GarryP

Nice writeup on the consequences of automation, and the way robots are getting cheaper.

https://shift.newco.co/the-real-reas...826#.ooizfpnw2

GarryP

7000 Walmart accounting and invoicing jobs gone, thanks to automation of things like cash counting.

Walmart to cut 7,000 back-office accounting, invoicing jobs

Beoz

Accountants don't make money. The days of making money by saving pennies are over. Its all about exracting money from the consumer.

Hence as your article says.

The chain said workers will be transitioned into other roles that involve interacting with customers, though they may get pay cuts.

You should read a book called Consumption Economics.

Beoz

According to this article, truck drivers aren't leaving us just yet, and sadly, nor are accountants.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/5000-jobs/jobs-in-computers-join-traditional-roles-in-the-top-20-jobs-of-the-next-decade/news-story/937f9cdd9e301dab734b2ce8d1089bd8

GarryP

I actually wonder if shop retail can continue as is going forward. The assumption is you need a 'customer face' to make sales and win business.

However, when you go into a shop, how often do you want to talk to a salesman? In general they are something you are actively trying to avoid. They are generally less informed about the products than you are, aren't really needed for the sale itself, and a bloody annoying in trying to push things you don't want. Even in McDs you don't really want to talk to the spotty oik behind the till.

And they are expensive, even though they pay peanuts for the monkeys. Even at an hourly rate of $20, plus super, and the other employee costs if they only really facilitate one sale an hour -that means they end up a net negative for a heavily price concerned industry.

As per McD creating fully automated restaurants, between online ordering and conventional retail price pressures, I think the number of sales staff will fall significantly going forward.

And as for the government prediction of 2020 employment - how could Mr Jobs'n'growth actually allow the reality to be said? If the prediction were that there where less jobs in future, then like his failed NBN plan, it looks terrible doesn't it?

Politicians lie, it's easier than working.

Beoz

You describe the used car salesman. The days of the used car salesman are over. Salesman need to provide value to the customer. That can be in the form of advice, knowledge, someone to bounce ideas off. Once they can do that, they can start to shift product.

McD's are already automated.

How did the NBN come into that? Unemployment in Australia is declining. Did you not know?

GarryP

I'm describing shops. And as I said, they are useless for advice, knowledge, etc. They are, overall, a net negative to the sales experience. Seriously, when was the last time they added value to something you were buying?

Not yet, but they will be - we covered this before.

Nocookies | The Australian

Beoz

Supercheap Auto. I know sweet FA about car batteries. The sales guy there did. Added value.


As I said, the old model is dead. Its all about customer facing.

Already automated. Burgers are microwaved, ordering is done via a customer use terminal.

See. Unemployment is declining. Your graph demonstrates as such.

Isn't it funny how unemployment increased with Rudd Gillard Rudd then declined with Abbott Turnbull.

GarryP

And when I needed a battery I researched it online, which one had the cheapest price, then went there (which is why I went to Battery World rather than Supercheap, which isn't). They did add value in testing the old battery though - although I already knew it was dead, they just told me HOW dead it was.

Actually I'd say it's all about automation and smoothing the process for the customer. Customer facing doesn't need the human face - unless that can actually add value (usually it doesn't).

For instance, there is talk of stores where you don't queue up for a till - you walk out with the goods and it automatically associates the goods with you and bills your card.

I'm talking really automated.

New McDonald's In Phoenix Run Entirely By Robots - News Examiner - Examine Your World

Err, nope, it doesn't. I shows real unemployment levels being near record highs, over 11%.

Beoz

Unfortunately it wasn't as black and white as dead or alive. Long story. It needed a talk with someone quickly rather than endless internet searching about a specific issue that went well beyond the battery.

Isn't that exactly what I said?

We already have it. The finer detail of walking rather than stopping will do nothing to staff numbers with the current auto checkouts.

Its a no big deal item.

I liked this bit

Local Phoenix resident, 52-year-old Tom Downey, who has been unemployed for the last 3 years, was excited about the opening of a nearby McDonald’s until he heard about the robots.

“Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to get a burger job. Just the thought of having to go to the state unemployment office and stand in line with those scumbags!”

What a dead beat. He hasn't been flipping burgers for the last 3 years and still has the audacity to blame the bots.

The loony left strikes again.

Errrrrr .... No it doesn't, whether it be real or fake employment numbers, it shows unemployment has been declining since the Libs have been in power.

astera

I really don't get Walmart. Aren't they one of the biggest corporations on the planet in terms of market capitalisation, and yet some of their workers have been subsidised by... the gov't?!?!

knockoff nige

Not embarrassed to say that I watched that Michael Moore film about the GFC. Walmart were taking out life insurance policies on their staff. Not related to this thread but relevant to how terrible the likes of Walmart are. Companies just should not be allowed to get that big.

GarryP

Well it IS kind of related. Take the attitude of a company that would take out life insurance policies on their staff so they could profit off their deaths. Then take automation that could halve their number of workers. Does anyone seriously doubt what they will do the moment it's practical?

They will pay them so little that the state is effectively bailing them out on their wage bill, yet labour costs are their biggest expense (they have the third biggest employee numbers in the world after the US and chinese armies, 1.4m in the US) Anything that cuts numbers goes direct to the bottom line - thus they will do it, and throw staff out on the streets, in a heartbeat.

Beoz

So what. Do you really want to limit the amount of people a company can employ, or encourage companies to employ? Your call.

The shareholders own the company, not you, not the government. If governments want to build an employer like Walmart then they should go right ahead. Perhaps more armies.

They are probably part of your superannuation portfolio.

knockoff nige

Much better to have many more smaller companies across many industries in your super fund than large corporations that have an enormous hit on the economy when they fail or require a bailout.