And so far I have not seen a PIN and chip run smoothly for long - cards getting inserted incorrectly, wrong time, etc. Lots of issues that will slow down a drive through line or even in store, even if only 1 in 10 transactions has issues.
I agree with you there. It's my perception though that this is an American problem. The rest of the civilized world has been using these cards for some time. We are late-comers to the PIN and chip deal.
I won't contest most of your points for a restaurant that's not solely drive-though, but the following have issues;
Someone still has to provide customer service. Drive through will still need a person.
-- Remote Call center in Podunk wherever for drive through, customer service, Building or quality issues etc.
ATM type payments would really suck in terms of speed. And reduce customers.
-- I haven't paid cash at a fast food joint in the last 10 years. All POS cc transactions and under $25 I don't even need to sign. Swipe and run. No ATM required.
I know a few mech techs that are perpetually out of work and happy to take 15 an hour. Thing is these robots will likely be modular. Pull the failed part, put the new one in. Green light everything and return the old part for the core-charge.
No 'highly skilled' anything.
I admit to the math error. Let me hit that one again.
5 x 35,000 == 175,000 Cost ( assuming it includes installation and facility modifications ) 11,666 Man hours. ( Omen maybe? ) 486.08 Days to realize a profit. ( 1.33 Years )
Thing is, you start realizing a return on the investment via reduced overhead as soon as operations commence. The work was either financed or paid in one lump sum.
Depending on the power draw these things may draw $100 per day for cost of operation. That's 6.6 hours for a human employee.
It's still more profitable by far to replace everyone with Robots. Notice that 6.6 is just a little under the current federal minimum wage. That bot is working for $4 an hour and won't call in sick, play hooky to get laid, complain, steal, or sue the company etc. ie. is MUCH less a liability that the flesh-bot.
There's more to hiring people than just giving them a paycheck. On average, an employer has to pay an additional 2/3's of the employee's pay in taxes, insurance and in some places other benefits.
But lets forget all that for a moment and stick to the numbers we have, while thinking in MAN HOURS:
35k divided by 15 an hour is 2,333 *man hours* Most stores at peak times have 5 crew members. That's 466.6 hours of operation for 5 people. Assuming there are 5 people running a 24/7 store that's 19 *days* of operation that will be required to return on that investment. ( Gross )
But without people the costs of operation will drop also. - You wont need the space or restroom facilities for a crew. - Without people Minimal HVAC will be required. - Robots can certainly run 24/7 - The building size for a drive through only restaurant can now shrink. - Multiple lanes with highly efficient production will shorten wait time and provide much more consistent quality.
Cons: - You still need someone to unload trucks, restock machines, and maintain the automated devices. An owner can pay one person minimum wage to do the rounds, responding to alerts for low stock or malfunctioning equipment etc.
Additionally, I KNOW someone won't be spitting or adding any other 'secret sauce' to my food in the back.
You can write off a percentage of your assets as a depreciation of value every year.
If you save that money it can go towards investing in a new robot in a certain number of years. The cost of maint, power and upgrades is the cost of operation of business and is exempt from taxation. You only get taxed on your *net* profit. Which *will* hike dramatically.
There are two sides to every debate and no progress will be made until both sides are able to converse intelligently on the topic without marginalizing the source material or each other.
In the meantime there *are* people profiting from this mess and all debate like the above does is to generate page/ad views. Nobody in the media wants the rage to end because when it does so does the ad-impressions.
Always puzzles me why people can make personal attacks or 'ad-hominem', then cry 'ad-hominem' when their hypocrisy is painful to read. It's almost as though the 'accusation is evidence' crowd think name calling beings any weight to the debate.
Team Fortress 2 has supported the Occulus and it's a blast to play. Even with the developer version. I have one, and it's awesome. You likely haven't heard anything because everyone's been busy playing.:)
Occulus, Samsung, and Steam all presently have viable products that work *very* well. Google is late to this party and there is a wealth of information for them to start with vs what the other guys started with.
I don't expect it to take Google too long to catch up.
Slashdot Mirror
And so far I have not seen a PIN and chip run smoothly for long - cards getting inserted incorrectly, wrong time, etc. Lots of issues that will slow down a drive through line or even in store, even if only 1 in 10 transactions has issues.
I agree with you there. It's my perception though that this is an American problem. The rest of the civilized world has been using these cards for some time. We are late-comers to the PIN and chip deal.
Relevant to the discussion of Robots?
I won't contest most of your points for a restaurant that's not solely drive-though, but the following have issues;
Someone still has to provide customer service. Drive through will still need a person.
-- Remote Call center in Podunk wherever for drive through, customer service, Building or quality issues etc.
ATM type payments would really suck in terms of speed. And reduce customers.
-- I haven't paid cash at a fast food joint in the last 10 years. All POS cc transactions and under $25 I don't even need to sign. Swipe and run. No ATM required.
