Posted on 05/13/2016 9:15:22 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Wendy’s fast food restaurant chain says it will begin offering self-serve kiosks at its 6,000-plus locations across America, making them available to costumers by the end of 2016.
The fast food giant’s decision to move toward automation comes just as “Fight for $15”–a progressive protest movement, pushing minimum wage hikes–is applying pressure on state governments to raise wages for low-skilled fast food workers.
Last August, Wendy’s CFO Todd Penegor told investors that mandated wage hikes will cause his company to pursue other innovative avenues that could lead to fewer jobs for low-skill workers.
“We continue to look at initiatives and how we work to offset any impacts of future wage inflation through technology initiatives, whether that’s customer self-order kiosks, whether that’s automating more in the back of the house in the restaurant,” Penegor said, adding that “you’ll see a lot more coming on that front later this year from us.”
On the same conference call, Wendy’s CEO Emil Brolick said that individual Wendy’s franchises “will likely look at the opportunity to reduce overall staff, look at the opportunity to certainly reduce hours and any other cost reduction opportunities, not just price.”
Indeed, Wendy’s officials told Investor’s Business Daily that it would be up to individual franchisees to decide whether they will offer the self-serve kiosks.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
"...we work to offset any impacts of future wage inflation through technology initiatives," said Wendy's.
This is progress! We’re replacing workers with robots, and we’re ordering everything online and don’t have to go to those pesky stores anymore!
Boy this really is common sense...so now we have robots doing the work that HUMANS can do, except for these idiots that don’t realize the more the wages go up, the higher the prices go, so people don’t eat out...plus obuma raises gas prices so the truckers that bring the food to the stores for us to buy, the food costs more...
Hurry up Trump...we need you in office NOW!!!
Congratulations, Democrats! Your push for a $15.00 an hour minimum wage will help to reduce the number of employed democrats...really smart move, morons!!!!!!!!!!!
Kiosks take no sick days, demand no time off, and their wage rate remains tied only to the cost of electricity needed to keep them operational and for amortization of the original investment, over the useful lifetime of the device.
The big-bucks jobs will be in the manufacture, installation, and maintenance of these kiosks. They will be quickly move from first generation to newer and newer iterations of the concept.
Yes.
“Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero”
— Thomas Sowell
They used to have computer kiosks at our local Jack in the Box restaurants. I liked them. The orders all came out correct and there was never a line to use it. I am not sure why they took them away.
Actually it helps advance the agenda. Put people out of work and they have no recourse but welfare. Then they become dependent on welfare such that they will always vote for whoever keeps their checks coming in.
Welcome to the world the Democrats created — A bunch of skilled workers making high wages and paying over half their income in taxes. The unskilled are unable to find work so they stay on the dole voting for the Dems.
Might have been expensive to buy and operate.
the law of unintended liberal consequences
The minimum wage did the same thing originally with door openers and elevator operators, ect.
There are TONS of jobs I would rather pay a human to do, that I can’t afford to because of the minimum wage
Many restaurants are set up to let customers to make their own salads and pour their own sodas. Just add burgers and buns to the salad bar and be done with it.
retro comes back BIG!!
“the Horn and Hardart Automat, NYC”
Tee hee.
I suspect that humans will eventually become obsolete.
It’s not that a single person cannot make a living on 40 hours at $7.65, but when you’re 2 hours late Monday and leave early Thursday and don’t come in Friday that person cannot make a living. 27 hours at $15 is better and you still get the EIC.
Kiosks don's spit in your food either...
It is time for the EPA to ban kiosks because of environmental concerns.
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