Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Why Jeffrey Sachs sees a grim future for Starbucks baristas

Why Jeffrey Sachs sees a grim future for Starbucks baristas - The Washington Post:
Baristas everywhere — plus the entire service economy — be worried about your job security.
That’s the message economist Jeffrey Sachs is delivering.
...“You don’t need baristas in Starbucks,” Sachs told professor Tyler Cowen.
“We will walk in soon to a Starbucks, and our iris will be scanned, and your default mode of mocha latte venti will come out, automatically, of a machine, and you’ll take it out the other door.”
“They’ll predict which days you’re going to come?” Cowen asked.
“Yeah, they’ll have a very good idea,” Sachs said.
“They’ll welcome you by name, of course, as you arrive.
‘We were expecting you, but you’re 10 minutes late.
Is everything okay, Mr. Sachs?’
Because Google will know where you are at any moment anyway. 
So that’s coming, and it will transform fundamentally the labor market....”

No comments: