In the United Kingdom, a new store unlike any other has appeared. Maybe I shouldn’t say “unlike any other,” but, while not a first, it certainly won’t be the last.
The store is a vending machine.
Pepsi, Pringles, eggs, milk, toilet paper, pasta sauce and even Tang — the drink of the astronauts — this vending machine has filled the void of the corner store, a fixture in small English villages.
In the village of Clifton, Derbyshire, they haven’t had any local store like this for nearly 14 years, according to a video posted to Dutch website PopUpCity.net.
It’s hard to make easy comparisons between the UK and the United States in terms of labor markets and economic constraints, but it’s safe to say that the UK generally has more constraints and a tougher labor market.
Their minimum wage is £6.31 ($10.59) for those over 21, slightly higher than the $10.10 rate President Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing.
The debate over how employers would respond to a higher government mandated wage floor has made great copy for economists and economic writers. Many think a wage hike would prompt employers to eliminate jobs that could be replaced by technology, like order takers at quick service restaurants.
Indeed, at stores like Sheetz and Wawa, these jobs have already been eliminated. Customers order their food from a touchscreen. McDonald’s has been experimenting with outsourcing drive-thru order-taking to call centers to capitalize on economies of scale, something that has many franchisees smiling.
EZ Pass, ATMs, airport check-in kiosks, Snapfish, ParkMobile payment for street metered parking — automation is good. It’s progress. And yes, it often “destroys” jobs in that many are rendered obsolete in the wake of creative destruction.
People often lament the “death” of the American farmer since there are decidedly fewer farmers today when compared to really any point in the past 200 years. This, despite the fact we’re producing a lot more food and at lower costs.
In fifty years, will we feel the same way about toll collectors, bank tellers, airline agents, 1-hour photo technicians and meter maids? Probably not. (But we might post a picture to Instagram with the #TBT hashtag to remember the now-obsolete Walgreens job we had when we were sixteen.
Assuming Instagram exists then. Or ‘Throw Back Thursdays.’ It could be ‘Back to the Future Friday’ in 50 years for all I know.
But could a vending machine replace a corner store in America?
Britain’s stores aren’t known for hot food or alcohol, unlike their U.S. counterparts. Vending machines that sell cooked hot dogs and pizza already exist. The U.S. Senate has their own automated hotdog machine, though the House cloakrooms still have staff lovingly place them in a hot dog ferris wheel.
Some states have pursued automation to keep bad policies in place while others have shunned it for the same reason.
Pennsylvania, behind the times in state liquor policies, actually ran an experiment with wine vending machines rather than privatize the state’s iron grip on sales of libations.
New Jersey actually requires people to pump your gas. In most other states you can pump it and pay for it without ever talking to somebody.
So, yes, you could make a completely automated 7-Eleven. The technology exists. You wouldn’t even need to put locks on the doors.
Not all automation and progress kills jobs. In some instances, it can grow the economy. While airports might close down their Brookstones for a Best Buy Kiosk, places that would never normally have a Brookstone — like a resort hotel might get one. It’s hard to know if it balances out in the end, but some jobs just disappear, and that’s a good thing since it frees up labor to do more productive things. We’d be worse off if we shunned technological progress to keep outdated jobs.
It’s unlikely that your local corner store is going to disappear overnight and turn into a vending machine. But it’s true that technology waits for nobody — ask cab drivers now forced to compete with Uber and Lyft, or newspaper deliverers who lose out to digital subscriptions, iPads, and Kindle.
Whether or not to raise the minimum wage presents a new conundrum. It’s no longer just about the age-old question of whether policy makers should tell business owners and job seekers how much the value of labor is worth.
Added to that now is whether unintentionally incentivizing the adoption of less-labor intensive ways to accomplish those same tasks is the fault of policy makers. That is, if voters see it that way.
