still better than pringles. i like it. but in this case, unless you've got plenty of cash to burn, you probably should just eat one. hi, everyone. welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. from retail clerks to restaurant cooks, what jobs could vanish next? saving on energy use. smart home technology is helping keep seniors safe and making it easier for them to stay in their own home. what's driving car insurance rates? it's time for a checkup on your coverage. ways to stay and still be protected on the road. craft beer. it's not a pint-sized business. demand for microbrews is growing and brewers are tapping into a growing industry. >> it's not just making the best beer. >> "on the money" starts right now.

>> announcer: this is "on the money," your money, your life, your future. now, becky quick. >> we begin with automation. it's knost just manufacturing where machines can replace workers, rapid changes in restaurants are impacting jobs today and will be for the future as well. it's this week's cover story. automation nation. retail stores are closing at records pace as shopping shifts to online and mobile leading the retail revolution is amazon with 43% of all online sales last year. now after disrupting our brick and mortar habits, the giant is doing something surprising, opening its own walk-in stores. six more stores are planned. and amazon is testing a grocery store with a twist. no cashiers and no checkout lines. they automatically bill you as you walk out the door. other retailers are adapting, too. sam's club introduced an app that let's customers scan items

on their phone and skip the checkout counter. and it's not just retail being reinvented. restaurant chains are rethinking their model. mcdonald's and wendy's and panera bread has self-service kiosks and apps that let you order in advance. >> the biggest and rationale that restaurants will automate is because of the growing labor concern. not only are labor costs growing but now in a tight economy where unemployment is under 5%, it's increasingly hard for restaurants to find good labor. >> with automation increasing, are jobs at risk? andy puds der was president trump's nominee for labor secretary, he's the former ceo of cke restaurants, the parent company of hardee's and carl's junior. andy, thank you for being with us today. >> thanks, becky. >> we were just talking about this automation, things that people guessed was coming but a

huge trend has picked up recently. what do you think is causing that? >> there's two things that accelerate it. one, the way people are purchasing things is different. you covered that a little in your report. there's more purchasing online with amazon. there's more delivery services that you can get an app on your phone and order from restaurants at home. the second thing is that labor costs are increasing. they're being -- government is driving them up by mandates, such as the minimum wage and family leave, things that cause labor costs to increase. you have two pressures coming into retail businesses. one, business is down because people are doing things online and, two, the cost of staying in business, the cost of labor is going up. you find people resorting to automation and accelerates a process because we need more time to train our labor force. we're accelerating the pace of automation, obvious from what you just covered.

>> you can take a look at both of those items. you're not going to stop the way consumers are shopping. that's a trend to say and i think you agree with that. >> i do. there are ways to address it. starbucks -- domino's has done particularly well. an app put them way ahead of pizza hut or papa john's. it tells you at which stage your pizza delivery is. it's in the oven. really, their sales are up 20, 25%. >> on a minute by minute basis, where is your pizza? >> exactly. the problem at the retail level is when you increase the cost of labor and accelerate the implementation of automation, it's coming but there's no reason to rush it because people need these jobs while we train for a 21st century economy. the department of labor could be a big part of that and it's something i would have pushed had i been confirmed. >> let's talk, first of all, just about a higher minimum wage. plenty of people say, wait a second, why shouldn't you have a living wage if you are working a full-time job. how do you respond to that? >> a job can only pay what it

produces in economic benefit. it's not a matter of people should or shouldn't get a living wage. we'd love to pay everybody a living wage. certain jobs only pay a certain amount of money and produce a certain amount of value. entry-level jobs, i don't know how many people you know who started in the restaurant business. >> i did. >> and those entry-level jobs mean a lot. if you don't raise the minimum wage to a point where you price these kids out of jobs, they'll have entry level jobs and we won't accelerate the pace of automation. so we need to be very careful what we're doing here. we're taking a whole generation of kids and not allowing them to get on that letter of opportunity. they are not making that first step and that's going to be a very big problem as we go forward. >> you said that you have some solutions that you think would be easily -- maybe not easily but would be something that could help this problem. you thought you could do that if you were labor secretary. why did you withdraw from the

nomination? >> well, you could only be confirmed if you have 51 votes. when i lost three -- i lost three republican votes. i got to the point where some republicans got nervous. one more dropped out. one more said he would probably vote negative. that put me under the 50-vote threshold i needed with vice president pence's vote. and i didn't want to tilt at windmills. if i wasn't going to win, no reason to stay in the process. we needed to find someone who would win so i dropped out. >> what should the government be focusing on right now if there was one thing to try and fix this problem? >> i think there's two things. one, do what you can to try and keep the cost of entry-level jobs low so businesses aren't incentivized to replace those jobs with automation. if your job is replaced by a machine or some form of automation, the minimum wage is zero, you don't have a job. the second thing is we need to emphasize training.

