My brother went to school with a kid that barely graduated. His dad got him a job on an assembly line and all he did all day was shake catalytic converters to make sure nothing was loose inside, then chalked them and sent them down the line. 8 hours a day.
I worked at a aubergine (eggplant) company for several years. The only thing the workers from Poland had to do was making sure the aubergines where lying perfectly straight on the assembly line. 10 to 12+ hours a day. -_-
Dude with the finger flicks though… I feel bad for his gf or bf… or happy for them… heck I’m not one to judge the intensity of one’s preferred finger blasting. I’d give it a college try. It’s good to experience new things.
So basically China has a law that says you cannot meaningfully automate people out of work, and must maintain a minimum amount of employment to production. Leads to situations like this, it WOULD be better to automate many positions but legally they cannot. Objectively the law kinda has the right spirit but extremely poor execution and function. In a capitalist economy you CANNOT automate out the majority of your population, not that capitalists realize that. The system will collapse, but you
I had to line up tiny contact points for chip components under a friggin microscope OVERNIGHT years back for Motorola... Omg we'd ALL sit there in a line with our eyes in the eyepieces and just zzzzz bent over the microscope, omg it was so friggin difficult to stay awake doing that from 11pm-730am I wanted to die doing that work on 3rd shift -_-
Yeah I did it for 4 months right after school in a factory here in the UK ... was sort of like meditation after a couple of weeks being on an assembly line doing EXACTLY the same thing every day 7.5 hours a day. But after 3 months I wanted to blow my brains out. I ended up becoming a software engineer though and some of the people I worked with there had been there for 7 years ... some people do not have curious minds but I would argue that no one chooses to do that 40 hours a week to live.
I call that "highway hypnosis". It's how I ended up with four stitches in my thumb due to a bandsaw. I eventually became a Machinist, and the tedium has lessened considerably, though it occasionally sneaks up on me.
Did this in a blind making factory. I spent the entire time in pain from movements. Most of the people I worked with were immigrants and honestly so kind and caring. My heart goes out to anyone who does this long term.
Would it not make sense to rotate jobs every hour or so? The teenage lifeguards at our pool shift every 20ish minutes so they don’t go brain dead. They rotate around the different guard chairs and through the main desk. I think even the kid who checks badges at the gate gets switched out every hour or two.
You guys are seriously so gullible. This isn't real. They rent mini factories that are just props in a corner for these types of videos. You can find PLENTY of videos of what this looks like behind the scenes. Stop upvoting all this Chinese garbage.
Humans will always be necessary on a production line - it's not glamorous or entertaining, but it is still important. The trick is to have other incentive programs to keep them interested in actually paying attention.
Our manufacturing lines are all intended to be human-free except load and unload.
But humans aren't infallible, so why would we assume their inventions would be? It's not like every single piece of equipment has someone calculating for entropy and applying those calculations in a way that would diminish the need for human observation/correction. Can you imagine the time and cost?? As if it would even be successful without constant, chronic callibration?
Depends on batch sizes, really. Is the factory producing the same thing to be processed and packaged the same way, every day? If yes: simple machine. If not: expensive complicated machine or a different machine for every task - better have a human do it.
A decision that is about as genius and most certainly without long-term repercussions as the one child policy or the idea to limit investments to mostly real estate.
Or "box closer". Jesus, I think I'd bring a board and a book. Lid hits the board and closes itself while I do something else. My mind couldn't handle that level of boredom.
These jobs suck. They're a dead end, and there's no guarantee you'll ever be able to get out of that dead end and go do something better. So I agree it's not good to keep having jobs like that. But the problem is that the capitalist approach is to automate them with a "very simple machine" and remove them without caring what happens to the people who used to do those jobs.
All jobs are dead end jobs. You can only move up so far. Even if it's CEO. it's all lateral movement after a certain point and you might find it interesting for a while but eventually the routine sets in and you'll need to switch again. I can't think of a single job out there where it would be interesting every day for decades. Might be a problem with me though. I am pretty dismal.
