No, the ZAIO story is completely on point in a discussion about the effects of technology being leveraged by appraisal companies. And it illustrates my point *perfectly* that your competition is also trying to leverage technology.
The only reason companies try to "leverage technology" is so they can make a lot of $ with it- often at the expense of others or at the expense of public trust. We all can take any positions we want, but I notice you consistently ignore the impact AMC and bundled fee provision has- you blame it on puppy mills ( gone for years now) and taking on trainees. Unless someone did a lousy job with a trainee, nothing wrong with taking a trainee on ( though few do now on res side ).
Regarding trainees, every field and profession has newbies entering it each year , graduating from schools or apprenticeships result is other professions have has an ample supply to an over supply of professionals - difference is, their fees are not severely impacted by regulation and third party interests on large scale.
If the ONLY way appraisers can deal with the fee issue is have an under supply, that comes with its own set of problems and of course lenders don't want that either - note lenders and AMC's seized on the shortage of appraisers in the COW states to push for agenda of reduced entry/training, use of bifurcated /other.
Let's please not get into the red herring argument of supply and demand impacting fees, anyone can see typically the fees pad for regular GSE appraisals are vastly different among direct order lender work and VA vs AMC orders, inr the same regional areas with the same number of appraisers ( supply of appraisers )
You can take the stance that it is all due to puppy mills and trainees entering in past years, which is okay on the face of it, but you have shown a consistent denial of AMC fee split model as the main contributor. It goes without saying that AMC is a shorthand term that also includes lenders benefiting $/costs from bottom feeder AMC or order policies are included. .
If the entries or companies with lots of influence now want to "leverage technology" to further cut into the appraisal field as far as geographic distance related to assigning and desktop work, it might be only a matter of time before they achieve their goal. The public trust is shown to run a distant second in policy including the many years appraisers ( and others) spoke out to warn regulators/lenders fannie about among other risks, the abuses of mortgage and lender selection of appraisers and value pressure in the boom leading to the crash. We were ignored then and are ignored now, or belittled if we speak out as "whining". History tends to repeat itself.
if you call retirement before 40 bitter then sht i wish I can be bitter more often. 
