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bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
My family would not have taken it. There was always a sense of pride in "doing it yourself" for mom and pop. They even donated their SSI after retirement to their church.
Although you didn't mention being poor, I couldn't help but be reminded of this article. See #4:
The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor
(The author grew up poor and is a recovered alcoholic.)
mspohr
Well-Known Member
End of the road: will automation put an end to the American trucker?
End of the road: will automation put an end to the American trucker?
Two million truck driver jobs on the line.
Baxter, 48, is one of the 1.8 million Americans, mainly men, who drive heavy trucks for a living, the single most common job in many US states. Driving is one of the biggest occupations in the world. Another 1.7 million people drive taxis, buses and delivery vehicles in the US alone. But for how long? Having “disrupted” industries including manufacturing, music, journalism and retail, Silicon Valley has its eyes on trucking.
“The only human beings left in the modern supply chain are truck drivers. If you go to a modern warehouse now, say Amazon or Walmart, the trucks are unloaded by machines, the trucks are loaded by machines, they are put into the warehouse by machines. Then there is a guy, probably making $10 an hour, with a load of screens watching these machines. Then what you have is a truckers’ lounge with 20 or 30 guys standing around getting paid. And that drives the supply chain people nuts,” he says.
The goal, he believes, is to get rid of the drivers and “have ultimate efficiency”.
Virtually all those deaths are from driver error, he says. “What if we took that number down to 200? Here’s how it looks to me. Thirty years from now my grandchildren are going to say to me: ‘You people had pedals on machines that you slowed down and sped up with? You had a wheel to turn it? And everybody had their own? And you were killing 41,000 people a year? You people were savages!’
End of the road: will automation put an end to the American trucker?
Two million truck driver jobs on the line.
Baxter, 48, is one of the 1.8 million Americans, mainly men, who drive heavy trucks for a living, the single most common job in many US states. Driving is one of the biggest occupations in the world. Another 1.7 million people drive taxis, buses and delivery vehicles in the US alone. But for how long? Having “disrupted” industries including manufacturing, music, journalism and retail, Silicon Valley has its eyes on trucking.
“The only human beings left in the modern supply chain are truck drivers. If you go to a modern warehouse now, say Amazon or Walmart, the trucks are unloaded by machines, the trucks are loaded by machines, they are put into the warehouse by machines. Then there is a guy, probably making $10 an hour, with a load of screens watching these machines. Then what you have is a truckers’ lounge with 20 or 30 guys standing around getting paid. And that drives the supply chain people nuts,” he says.
The goal, he believes, is to get rid of the drivers and “have ultimate efficiency”.
Virtually all those deaths are from driver error, he says. “What if we took that number down to 200? Here’s how it looks to me. Thirty years from now my grandchildren are going to say to me: ‘You people had pedals on machines that you slowed down and sped up with? You had a wheel to turn it? And everybody had their own? And you were killing 41,000 people a year? You people were savages!’
MikeQ
Member
We've lost something like 7 million jobs to China. People will need to be retrained but it's not like we need expand the welfare system to include every person in the U.S. Also, truckers often own their trucks now and are responsible for their upkeep. Why would this need to change? Just because they aren't driving it, doesn't mean they can't own and maintain a vehicle that is for hire. There's plenty of companies that don't want to own the vehicles. Like Uber and Lyft, autonomy and technology will likely allow small players to have more access to the market. We won't have one company monopolizing an industry.
No one company (unless the only company with autonomy), but a small number. Like the rental market. Drivers can have their own cabs because the need for drivers is a key part of the industry. Once you take away the need for the driver, fleet economies will prevail and there will be more centralization of costs.
MikeQ
Member
They are poor. They do things like rent $5000 rims for a car that isn't worth that much.
MikeQ
Member
there's a term for that which if I posted would guarantee banishment.
Not necessarily. If the demand is fairly steady then companies can have a fixed inventory of trucks. If demand fluctuates a lot, you'll have a fixed inventory of trucks and then augment that with contractors. It doesn't make sense to own enough trucks for your peak demand. You'll have a lot of expensive vehicles sitting around costing money to own and maintain.
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MikeQ
Member
Exactly. There's never been a distributive technology that didn't create more jobs than it destroyed. It does suck when your industry is hit because you have to reset but this will be the new reality. The days of gaining some skills at a young age and using those skills for the rest of your life ended a long time ago. People will need to be willing to retrain and government should be there (either programs or regulations) to make that transition easier. It doesn't require that we go down the unsustainable path of UBI.
