And by “free up” they mean “fire”. This is why Amazon, Tesla, McDonald’s, Walmart, etc., are all pursuing automation. Payroll is a huge chunk of operating costs for businesses, so replacing workers with machines means more profits for the CEO and shareholders.
Automation is going to wipe out *millions* of jobs around the world. I look forward to the benefits of a robotic future, but we need to strengthen social safety nets and consider UBI to make sure those people don’t fall into poverty.
TBF Amazon’s warehouses have long been in the dystopian phase of “the warehouse control is fully automated but robots aren’t good enough to do the picking yet so we’ll just try and turn humans into meat robots” Go to aisle 3 box 7. BZZZZ TOO SLOW.
Aman4672 says
Wasn’t Amazon warehouse legit having staffing issues because they burned through all of their candidate pools in some areas?
I mean “poor amazon” and all that, more just thinking out loud.
mr_oof says
… so staff now have time for bathroom breaks, right?
…right?
lamatest1 says
I don’t get why this is oniony?
jayfeather31 says
Not exactly surprising. Robots don’t have to be paid and they can’t unionize. Seems exactly like the kind of thing Amazon would gun for.
brickyardjimmy says
Reminds me of Thor: Ragnarok when the Grand Master pardoned his cousin…from life.
shogi_x says
And by “free up” they mean “fire”. This is why Amazon, Tesla, McDonald’s, Walmart, etc., are all pursuing automation. Payroll is a huge chunk of operating costs for businesses, so replacing workers with machines means more profits for the CEO and shareholders.
Automation is going to wipe out *millions* of jobs around the world. I look forward to the benefits of a robotic future, but we need to strengthen social safety nets and consider UBI to make sure those people don’t fall into poverty.
shhhpark says
“Free themselves of”
Northwindlowlander says
TBF Amazon’s warehouses have long been in the dystopian phase of “the warehouse control is fully automated but robots aren’t good enough to do the picking yet so we’ll just try and turn humans into meat robots” Go to aisle 3 box 7. BZZZZ TOO SLOW.
sucobe says
Robots can’t unionize.
b_josh317 says
If you read antiwork and other forums, this is what they all want. Manual labor jobs fulfilled by robots so they don’t have to do them.
yourMommaKnow says
Yes, they’re doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. You know, so they can free up staff by showing them the door.