter from a person.
And have you ever been through the self-checkout at Wal-Mart when 90-year old granny is trying to figure out where the barcode is on each and every item in a large cart? REALLY slows down the check out. It’s going to be similar at these kiosks. They’ll work well for slow-traffic parts of the day, but when the breakfast rush hits, or a team from out of town comes in to grab a bite on the road, or church youth group stops by on the way to camp…those kiosks aren’t going to be super efficient.
I think it’s going to be a long time before self-serve makes a major impact on service industry jobs.
Groceries have had self-checkouts for years, but there’s never a shortage of cashiers around, especially during holidays, back to school time, etc.
We’re already well on our way there. The middle class for the most part wouldn’t have a lot of the things they do without debt.
republican forms of government will also be in grave danger. A republic only works if the people aren’t starving.
Cynic
54
Shame on people wanting to live in the city they work.
Like Tommy, I too am a former EMT. I worked for a private agency. Your focus on cutting of government spending and tax cuts is nonsensical.
The only thing that tells me is that you dont like your job, if you did like it you’d show up for work.
when I retire from the job that I dont like and start doing a job I like. I will gladly show up.
if you like you job you dont care.
Allan
Come on Cynic, I don’t begrudge anyone anything. But it’s pure economics. You have a McDonalds where everyone is making say 8.50 an hour…and then you increase that to 15.00 an hour If my math is correct that is a 43% increase. So you either have to make up for that with an appropriate decrease in your workforce, or an increase in the cost to consumer of your goods and services. This now means that a Big Mac value meal now costs 10.55 instead of the 7.38 I last paid for one three weeks ago.
Now that means that I’m not going to keep going to McDonald’s because now I can’t afford to eat their 10.50 VALUE meal… It is actually cheaper for me to buy my own burgers and grill them and make them myself to put in a lunch to take to work. Unless my employer raises my wage by 43 percent as well to adjust for the 43% increase in my big mac value meal.
I mean I am all for people making a living…but as the OP title says. McDonalds was never the place for people to make a living at. So don’t force it to support people in that manner.
Shaming me is not going to get you anywhere. Facts and economics predicted that this is what would happen. McDonalds is only doing what any business should be doing. Staying in business
Drs
59
The fact that you worked for a private company demonstrated what I was saying about cost cutting. Privatization of public services is done as an accounting gimmick for governments to say that they are cutting costs.
Drs
60
Again a failure to see the whole picture. You are assuming your burger goes the same percentage as the raise.
But as I have stated here before more people more money have more disposable income are buying more increasing demand and the cost per burger goes down per unit.
Fast food is a volume business all these kiosks and apps do is provide the consumer more chances to speed up their service. Most consumers lower cost per unit.
