Benefits of automation and how it will affect standard laborer jobs

What are your thoughts on automation jobs coming more to the way companies operate their business? Do you see any pros/light of this decision or is it going to hurt the lower/middle class.

In the movie Logan you could see how a world with automation labor could show benefits

An example:

At one time horses were the primary choice in transportation, wars, mail delivery, etc. Once the automobile became standard, we didn't just get rid of all of our horses and they became extinct/useless.

Their use moved on to other things, jobs that weren't as demanding.  You could say horses live a much better lifestyle now vs back in the day

Lots of jobs are going away/will go away - cashiers, certain factory workers, bank tellers, etc... but there will always be those jobs that need humans. Not every job is going to be done by a robot.

I dont know how its going to balance itself out though. Things should be cheaper with robots making it, but how will people buy the stuff if they dont have the money because a robot took their job?

Been thinking about this lately. Currently paying someone $20/hr to do some packaging for me. It's easy, mindless work doing the same thing over and over but it's very time consuming.

I've looked into getting a machine to do the same thing but I don't have the money or space for it right now. Technology is def there though. It would be a smart, profitable move for the long term, but it's not feasible for operations right now.

Then you have to consider there's always going to need to be at least ONE person to run and do maintenance and basically be an SME on the machine. Since I only have one person doing the work now any way it's just easier to pay that person.

But still, part of me thinks it may be worth it to sink the money in the machine. As a small business, it's stuff like this that gives you the competitive edge and makes the competition null. Automation leads to economies of scale. Many small businesses never reach economies of scale because it wasn't in their plan or there's just too much competition from bigger companies.

Automation has tons of potential to help catapult small businesses into success but the startup costs are usually too high. On the flip side, it's nothing for big corps to automate everything possible, create huge manufacturing advantages and economies of scale, leaving small businesses in the dust. Then, the board members just wait a few years to see the investment pay off and realize those profits from their new advantage and gained market share.

Double edged sword for me. Automation lowers price of consumer goods. But what is the cost for society? As a small business owner the cost is high but I can't knock the hustle and I want all the goods that I consume outside of my industry to be affordable as possible. I just know every time something new is automated someone loses their job or a small business can no longer compete.

Suberzat1 said:

 
What are your thoughts on automation jobs coming more to the way companies operate their business? Do you see any pros/light of this decision or is it going to hurt the lower/middle class.

In the movie Logan you could see how a world with automation labor could show benefits

An example:

At one time horses were the primary choice in transportation, wars, mail delivery, etc. Once the automobile became standard, we didn't just get rid of all of our horses and they became extinct/useless.

Their use moved on to other things, jobs that weren't as demanding.  You could say horses live a much better lifestyle now vs back in the day

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Been warning NT about this for years.

And your example is not the same.

We are already having a hard time finding and training people now.

lf we continue putting people out of work and not relocating them into new jobs society will fall.

We've always made a place for low skill workers.

Hennessy said:

Been thinking about this lately. Currently paying someone $20/hr to do some packaging for me. It's easy, mindless work doing the same thing over and over but it's very time consuming.

Click to expand...

Why are you paying someone that much to pack?