The Feds have already thought of a solution for that too: 
Posted on 09/06/2014 5:23:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Those who have left the workforce long ago or are now on fixed incomes are in for a rude awakening if the union goons and agitators of the Democratic Party get their way. A catastrophic rise of a new minimum wage to $15/hr would certainly make their standard of living deteriorate on an order of magnitude not seen since Jimmy Carter's 9th inning as Wimp In Chief.
Consider.
As businesses attempt to survive the new artificial input costs of labor imposed on them, they can 1) reduce the amount of labor; 2) invest in new IT and/or machinery in hopes of automating services or reducing organizational overlap to create further efficiencies; 3) close their doors permanently; 4) claw out other unnecessary and perhaps unforeseen expenses from accounts payable or; 5) raise prices.
It is the last one that troubles me the most. Most organizations already have tried streamlining their procedures and many others cutting their expenses, especially post 2008 recession, however labor is typically a constant, unalterable cost. If that rises, in this case dramatically, there really is only one option remaining and those not in the workforce are most at risk of this kind of political and artificial cost push inflation. They are the ones living on fixed income derived from conservative portfolios if they even have one, slow COLA pensions or social security.
Remember those sweet days when grandfather used to get out on Thursdays once a week to take his lovely bride of several decades to Sizzler for lunch? You can bet that senior discount will be one of those expenses many businesses decide to axe, as well as raise prices at the all-you-can-eat salad bar.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Here in Jersey our DMV (now the MVC, Motor Vehicle Commission) is actually pretty good.
My local Post Office sucks!
>>They already have machines that can make burgers to order, start to finish, without human hands touching it.
What does the machine cost? What are the maintenance costs?
Are there any fast-food restaurants that only make burgers? Look at the product flow in a Wendy’s. They sell burgers, grilled chicken, fried chicken that all have to come into the sandwich line for assembly. Then, it gets wrapped. Just the size of a wrapper folding machine would require a total remodel of the Wendy’s kitchen.
Who monitors this machine to fix jams? A human. Are fries going to be delivered in 1 ton totes so the automated machinery can fill the baskets for frying, or will you have a bag grabber and opener and pourer?
I agree that a fast-food restaurant who barely operates with enough profit margin to survive COULD spend a million dollars to reduce their staff of minimum wage employees by 25%. Are they going to ask for federal stimulus money to buy this equipment so they can push more people onto unemployment? That would be hilarious.
Don’t worry the death panels were designed to take care of this problem.
Make sure you pick out your favorite color,best last meal and favorite movie
“With a conveyor belt-type system the burgers are freshly ground, shaped and grilled to the customer’s liking. And only when the burger’s finished cooking does Alpha slice the tomatoes and pickles and place them on the burger as fresh as can be. Finally, the machine wraps the burger up for serving.
And while you fret over how many people you invited to the barbecue, Alpha churns out a painless 360 hamburgers per hour.
San Francisco-based Momentum Machines claim that using Alpha will save a restaurant enough money that it pays for itself in a year, and it enables the restaurant to spend about twice as much on ingredients as they normally would – so they can buy the gourmet stuff. Saving money with Alpha is pretty easy to imagine. You don’t even need cashiers or servers. Customers could just punch in their order, pay, and wait at a dispensing window.”
http://singularityhub.com/2013/01/22/robot-serves-up-340-hamburgers-per-hour/
Yep, I remember making $1.75/hr working in a gas station.
The Feds have already thought of a solution for that too:
I agree NJ is not as bad as it used to be, but they have greatly simplified the process with online registration and license renewals which require minimal if any human input, by no longer requiring annual safety inspections, and by using the same photograph for more than one driver's license renewal. The volume of actual human interactions by MVC agents must be a fraction of 20 years ago. Since NJ is tied with Connecticut for #1 highest taxes in the land, I'd hope they could manage to do something more efficiently than they could 20 years ago.
BTW I can understand NJ saving money by printing the annual car registrations on paper instead of on plasticized cards, but boat registrations?
Even for cars, MVC is still not without its flaws, since my cars have stick shifts and the inspectors seem to find it challenging to drive them through the inspection lanes.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. That laughably called 'fixed income' is now fixed at almost zero thanks to the need for the Fed Bank to reduce the cost of Government borrowing. Anyone who tries to tell you it is for any other purpose IS LYING
I've seen this happen. I started laughing and got a dirty look.
>>You don’t even need cashiers or servers.
The Singularity meets Reality...again. In the Real World(tm), food quality cleanliness requires that the machine be broken down and cleaned at the end of every shift. Food safety rules may even require it more often than that (i.e. in between lunch and dinner).
Don’t get me wrong, I hope that these automated machines do everything they claim and we can put everyone out of a job except for the maintainers and manufacturers of the machines. I love being paid hundreds of dollars to know how to fix complicated automated equipment. Once my robots rule the world, will I be the slave or the King?
But I have to laugh at all these clueless business majors who think that they can just replace all their “human resources” with machines and their labor costs are all gone forever. LOL
I’m a senior and I think the article is a tad ridiculous.
.
“The Singularity meets Reality...again. In the Real World(tm), food quality cleanliness requires that the machine be broken down and cleaned at the end of every shift. Food safety rules may even require it more often than that (i.e. in between lunch and dinner).”
It wouldn’t need cleaning if it stays hot, a grill or oven that runs 24/7 is never shut down for cleaning. It’s done on the fly while they operate.
Keep thinking they can’t/won’t be replaced if wages double, just don’t bet your future on it.
>>It wouldn’t need cleaning if it stays hot, a grill or oven that runs 24/7 is never shut down for cleaning. It’s done on the fly while they operate.
Check with your local health code inspector on that. Only part of it is an oven.
You don’t clean an automated machine “on the fly”. The only thing that flies in that case is usually fingers. You shut it down, lock it out, remove guards, and install necessary blocks before you start cleaning.
>>Keep thinking they can’t/won’t be replaced if wages double, just don’t bet your future on it.
My future is brightest if they do replace all human labor with machines. In my line of work, I’ve been replacing humans with machines for 30 years.
Just remember, every person we put out of work becomes a welfare recipient and adds to the burden on the government. Its cool how business is such a willing and even eager partner in Cloward-Piven isn’t it?
Therein lies government's dirty little secret. Politicians come and go, but the bureaucrats remain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.