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Good on 'em, but autonomous cars are on their way and it might displace the union. In my city, Zoox are already rolling out driverless taxi services, and the v

by NickC25 4mo ago

Good on 'em, but autonomous cars are on their way and it might displace the union. In my city, Zoox are already rolling out driverless taxi services, and the vehicles they are using are completely autonomous.

xp84 4mo ago
It will likely play out exactly like California’s disastrous special $20/hr fast food minimum wage[1]: a near immediate reduction in the number of people employed. They replaced a couple of $20/hr workers that were present taking orders with $3000 kiosks that run for $0.10/hour of electricity. And chains also closed locations whose fiscal viability were already close to the line, since “the line” jumped. I don’t really blame the drivers for trying, I just think it’s probably not a viable long-term career, unfortunately. [1] except of course if you’re Panera, coincidentally owned by a Newsom friend/donor. Good ol’ Bake-bread-on-premises exception!
- roboror 4mo ago
  The fast-food worker being replaced by a kiosk is inevitable and not limited to California, but even the kiosk is mostly transitory and destined to be largely replaced by a phone app.
- VanTheBrand 4mo ago
  Except that’s not how it played out at all! Fast Food employment did not go down but wages did go up 11%. Prices of food went up 1.5%, which covered half the wage increase, and the employers ate (pun intended) the other half of the cost. Here is the study by UC Berkeley from this April https://irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Effects-of-a-20-Minimum-Wage-Evidence-from-Granular-Data-on-Wages-Employment-and-Prices-April-1-2026.pdf https://irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Effects...
  - opo 4mo ago
    Other papers have found both employment losses and more significant price increases. A discussion of the topic was in the Ask Economics subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1smjx29/was_californias_20_dollar_minimum_wage_hike/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1smjx29/was_c...
- bakies 4mo ago
  Didn't those kiosks go everywhere? Part of the reason I get fast food less
SoftTalker 4mo ago
I'm not sure. It may be cheaper for Uber to offload the insurance, depreciation and maintensnce of the vehicles to their human driver/owners, than for Uber to own, lease, and maintain autonomous cars. I haven't seen any analysis of that idea (not that I've looked very hard).

by NickC25 4mo ago

xp84 4mo ago

It will likely play out exactly like California’s disastrous special $20/hr fast food minimum wage[1]: a near immediate reduction in the number of people employed. They replaced a couple of $20/hr workers that were present taking orders with $3000 kiosks that run for $0.10/hour of electricity. And chains also closed locations whose fiscal viability were already close to the line, since “the line” jumped. I don’t really blame the drivers for trying, I just think it’s probably not a viable long-term career, unfortunately. [1] except of course if you’re Panera, coincidentally owned by a Newsom friend/donor. Good ol’ Bake-bread-on-premises exception!

roboror 4mo ago
The fast-food worker being replaced by a kiosk is inevitable and not limited to California, but even the kiosk is mostly transitory and destined to be largely replaced by a phone app.
VanTheBrand 4mo ago
Except that’s not how it played out at all! Fast Food employment did not go down but wages did go up 11%. Prices of food went up 1.5%, which covered half the wage increase, and the employers ate (pun intended) the other half of the cost. Here is the study by UC Berkeley from this April https://irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Effects-of-a-20-Minimum-Wage-Evidence-from-Granular-Data-on-Wages-Employment-and-Prices-April-1-2026.pdf https://irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Effects...
- opo 4mo ago
  Other papers have found both employment losses and more significant price increases. A discussion of the topic was in the Ask Economics subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1smjx29/was_californias_20_dollar_minimum_wage_hike/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1smjx29/was_c...
bakies 4mo ago
Didn't those kiosks go everywhere? Part of the reason I get fast food less

SoftTalker 4mo ago

I'm not sure. It may be cheaper for Uber to offload the insurance, depreciation and maintensnce of the vehicles to their human driver/owners, than for Uber to own, lease, and maintain autonomous cars. I haven't seen any analysis of that idea (not that I've looked very hard).