That may be true in populated areas. But, what about areas that lag behind? Rural america that is too poor to afford robot trucks. I see people hanging off garbage trucks all the time in the midwestern low pop and rural areas.
>> The robot trucks are cheaper than the humans that operate the non-robot trucks
not if you understand accounting. I can hire a guy today at <$20/hr operating cost to do it manually. That robot truck is a much more significant capital investment that will amortize over 10+ years.
2. Private garbage collection companies: just because a municipality doesn't have money to buy a robot truck in cash, doesn't mean the private garbage collection company that serves most of the surrounding municipalities doesn't.
3. If you actually look up the prices, the numbers are so skewed in the favor of automation that even without loans or private companies, I very much doubt there are any cases where this would take 10+ years to amortize. Your $20/hour collector translates to $30K/year if they works 30 hours/week, or $300K in 10 years. Is it your claim that robot trucks cost $300K more than non-robot trucks?
Keep in mind a truck lasts for years, while a truck driver has to be paid yearly. I'm not figuring in maintenance costs for the truck here--if you'd like to argue that yearly maintenance costs for the truck are the same as the cost of the truck, I can look that up too, but I'm hoping you are a reasonable person.
You're welcome to personally finance south pedoka county's multi-million dollar purchase of robo-garbage trucks. oh, and figure out how that garbage collector can now support themselves.
I realize this runs against the reality of HN, but not all solutions are technology, and not all technology solutions are as simple as "just do X". It's like the "dropbox is just ..." meme turned up to 11
I used Zen Business to handle the legal stuff. Beyond that, my business is basically do what I did for a salary job (Python/Django), but fewer hours per week, and getting paid hourly without benefits. That wouldn't work for every career, but in my situation it actually was pretty easy.
Taxes are definitely not easy, but having a separate business bank account has made them a lot easier.
I agree. It took me a long time to learn that I'm interviewing them as much as the other way around. I learned a lot watching football (soccer) and the behavior of players with respect to their contracts. They are paid up front for services they are expected to provide. Sometimes their salary is low but they agree to high performance bonus. In the past my attitude was that I just want a job that pays the most money. I was taught in school how to interview. But, I learned that there is more to it.
It doesn't seem anymore fishy than a lot of software/IT companies. Tesla is designed to produce a product not necessarily for profit. CFOs, like most corporate execs, are more concerned about money than philosophy. Musk thinks he is/can change the world. He's not concerned with how much he can profit.
> Musk thinks he is/can change the world. He's not concerned with how much he can profit.
Then why didn't he start Tesla as a nonprofit? Your characterization would be much more credible if he didn't personally own a very valuable chunk of a multi-billion dollar company.
I hear you. This is the burnout that I was hoping to read about. Not some guy that gave up all his free time to become a corporate zombie. I want a solution to our burnout not OP.
