5 ms·
Since service workers can no longer afford to live in SF, this seems necessary at some point. I say that fully tongue in cheek, but it is an interesting realit
by shostack 11y ago
Since service workers can no longer afford to live in SF, this seems necessary at some point.
I say that fully tongue in cheek, but it is an interesting reality to consider. If the labor market you are dependent on dries up because of housing and cost of living, and you can't afford to pay more to be competitive, you either go out of business or automate. This seems like a logical step for an industry with notoriously thin margins.
The sarcastic side of me wonders if they'll still prompt for a tip...
- dmix 11y agoThere are many places that are inexpensive along the BART line that can get downtown SF in 15-20min. This is the true for many expensive cities. SF is not the first major city to have an extremely expensive core area which the service workers commute to from surrounding burroughs.
- hkmurakami 11y agoSounds somewhat analogous to the case for manufacturing automation too. I hope to live till the day that the search for cheap labor culminates in Africa, and the age of maximal automation arrives.
- IndianAstronaut 11y agoThis is the basic economics behind any automation that has happened for the last 200 years.