I don't know if "dismal" is the right word. What I see here is lack of maturity. If you look at this video and then read my comment and you think I'm talking about being bored because no job is "interesting every day for decades", then you missed the point by light years. We're not talking about being bored here, we're talking about being stuck in an exhausting, soul-crushing, badly paid job without any way out. "All jobs are dead-end jobs" is the same kind of sentiment as "all lives matter".
If we're giving out free money, why not just give out that free money. A UBI preferably, unemployment benefits if not. That'd free these people up to either look for other, more gainful, employment, or learn skills so they can GET that more gainful employment.
i wonder if it has to do with having an extremely high employment number so the owners can have more buying power for land and stuff. tax breaks for more employees maybe?
also in the video, these factories only fulfill a contract where they have to make like 1 million of something to fulfill a buy order that another company already paid for. thats different than other factories (like car factory) where they manufacture a bunch of something and then hope to sell it later.
so with these contract factories, its far easier to shuffle around a bunch of people to produce something quickly, rather than spend a lot of money for specialized machines or parts that have to be maintained. Yeah, a thin curved ribbon of metal would totally be enough to close those box lids, but then what happens after the contact is closed? that metal has to be stored somewhere. all the money spent for storage and retooling factories? they'd rather just pay these people pennies.
This mostly comes down to "how many are we making?" Because even if it only takes an engineer a couple hours to fiddle with even a stationary thing that uses the conveyor motion to do the task, reliably, unless those hours can be spread across many many parts, then it's cheaper to simply put someone on the line to do it.
I used to review factory operations for manufacturers and had to visit several companies in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and north in Wuxi/other locations. The first time I visited the factories I asked about these roles and they used to call them "iron rice bowl" jobs. The government ended those roles in the 90s, but often have mandatory employee levels a company has to maintain when they reach a certain income level...
Well that's the point, unemployed and poor people have the motivation and the time to protest and disrupt an oppressive government, like the CCP. Bored and paid people do not have the time and (enough) motivation to protest and disrupt the CCP.
Always gonna be a tankie who shows up to tell me criticizing China is bad smh.
America's methods work because Americans have a much higher standard of living than Chinese people do, Americans actually have something to lose if they rebel. Chinese people very often have nothing to lose, and the CCP providing them meaningless labor with slave wages is not solving financial insecurity. If the CCP gave a shit about their people they'd have UBI instead of state mandated slavery.
Why march against a regime which has presided over the growth of the largest and most upwardly mobile middle class in the world, a nation with over 90% home ownership, which as eradicated extreme poverty, and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in general? They also employ the elderly to walk around and clean the streets, so the sidewalks and streets are clean and everyone has something to do and it's a nice place to live. Like what's the downside here? Our elderly just rot in a home.
"a nation with over 90% home ownership" *owned by the state "which as eradicated extreme poverty" *by putting people in state-owned homes with dead end jobs like this "Our elderly just rot in a home." Yeah, god forbid the elderly get to fucking rest. Everyone should just work until they die, right? Sounds like a great place to live.
I mean would you rather have a nothing job that at least pays you and takes care of your needs in a society where those needs are easily attainable with jobs like this, or would you rather be homeless in america and not have access to any nothing jobs because people expect you to break your back for less than a living wage, with the threat of homelessness always looming over you because you drive past them on the way to work every day? There's clearly a better way.
...as opposed to China, where you'd never lose your job or anything else because of something you said? (Note that this doesn't mean it's OK to be fired for making fun of Charlie Kirk's, if not hilarious, at the very least amusingly ironic, death... I'm just saying maybe that's not the best example of something China does better.)
Believe it or not, a mixed economy isn't the concern. I've got issues with the military crackdowns on dissent and religious, ethnic, and racial purges.
Buddy, China is capitalist AF, it just has a very authoritarian government that wants to avoid civil war so they do some things to keep those people content. China also has a big issue with its water, a massive economic bubble in its housing market, very low freedom in quite a few ways, serious cultural issues, and probably more things I could mention if I went and read up on China.
