The Elevator Operator
Driverless elevators existed by 1900. It took about fifty years for people to step into one.
- By our research team
- 4 Sources
1of roughly 270 occupations on the 1950 Census, gone mainly to automation: the elevator operator.
James Bessen, Boston University, 2016.
In 1950 the US Census listed roughly 270 detailed occupations. Economist James Bessen checked the list again in 2010. Only one had disappeared mainly because of automation: the elevator operator.1
It’s usually told as good news. The more useful part is how long it took.
The Technology Was Ready Long Before People Were
The machine worked, but people did not trust it. Elevator historian Lee Gray describes riders stepping into an empty car, looking around for the attendant, and walking right back out.2
The operator was the person in the box who knew what to do if something went wrong. Take away the person, and you took away the safety.
What Changed
In September 1945, elevator operators and building workers in New York went on strike. By one estimate it kept 1.5 million office workers from their desks and cost the city around $100 million in lost taxes.3 Owners suddenly looked hard at the automatic option.
The industry learned that selling a machine was not enough. It had to earn trust.
What the Machine Had to Give Back
Automatic elevators got a big red stop button, a phone to call for help, and a calm recorded voice that told riders what was happening.4
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Stop ButtonWho answers when something goes wrong?
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Emergency PhoneHow does a person reach a human?
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Recorded VoiceHow do we show our work?
The emergency phone did not make the elevator run any better. It made people willing to ride it. A machine can work perfectly and still sit empty until people trust it.
The People Who Paid
Elevator operators lost steady work. That cost was real, and it fell on particular people.
What It Means Now
The same story is playing out with AI and the systems government uses to serve the public. People weren’t foolish to be careful. They were waiting for a reason to trust it.
Every public institution that adopts a new tool faces the elevator’s question: where is the emergency phone?