# What does a high minimum wage future look like



## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Here is a taste--a restaurant without any front-end staff. Of course, even without an increase in the minimum wage, these kinds of businesses will come about. It just may take longer.

http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/18536/will-automation-lead-to-server-less-restaurants


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

I think some front end staff would still be necessary to make sure everything runs smoothly... sort of like how supermarkets have someone managing the self-checkouts.

But yes, some people will lose jobs, but other people will be hired to maintain the machines. Of course, the end result will be fewer low skilled jobs... continuing the trend of the last 50 years or so.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

It reminds me of cafeteria style restaurants back in the 1960s.

They had people employed to clear away the dishes, clean the tables and keep the hookers and druggies out.

The food generally sucked though............

There are already lots of restaurants around where you order at the counter and pick up your own meals and take them back to a table.

Nothing new here............except for ordering it on a electronic device instead of just telling them what you want.

_I would like to order a hamburger. 

*Sorry I can't take your order. You have to enter it into the IPad.
*
Why can't I just tell you what I want.

*Sorry, but the system is first you enter it into the IPad and then I look at what you entered on the IPad and then I order it for you.
*
So why can't I just tell you my order and skip the IPad part.

*Do you want to talk to my IT technician ?*_


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## kork (Jun 9, 2012)

sags said:


> _I would like to order a hamburger.
> 
> *Sorry I can't take your order. You have to enter it into the IPad.
> *
> ...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qJ9yqFU_rI


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

it looks like an "automat" from the old days
i can see a case for a comeback
on a limited menu you just need enough cubicles for all your main menu items
and then maybe some special order cubes
each cube is hot and ready to eat with a time showing when it was cooked and you use your phone to pay
this would work


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

As you say it's coming regardless of a low or a little higher wage employee- and not really related to "high" minimum wage. It's simply a way to lower costs, sell more and make more. 

Reminds me of the same thing when bank machines came out. It was strange dealing with a machine- but only the first time or 2.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Marx said capital is "dead labor".
He also said value added is created by labor (the *Labor Theory of Value*).

However, a large proportion of productivity gains in the post War era has gone to capital instead of labor.
The benefits arising out of mechanization, automation, robotics etc. have been derived by the owners of capital, not the owners of labor.
This process has been intensifying since the post gold money era (starting with the non convertibility of currencies to gold in the early 1970s).
The so called Great Moderation starting in the 1980s really accelerated this process.

So, here we are now in a situation where productivity is increasing at a pace that will make large swaths of the labor force redundant.
This situation is non sustainable.
The benefits of productivity gains have to be re-distributed to the labor force in one way or another.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

A friend owns a small landscaping company and was boasting his guys dug 35 fence post holes in one day..............by hand.

My son works for a big fence company and was telling me that his crew of four guys put in 250 fence post holes in one day.............with a machine.

I am old enough to remember lumberjacks............and lots of jobs in the forestry industry.

Here is how they do it today................with a small attachment.

https://youtu.be/WJZkNRsarcE

Or if you are tired of splitting logs for the campfire............use this machine and pick a size for your firewood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhmKBDIAXd0


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Minimum wage worker reports on duty!


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Still need someone to bring the food and clean the table though.

There is also the disappointment factor. Food seldom looks like the pictures.

View attachment 7457


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

sags said:


> Still need someone to bring the food and clean the table though.


That's where the baxter robot comes in.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

cainvest said:


> That's where the baxter robot comes in.


This is already a reality in some applications.

A hotel in Silicon Valley uses a robot to deliver small items to the guest rooms:


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Robotic technician may be good employment in the future.

I hope the robots are more reliable than Rogers cable technology. They can't seem to develop a simple digital box that isn't always causing problems.

Their SHOMI channel is clunky and rarely works at all. I tried for 20 minutes last night to get a movie going and just when it did..............it started upgrading the box.

Right now...........I would settle for a company with good reliable cable delivery.

And then there is the sometimes works.....sometimes doesn't work...........bluetooth connection between my "smart phone" and the car audio.........