No, you can't. You can make criticisms against any government, but the criticisms against the CCP government cannot be made validly against just ANY large government, only ones which do the same things as China, and there aren't many big governments actively genociding entire peoples, for one. Stop being disingenuous.
That "one problem" is pretty fucking huge. Also, you're ignoring the racism, sexism, corruption, shitty building standards, censorship, Hong Kong, and the disappearing of dissidents. Get back to your production line you fucking tankie.
That was a weird jump in logic. Nobody claimed what you are trying to argue against. You asked what there was to march against and somebody provided you a possible reason. I guess you weird metal gymnastics is because you couldn't respond to the real comment ?
KaJuN
Today, on How It's Made...
cactuskid1956
Need four year college degree to apply
CanadianOneDollarCoin
Some of these look at least somewhat engaging but others? Yeah accurate title
PrinceMaxx7
My brother went to school with a kid that barely graduated. His dad got him a job on an assembly line and all he did all day was shake catalytic converters to make sure nothing was loose inside, then chalked them and sent them down the line. 8 hours a day.
IceWeaselX
Duckman391980
I worked at a aubergine (eggplant) company for several years. The only thing the workers from Poland had to do was making sure the aubergines where lying perfectly straight on the assembly line. 10 to 12+ hours a day. -_-
EnIightenment
BRING THESE JERBS BACK TO AMERICA
ToasterDent
THIS IS THE PROSPERITY I WANT FOR AMERICA --TRAEMP
IOnlyUpvoteBees
Dude with the finger flicks though… I feel bad for his gf or bf… or happy for them… heck I’m not one to judge the intensity of one’s preferred finger blasting. I’d give it a college try. It’s good to experience new things.
FinancialRavioli
Carpal tunnel is a bitch.
woozle
the dude laying down and kicking the fruit is my hero
Affray
He's got the energy that we all wish we had.
newsguycraigevans
Fruit Ninja: The Later Years
Ulthirm
So basically China has a law that says you cannot meaningfully automate people out of work, and must maintain a minimum amount of employment to production. Leads to situations like this, it WOULD be better to automate many positions but legally they cannot. Objectively the law kinda has the right spirit but extremely poor execution and function. In a capitalist economy you CANNOT automate out the majority of your population, not that capitalists realize that. The system will collapse, but you
Ulthirm
also really shouldnt design it like this, where your population will eventually depress too deeply.
3dartwork
Toothbrush girl.....
ricpaul
I think they are USB lights (I have a couple of them) but I guess you were distracted...
Nightcaste
Some of these look like legit QA jobs. Some of them look like I would shoot myself if I had to do it every day.
IgnisInvictus
Oh yeah, I remember factory work. 8-10 hours of putting sheets on bumpers. It's mind-numbing.
SaraSlaughter
I had to line up tiny contact points for chip components under a friggin microscope OVERNIGHT years back for Motorola... Omg we'd ALL sit there in a line with our eyes in the eyepieces and just zzzzz bent over the microscope, omg it was so friggin difficult to stay awake doing that from 11pm-730am I wanted to die doing that work on 3rd shift -_-
JohnSmithterms
Yeah I did it for 4 months right after school in a factory here in the UK ... was sort of like meditation after a couple of weeks being on an assembly line doing EXACTLY the same thing every day 7.5 hours a day. But after 3 months I wanted to blow my brains out. I ended up becoming a software engineer though and some of the people I worked with there had been there for 7 years ... some people do not have curious minds but I would argue that no one chooses to do that 40 hours a week to live.
astrangehop
My smt machines run for ten minutes while I listen to podcasts. Then i put another board in.
jaysjunkymail11
And when the mind goes numb is unfortunately when accidents happen. It's a bad combination when a dangerous job is super repetitive and mind numbing
NKato
I call that "highway hypnosis". It's how I ended up with four stitches in my thumb due to a bandsaw. I eventually became a Machinist, and the tedium has lessened considerably, though it occasionally sneaks up on me.
