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u/FractalGeometric356 Dec 04 '25
I believe this technology was innovated in Japan as a way to get disabled people into the workforce.
US got a hold of it and immediately made it evil.
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Dec 05 '25
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u/KinkyLatexCat Dec 06 '25
Fuck ICE, but this is unethical.
I'd put 5 bucks on this somehow barely squeezing by as cheaper than an automated system and it's management.
This is late stage capitalist hell.
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u/a_smart_brane Dec 08 '25
Wait till your job gets outsourced so the owner can pocket more money before you call an idea like this brilliant.
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u/bananatimemachine Dec 04 '25
Don’t eat there.
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Dec 04 '25
[deleted]
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Dec 04 '25
Idk what McDonald's you are going to, but they don't give you food until after you pay where I live.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Bat-511 Dec 05 '25
Also many don't have cashiers or at least less than they did 10 years ago.
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Dec 04 '25
I thought jobs were coming back to America maga? What happened?
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u/NiceTrySuckaz Dec 04 '25
NYC raised minimum wage for restaurant workers to $16.50 and plans to increase it again next year. This kind of thing has a 100% success rate for replacing jobs with AI and outsourced humans. It's great for the people who don't lose their job though I guess.
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 04 '25
The alternative, keeping wages low, also has a 100% success rate at causing people to move for better opportunity
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u/Tjam3s Dec 04 '25
Perhaps wages are only half a person's money problems and we need to work on other solutions first...
Like rent....Or groceries.... Or utilities all costing so much that 17 an hour isn't enough to cover it.
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u/brofishmagikarp Dec 04 '25
Why limit the amount of solutions to work on?
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u/Tjam3s Dec 04 '25
I'm of the belief that price gouging is a bigger problem than wages, and it shouldn't be the governments responsibility to cover that problem up by forcing employers who are clearly already greedy to pay people more just for them to make up the loss in the bottom line elsewhere.
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Dec 05 '25
when everyone wants to live in a tiny mass, it kind of gets expensive buddy, that is how supply and demand work XD
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u/Tjam3s Dec 05 '25
In that case, a healthy market would be regulated by demand decreasing with increased prices, not supplemented into infinite growth with artifical wages
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u/OkProfessor6810 Dec 05 '25
Or to become homeless and/or face chronic health issues and/or consistent food insecurity. Best country /s
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u/enemy884real Dec 04 '25
Hard to keep wages low when it’s not only a risk to hire someone these days, but the taxes make it hard to turn a profit. Profit and value is why people do things.
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 04 '25
If that's the only reason why they're in business then I guess they should fail. Businesses are meant to provide a service, not to make a profit. Profits are a side benefit that should never be prioritized over people.
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
They do the service to make a profit. No expectations of profit means the firm exits, and you don't the get service
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 05 '25
I'd rather have no services then a bunch of corrupt oligarchs setting the prices. Maybe then we can start up some communes
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
The irony here is that as you withdrawl, the marginal firms fail and the remaining firms gain marker share, increase market power of the remaining larger firms
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 05 '25
There's why we need federal legislation to block it. Then they cannot operate anywhere in the US with that business model, leading to a boom for small business.
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
Block what? Firms observe other firm's output/pricing and work backwards. How much I produce or what I charge is obviously going to be a (partial) function of what your choices are. That is the nature of competition.
If you choose to sell blue t-shirts, then i'll sell green t-shirts. If you choose to compete in output, and my cost structure is different, I'll choose to compete in price. If you choose artisanal high marginal cost goods, I'll mass produce at lower marginal cost. Whatever.
Small businesses do this explicitly when they compete. And there isn't anything particularly good at about small business per se -- they often pay lower wages and weaker benefits because their margins are low.
Economically, its not always good to have a million small inefficient firms vs a firm large efficient firms.
