Job Elimination in America

The other night I ordered some food from Domino's Pizza's website. They've got a great pizza to begin with, but also a bunch of other tasty pasta dishes (and desserts!) on their menu. I selected my usual, the 16" hand-tossed Honolulu Hawaiian.  Add some breadsticks, a 2 liter bottle of soda (there are three of us here)...and we're up to $50 before the tip. Pricey but worth it, I think.  The Domino's website is super-easy to use, which is why I do.

The Domino's store is not far from the house, and the food always comes surprisingly quickly. Indeed it was the case this time. The cheerful, friendly delivery driver brought the food right to my door in record time.  I gave her a nice tip for I understand their plight (and, because she was cute).

Back to the online experience.

After I placed the order, I immediately got a popup screen asking if I would like my pizza delivered by an automated car? It's no secret that Domino's and Ford have been experimenting with cars that are modified into driverless pizza delivery vehicles. The popup window mentioned that I would have to meet the vehicle at the curb and retrieve my pizza myself. I chose, “No.”

When I did, yet another popup window opened. It wondered (rather indignantly, it seemed) why I would not want to use this wonderful service? And it gave a list of five reasons with boxes to be checked. For example: “I don't want to leave the house.” I chose, “Other.” Of course it asked for an explanation and I wrote one. I said, “Just how many jobs can we eliminate in the U.S.? You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

HERE is a YouTube video explaining the new concept. 

By the way, it was only after participating in their survey that they mentioned the automated delivery service is not yet available in Pensacola, but they were trying to gauge customer reaction.  Well they certainly got mine!

Look, I'm not stuck in the past; I'm all for automation and the use of new technology to make our jobs easier. But as a society, how far do we go in using technology to eliminate those few remaining entry-level or minimum wage jobs?

When I was up in New York State recently, I happened to stop at a Service Plaza on the NYS Thruway. In it was one of those newfangled automated McDonalds in which you put your order in yourself via an oversize smartphone-looking device without talking to a human.  Great, more use of technology to cut down on the number of employees.  Still, I had to try it.

Using the touchscreen to order my food was cumbersome, confusing and time-consuming. It took longer than if I'd just told the kid at the counter, “I'd like a number nine to go, please.” Evidently McDonalds did not fully think it through before rushing it into service.

Despite the late hour, the place was crowded. The three hapless employees behind the counter were swamped and overloaded and seemed lost.  The computer wasn't making their lives easier either.  It couldn't predict how many people were in line (or headed in the door) and thus how many loads of fries they needed to drop to stay ahead of the unexpected rush.  And, despite my ordering on the computer screen, they almost managed to screw up my very simple order of a Chicken Sandwich Meal, which took a long, long time to get.

If this is the wave of the future, I'll pass.  Some things just call out for the human touch, and a computer cannot always replace us.