a lot of jobs people out there can be trained for. computer programmers is a perfect example. even in manufacturing, where we've lost since 2010, we've lost about 16% of our manufacturing jobs but the openings in manufacturing have gone from about 300,000 to about 350,000 because they can't find trained people to work in plants. working in a factory now isn't like when it was when i was a kid and you could go in and in a couple of weeks you might be able to be productive. you've got to learn how to operate machines and very complicated equipment. it may require computer skills. so they can't find people that are trained for these jobs. we need to train people for the jobs that exist. we need to stop pricing people out of the job market, try and make sure that kids get into the job market, get on the ladder of opportunity so we can see economic growth and calm some of the tension we're seeing in our urban communities. >> andy, always a pleasure talking to you and you're right, these are great chain jobs. borel's restaurant in indiana, i

was salad bar girl. >> i was baskin robins. >> thank you, andy. here's a look at what is making news as we head into a new week "on the money." the biggest week for earnings season with more than 400 companies set to report. among those, 12 of the 30 stocks in the dow jones industrial average including boeing, coca-cola, mcdonald's and procter & gamble. the nasdaq closed at a record high. stocks rallies on optimism from treasury secretary steve mnuchin about possible progress on major tax reform. at the close on friday, stocks were lower. google makes most of its money from ads but "the wall street journal" is reporting that the company will introduce an ad blocking feature in its chrome web browser. the feature will reportedly filter out things like pop-ups and audio playing mobile ads from desk top chrome.

307,000 wireless retail contracts lost in total. the company said that most infections occurred before verizon brought back the unlimited monthly data plan in middle of february. the giant's acquisition of yahoo! is still pending. up next, we're on the money. home safe home. the technology that allows senior to be independent and stay in their homes longer. and later, car insurance 101. what you can do to cut the bill right now. first, look at how the stock market ended the week.

market ended the week.

there's no place like home. as you get older staying in your home safely can be a major issue. one company is using technology to try to help.

joining me is zachary watson, the president and ceo of honeycomb homes. >> honeycomb is a software company. we utilize off the shelf hardware to integrate the home for older adults. >> yes. the smart home adoption has been pretty lackluster. great innovation in the space but there hasn't really been a software that's interpreting the information for people in the home. >> and monitoring if somebody comes into the house or if i go out of the house, something along those lines and trying to figure out all of those things out? >> sure. there's two major categories here. one would be personal safety and the other one would be home or asset safety. what we do is we look at the information that the devices are giving us and make a determination if it looks like there might be something of

concern. so that could be in terms of home safety, yeah, so -- >> are you actually knowing where i'm going when i'm going to the bathroom? you can follow me around the house like this? >> yeah, exactly. we do it without cameras or imaging software. >> but you can maintain privacy? >> yes. >> obviously this isn't something that we're watching every day, but as you can see on the right there, that's what it looks like for a caregiver who is checking in without checking in. >> who gets alerted if there's a problem? >> that will usually be a family member or a professional caregiver. >> how does it work for an alert? do you call me? do i receive a text? is there a beeper or something? >> yes. you get an alert through the honeyco application, the mobile app, and you also get a text message. on the text message, we're an interesting technology company insofar as we want to drive our engagement to zero or almost

zero. >> hearing from you is a bad thing. >> yeah, silver lining. but you have -- you're at least aware of what's happening inside the home. so, yeah, really we don't want to take up mind share of people looking after their loved ones and they want to get that peace of mind so when they hear from us, they can respond appropriately. >> the one thing that strikes me, if i'm in south carolina and i notice my mother may not be in the right place in nashville, what am i supposed to do at that point? do i have a resource that i can call? is it a neighbor? is it up to me? can you guys help me with that part of the equation, too? >> yes. what we've done is set up a triage response. so we run through the alerts that a caregiver or family member would receive. and we essentially create a care plan of how to handle each of those. so if -- you know, if the resident were to leave the stove on and then leave the house, what -- how we want to handle

that? do we want to turn the stove off immediately? >> you can do that, too. >> exactly. that's the amazing thing about this, is that all of this technology is out there. >> uh-huh. >> but it's not being stitched together to make a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. >> it might actually come in handy. >> exactly. >> how much does it cost to get a home set up this way? >> the service is $59.99 per month. that's if you purchase the equipment upfront. the equipment is around $500 for the standard package. >> uh-huh. >> but if you'd rather pay over time, we can do essentially $149.99 per month over the life of the contract so that you don't have to, you know, take that hit up front. >> all right. i like this. i can see some other potential uses for it. what if i want to check on my kids after school? >> i think that right now the biggest value is going to be to

older adults and their family members having difficult conversations. >> but you can see this being something that is useful to well beyond that population? >> oh, absolutely. i have it in my house, yeah. >> zachary, thank you for your time today. >> thanks for having me. up next, we're "on the money." looking to save money on your car insurance? find out why your credit score could be key. there were about 100 u.s. brewery breweries. and today there's more than 5,000. has the craft beer craze tapped out?

car insurance isn't

something you should just set and forget. there are lots of ways to save money if you know where to look. joining us is toby stanger, senior editor at consumer reports. and toby, i feel a little hypo critical. i think i bought my car insurance 16 years ago and haven't looked at it since. what should people be doing? >> believe it or not, it's not a bad idea every two or three years to shop for auto insurance. you would think, oh, well, i've been with my company for a long time, there must be a loyalty discount. consumer reports, we looked at more than 2 billion premiums and there's not much of a loyalty discount. you should shop around. >> part of the reason i've done it is if you're with state farm and they insure your car and house and everything else you have going, do you get a discount for buying in bulk like that? >> you do. it's called bundling. you do get a discount.

