Submitted by Gari_305 t3_y8xumy in Futurology
Comments
Remote-Pain t1_it35szz wrote
I have no fear of automation, what I have a fear of is the gap between rich and pour growing even wider over time because of it. Replacing 100 jobs with a robot that costs maybe 5k a year to maintain increases profits a very large amount, but what goes back to society? I believe a fair universal wage in line with inflation for everyone should be established early on. In this way we can maintain a healthy, happy society going into a future that is largely automated. I often think of the social and economic structure on Star Trek the next Gen. Where no one really gets paid, but is free to pursue any life goal and personal growth with all their needs taken care of.
jkwasy t1_it2rmuc wrote
I'm sure this'll be considered an unpopular opinion when more people jump into the comment section. "How dare anyone say something reasonably positive about Amazon working conditions"
I'm not even defending Amazon. Just observing how this comment will probably be received.
PlebbySpaff t1_it2v8st wrote
Yeah I know. But I am speaking from experience, so I at least have some knowledge on the robotics (not a huge amount, but maybe enough to clarify a few things). This is the futurology subreddit, so it’s a good place to discuss these thing. I specifically work at what’s called an Automated Robotics Fulfillment Center (ARFC).
If people wanna attack it, whatever. But this is really a place for discussion, and not some weird personal beliefs that’d derail it.
Also may have a video of the roomba units moving somewhere in my photo album. For the picture you see in the post, I could probably get one next week when I get back to work.
Blue_water_dreams t1_it37gak wrote
Without verification it would be unwise to receive it any other way than with skepticism. There is no way for us to know if anything posted in that comment is true or not.
fooloflife t1_it32p8p wrote
>And, of course, they'll need to be around to fix the robots.
This throwaway line at the end is the most critical point about the role of workers in the rapidly increasing robotic presence in industry. There are not enough people who have the electromechanical skills to operate and maintain all the robots and automation being deployed. Traditional maintenance teams of mechanics have a steep learning curve for these complex systems. Most corporations are not willing to invest the money to train and retain their workforce so you have minimum wage manual labor warehouse employees who are expected to pick it up or get replaced.
FuturologyBot t1_it2h8pa wrote
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:
From the Article
>Looking back, Gosvener says it's clear why the rates of automation and warehouse injuries appear to be rising hand in hand. It's not so much that robots are running into humans and causing mayhem, he said, but rather a consequence of what the robots' arrival portends: an accelerating, ever-more-unforgiving pace of work and workplace culture.
>
>"We have what's called 'time off task.' Your time is being measured, right down to the very minute," he said of Amazon's controversial time-tracking policy, in which workers have slivers of time a week to use the restroom or do other personal tasks. In the kind of partially automated warehouses that are becoming so common, Gosvener said, the tasks left to human workers are the ones that slow down the operations, which puts extra pressure on people to use every second productively. "And if you're going to go to the bathroom, you better make it quick, because time off task could mean your job is going to be threatened," he added.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/y8xumy/how_robots_and_automated_warehouses_will_affect/it2d5gf/
motogucci t1_it2wf0r wrote
Who do you sell to when nobody gets paid?
"It's okay, there are other companies that will start up and hire these people, and because of incentives that totally exist within capitalism, they won't be as stingy with pay."
Hades_adhbik t1_it36wei wrote
I'm not worried about people's well being, the rise of technology, we can simply increase public services with it, we can give everyone health care. We can have free public housing, we can make food, commodities, phone service, internet all free, the hard challenge is then what do we do with people, what do people do, when they don't need anything. It makes game designer, artists, writers, actors, story tellers, the most important jobs of the future. Host/go on podcasts, draw a comic, level up a character in a game, it's not much of an existence, but it's at least something. It's hard to overcome the feeling of what you're doing is unfulfilling because it's fake. Why exist just to progress in things that aren't real. If we could live forever would we even want to, maybe immortality would be bearable if you were mortal, if your body could die, because there's always a possibility you won't. so you would then be tasked with controlling every conceivable threat across every conceivable universe, giving you a constant task and challenge, living under a permanent state of threat so you can't be conscious of your own mortality.
Gari_305 OP t1_it2d5gf wrote
From the Article
>Looking back, Gosvener says it's clear why the rates of automation and warehouse injuries appear to be rising hand in hand. It's not so much that robots are running into humans and causing mayhem, he said, but rather a consequence of what the robots' arrival portends: an accelerating, ever-more-unforgiving pace of work and workplace culture.
>
>"We have what's called 'time off task.' Your time is being measured, right down to the very minute," he said of Amazon's controversial time-tracking policy, in which workers have slivers of time a week to use the restroom or do other personal tasks. In the kind of partially automated warehouses that are becoming so common, Gosvener said, the tasks left to human workers are the ones that slow down the operations, which puts extra pressure on people to use every second productively. "And if you're going to go to the bathroom, you better make it quick, because time off task could mean your job is going to be threatened," he added.
PlebbySpaff t1_it2pi8b wrote
I mean as someone that works at Amazon, the time off task thing is really more a measure to see how often people get off task (e.g., someone being gone for 30 minutes at a time is gonna raise suspicions from their managers).
But that aside, we have automated robots at our FC (the one in the photo is one we also have at our Outbound docks). It does the work well of sorting totes, but constantly requires a human to maintain it and fix issues that may arise. Also usually turns off when people go to break/lunch, because it can’t run on its own the entire time without a potential issue. I understand the fear of automation when it comes to keeping up with production, but at the rate they go now, it will be very many years before robotics gets to a point where it can just outright replace humans.
As for rates though, it varies by facility, but the overall rate average that Amazon expects across all facilities is something anyone can really manage. Those that may have accommodations or some trouble with the work typically are excluded from having to hit rate.