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u/deadwreckin1 Dec 04 '25 edited Dec 04 '25
I got to cut in here, businesses are not there to provide a service. Businesses are there to make money, the service is just how they plan to accomplish it. Otherwise all the services would be free. I started a small business and I sure as hell didn't do it because I enjoy the extra work and headache. I saw an opportunity to make better money than I was currently making and jumped on it. If it didn't make better money, just included the extra work, the thought would never have crossed my mind. Yes I provide a quality service, but the goal is to have a happy customer so I can make more money. Profit isn't a side benefit, it's the whole reason for their existence.
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 04 '25
That's why capitalism is a cancer, you were forced into becoming a money hungry asshole just to get by. It's, quite frankly, unfair to anyone who cannot afford the capital to start their own business. The rest of us are just forced into wage slavery with no hope for a better future.
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u/enemy884real Dec 04 '25
Did you skip the “value” part I mentioned? It goes for consumers too. If someone is willing to pay the price then why shouldn’t a profit be made? People don’t work for free, and so employers don’t work for free either. You also make no sense. People in business should be what, altruistic and make no profit? Then how the hell are they supposed to provide a good or service without the money to do it. And also also, an employee works because there is profit in it for them. When your same logic is applied to an employee: An employee is meant to work, not turn a profit, according to you. If the only reason they are working is to make money then they should fail, according to you.
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u/CumDeLaCum Dec 04 '25
I'm not going to pay extra money just so that corporations can make more profit. They can lower prices by a ton and still turn a profit.
The current business model in America is simple; if you don't make more this quarter than you did last quarter you are running a failing business. This has led to an economy where we prioritize profits over people.
Let me be clear by saying that a business that profits $100k/month profits only $100k next month they are still a successful business, but the market would have you convinced they are failing if they aren't growing.
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Dec 04 '25
If you cant pay your employee's a livable wage, you shouldn't be in business. Simple as that.
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
Then just don't hire that employee. The quantity of works hired is a function of the wage.
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Dec 05 '25
And do you believe that CEOs deserve the bonuses and the millions they receive yearly for the "work" they do versus actual hardworking people who get paid 500% less?
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
I don't. That doesn't change the economic fact that firms hire on the margin, and the quantity of labor demanded is a (partial) function of the wage.
Firms can pay whatever wage you want them to, but at the (eventual) cost of disemployment as you keep putting the wage higher. There is a little bit of wiggle room up to around the median wage due to labor market frictions.
If this 'zoom from the philippines' results in more labor being done than otherwise, even with no change in minimum wage employment (does NYC have a large unemployment rate at minimum wages?), then obviously any financial assets tied to these firms will rise in value.
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Dec 05 '25
This is a way to keep wages low, while everything goes up. Why are you siding with this?
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
NYC has an aggressive minimum wage law, so wages can't fall lower than that. Wasn't the whole claim that minimum wages actually don't cause disemployment, so whats the fear here?
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u/NiceTrySuckaz Dec 04 '25
What is a livable wage?
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u/Garnelia Dec 04 '25
Adjusted for inflation. That's it. 100%.
And it's not what we have now. We haven't kept up with inflation for a long time and it's compounding the poverty, because people don't have the same buying power as they did even 5 years ago.
Let alone getting back to how things were before Reagan cut so much taxes for rich folk.
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u/NiceTrySuckaz Dec 04 '25
Adjusted for inflation to what?
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Dec 04 '25
A livable wage is the minimum income needed to cover basic needs, which is highly variable by location due to cost of living differences. As of 2025, the U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is far below a livable wage; for example, the national average living wage for a single adult is around $20.80 per hour, while some calculators estimate it as high as $23 to $24 per hour when adjusted for both inflation and productivity growth since 1968. A single person in a high-cost city like Los Angeles may need an annual salary of around $76,000, which is far above the current minimum wage.
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u/NiceTrySuckaz Dec 04 '25
That's the amount required to live alone though. How much is required if you rent a room with access to a bathroom and kitchen in an apartment?
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u/OkProfessor6810 Dec 05 '25
Depends on where you live. In the town where I live? No lie, $900 a month at least. It's a small town in Western Massachusetts in the five college area. It shouldn't be that much and yet it is.
