Posted on 07/11/2005 2:36:13 PM PDT by devane617
July 8, 2005 9:19 AM PDT Why so nervous about robots, Wal-Mart?
Wal-Mart-bashing appears to be a national sport these days, with legions of Wal-Mart critics growing faster than the retail empire can build new stores. In particular, the company's labor practices are a lightning rod for criticism. So it's no wonder that the company has struck a rather defensive note regarding a rumored interest in robotic labor. I got a dose of Wal-Mart's defensive posture first-hand last week when reporting a feature story News.com published today on the future of inventory-checking robots. After an executive at Frontline Robotics informed me that Wal-Mart is eyeing robot technology, I called Wal-Mart for confirmation.
Wal-Mart representative Christi Gallagher, the company's spokeswoman on supply chain and technology issues, took my call. She also happens to be the media point person on labor relations and employment litigation.
As soon as I mentioned robots, Gallagher seemed eager to end the call. "We are not looking into robots in any way, shape or form," she said abruptly. I tried probing for more, but she had nothing further to offer.
The response was curious because, when a public relations person is faced out-of-the-blue with questions on a random topic like robots, he or she would typically pause, jot down some notes, and say something along the lines of, "Gosh, I have no idea about that, but I'll check into it for you."
And I am apparently not the first to hit a Wal-Mart nerve with a robot story. As I noted in today's story, the company's attorneys took a particular interest in an eWeek report in May about a robot Wal-Mart is apparently testing in a Utah store. The robot, developed at Utah State University, is designed to guide visually impaired shoppers and locate products for them.
Wal-Mart's lawyers called the university after it learned of the story, and a university representative then retracted earlier statements about Wal-Mart's interest in investing in further development of the robots.
So why is Wal-Mart so touchy about robots? My hunch is that Wal-Mart's interest in robots goes far beyond helping the visually impaired shop. I think it's intrigued by the notion of using robots in its warehouses, distribution centers and stores to monitor and check inventory -- a job mostly done by people today, as one Frontline Robotics executive noted.
"After hours, robots could run around stores in a systematic pattern and take a complete inventory of all the shelves," said Rob Richards, chief operating officer of Frontline. "We have people now that do that."
But to my mind, robot-talk is the least of Wal-Mart's labor woes, which include accusations of sexual discrimination, low pay, poor benefits, worker safety violations and child labor law violations. The company has also been embroiled in widespread overtime pay disputes and is in trouble with the Department of Labor over employing illegal immigrants.
So, Wal-Mart, relax about robots!
Posted by Alorie Gilbert
This is classic - first, the hippylibs whine about how horrible Wal-Mart is to it's employees and what terrible jobs they provide. Then when robots start replacing those jobs, they whine about the "valuable" jobs going away. Pathetic. I'm already checking myself out at Wal-Mart with the self checkout line and I love it.
Woe is me.
There should be a new law banning American companies from any further technological advancement.
WalMart is great and this is exactly why I love them. All the political BS that WalMart is facing right now can be viewed as being, in fact, investment capital for the development of automation technology. One day soon, they will replace every single worker with an RFID scanner. And the communist liberal wackos will be fuming mad, but won't be able to do anything. Absolutely freaking wonderful.
It is pretty cool.
Almost everything that the left hates, I'll endorse.
Almost everything.
Until ya get stuck behind someone who shouldn't be in that lane. Always happens to me.
We don’t have a Wal-Mart handy, but I LOVE the self-checkout lines.
Just goes to show you how valuable those stand-and-scan jobs are, no?
When I can walk through the door with absolutely NO training and NO experience and do it myself in 1/10 the time without having to interact with a surly employee… I call that “Progress” – but that’s just me.
LOL!
If I get on a normal line, the problem is a surly customer who insists on an expired coupon being honored or some such, resulting in a manager being called, etc.
Marx was just a couple hundred years early.. Eventually physical labor will be phased out and a form of communism installed.
?!?!?
The opponents of automation are the socialists. Marx could never have envisioned such progress.
"Marx was just a couple hundred years early.. Eventually physical labor will be phased out and a form of communism installed."
Once star trek replicators are installed then communism here we come.
It would be interesting to see how society would change when we get to the point of putting sheep (or sheep DNA) in a machine and getting Jeans and mutton out of the other. Obviously all those factory workers/stockers/etc need to do *something* but what? if we want to ramp up the technical capacity of society we need to start with the "education system"
Actually, Marx was going by the industrial revolution which was supposed to put away all manual labor. The robotic/IT revolution will eventually do most of the job. Physcial labor will be needed, but much less so. Perhaps a form of 4 year mandatory service of work, then the rest of your life in retirement.
Hey, won't be so bad if we do it right.
Mm-hmm. I get that in the self-checkout lane.
Luckily, the folks at Wal-Mart are really quick about these disputes and seem to almost always use the long lost doctrine of, "The Customer Is Always Right," even if it's just to keep the line moving.
"The response was curious because, when a public relations person is faced out-of-the-blue with questions on a random topic like robots, he or she would typically pause, jot down some notes, and say something along the lines of, "Gosh, I have no idea about that, but I'll check into it for you.""
Hey, moronic cnet writer, did you ever think the PR person didn't have to pause because she's been asked the same idiotic question before?
Duh.
I guess Cnet was really desperate for some filler articles.
Welcome to WalMart. Can I get you a cart?
Hey meatsack. You want a cart? Go get it yourself.
Because whatever statement the company issues it's going to be spinned, chewed, and grinded up by the idiots from United Food and Commercial Union, as well as the usual anti-WalMart opponents making the same-old ad hominem attacks?
It's a good thing we don't have robotics helping to build automobiles and such, eh? I like paying $125,000 for a bucket.
This is great unless your name is Sarah Connor.
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