These robots look pretty and everything..........with the blue lights and buttons, but do they actually work seamlessly without constant updates and maintenance ?


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

My wife received a letter from CRA yesterday. According to them she owes them $1200 from the 2014 assessment notice. She had received $120 in a refund from 2014.

But she didn't receive an assessment notice because I ticked off the box to get email notifications instead.

Back in May the email notification said to go to their website to view the assessment, but she forgot her password.

I tried multiple passwords and ended up getting locked out for 24 hours. I tried again today and got locked out again.

She called them up........and told them to go back to snail mail delivery. She blames me for it all.........because I ticked the box.

No wonder I can't convince her to go to online banking.................


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

GoldStone said:


> Minimum wage worker reports on duty!


Robot dealers coming to a casino near you...

*She has an hourglass figure, an unflappable manner and a friendly face. Meet “Min,” the robot whose creators say could revolutionize card-dealing in the world’s casinos.*


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

I would like to have a robot sitting on the other side of the table...........playing the cards for me with mathematical precision.

But then my robot might say..........does not compute.......you cannot win


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The good old days..........8 paid staff employees waiting for a customer.........

View attachment 7481


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

I'd rather see a basic government income for everyone and no minimum wage at all. Then you can let the people decide how much they are worth. Maybe some young students are fine working a part time job for $3/hour where all they need to do is sit at a desk and listen to music and do their homework, clicking on a screen or speaking with a customer occasionally.

Direct taxation and distribution is a lot more straightforward, respectful, and civilized to the populous. What we have currently is a system of indirect corporate taxation through high minimum wages, unnecessary regulatory requirement which necessitate hiring people to do useless tasks, and onerous labour laws which necessitate hiring more people than should be needed.
We also have direct taxation funding a massive fake jobs program via 20+% employment in various government branches.

This is all due to the prevailing mindset being: "People _should_ be entitled to 100% of the profits they make." This is at odds with a government that wants to grow its power and control over people. It therefore has to make up a plethora of dubious justifications for this or that program or service or regulation, all so they can justify taxes and government intervention as being a necessary evil for the good of the people.

If instead, the mindset was that: "Technological advances to productivity no longer justify 100% of profits going to the investor of capital. Some of the profits must be distributed to the people for all of the technological development their ancestors contributed to society over the centuries" Then we wouldn't have to come up with all these fake and uncivilized ways to justify taxation and government growth.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i see sensational possibilities for robot food delivery drone warfare here.

an army marches on its stomach. They all gotta eat. Just fix to deliver the food with a drop or 2 of liquid sarin.





GoldStone said:


> This is already a reality in some applications.
> 
> A hotel in Silicon Valley uses a robot to deliver small items to the guest rooms:


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

sags said:


> The good old days..........8 paid staff employees waiting for a customer.........


That is a very good find, sags. Thanks.
I wish I were born in the 1950s...I envy you.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

It was a lot different back then, although I am not sure it was better overall, with all the medical advancements, vehicle technology, robots doing dangerous jobs etc. since then.

But without a doubt it was less stressful. I find myself today, with a house full of technology and gadgets, spending an inordinate amount of time fixing, resetting, waiting for updates, trying to get things to work..............

I welcomed and embraced technology since the first computers came out...........Radio Shack back in the 1980s,............but it has come with it's own set of frustrations.

But then I looked at our 95 year old friend who had no technology and was perfectly content to sit by the window and drink tea with her old radio on. She was so content with the world.

Her home had a plaque on the wall..........."My home is clean enough to be healthy but messy enough to be happy."

When I talk to young people today about how it was "back in the day" and the things I have seen and done, they are much less impressed than I was talking to Bessie (the 95 year old) about her life.

She described a world from horse and buggy to the modern airliner...............two world wars, a depression, her father getting off shift just as the Springhill, N.S. mine collapsed.........

If you like history or a look at the past, I suggest this is a good place to look at history in pictures.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/

Here is what a minimum wage job "used to" look like............

View attachment 7489


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## Moneytoo (Mar 26, 2014)

via http://www.valuetrend.ca/keiths-rant-some-animals-are-more-equal-than-others/


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