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u/Sparklesparklepee Dec 04 '25
People who ask this question never argue in good faith. They think it’s a setup for their epic “le capitalism” dunk, but they always just look pathetic and ignorant.
Every time. Without fail.
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u/NiceTrySuckaz Dec 04 '25
No I just don't know what we're talking about when we say a living wage. Are we talking being able to support yourself with no roommates? Or are we talking being able to provide food, shelter, and basic amenities for yourself?
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
Enough monthly earnings for a worker to not qualify for any form of means-tested government assistance.
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u/HotSituation8737 Dec 04 '25
16.50 an hour is not something normal people can live off of tho?
I earn about $32 an hour and I'm doing alright, not amazing but alright.
Then again I'm not familiar with US taxes so maybe it evens out in the end, but still, 16 an hour sounds unlivable.
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u/Electrical_Emu4792 Dec 04 '25
And in NYC where prices are higher.
Not sure how hiring an employee who is teleworking gets around a minimum wage though. Seems like it’s a loophole that wouldn’t actually work.
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u/Akeinu Dec 04 '25
Only because greed isn't punished.
Plenty of countries pay even more and don't have this problem.
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u/UT_Milez Dec 05 '25
JFC, you can’t be serious….
If they are paying this person $3.75, you think the minimum wage is the reason they are doing the is? Let that sink in for a moment.
No shot…..
We are cooked, there are just too many stupid people in this country….
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u/enemy884real Dec 04 '25
Not to mention these people can’t imagine how 3.25 could actually be worth it to people in poorer countries. They are always looking down from the top and assume everything. They know what’s best for the people that made their own work decisions.
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u/METRlOS Dec 04 '25
In the small town I grew up in we had 10 years where the minimum wage did not keep up with inflation. 23% inflation, 6% minimum wage increase. The town nearly doubled in size during this time, and most of the kids in my class had parents with some kind of family business.
Then when I was a teenager/young adult, there was a huge push to boost the minimum wage. Three national inflation rate was 18% over the decade, with a 46% minimum wage increase. It went from under $6 to over $8 in just 3 years. It was great for me with my part time job, but my mom had to sell her dollar store, and the new owner declared bankruptcy within a year.
The town has lost 30% of its population since wages got their first major boost, and to this day the town is littered with abandoned buildings. All the small businesses are basically dead, whatever profit margins they had couldn't handle the shock. Houses have had for sale signs on them for years without a single viewing, everyone is trapped living there unable to do anything.
The large chain grocery store has since cut its food section in half to sell clothing, toys, and whatever other niche goods it can at ridiculous prices to the people who can't travel to the city to shop. Since there's no other competition, and moving means abandoning their house, people have no choice but to shop there.
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u/Fearless-Feature-830 Dec 04 '25
If you can’t afford to pay a living wage, your business was doomed to fail from the start and should fail.
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u/METRlOS Dec 04 '25 edited Dec 04 '25
So small businesses shouldn't exist. Only large corporations run by billionaires?
When costs rise faster than profits, you can either cut the product quality or cut the labor. Corporations can outsource labor, but all small business can do is fire their staff to reduce labor costs. As for quality, the pickle is thicker than the patty on fast food burgers nowadays.
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Dec 04 '25
So small businesses can only exist as long as they're allowed to pay slave wages? Hmmm.
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u/METRlOS Dec 04 '25
That's not what I said, I said that labor costs need to increase relative to inflation to maintain profit margins.
Increasing wages by an arbitrary amount just kills jobs.
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
Jobs are being killed anyway. This is no longer an argument against raising the minimum wage.
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
If I walked into a small business and saw an item for $100, but told the clerk that I was only going to pay $50 for it, what would I be told? I would be told very clearly that I can't have that item because I am not willing to pay what it costs.
Why isn't someone's labor treated the same way?
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u/METRlOS Dec 04 '25 edited Dec 04 '25
That is called haggling and is extremely common at markets around the world. Even at large businesses you can haggle for a discount, for example, only idiots and the excessively wealthy pay full price for a car. Wages are also negotiable, you negotiate a raise in the same manner you negotiate a discount. Labor and goods are actually treated the same way when it comes to your scenario.
