Robots now appearing in stores as millions of grocery jobs are set to disappear

The revolution has already begun.

More warnings from the tech sector, as robots deploy in grocery stores. Shoppers are now seeing a tall, slender robot at some Target stores in San Francisco and in some St. Louis area grocery stores. The robots are part of a test program that once launched will eliminate thousands of grocery jobs.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- Robot developers are close to perfecting Tally, a robot that is capable of taking inventory at stores. The tall, slender machine can roam aisles, check inventories as it goes, and notifies staff when something needs to be restocked.

Inventory is a long and laborious process, and anything that can automate it or speed it up can save labor and costs.

The robot navigates its way around shoppers and their carts with ease, and if an aisle is congested it will simply wait until later to check again. When the robot is low on power, it finds a charging dock and recharges itself.

Stores as well as fast food chains are seeking to eliminate labor costs by automating some of the more routine tasks that workers perform. This includes self-service kiosks and checkouts, inventory checks, and restocking. Using robots to restock shelves could save billions because many stores have to hire small armies of staff to restock their shelves each night.

Companies that are producing robots tend to downplay the role the robots will have in replacing human labor, choosing instead to emphasize the collaborative relationships that the robots will require. However, such machines have no other purpose than to replace labor, even if they still require human coworkers.

While labor advocates condemn the move, it is inevitable. Ships are no longer powered by banks oarsmen, and heavy burdens are not transported by teams of mules. Automation is as much a part of the future as it has been a part of our past.

As old jobs disappear, new jobs arise to replace them. Robots need technicians to maintain them, programmers to tweak them, and an occasional helping hand from a human. The jobs of the future will require new skills that will become standard as education evolves to prepare young people for the entry-level jobs of the future. We may worry about the short-term changes, which could prove traumatic, particularly for families who rely on employment in the grocery sector. But now is the time to seek retraining, and to prepare for the coming changes.

In the short term, meaning within the next decade, we are being warned to expect further automation of our stores. As the robots enter the market, prices should drop while profit margins will increase. This means more value for customers and shareholders alike.

Workers can adapt by educating themselves how to thrive alongside robots in the labor market of the future. We aren't going back to mule teams and galley ships, and we aren't coming back to what we are leaving behind today.