Posted on 12/01/2016 8:25:27 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In light of several cities passing $15 an hour minimum wage laws, McDonald's will install self-serve kiosks at many locations around the country. Wendy's has already gone the automated ordering route and othe fast food outlets are seriously considering it.
Supporters of the $15 hourly wage claim that few jobs will be lost as result of automation. They say the self serve kiosks will make workers more efficient in dealing with the ordering process. That may be true (as explained here). But the near doubling of the minimum wage in most cities will be done incrementally, ostensibly to soften the blow to businesses. But that kind of thinking ignores the flash point where labor costs cannot be compensated for by raising prices. Eventually, something is going to have to give.
It’s not just McDonald’s that has embraced job-replacing technology. Numerous restaurant chains (both quick service and full service) have looked to computer tablets as a solution for rising labor costs that won’t adversely impact the customer’s experience. Eatsa, a fully-automated restaurant concept, now has five locations—all in cities or states that have embraced a $15 minimum wage. And in a scene stolen from The Jetsons, the Starship delivery robot is now navigating the streets of San Francisco with groceries and other consumer goods. The company’s founder pointed to a rising minimum wage as a key factor driving the growth of his automated delivery business.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Thanks to the democrats and their hatred toward low wage working people.
Every McDonald’s that I’ve visited in Calgary over the last year has had these automated kiosks.
I prefer not to use them. I would rather deal with people rather than machines. Of course, I am of a ‘certain age’.
I know that at my local McDonalds the crew is overwhelmingly young, and minority. I am always impressed by how hard they work and how polite and attentive they are. Sad to see they will be losing the first ring on the job ladder.
A couple of the other employees are older, likely supplementing their Social Security. And one appears to be a recent immigrant from Eastern Europe. The story is no better for them.
The people that do food reviews on Youtube love these things, build your own nom nom
The problem is adults trying to make a living at jobs that used to be for kids looking to make some extra cash. Shipping good paying jobs overseas will have that affect.
“Supporters of the $15 hourly wage claim that few jobs will be lost as result of automation.”
These folks are soooooooooo damn good at predicting the future, aren’t they?
They are of course not predicting the future. They are just expressing denial.
Yes, at the moment, it is probably more personable to order from a person vs a touchscreen. If that’s not redundant. Me, the few times I eat at a McD’s I order a stock whatever. No alterations to catsup or lettuce or mayo or whatever. If I *did* want modifications, it would probably be easier to order from a kiosk.
And besides, this is mostly conditioning, anyway, nothing more and nothing less. You go to a McD’s because what you get when you order is entirely predictable. It’s not because of the human interaction!
It’s certainly not out of the question that ordering kiosks become something of a novelty. As we move into our brave new world of synthetic people doing synthetic things for synthetic money and synthetic fulfillment, many of the largest demographic who frequent McD’s will prefer the kiosks because THAT will will be more “personable” to THEM.
And a big piece of the puzzle, is that businesses can’t just raise prices to compensate for increased costs.
Theoretically, the liberals think McD and others can pay all their hired help $30,000 a year or more. But the liberals don’t think it through; that a Big Mac meal would go up in price to compensate. How many people are willing to pay $20 for a Big Mac meal???
Economic models show that as prices for goods and services rise, that demand will fall off. But if McD loses sales because of higher prices, where will the money come from to pay the $15 or more per hour wages???
I hear ya. I was like that when they added the self-serve checkout lines at HD and walmart. Now self-serve doesn't bother me. I think people will have to adapt as almost all low-skill jobs will be automated over time.
A lot of these "supporters" are union members with contracts indexed to the the minimum wage, and their jobs are not in the fast food industry.
I wonder how filthy those kiosks are.....
I actually like the self-serve kiosks. I am much more efficient and accurate than a lobotomize, apathetic teen-ager who can’t even make change.
Maybe telephone sanitizers don’t have to be shipped off planet, and can be retrained for kiosks?
We’ve progressed so much, we could probably change the entire country to a 4 day work-week.
I know I would be thrilled to have 3 days off every week, and it would allow half the country to work on the OTHER 3 days.
Gee, who could have seen this coming, huh?
At least the Machines won’t spit in your food.
FWIW, I won’t use a kiosk. I’ve also noticed hygiene standards dropping at fast food joints in my area. We’re eating out less than we used to.
My octogenarian mother carries around wipes all the time. The last time I went out with my parents, she gave me one to use after the menus were handed back.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.