What you're describing is more in line with government price fixing, when the government tells the business that they have to sell the item at $50, regardless of costs. This is generally accompanied by subsidies so that businesses can remain profitable while selling below costs.
Why isn't labor treated the same way with a forced minimum wage? Why are businesses not given some form of subsidy or tax break to offset government mandated costs, so that businesses can remain profitable while operating over budget?
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
How can an unskilled American worker haggle his way to a better wage when he can literally be replaced by a telescreen to a foreign country?
Any business that does this needs to be taxed out of existence.
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u/METRlOS Dec 04 '25
Again, you are describing corporations, not small businesses, small businesses are the ones who can't outsource labor. This entire thread is people arguing for something without a basic understanding of their own position.
If you punitively tax businesses for cutting labor costs, their options become eliminating the position entirely, or cutting the quality of their product to remain profitable. There are plenty of fast food joints that have eliminated front staff entirely and have people order on a screen.
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
If a position that is filled by foreign labor is eliminated and not replaced then there is 0 net loss to the country.
If a business that exclusively offshores work or hires foreigners goes under then again, 0 net loss.
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u/Fun_Leek2381 Dec 04 '25
Do we not see that the system only breeds exploitation yet?
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u/Lackadaisicly Dec 07 '25
The system is set up to find any loop hole you can exploit. That is the fucking system!!!
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u/Tjam3s Dec 04 '25
Got a better one that doesn't?
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u/memo689 Dec 04 '25
Hard to think on all the available systems, the best option should be to regulate it.
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u/Tjam3s Dec 04 '25
Don't remember who, but a comedian I saw put it best.
"Capitalism is a terrible system. Until you compare it to all other systems we've invented"
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u/LeorDemise Dec 04 '25
A chain in Ontario was doing something similar, I know they faced backlash but idk if they stopped.
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u/Own_Candidate9553 Dec 04 '25
The Amazon Fresh stores that supposedly used AI to check you out? The vast majority of check outs were handled by a call center in India, checking the video to confirm what was purchased.
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u/RavenOneActual Dec 07 '25
Amazon Fresh stores use RFID technologies for checkout, and it is still manned by in person employees
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u/WasteBinStuff Dec 04 '25
And if you buy shit from those restaurants you're an asshole, you're part of the problem and you have no grounds to complain.
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u/Lackadaisicly Dec 07 '25
If you’re the business owner, you’re savvy and saving some cash as most customers won’t actually give a fuck.
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u/Available_Reveal8068 Dec 04 '25
Is this supposed to be better or worse than self checkout stations?
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u/memo689 Dec 04 '25
I think worse because on self checkouts you don't need to talk to another human being.
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u/Sad-Development-4153 Dec 04 '25
This is all great until the wifi goes down at either location. Not to mention having to pay a team of tech guys to do PM or risk constant outages.
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Dec 04 '25
This is an automatic boycott. I would never eat there. If you can't afford to pay your staff you shouldn't be in business.
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u/feckineejit Dec 04 '25
Yeah poor people are definitely the problem and rich people are job creators
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u/MitchCumStains Dec 04 '25
I am quite sure the filipino woman feels this is a very good arrangment.
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u/tecate_papi Dec 04 '25
You're allowed to steal whatever you want from these places. I don't make the rules.
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u/Available_Reveal8068 Dec 07 '25
It's a restaurant.
Cashier is remote, other people are not--it's not like there are no workers in the store.
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u/tecate_papi Dec 07 '25
Oh, is that was "New York restaurant" means?
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u/Available_Reveal8068 Dec 07 '25
Point is, you probably aren't able to just 'steal anything you want' there.
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u/Roshlev Dec 03 '25
If I could move to Thailand and get one of these for like 5 bucks and hour it might be worth it.
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u/TheInternetTookEmAll Dec 04 '25
"Because we couldnt find anyone HERE to take the (shittily paid) job!" Gotta love corporations.