UseYourVoice
I really hope that robots do this kind of work in the future, so that everyone is freed from having to do such boring, tedious jobs.
ConfusedConda
Unless we get rid of the rich, all the robots will accomplish is put people out of work.
Randomice
I am overqualified for these jobs.
300Hectares1TankofKerosene
If the economy goes the way Trump wants, we’ll all have sweet factory jobs like these!!
ambibot
Did this in a blind making factory. I spent the entire time in pain from movements. Most of the people I worked with were immigrants and honestly so kind and caring. My heart goes out to anyone who does this long term.
beerlady
One, two, three, four,
Five, six, seven, eight!
Schlemiel! Schlimazel!
Hasenpfeffer incorporated!
MrsHowVeryDareYou
Would it not make sense to rotate jobs every hour or so? The teenage lifeguards at our pool shift every 20ish minutes so they don’t go brain dead. They rotate around the different guard chairs and through the main desk. I think even the kid who checks badges at the gate gets switched out every hour or two.
Goatfer
This could be done by machines and UBI.
johnxbear
I feel like this guy shouldn't be included. He's doing crazy work while everyone else is just kinda napping
Lon6CartoonTraveler
#1 Henry Ford never saw this coming, I betcha.
huffnpuff72
I know they pay terrible wages, but how does all that stuff end up so cheap on the other side of the world? There are so many workers there.
Zeplin
You guys are seriously so gullible. This isn't real. They rent mini factories that are just props in a corner for these types of videos. You can find PLENTY of videos of what this looks like behind the scenes.
Stop upvoting all this Chinese garbage.
Sleepwalkin
Bring back those manufacturing jobs to the US! That’s what people want!
AnnieGoolahee
Humans will always be necessary on a production line - it's not glamorous or entertaining, but it is still important. The trick is to have other incentive programs to keep them interested in actually paying attention.
Just saying. As someone in manufacturing.
algoritham
As an engineer, I could automate most of these 'jobs' with a few pistons, some plastic strips and some sensors.
RainierAlt
Still need at least one person to occasionally check in occasionally and make sure something didn't jam or screw up in ways never before imagined.
AnnieGoolahee
Our manufacturing lines are all intended to be human-free except load and unload.
But humans aren't infallible, so why would we assume their inventions would be? It's not like every single piece of equipment has someone calculating for entropy and applying those calculations in a way that would diminish the need for human observation/correction. Can you imagine the time and cost?? As if it would even be successful without constant, chronic callibration?
M4rv3
100% employment! Welcome to the Eastern Bloc!
GeminiDreams
Most of these "jobs" should be handled by a very simple machine. Also, I'm concerned about doggo's nose so close to that conveyor belt.
dasklaus
Depends on batch sizes, really. Is the factory producing the same thing to be processed and packaged the same way, every day? If yes: simple machine. If not: expensive complicated machine or a different machine for every task - better have a human do it.
IgnisInvictus
For a short run of something, this is cheaper. 🤷
GasBandit
China made a conscious decision to largely eschew automation to boost employment, even if the jobs are mind-numbingly tedious.
DdCno1
A decision that is about as genius and most certainly without long-term repercussions as the one child policy or the idea to limit investments to mostly real estate.
StrandedonEarth
The makeup brush bundler… *facepalm*
Akurei00
Or "box closer".
Jesus, I think I'd bring a board and a book. Lid hits the board and closes itself while I do something else. My mind couldn't handle that level of boredom.
WoeToHice
These jobs suck. They're a dead end, and there's no guarantee you'll ever be able to get out of that dead end and go do something better. So I agree it's not good to keep having jobs like that. But the problem is that the capitalist approach is to automate them with a "very simple machine" and remove them without caring what happens to the people who used to do those jobs.
thepandasbum
All jobs are dead end jobs. You can only move up so far. Even if it's CEO. it's all lateral movement after a certain point and you might find it interesting for a while but eventually the routine sets in and you'll need to switch again. I can't think of a single job out there where it would be interesting every day for decades. Might be a problem with me though. I am pretty dismal.
