So to start - a disclaimer from Sue – this missive is longer than usual, related to real estate in a round about way, but she concedes a good point is made nonetheless, “so hang in until the end”!
A Vancouver Sun article, earlier this year, summarized a report saying that 42% of BC jobs could be lost to robots ( the sound you hear is folks rushing to see if their jobs are on the list).
https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/bcbc-report-probes-prospects-for-robot-overlords-to-take-places-in-b-c-workforce
Facebook posts regularly admonish us to not use self-checkouts at the grocery store because we would be taking away cashier jobs. No mention of the jobs required to design, build, program, maintain and supervise the self-checkouts?
A version of the old Waylon Jennings song lyric comes to mind: "Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cashiers. Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive delivery trucks. Let 'em be engineers, programmers and such”.
Business drives our economy, which in turn creates the jobs and the wealth that can be taxed to support the services we have come to expect: health care, first responders, education, teachers, police, infrastructure, and so on.
Our economy is not driven so much by the major companies but by small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), thousands of which fail in Canada every year while the politicians are saving the SNC Lavalins from themselves.
Business, in a competitive environment, doesn’t have the ability to arbitrarily raise prices (like politicians do with taxes and fees) so must look to the cost reduction side to survive, and the largest cost is usually employees. When governments institute new taxes and regulations, “for all the right reasons”, we will never know how many jobs will be lost or never created in the first place. If nothing else, politicians of all stripes and levels have mastered the art of the unintended consequence.
Perhaps less emphasis on maintaining the status quo and more focus on transitioning people to different skill sets - channeling our “babies” away from jobs that will cease to exist? Cashier jobs may go but perhaps in their place will be the self-checkout maintenance technicians.
So that being said, we have a perfectly good coffee maker at home (automation) and can use it without grandkid intervention. Yet, we go to Saba in Fort Langley and pay someone (real people) to make our coffee. Why? Because staff greet us by name, start Dan’s cappuccino the way he like before ordering and often there's a hug from the owners. We meet friends, enjoy good discussions - in other words, it's not the coffee we’re buying – it’s the experience.
There's usually no discernible difference between using the cashier or self serve - either way, it’s a transaction, not an experience. (Well unless Judy is on the till at Lee’s Market then it’s an experience!) Now imagine ordering your groceries on your cell while waiting for that cappuccino, and having them delivered home by driverless vehicles/drones? By “automating” a necessary transaction – shopping for groceries - time is freed up to enjoy an experience – coffee with friends.
And to you business owners out there - if all you are providing your customers is transactions, then you’re competing with Amazon – and if you think your coffee shop / fast food store can’t be automated by someone else, check out the Amazon Go store the next time you’re in Seattle!
Okay to make Sue happy, let’s pull in the real estate angle here. Technology was supposed to eliminate REALTORS® by “automating” the home buying and selling process.
Traditionally there’s been a large turnover in real estate because many people entering the business, and the tech pundits, don’t understand that it’s not about moving houses, it’s about moving people. There can be two identical houses side by side on the same street, but the situations of the owners can be vastly different. What the technology, like all our Clients’ accounts online for their access 24 / 7, has accomplished for us is the automation of administrative stuff, in the background, so we can spend more one on one time (experience) with our clients, not simply churning through more sales (transactions).
So yes make sure “your babies” take a path that doesn’t put them in competition with the robots. But more importantly, tell your kids and grandkids to rest their thumbs, put down the tech and learn how to be good listeners to understand the person across the table from them. There’s a tradition in Spain known as sobremesa (literally “over the table”). After the main meal (BTW no cell phones allowed) you remain at the table as just talk to each other. What a concept!
There is no foreseeable reduction in the amount of data that will be coming at people. There will be no shortage of online experts, websites and apps. And because of it, what will be more in demand, though, are people who can interpret the relevant data and provide solutions, on an individual basis to customers, clients, patients, students, on so on.
Or perhaps something as simple as the ability to turn a coffee into an experience.
Regards,
Dan and Sue Bennett
604-250-5227 / 604-250-4424
www.lowermainlandliving.com
Are We All Going To Be Replaced By Technology?
This entry was posted on May 28th, 2019 by Daniel Bennett | Posted in Newsletters
