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Robots, Your Job, and the Future

On Twitter, I often link to articles about how robots are replacing humans in various jobs. This isn't something I like talking about. It's terrible for those being replaced. But it is a fact, and that's why I do it.

We are in the early stages of a radical change in how companies provide services and produce or sell goods. It is scary for workers, but the change has started, and it's not going to stop, and if you can be replaced by a robot, you will be.

Those people protesting outside McDonald's headquarters in Chicago, wanting a $15/hour minimum wage and the right to unionize? They're organizing battles in a war they've already lost. McDonald's isn't going to give you $15/hour. McDonald's will just replace you with robots, and it's already working on it.

(Frankly, the Chicago protesters strike me as more of a union-thing, more union power, more mandatory union dues, etc. But unions will decline as their members are replaced by robots. Of course, in 2012, unions killed the Hostess company, causing the loss of 18,000 jobs.)

Or let's say you get states to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. Illinois or any state can force McDonald's to pay you $15/hour; but Illinois can't force McDonald's to keep unprofitable restaurants open. McDonald's can just close all of its restaurants in Illinois. How does that help you? You just went from $9.00/hour to no job.

Once rumblings started a few years ago about a $15/hour minimum wage for fast food workers, Wendy's said, okay, we're just going to develop self-ordering kiosks and get rid of as many human workers as we can. Wendy's is rolling them out this year.

The minimum wage for robots is $0.00/hour. Robots don't get overtime pay. Robots don't get sick, don't have babies, don't go out on FMLA leave. Robots don't take vacations. Robots don't unionize. Robots don't need medical insurance or a 401(k). The only costs are the initial building and implementing costs, and service/maintenance costs after that.

Companies like McDonald's and Wendy's, and pretty much every other company, only care about keeping costs down and maximizing profits for the owners of the company. That's how business works; that's why people create businesses, to make money, to make a profit for themselves.

Of course, as the consumer, you can always choose to buy food or products from companies that like using humans. (It feels strange writing that.) You will be paying more, but that will be your choice, provided those businesses survive.

So it's a scary time, but make no mistake, the change has started. I don't know what the future will look like, but workplaces will be much different than they are today. If you want a job in the future, it has to be a job that can't be replaced with a robot. Humans with computer, programming, coding, skills should be important, going forward, and that's what I tell my kids to study.

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