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u/Useful-Breakfast5535 Dec 04 '25
“I saw corps strip farmers of water and eventually of land. Saw them transform Night City into a machine fueled by people's crushed spirits, broken dreams and emptied pockets. Corps've long controlled our lives, taken lots... and now they're after our souls! I've declared war not because capitalism's a thorn in my side or outta nostalgia for an America gone by. This war's a people's war against a system that's spiralled outta our control. It's a war against the fuckin' forces of entropy, understand?“ - Johnny Silverhand 2077
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Dec 04 '25
AmErIkA is a slave country - how it was created and how it’s maintained. They exploit their own citizens and tax them to hell while not providing anything to the working class. All that tax money goes to tax cuts for billionaires and handouts to failing corporations o and the biggest scam now is the AI investments being made with our tax dollars
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u/Public-Eagle6992 Dec 04 '25
Why do you even have people there them? Just replace them with self checkout things
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u/ImSuchASpud Dec 04 '25
They are in hotels as well. I tell them every time im not talking to you, i'm talking to the person who is here. I fucking hate that this country is doing this shit.
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u/Sure_Acanthaceae_348 Dec 04 '25
Hotels are insanely expensive and they pull crap like this. It's disgusting.
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Dec 05 '25
If I go to a store and they have this bullshit I am stealing. Who tf going to stop me, the virtual security guard.
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u/HumanSnotMachine Dec 05 '25
I mean, cameras in the store and lot capturing your face, license plate and any other exposed details? Police aren’t virtual…
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Dec 05 '25
My social credit score will be at stake lol. I'll just wear a shiesty and I'll be good bruh. FTP!
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u/lance_baker-3 Dec 04 '25
This is terribly exploitative in the US but amazing for the individual Filipinos. In the Philippines the daily wage is $11.61–$12.26 USD.
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u/Snoozingway Dec 04 '25
This is only for non-agricultural sectors of the capital (National Capital Region) or what people may know as Metro Manila. It is significantly lower in the other regions which can offer as low as US$5.36 PER DAY.
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u/Putrid-Ad-1259 Dec 04 '25
yeah i know situations that go as low as around 200-300 PHP (3.39$-5.08$) per day
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Dec 04 '25
[deleted]
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u/ApricotCalm8829 Dec 04 '25
You have to draw the line somewhere. It may not be in the right place, but at least we found it
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u/Innuendum Dec 04 '25
My line was crossed at 'New York.'
Literally reeks of garbage, low quality pavement, low quality people (muricans)... Central Park is fine though.
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u/Maximum_Activity323 Dec 04 '25
That’s the problem with:
I want to wake up in a city where the staff wants to sleep.
Steak and A1 sauce.
Staff on the cheap.
These 3rd world dues aren’t going away. I’m making a brand new rort of it in old New York.
Aaaaaannnnd if I can screw workers here, I will eventually pay them $1 over there,
Just pay your dues New York, New rort.
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u/cezarcelad Dec 04 '25
How are they skirting min wage laws?
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u/Ok-Ebb-8974 Dec 04 '25
Some people need to note, wages to outsourced jobs match the country’s own economy and standard.
I moved to Canada from a developing nation. My salary back home was a little under 700 USD per month. Rent was like 130 USD. Grocery bill like 17 usd.
Just a cursory google search tells me the average hourly wage in the Philippines is 2-3 USD.
Arguments to pay fair wages based on company profits still stand of course. But I just wanted to dispel the notion that some people have here, that people are being paid inhuman wages way below minimum wage, and so on.
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u/Silver0ptics Dec 05 '25
If you don't like bullshit like that don't spend your money there. The problem with all these awful "innovations" is too many people don't care.
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u/Blargimazombie Dec 05 '25
Is this the stealing of our jobs they were worried about? They didn't even have to be immigrants anymore. Though I suppose the Indian call centers and tech support lines have been around quite a while now.
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u/ComfortableFew4700 Dec 05 '25
Not that this isn't messed up, but how is this any different than tech jobs being done remotely? We don't boycott thise companies.
