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Just used a robot to mail a parcel at the post office. Automatically weighs and sizes the item, takes payment, prints a label, and accepts parcel drop off. A h

Just used a robot to mail a parcel at the post office. Automatically weighs and sizes the item, takes payment, prints a label, and accepts parcel drop off. A happy employee came to check if I needed any help with the new technology. Knowing the robot I just interacted with was going to replace their employment was sobering. I couldn't figure out what to say. The robots are coming to services.

YZF 10y ago
Many years later the self-checkout machines at Home Depot still have employees supervising them so not everyone is replaced. There are also still regular checkout lines. Possibly without automation the post office would lose business to FedEx. Maybe lower costs would increase business and add more jobs somewhere else in the pipeline. This isn't a zero sum game.
- abandonliberty 10y ago
  Funny that you would say that considering that the OP argues that it's a negative sum game, both for unemployment and earnings.
thinkloop 10y ago
Prices have little to do with costs. The iphone, for example, costs $800 every year because this is the optimal price to sell a premium phone at. They build the phone to be $800, not the other way around. If costs go down in a way that the competition can't replicate, that becomes more profit for apple, not a lower price. If automation reduces costs industry-wide, companies will often/likely add more features and services (i.e. better chip in the iphone) to compete at that optimal price that they previously discovered.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  This isn't quite correct - the iPhone slips down a rung after a year and becomes less expensive. Same phone lower price. Sure, the top tier gets refilled, but it isn't the same item.
- Super_Jambo 10y ago
  This is because apple have carved a non-market niche out for themselves in phones as status symbols. They protect this with a big advertising budget more than really necessary for most users spent on development and when all else fails design patent lawsuit. Most markets are not this dysfunctional, if you have decent competition and new technology reduces the cost to provide the goods / service then either the price goes down or you discover you have a dysfunctional market.

YZF 10y ago

Many years later the self-checkout machines at Home Depot still have employees supervising them so not everyone is replaced. There are also still regular checkout lines. Possibly without automation the post office would lose business to FedEx. Maybe lower costs would increase business and add more jobs somewhere else in the pipeline. This isn't a zero sum game.

abandonliberty 10y ago
Funny that you would say that considering that the OP argues that it's a negative sum game, both for unemployment and earnings.

thinkloop 10y ago

Prices have little to do with costs. The iphone, for example, costs $800 every year because this is the optimal price to sell a premium phone at. They build the phone to be $800, not the other way around. If costs go down in a way that the competition can't replicate, that becomes more profit for apple, not a lower price. If automation reduces costs industry-wide, companies will often/likely add more features and services (i.e. better chip in the iphone) to compete at that optimal price that they previously discovered.

lostlogin 10y ago
This isn't quite correct - the iPhone slips down a rung after a year and becomes less expensive. Same phone lower price. Sure, the top tier gets refilled, but it isn't the same item.
Super_Jambo 10y ago
This is because apple have carved a non-market niche out for themselves in phones as status symbols. They protect this with a big advertising budget more than really necessary for most users spent on development and when all else fails design patent lawsuit. Most markets are not this dysfunctional, if you have decent competition and new technology reduces the cost to provide the goods / service then either the price goes down or you discover you have a dysfunctional market.