Pardon Me, R-2!

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So, we now know where the battle for a $15 minimum wage is going to go.  In response to recent legislative actions and victories regarding the minimum wage in America, one of the country’s largest retailers, (you know, the store with the smiling faces) has introduced a whole new batch of technology aimed at replacing workers.  The minimum wage has been a hot topic over the last couple of years as an increasing number of people have had to settle for low paying jobs.

We have seen scores of people doing the happy dance about the $15 minimum wage vote as they believe they have won a significant battle regarding wages.  But the truth is, they really aren’t winning anything, in some states, it will be 2025 or later before the wage reaches $15.  I don’t know about you, but that is a long wait in my book.  By phasing the new $15 per hour income in slowly, corporations are given enough time to compensate for the increased cost of doing business.  And they are compensating!

It was just announced that the smiley face stores will incorporate several people replacing robots in 300 stores by this summer.  The company will implement the robots to do such menial tasks as scan shelves for out of stock items, mopping the floors, inventory tracking, and truck unloading duties.  These robots, part of a human replacing technology binge, will help the company overcome the cost of raising the minimum wage to $15 over the next few years.

According to company officials, the number of stores utilizing robots and other technological replacements could increase to about 1,200 stores before the end of the year.  The stores are also implementing conveyor belts with scanners that can unload trucks, separate and shelve different products, thus replacing more humans.  The smiley face company espoused the alleged benefits of such a move as helping to reduce the responsibilities of employees thus freeing them up for other chores (I am paraphrasing here LOL!).

So, in other words the same old bullshit song and dance of corporations trying to justify screwing people out of better pay and jobs.  There is no trying to blow smoke up our arses here, we know what these pricks are doing as conservatives try to lay the blame of all of this on the forced change in minimum wage.  Let me ask these ass-wipes a question—if you lose your high paying jobs and the only thing left are positions that pay $8 per hour, will you be happy?  I really don’t believe you would like it if the shoe were on the other foot.

In addition to this usual corporate tall tale, the situation gets worse for me the customer, as I will be constantly having to dodge these little inventory taking robots.  Imagine a quiet Sunday morning trip to the smiley face store where you encounter all these little robots running around like R-2 D-2s in rush hour New York.  I can feel the pain now as my foot gets run over by these little techno-bastards or nearly tripping over one them while attempting to get my milk.  Not to mention the fact that these little freaks are creepy.

I just know that customer service will be greatly enhanced by these oversized robot vacuum cleaners, oh, did I forget to mention that these little darlings will also be mopping the floors?  So, these bots will be on hand to answer my store questions, right?  Sure, they will, but there is just one sticking point, I will have to be able to learn to speak in Cobol, Java or C++.  Imagine following one of these techno-wanders as it leads you to the aisle that has your favorite laxative.

As we can once again see, the battle between these skinflint corporate dicks and the poor working class not only results in lower wages and loss of jobs but also in less service for us who spend the few bucks they are willing to pay.  I do agree that mandatory minimum wage is not the long-term answer here but rather we need the overhaul of our system to include better jobs and worker co-ops.  Until we decide to reintegrate all citizens into a decent functioning economy and way of life, we will continue down this path of a failing robo-society!

Talk to Ya Later

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