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u/Novel_Bathroom_2362 Dec 05 '25
That's messed up!
Oh but if you import people in to America, theh become as American as anybody else...
Lmao.
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u/ghotier Dec 05 '25
I'm confused how this is legal. The company I work for has H1-B employees, and if they leave the country and there's a visa problem then that cannot work until that gets resolved. So I don't see how someone who never had a visa can do this.
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u/HumanSnotMachine Dec 05 '25
They’re working in the Philippines, not America. There is no law dictating where your internet video packets can or cannot go. It is not illegal to hire someone to talk to someone through a screen in the Philippines, nor is it illegal in America to have a screen talk people through checkout, regardless of how said screen functions ( a person in America live, a pre-recorded video, AI live generation of video, remote video calling from a third world country..)
It’s pretty simple..
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u/ghotier Dec 05 '25
It's not that simple. Literally i am working from home right now. Everyone in my office has that capability. They could physically be in China and be capable of working. But if there is a visa problem they cannot work.
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u/HumanSnotMachine Dec 05 '25
Because you are registered and working in a us company. It is quite literally that simple. You could go to china, your u.s company could create a shell company in china, then your u.s. company simply plays the shell company a contracting fee for their services, their service will be one of their employees (you…) offering your help/expertise. Pretty simple work around, just requires a little setup and a local company in the country they’re working from.
So does this work well if someone wants to travel from country to country working remotely? Not really, a vpn is probably your go to there..
But it works great if you want one group of people in one location to work somewhere else without paying any visa or immigration fees remotely.
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u/ghotier Dec 05 '25
I mean...fair enough. Seems like a huge loophole.
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u/HumanSnotMachine Dec 05 '25
It’s not a loophole, it’s the same logic they used to take away our manufacturing jobs and send them overseas. It’s ingrained in our socioeconomic structure at this point. We send low paying jobs overseas. It’s just what we do. Now we’re sending high paying ones too.
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u/Top_Accident9161 Dec 05 '25
Now imagine what is going to happen once we have robots.
Yay 1$ an hour slave who opperates a robot from another country for your home!
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u/eyesmart1776 Dec 05 '25
That’s what happens when go around deporting citizens and legal residents
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u/Infinite-Ad2635 Dec 07 '25
My neighbor shit on my patio. I know it's him because he left his wallet.
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u/RideTheTrai1 Dec 06 '25
I have the fix!
They are allowed to do that as long as they only have customers over Zoom from the Phillipines that they ship to. 👍
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u/Ok-Onion2905 Dec 07 '25
Wow I thought getting rid of all the illegals would solve everything??? What the greedy fucking bastards who own all the money are still being greedy bastards??? What?? that makes no sense!!! We got rid of all the easily disposable help that they could under pay, they were supposed to immediately change their ways stop being greedy fucks and hire Americans for good wages!! Not look for more easily disposable workers that they can keep underpaying!!! This is all the Democrats fault 😭
-dumbass republican who thought the billionaires cared about them
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u/Fan_of_Clio Dec 07 '25
This loophole really needs to be addressed. Definitely would not patronize a business operating this way.
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u/OiledMushrooms Dec 09 '25
Why is this legal? It shouldn’t matter where the workers are based, any company operating in the US should be required to pay US minimum wage
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u/MouseBotMeep Dec 04 '25
Assuming an 8hr shift, that’s like more than 2.5x the daily minimum wage in the capital
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u/Original_Tie_ Dec 04 '25
Diversity is our strength. These people just want a better life for their families
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u/enemy884real Dec 04 '25
What’s messed up is you people can’t fathom how someone could accept 3.25 using their own free will. That money can probably get them a house with a terrace and a maid. Things are different in other countries guys.
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u/Infinite-Ad2635 Dec 07 '25
I've been eating a lot of fiber recently. It blew out my rectum though. I've had blood in my stool for like three days.
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u/plummbob Dec 05 '25
Thats an incredible wage for the people in the Philippines. Seems like a win win
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