when you go to shop again, you are going to have to do an apples to apples and say to the new insurer, if i bundle this and that, what is going to be my rate? >> is this one of those situations where i can call up and say i'm going to leave if you don't give me a better rate? does that work with these insurance companies? or no? >> it's certainly worth looking. on consumerreports.org, we have lists of the best companies to start with if, say, you're a parent with a teen driver in alaska, d.c. we discovered the companies that are most likely to have the lowest rates. you can go to various websites. there's one called the zebra.com. they showed the premiums from the most companies. you can compare and see who will give you the best rate. >> is there any company that comes out on time consistently time and time again? >> yeah. we looked at our ratings of claims payments, which we also feel is very important.

>> it's not just the lowest cost. >> right >> and there's a company called mika which usually comes up towards the top and usaa and new jersey manufacturers for those people who live in new jersey and pennsylvania. there are a few who come out on the top and they are considered the best for claims payments as per our subscribers. >> is there anything that i can do to try to boost my ability to get a lower rate in helping my credit score, something along those lines? >> that's what is interesting. credit score, which has nothing to do with your driving record, actually has an impact on your insurance premium, except in california, massachusetts or hawaii where it's illegal. otherwise, it can have an impact. if you raise your credit score, which is good for a lot of reasons, it can have an impact on what you pay. >> all right. it's all great to know. thank you very much for joining us. appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, "on the money," a look at the news for the week ahead. and overall beer sales are

flat, but sales from small, independent craft brewers keep rising. >> our industry is still pulling in new craft beer consumers. i know i'm wearing it but no one else will. always discreet for bladder leaks.

here are the stories coming up that may impact your money this week. on tuesday, we get a read on home prices across the country when the case-shiller home index is released. also, the consumer confidence report will give us a look at

how consumers are feeling about current economic conditions. on thursday the durable goods market for march, things that last at least three years. and our national take our daughters and sons to work day. on friday, we'll get the advance estimate of the gross domestic product for the first quarter of the year. gdp is the broad measure of the economy. it adds up all of the goods and services produced in the united states. and the legislation that's funding the government known as the continuing resolution or cr expires. if congress doesn't pass a new appropriations bill most government agencies must shut down. if you bought beer lately, you've probably seen a lot of new brands on the shelves, sales of craft beer made by small local breweries are up. to compete, the big beer companies are buying up the smaller ones and others remain fiercely independent. that's what landon dowdy found out, there's a battle brewing. >> reporter: brandon skull is one of the many craft brewers making a name for himself in

d.c. and his business is growing with plans to more than triple production from the 15,000 plus barrels his company, d.c. brow, produces a year. while overall beer sales are down, craft brewers posted 6% volume growth last year. and big beer is getting in on the action. ab inbev in the last five years bought up nine craft brewers. miller coors purchased four. what's in it for the craft brewers? >> it certainly gives them additional advantages in the marketplace, distribution and retailers that they wouldn't have to an independent brewer. it creates challenges for regional craft brewers going head to head in the same real retail channels and the larger ones. >> reporter: but how does the consumer feel when one of their local and independent and craft brands cash in by selling to a macro brewer? >> it will hurt their image a little bit as a craft brewery

that has sold out to a larger brewery. but overall, i think if the beer still speaks volume to what they are doing, i think it is still good beer. >> reporter: with a record 5,200 brewers competing, it's fierce. consolidating craft brewers is one way companies eliminate competition. skull says the craft companies aren't going head-to-head. >> a direct competitor is not necessarily or craft brewery friends down the street. it's more of the big macro. it's a rising tide lifting all ships. >> while big brewers have a lot to offer, the question comes one of priority. and for now, skull is staying true to his craft. and since 2009, a craft brewer's boom. in 2016 alone, the u.s. had 826 new openings and less than 100 closings, becky. >> that makes you think. when you follow the stock markets of things like that, a boom like that, it makes you

wonder if a bust is coming. is it the bubble building or does it feel like it's sustainable? >> hundreds opened last year. we talked to these brewers and they say this industry is a little different where a win for one is a win for all they're not like my dad's generation where he drinks coors light and only coors light. a craft drinker is going to try a bunch of different kinds of beer. >> so more room at the table. >> exactly. >> landon, thank you very much. that's the show for today. i'm becky quick. next week, is it time for a new credit card? if you're tempted by points, cash back or even zero percent interest, we'll tell you which ones are best. keep it here. we're on the money. have a great one and we'll see you next weekend.

>> hey there, we will light up the nasdaq markets on expiration friday. we hope you didn't miss us too much. here's what's coming up on the show. >> well, it comes down to a few moments. >> next week is one of them from megacap tech. we'll tell you how to profit. plus, auto stocks have been on the left. there is something in the charts that suggest even more pain to come. we'll explain. ♪ it's a good time for the great taste of mcdonald's ♪ >> indeed it is, mcdonald shares all time h