4 ms·

not likely, Amazon is building something to _replace_ meatbag workers, why would they want to invest in meat?

by rasz_pl 11y ago

hiddencost 11y ago
They're replacing some "meatbags", in the next decade. And they only add Kiva to new warehouses, they haven't been retrofitting. So they'll have "meatbags" for a while. If they can build a compelling warehouse assistant HUD they'll then sell it to others and then expand into larger markets like everything else they do? If they can get something compelling for 5 years that saves 10% on labor, that's billions of dollars and established expertise in a major market.
- exhilaration 11y ago
  > ...they'll then sell it to others... But they didn't do that with Kiva, they stopped selling those awesome warehouse robots the minute they bought the company.
- rasz_pl 11y ago
  retroffiting probably wouldnt work due to layoffs compensation, severance package etc. Instead they will shut whole warehouses and replace them with cheaper ones. They already did that in Europe (moved from Germany to Poland)
MBlume 11y ago
Um. As a programmer I am in the job-destruction business. I think a society with fewer jobs and more automation can be a better society for everyone provided we simultaneously shift in the direction of more of a social safety net for the unemployed and hopefully a UBI. But right now a lot of people are very frightened by that job destruction and they're not totally wrong to be. It is causing a lot of short-term suffering, and a lot of people blame us. Let's not start calling the people we unemploy "meatbags", ok?
- icebraining 11y ago
  Maybe we can also get Clooney to fire them. Sorry, I mean give them an early retirement opportunity.
- rasz_pl 11y ago
  Thats what we are from robots perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvVVCr_6P8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvVVCr_6P8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o
potatolicious 11y ago
Ignoring the tone-deafness of "meatbag", human workers will continue to be part of Amazon's systems for a long time to come, so it makes sense to develop things for humans. Robots are - and will continue to be in the foreseeable future - massively expensive, require long lead times, and slow to scale. In the current state of the US economy I can hire several thousand humans to do a job practically overnight, while buying/renting several thousand industrial robots requires both considerably more money and time. Amazon's business is highly seasonal, which naturally favors options with low initial cost but high marginal cost (humans) rather than high initial cost and low marginal cost (robot). Near-total replacement of a high-variance business process with robots is likely impractical and will continue to be for a long time.
- rasz_pl 11y ago
  ugh, meatbag is a pop culture reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMnimTvt3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMnimTvt3M

not likely, Amazon is building something to _replace_ meatbag workers, why would they want to invest in meat?

by rasz_pl 11y ago

not likely, Amazon is building something to _replace_ meatbag workers, why would they want to invest in meat?

They're replacing some "meatbags", in the next decade. And they only add Kiva to new warehouses, they haven't been retrofitting. So they'll have "meatbags" for a while. If they can build a compelling warehouse assistant HUD they'll then sell it to others and then expand into larger markets like everything else they do? If they can get something compelling for 5 years that saves 10% on labor, that's billions of dollars and established expertise in a major market.

exhilaration 11y ago
> ...they'll then sell it to others... But they didn't do that with Kiva, they stopped selling those awesome warehouse robots the minute they bought the company.
rasz_pl 11y ago
retroffiting probably wouldnt work due to layoffs compensation, severance package etc. Instead they will shut whole warehouses and replace them with cheaper ones. They already did that in Europe (moved from Germany to Poland)

MBlume 11y ago

Um. As a programmer I am in the job-destruction business. I think a society with fewer jobs and more automation can be a better society for everyone provided we simultaneously shift in the direction of more of a social safety net for the unemployed and hopefully a UBI. But right now a lot of people are very frightened by that job destruction and they're not totally wrong to be. It is causing a lot of short-term suffering, and a lot of people blame us. Let's not start calling the people we unemploy "meatbags", ok?

icebraining 11y ago
Maybe we can also get Clooney to fire them. Sorry, I mean give them an early retirement opportunity.
rasz_pl 11y ago
Thats what we are from robots perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvVVCr_6P8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvVVCr_6P8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o

potatolicious 11y ago

Ignoring the tone-deafness of "meatbag", human workers will continue to be part of Amazon's systems for a long time to come, so it makes sense to develop things for humans. Robots are - and will continue to be in the foreseeable future - massively expensive, require long lead times, and slow to scale. In the current state of the US economy I can hire several thousand humans to do a job practically overnight, while buying/renting several thousand industrial robots requires both considerably more money and time. Amazon's business is highly seasonal, which naturally favors options with low initial cost but high marginal cost (humans) rather than high initial cost and low marginal cost (robot). Near-total replacement of a high-variance business process with robots is likely impractical and will continue to be for a long time.

rasz_pl 11y ago
ugh, meatbag is a pop culture reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-1ry9zMi4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMnimTvt3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMnimTvt3M