If you turn the restaurant into a vending machine there is no need for restrooms. :)
"Highly-skilled-robot-tech"
I know a few mech techs that are perpetually out of work and happy to take 15 an hour. Thing is these robots will likely be modular. Pull the failed part, put the new one in. Green light everything and return the old part for the core-charge.
No 'highly skilled' anything.
I admit to the math error. Let me hit that one again.
5 x 35,000 == 175,000 Cost ( assuming it includes installation and facility modifications )
11,666 Man hours. ( Omen maybe? )
486.08 Days to realize a profit. ( 1.33 Years )
Thing is, you start realizing a return on the investment via reduced overhead as soon as operations commence. The work was either financed or paid in one lump sum.
Depending on the power draw these things may draw $100 per day for cost of operation. That's 6.6 hours for a human employee.
It's still more profitable by far to replace everyone with Robots. Notice that 6.6 is just a little under the current federal minimum wage. That bot is working for $4 an hour and won't call in sick, play hooky to get laid, complain, steal, or sue the company etc. ie. is MUCH less a liability that the flesh-bot.
There are companies dedicated to taking care of a building and they have a call center to address issues quickly.
Cleaning will not be a problem.
There's more to hiring people than just giving them a paycheck. On average, an employer has to pay an additional 2/3's of the employee's pay in taxes, insurance and in some places other benefits.
But lets forget all that for a moment and stick to the numbers we have, while thinking in MAN HOURS:
35k divided by 15 an hour is 2,333 *man hours*
Most stores at peak times have 5 crew members.
That's 466.6 hours of operation for 5 people.
Assuming there are 5 people running a 24/7 store that's 19 *days* of operation that will be required to return on that investment. ( Gross )
But without people the costs of operation will drop also.
- You wont need the space or restroom facilities for a crew.
- Without people Minimal HVAC will be required.
- Robots can certainly run 24/7
- The building size for a drive through only restaurant can now shrink.
- Multiple lanes with highly efficient production will shorten wait time and provide much more consistent quality.
Cons:
- You still need someone to unload trucks, restock machines, and maintain the automated devices. An owner can pay one person minimum wage to do the rounds, responding to alerts for low stock or malfunctioning equipment etc.
Additionally, I KNOW someone won't be spitting or adding any other 'secret sauce' to my food in the back.
You can write off a percentage of your assets as a depreciation of value every year.
If you save that money it can go towards investing in a new robot in a certain number of years. The cost of maint, power and upgrades is the cost of operation of business and is exempt from taxation. You only get taxed on your *net* profit. Which *will* hike dramatically.
Now you will have tech-managers running a store.
One of the costs of freedom *is* the risk of being destroyed at any moment.
I vastly prefer freedom, even though that risk exists.
Because that worked so well in Iraq. :(
I always paste into Notepad to remove the extra junk anyways. I too would love to see that extra copy BS die in a napalm fire.
This.
Closed my account almost a year ago and it was the greatest thing I have done in a LONG time.
Are you implying humans presence on earth is not natural?
The leaders we elected to consult with scientists during hearings to get to the bottom of Gore's assertions.
Found to be bunk, along with heavily profitable for Gore.
There are two sides to every debate and no progress will be made until both sides are able to converse intelligently on the topic without marginalizing the source material or each other.
In the meantime there *are* people profiting from this mess and all debate like the above does is to generate page/ad views. Nobody in the media wants the rage to end because when it does so does the ad-impressions.
I has been from the word go. None of Gore's nonsense stood up to congressional scrutiny.
4chan containment failure detected.
This post is spinning so fast it's hard to read.
What was *really* said and which side is in trouble?
ad-hominem but-hurt over being called out.
Always puzzles me why people can make personal attacks or 'ad-hominem', then cry 'ad-hominem' when their hypocrisy is painful to read. It's almost as though the 'accusation is evidence' crowd think name calling beings any weight to the debate.
A lot of whining going on in this post, does that mean you're a needle-dick too?
Also Search for this on YouTube and enjoy.
'virtual reality room'
No "Silence" for you!
Team Fortress 2 has supported the Occulus and it's a blast to play. Even with the developer version. I have one, and it's awesome. You likely haven't heard anything because everyone's been busy playing. :)
Occulus, Samsung, and Steam all presently have viable products that work *very* well. Google is late to this party and there is a wealth of information for them to start with vs what the other guys started with.
I don't expect it to take Google too long to catch up.
I remember reading an article from some tech magazine in the early 90's that relegated VR as 'Fantasy'.
Glad we didn't pay attention to the nay-sayers!
More like Bubba and Holms, Now bend over.
We aren't just accepting microphones and camera's into our TVs like the tinfoil brigade of decades ago warned against.
Now we are paying for them and people can't wait to sign up to have 24/7 surveillance in our most private quarters.