Robots: The Growing Threat to the Service Industry
July 30th, 2015Via: Value Walk:
Soon McDonald’s and Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) will have no need for anyone to run a burger kiosk other than a 20-something with mad technology skills; everything from order entry to burger preparation and delivery will be automated (and faster and without the asinine errors that plague this low-education industry today).
Hotels will no longer need check-in clerks at the front desk. Starbucks won’t need baristas. Nursing homes won’t need nurses, or at least not so many nurses. Self-driving cars will do away with taxi (and Uber) drivers completely.
And if you think a few aggrieved taxi drivers blocking some roadways in Paris are a problem for lawmakers, just wait until vast swaths of the service industry are losing jobs in massive numbers to technology that increases productivity and profits.
Outrage is going to flow across the American economy … and lawmakers are going to react by banning technology applications in various instances. The bans won’t last, of course. Technology will win out, because technology companies have the cash to ultimately buy/sway lawmakers.
Nevertheless, it promises to be an ugly transition to a more robotic future…
Related: Seattle Hikes Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour
Self Driving Trucks Will Wipe Out Millions of Jobs
Manufacturing of Asus Graphics Cards Now 100% Automated