Double negative and such aside, creative destruction (the name for this theory) is not an absolute rule.
that happened to me and my industry, we were supplanted by technology and while I could have evolved and continue my career albeit in a different setting and function I decided to call it a career. the point is that many, many people lost their jobs some of their were able to grasp the new ways and become successful, many were unable to evolve and a third, new group of people now have positions in the field. net net the change in the ways our business changed because of technology was was devastating to some people it opened the door to many others.
They'd either be paying for their own trucks or paying for contractors' trucks. Either way they have to pay for truck time and truck maintenance. Even if they're contracting out, those contractors are also much more likely to be large companies.
Right now in the USA, companies are facing a driver shortage and having to deal with >100% driver turnover rates. Remove the need for the skilled human drivers and it would become more of a software problem that would lead to industry consolidation.
MikeQ
Member
Similiar thing happened to my brother but due jobs moving overseas. He worked in Aviation Maintenance. A huge portion of those jobs moved to Mexico, El Salvidor, and China. He was able to turn his job loss into a positive and now works for a major Japanese electronics firm who's in-flight entertainment systems are in most aircraft. It caused him some pain but in the end, he's making more money and has more job security.
Interestingly, moving aviation maintenance overseas lowers labor cost but it also has the added benefit to the air carriers that it lets them skirt FAA regulations. So next time you're flying, take comfort in the fact that the maintenance on your aircraft may be being performed by someone with a 6th-grade education.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
People should maybe take a lesson from me. I grew up poor living in a trailer home with buckling floors, bugs, and often no air conditioning. While perhaps unfair to some, my at least adequate intellect paired with the public education system in this country allowed me to excel and chase the American dream. Today I am not rich, but I'm reasonably well to do. I worked my way up, payed for my own college, bought my own cars, repairing them with my own two hands when they broke down. Yes, people should work hard at life, and not always handed things for free. And I don't like the government butting their heads in to tell me what to do -- buckle my seat belt, wear a bike helmet, etc. If I want to risk cracking my head open, that's my own business. But my family has also benefited from various "liberal" services. At times, I got to each lunch at school when otherwise I wouldn't have eaten thanks to a free lunch program. For a time, we bought food with the help of food stamps. In college, I got government loans, some of them subsidized so I wouldn't have to pay interest on them until out of college. Even education itself these days is often seen as liberal, something without which I would still be living in that same broken down trailer home.
The point is, both conservative and liberal viewpoints have their merits. If we can get back to all seeing each other as Americans in my country, instead of Liberals and Conservatives at war with each other, we can get back to compromises that often result in the best outcomes. And if we don't, our great country won't be great for much longer, as it tears itself apart to the applause of it's opponents. Likewise, on this speculative issue, the best outcome is probably some balance between liberal and conservative values. Those on the conservative side should be trying to understand the injustices seen by the liberal side and be thoughtful about how to recognize and support what the liberal side is trying to do, and those on the liberal side should be taking the conservative viewpoints into consideration and trying to modify their first instincts into plans that are more mindful of conservative values and concerns. You need both the compassion of the liberals and the fortitude of the conservatives. I wouldn't be where I am today without the values and support from both sides.
The point is, both conservative and liberal viewpoints have their merits. If we can get back to all seeing each other as Americans in my country, instead of Liberals and Conservatives at war with each other, we can get back to compromises that often result in the best outcomes. And if we don't, our great country won't be great for much longer, as it tears itself apart to the applause of it's opponents. Likewise, on this speculative issue, the best outcome is probably some balance between liberal and conservative values. Those on the conservative side should be trying to understand the injustices seen by the liberal side and be thoughtful about how to recognize and support what the liberal side is trying to do, and those on the liberal side should be taking the conservative viewpoints into consideration and trying to modify their first instincts into plans that are more mindful of conservative values and concerns. You need both the compassion of the liberals and the fortitude of the conservatives. I wouldn't be where I am today without the values and support from both sides.
MikeQ
Member
Yep I meant disruptive. I lost 3 fingers at the last knucle on my left hand. Words typed on that hand are hit or miss. I guess I got close enough for autocorrect to make the wrong guess.
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