10 Traditional Jobs Facing Imminent Obsoletion
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Obsolescence is the ominous henchman of progress; one usually can’t exist without the other. It’s also a very scary word to use when it comes to the traditional jobs that we all revere and take for granted. Still, it’s the 21st century. Every aspect of your life now revolves around interfacing with a smart device and the internet. There is nothing “traditional” about the way Americans live and conduct business now, even if we want to hold onto old ways.
Many jobs are now already obsolete on paper or will become so within the next 10 to 20 years. So, if you plan on applying for any of the jobs on this list, you should do so much sooner rather than later. Here are 10 traditional jobs facing imminent obsoletion.
1. Fast Food Workers
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Traditional jobs and salaries like fast workers have been declining for a long time. While there are a lot of fast-food jobs you can get now, the number of viable human jobs will decline in the next two decades. Automation and AI will take over a lot of roles.
You probably use an app and delivery service to get your fast food now, a development that obsoleted the need for some human jobs; after all, you don’t have to go to a physical store and give your order to someone anymore. Entry-level salaries for this job range between $22,00 to $29,000.
2. Taxi Driver
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In the early 2010s, a New York City taxi cab permit, or a medallion, could cost as much as $1.3 million. Now they are worth anywhere between $100,00 to $250,000. NYC has the largest fleet of taxi cabs in the country. Taxi cab owners went to Albany state court in 2023 to try to stop the proliferation of rail-hailing companies from obsoleting their profession. However, Pandora’s Box is already opened and might never close with this issue.
Private taxi cab companies, once a monopoly, are now lumped in with ride-sharing companies and apps. Taxi cab drivers as traditional jobs will disappear faster once self-driving cars become reliable and ubiquitous. The salary for this job ranges between $27,000 to $34,000.
3. Librarian
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Even the staunchest advocates of saving traditional jobs like librarians probably own smart device tablets containing dozens of ebooks and digital magazine subscriptions. The internet, digital databases, and the ability to read pirated or scanned books online have essentially made librarians obsolete while still existing. Librarians as the curators of digital content or preserving protected works may be viable professions for a long time to come, but the traditional use of a librarian has been obsoleted for a while now. A typical librarian makes $31,00 to $65,000.
4. Telemarketer
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Human telemarketers became such a ubiquitous peeve in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, that he comedians and late-night TV talk show hosts of those eras made careers out of mocking the profession. There are now federal laws that legally handcuff telemarketers from annoying people too much. Consumers also have caller ID and blocking technology on their side.
Still, the telemarketing profession is going nowhere; telemarketing companies can now use AI, social media, text messages, and robocalls to annoy people within the envelope of federal consumer protection laws. Traditional jobs featuring human telemarketers may be gone sooner rather than later. Entry-level telemarketers with no experience make $18,000 to $38,000.
5. Assembly Line Workers
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The obsolescence clock on traditional jobs like the assembly line worker has been ticking for decades. Assembly line automation has been making worksites safer and obsoleting human jobs for a long time now. Whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide. However, no one can stop progress, and it is far cheaper for businesses to use machines and AI to do very dangerous and grueling jobs faster and more efficiently than humans.
Assembly line work is back-breaking work, but the starting pay ranges between $20,000 to $32,000.
6. Video Rental Clerks
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As odd as it may sound, just because a technology becomes obsolete does not mean it disappears entirely. There is a demographic of Baby Boomers and Generation Xers who still use VHS and DVDs. It’s a demographic that shrinks at the moment. Many retailers have stopped selling DVDs and Blue Rays. Retail giants Target and Best Buy stopped selling DVDs and Blue Rays this year, decades after VHS went obsolete.
The typical salary of a video rental clerk ranges between $27,000 to $35,000. Since most people view entertainment via streaming or social media, traditional jobs like this are now anachronistic and bound to disappear sooner rather than later.
7. Postal Workers
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Some Americans could comprehend the use of personal computers in the 1980s, and that was over a decade before the nascent internet was widely available. Now, people can email instead of writing letters. People can now communicate with others simultaneously anywhere on the planet with smart devices. When was the last time you wrote someone a letter, put it in an envelope, and put it in a mailbox?
Traditional jobs like postal workers won’t fully disappear yet. Still, their job duties may decline because most people can conduct business online or via apps instead of through official correspondence. Job security in these fields will plummet further if delivery drones ever become viable on a widespread scale. The typical salary of a postal worker is $56,000.
8. Newspaper Journalist
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In 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, actor J.K. Simmons portrayed J. Jonah Jameson as an Alex Jones-type online news blog host. J.Jonah James is the editor of the newspaper The Daily Bugle. Portraying Jameson in a large newspaper office space in a 2019 film would have been just too unrealistic in a film about a superhero with the human proportional strength of a spider.
Barring the largest newspapers, print journalism’s circulation reach with physical newspapers has been declining for decades. Over half of American adults get all or some of their news from social media. While newspapers may never fully disappear, the need for traditional jobs like newspaper-based journalists is declining. Most entry-level corporate newspaper journalists make $57,000.
9. Bank Teller
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When was the last time you walked into a brick-and-mortar bank, stood in line, and spent 10 to 20 minutes facilitating with a human bank teller to help you with something? ATMs, the advent of online banking, and the ability of online consumers to control their bank accounts via apps and smart devices have de-prioritized the importance of traditional jobs like bank tellers steadily for decades. The starting salary for a bank teller ranges between $25,000 to $36,000.
10. Checkout Cashier
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The supermarket and retail checkout cashier has been a vocation facing slow obsolescence for decades now. How many times have you used the self-checkout kiosk in a supermarket or retail store within the past few years? While there will always probably be a few human cashier positions to serve as maintenance and on-the-site helpers, human cashiers as traditional jobs will keep disappearing in lieu of automation. The typical salary for this position ranges between $13,000 to $28,000.
Traditional Jobs Facing Imminent Obsoletion
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No one is telling you not to apply for any job facing future extinction. Do what makes you happy. It’s just more prudent to consider job security when working in a vocation you depend on to support a lifestyle or family. Always research the local job market and demographic base for any job you apply for. You don’t want to wake up and find out your job became obsolete sooner than you expected.
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Allen Francis is a full-time writer, prolific comic book investor and author of The Casual’s Guide: Why You Should Get Into Comic Book Investing. Allen holds a BA degree from Marymount Manhattan College. Before becoming a writer Allen was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including saving and investing in your own small business.
