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They are rolling out touch screen ordering for our local macdonalds. I don't think they fire anyone, but throughput is higher (so I guess that is one or two les

They are rolling out touch screen ordering for our local macdonalds. I don't think they fire anyone, but throughput is higher (so I guess that is one or two less jobs per customer served)

vkou 10y ago
They've rolled out touch screen grocery checkout... Pretty much everywhere over the last decade. My local QFC used to employ a dozen cashiers - now, they employ 4. What jobs have been created by this automation? This certainly didn't create 8 (times the # of stores) jobs for software engineers - otherwise, this wouldn't have been profitable for QFC. Does anyone seriously think that those 8 people went on to do work that paid better, or was more valuable then putting groceries into plastic bags? If so, why haven't they done that before they were put out of work by a machine? Do engineers not see a connection between this, and the fact that they get to step over human excrement on their way to work?
- serge2k 10y ago
  I hate those self checkout machines. They are slow and constantly try to error out and alert a human to help me. I'm capable of bagging groceries, just let me do it. still, there is rarely a line.
  - jdmichal 10y ago
    I have a special hatred for self-checkout machines that attempt to monitor your bagging without an escape mechanism. Let loss prevention do their damn job and let me give you my money already. At least I can still vote with my feet and always go to a cashier in these places. Someday I probably won't be able to.
    - vkou 10y ago
      That sounds like hell. A buggy machine talking down to me hits quite a few of my buttons, but at least it doesn't interrupt my checkout process when it thinks I'm stealing groceries. (And given how often the alarm goes off, the loss prevention guys just ignore it.)
    - unclenoriega 10y ago
      There was a Planet Money segment about these. (I think it was Planet Money.) Apparently, there's a setting on these machines for the balance between convenience and loss prevention. It's up to the stores to set it where they want.
  - megablast 10y ago
    They are incredibly simple to use if you follow the 3 instructions. But hey, people can't even signal when turning reliable, of course a lot of people are going to have problems with these machines.
    - tossedaway334 10y ago
      WORKS4ME, bug report marked CLOSED
    - vkou 10y ago
      I assure you, I can reliably signal turn. I also assure you that any time an item fails to scan on the first swipe, it accuses me of being either an idiot, or a thief.
      - Ygg2 10y ago
        Really? Mine just say scan and put item in bag. You have some might fine AI machines ;)
    - slededit 10y ago
      As a former cashier I can certainly bag and scan efficiently. I actually like the machines because it reminds me - but they do get in the way. I'm maybe a quarter as efficient on them as I was on a proper register.
- monk_e_boy 10y ago
  > What jobs have been created by this automation? HackerNews is read by a very weird set of people. All highly motivated and smart. Now, I've worked in a lot of small companies with people who are fairly smart but have no realy desire to win at work (or get promoted) they just want to turn up, do the work and go home. Home is time for family, hobbies, pub, etc. I've noticed that simple web apps replace people. Excel or an access database, some scripts and someones job is suddenly much easier. People move on, or get demoted to part time, or some small pay cut (or years without a pay rise) and eventually leave. These are usually the 18 - 25 year olds, employed to help out accounts or a manager or as a secretary while the PA is busy. These are the people that I don't see around so much these days. The gossips, the ones who remember your kids names, who have time for a chat. Who organise a night down the pub where the whole team bonds. They are the glue and the social oil that makes the machine move smoothly. But they don't seem to get hired these days. Who needs them to print out a thousand letters and put them in envelopes? gmail will do that. Who needs them to find that document filed away in the back office? Or to go to the other office on the other side of town to find that blueprint? Automation does kill jobs. For good and for bad. Life goes on.

They are rolling out touch screen ordering for our local macdonalds. I don't think they fire anyone, but throughput is higher (so I guess that is one or two less jobs per customer served)

vkou 10y ago

They've rolled out touch screen grocery checkout... Pretty much everywhere over the last decade. My local QFC used to employ a dozen cashiers - now, they employ 4. What jobs have been created by this automation? This certainly didn't create 8 (times the # of stores) jobs for software engineers - otherwise, this wouldn't have been profitable for QFC. Does anyone seriously think that those 8 people went on to do work that paid better, or was more valuable then putting groceries into plastic bags? If so, why haven't they done that before they were put out of work by a machine? Do engineers not see a connection between this, and the fact that they get to step over human excrement on their way to work?

serge2k 10y ago
I hate those self checkout machines. They are slow and constantly try to error out and alert a human to help me. I'm capable of bagging groceries, just let me do it. still, there is rarely a line.
- jdmichal 10y ago
  I have a special hatred for self-checkout machines that attempt to monitor your bagging without an escape mechanism. Let loss prevention do their damn job and let me give you my money already. At least I can still vote with my feet and always go to a cashier in these places. Someday I probably won't be able to.
  - vkou 10y ago
    That sounds like hell. A buggy machine talking down to me hits quite a few of my buttons, but at least it doesn't interrupt my checkout process when it thinks I'm stealing groceries. (And given how often the alarm goes off, the loss prevention guys just ignore it.)
  - unclenoriega 10y ago
    There was a Planet Money segment about these. (I think it was Planet Money.) Apparently, there's a setting on these machines for the balance between convenience and loss prevention. It's up to the stores to set it where they want.
- megablast 10y ago
  They are incredibly simple to use if you follow the 3 instructions. But hey, people can't even signal when turning reliable, of course a lot of people are going to have problems with these machines.
  - tossedaway334 10y ago
    WORKS4ME, bug report marked CLOSED
  - vkou 10y ago
    I assure you, I can reliably signal turn. I also assure you that any time an item fails to scan on the first swipe, it accuses me of being either an idiot, or a thief.
    - Ygg2 10y ago
      Really? Mine just say scan and put item in bag. You have some might fine AI machines ;)
  - slededit 10y ago
    As a former cashier I can certainly bag and scan efficiently. I actually like the machines because it reminds me - but they do get in the way. I'm maybe a quarter as efficient on them as I was on a proper register.
monk_e_boy 10y ago
> What jobs have been created by this automation? HackerNews is read by a very weird set of people. All highly motivated and smart. Now, I've worked in a lot of small companies with people who are fairly smart but have no realy desire to win at work (or get promoted) they just want to turn up, do the work and go home. Home is time for family, hobbies, pub, etc. I've noticed that simple web apps replace people. Excel or an access database, some scripts and someones job is suddenly much easier. People move on, or get demoted to part time, or some small pay cut (or years without a pay rise) and eventually leave. These are usually the 18 - 25 year olds, employed to help out accounts or a manager or as a secretary while the PA is busy. These are the people that I don't see around so much these days. The gossips, the ones who remember your kids names, who have time for a chat. Who organise a night down the pub where the whole team bonds. They are the glue and the social oil that makes the machine move smoothly. But they don't seem to get hired these days. Who needs them to print out a thousand letters and put them in envelopes? gmail will do that. Who needs them to find that document filed away in the back office? Or to go to the other office on the other side of town to find that blueprint? Automation does kill jobs. For good and for bad. Life goes on.