WoeToHice
I don't know if "dismal" is the right word. What I see here is lack of maturity. If you look at this video and then read my comment and you think I'm talking about being bored because no job is "interesting every day for decades", then you missed the point by light years. We're not talking about being bored here, we're talking about being stuck in an exhausting, soul-crushing, badly paid job without any way out. "All jobs are dead-end jobs" is the same kind of sentiment as "all lives matter".
trondason1
If we're giving out free money, why not just give out that free money. A UBI preferably, unemployment benefits if not. That'd free these people up to either look for other, more gainful, employment, or learn skills so they can GET that more gainful employment.
DreamPhreak
i wonder if it has to do with having an extremely high employment number so the owners can have more buying power for land and stuff. tax breaks for more employees maybe?
also in the video, these factories only fulfill a contract where they have to make like 1 million of something to fulfill a buy order that another company already paid for. thats different than other factories (like car factory) where they manufacture a bunch of something and then hope to sell it later.
DreamPhreak
so with these contract factories, its far easier to shuffle around a bunch of people to produce something quickly, rather than spend a lot of money for specialized machines or parts that have to be maintained. Yeah, a thin curved ribbon of metal would totally be enough to close those box lids, but then what happens after the contact is closed? that metal has to be stored somewhere. all the money spent for storage and retooling factories? they'd rather just pay these people pennies.
heckruler
This mostly comes down to "how many are we making?" Because even if it only takes an engineer a couple hours to fiddle with even a stationary thing that uses the conveyor motion to do the task, reliably, unless those hours can be spread across many many parts, then it's cheaper to simply put someone on the line to do it.
Decitron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs we have these in America, too.
reallynotbob
But we want more because, greatness.
UserSubLurkerMan
These jobs are meant to keep people paid and not marching against the current regime, not to be productive.
hsalonen3000
That only works, if they work for crap pay.
euphoricopportunity
Like managers!
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
Wonder how much that dog gets paid.
Nismu
HelikaformerNubisKnight9
Wuff, woofwoof wuff!
TemplarMuse
Does that include dental?
HelikaformerNubisKnight9
Grrrr! Grwoof!
PaulFranksMonkey
I used to review factory operations for manufacturers and had to visit several companies in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and north in Wuxi/other locations. The first time I visited the factories I asked about these roles and they used to call them "iron rice bowl" jobs. The government ended those roles in the 90s, but often have mandatory employee levels a company has to maintain when they reach a certain income level...
The11thPlague
It's not a terrible idea, especially if those roles get rotated around.
FoxySpirit
Reduce hours, keep the pay the same. Boom, more people in useful jobs, less stress for everyone.
ParryLost
that's double-quadruple-evil commu-marxi-socialism and is the worst thing anyone has ever suggested in the history of humanity, go work more
lostinthoughts
It certainly feels like they're just having these jobs to make it seem like no one's unemployed
Phraxonomy
But they are actually employed and paid. Ideally everyone would be able to do something meaningful and engaging but I'd take busywork over poverty.
Trunkmonkay
Well that's the point, unemployed and poor people have the motivation and the time to protest and disrupt an oppressive government, like the CCP. Bored and paid people do not have the time and (enough) motivation to protest and disrupt the CCP.
Phraxonomy
So taking away people's motivation to protest by *checks notes* solving their financial insecurity, is bad?
Yeah the CCP is autocratic for sure but at least they're using some carrot as well as stick.
America has proven that's not even necessary, they're just suppressing protests with riot police and deporting undesirable citizens.
But that's not oppression because the oligarchy gets a new front man every few years and you have the 'freedom' to choose how they fuck you.
Trunkmonkay
Always gonna be a tankie who shows up to tell me criticizing China is bad smh.
America's methods work because Americans have a much higher standard of living than Chinese people do, Americans actually have something to lose if they rebel. Chinese people very often have nothing to lose, and the CCP providing them meaningless labor with slave wages is not solving financial insecurity. If the CCP gave a shit about their people they'd have UBI instead of state mandated slavery.
Arbitrarynamehere
Wish I had one of those
paulwall117350
Why march against a regime which has presided over the growth of the largest and most upwardly mobile middle class in the world, a nation with over 90% home ownership, which as eradicated extreme poverty, and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in general? They also employ the elderly to walk around and clean the streets, so the sidewalks and streets are clean and everyone has something to do and it's a nice place to live. Like what's the downside here? Our elderly just rot in a home.
Rengii
Bad bot
PlusTechSqueezeBox
"a nation with over 90% home ownership"
*owned by the state
"which as eradicated extreme poverty"
*by putting people in state-owned homes with dead end jobs like this
"Our elderly just rot in a home."
Yeah, god forbid the elderly get to fucking rest. Everyone should just work until they die, right? Sounds like a great place to live.
darbythemiddle
Thanks Xi propaganda bot
algoritham
Taiwan is a free country.
paulwall117350
I mean would you rather have a nothing job that at least pays you and takes care of your needs in a society where those needs are easily attainable with jobs like this, or would you rather be homeless in america and not have access to any nothing jobs because people expect you to break your back for less than a living wage, with the threat of homelessness always looming over you because you drive past them on the way to work every day? There's clearly a better way.
SodomySnake
I would like to live in a country where I can freely type "Tienamen square 1989" on the internet.
spacecowboyein
Instead we live in a society where you lose your job for making fun of Kirk's death...
SodomySnake
...as opposed to China, where you'd never lose your job or anything else because of something you said? (Note that this doesn't mean it's OK to be fired for making fun of Charlie Kirk's, if not hilarious, at the very least amusingly ironic, death... I'm just saying maybe that's not the best example of something China does better.)
whatspaulplayingtoday
Splendid rebuttal. (no /s, loved it)
iambrokencog
lol. getting downvoted by the capitalist psychophants who can't handle a bigger truth.
Zange0
Believe it or not, a mixed economy isn't the concern. I've got issues with the military crackdowns on dissent and religious, ethnic, and racial purges.
iambrokencog
I know. China isn't perfect. Show me a government which is better and I'll show you selective criticism.
LoquaciousDude
Buddy, China is capitalist AF, it just has a very authoritarian government that wants to avoid civil war so they do some things to keep those people content. China also has a big issue with its water, a massive economic bubble in its housing market, very low freedom in quite a few ways, serious cultural issues, and probably more things I could mention if I went and read up on China.
iambrokencog
They have problems, for sure. We can make the same criticisms against any other large government
LoquaciousDude
No, you can't. You can make criticisms against any government, but the criticisms against the CCP government cannot be made validly against just ANY large government, only ones which do the same things as China, and there aren't many big governments actively genociding entire peoples, for one. Stop being disingenuous.
mrsparkle001
The Uyghurs would like a word
iambrokencog
So, because that one problem exists in China everything else is wrong?
Cutwail
"So, because that one problem exists in Israel everything else is wrong?"
PlusTechSqueezeBox
yeah, genociding people is typically pretty bad
BarryTheCyborg
That "one problem" is pretty fucking huge. Also, you're ignoring the racism, sexism, corruption, shitty building standards, censorship, Hong Kong, and the disappearing of dissidents. Get back to your production line you fucking tankie.
MuttleyMutterson
I have a problem and it's I don't have toothpaste, I need to go to the shop. Genocide on the other hand might be classed as two problems?
DdCno1
Imagine the audacity to refer to a genocide as "that one problem" and also imagine pretending that China has no other problems.
BarryTheCyborg
There is no war in Ba Sing Se
TripleDane
That was a weird jump in logic. Nobody claimed what you are trying to argue against.
You asked what there was to march against and somebody provided you a possible reason.
I guess you weird metal gymnastics is because you couldn't respond to the real comment ?
KumquatKarl
They would like one, but they won't get one.